Living Cheaply

1. Living Cheaply

2. Living Extremely Cheaply • To live extremely cheaply, frugality has to become a lifestyle • Extreme means being creative and going beyond your regular means of saving and cutting back • Frugal living may require sacrifice • Over the next few slides, we will go over a few ways to save a lot of money, it is not necessarily about cutting everything out, but cutting out enough to be able to splurge on other things.

3. Rent • Living at home saves you the most money • Look for deals on apartments • Get roommates to split rent and utilities with • Living further from your job might not be cheaper when you account for gas • Do research

4. Eating • Going out to eat is much more expensive than eating at home • If you live a lifestyle where you may need quick meals, cook in bulk and freeze meals for later • Cooking small meals often is less energy efficient, try to limit the use of the oven to only large meals • Include filling items in your meals • Beans and rice are cheap and help fill you up • Portion the more expensive proteins accordingly, a whole chicken breast with little sides will fill you up the same as half of the chicken breast with rice and vegetables • Avoid prepackaged meals, Lean Cuisine meals seem cheap and easy, but you will pay for the convenience

5. Grocery Shopping • Avoid buying name brand products • Avoid buying anything that is not on sale • When sales do occur on non perishable foods, stock up • Learn how to coupon • There are many websites and apps that can help with couponing • Don’t ever go grocery shopping while hungry • Plan your trip to the grocery store and have an idea about what is a good price for the items you intend to buy • Do your research

6. Shopping for other things • Don’t go shopping just for fun • Only shop for necessities • Don’t buy items that you can do without • Garage sales and thrift shops should be used as often as possible • Craigslist can be your friend if you know what you are doing, you can easily over pay for things if you aren’t knowledgeable

7. TV and Internet • Go without TV if you can, limit paying for cable if at all possible • Cable or Satellite TV generally costs $20 to $100 per month • If there are shows that you just have to watch, make friends and have a watching party at their place • You don’t need internet access at home • Libraries and coffee shops usually have internet access • Most apartment complexes have internet access in common areas • If you want internet at home, get the lowest speeds possible from the cheapest available providers, even the basic internet access plans will allow you to stream movies and play online games

8. Phone • You need a phone, it’s 2019 • Never pay for a landline, even if the company that you are getting internet access from says that you will save money • The savings are generally for a limited amount of time • Once that time is up, you will be paying more • In the long run, a landline will cost you more • If you can get an unlimited plan which includes the ability to make your phone a hotspot, you may be able to save money on a phone and internet • Be careful going this route, it is often times cheaper to have a more basic phone plan along with internet access at home

9. Vacation and Travel • Research where you want to go • The internet is full of forums where people post deals that they have received, participate and ask questions • If you want to visit a beach, San Diego is not the cheapest option • Wait to travel when rates are the lowest, plan vacations around saving money, not around when you want to go • Book trips far in advance to save the most money

10. Memberships • You don’t need to be a member of anything • You can cut out: • Gym • If you attend a college, most have gyms that you can access for free • Netflix/Hulu • Steal you friends’ or family members’ passwords • Xbox Live

11. Make MORE Money • Living cheaply isn’t just about cutting back on things, you can do things to increase the money that you have • Have your own yard sale to make cash by selling things that you don’t need • Sell items on eBay or Craig’s List • Some people buy items at wholesale and resell • Find a savings account with a higher interest rate (often online) • Plant a small vegetable garden in the spring • Get everything possible back on your taxes • Get a part-time job

12. Make sure to reward yourself • Living extremely frugally can add stress to your life • You need to make sure that there is something tangible that you are working toward • Write down goals and celebrate when you achieve them