How do you save money? Getting $ to save and where to put those $$?

Hi all.  The only way that I have been able to save any amount of money in the past has been to keep cash until I have a wad, put into a glass jar, dig a deep hole, place jar in with rocks around it and above it, and then place a big rock over it (in a ring of rocks around garden bed).  We haven't done that for a long time, but when we did, just knowing that we had cash available for emergencies or saving for a particular item, just made saving so much easier.  We also tried saving into savings accounts and once even a CD.  The interest just wasn't worth it and then also having to pay taxes on that little bitty interest just bugged the heck out of me.  

Long story short, we need to get back into saving up for things that we need, such as a used truck, emergency savings, medical, and other assortments.  

So, how do you save your dollars and where do you keep them.  Just curious for some ideas.  Even saving a dollar or two instead of spending it is what I am going to start with and then try to double every pay day what I saved from the previous payday.  

Thanks in advance for all of your valuable opinions, recommendations, and input.

MA Carey

My wife puts a five dollar bill in a jar once a week, as one of her ways to save. Something I do that I guess could be passive saving, is I try to pay for as much as I can with cash, and the change goes in a jar at the end of the day. I have many coin jars, and after a few years when they're all full, I take them to my bank where they have a coin counting machine with no fee since I have a checking account with them. It's fun, cause the last time I took my jars to the bank, I had a little over $700 which was a nice bonus that I didn't "have" the day before.

Another way that I guess could be considered saving, is this year I've really been conscious of what I buy. Standing in the grocery store for example, I'll see something, think "man that sounds good. wait!! do I really need it? no." and I don't buy it. That, and also taking the time to shop for the lowest price. Since actively practicing this, I really notice how much I don't buy. That started with my attempt to be less of a consumer, and I've really come to like not buying stuff. It's almost a game now.

I've been working on building up an emergency fund.  (First it was a "saving for my house" fund, but now I have the house, and need an emergency fund.)

What I chose to do was open a bank account in a separate bank, not get a debit card or checkbook.  I have an irregular income, so I try to be careful with the money for the month, then, at the end of the month, after I get paid, I empty out the amount that was leftover from the month, and put it into the second bank account.  At least that's been the goal this year.  

Reasons this work for me:
I get nervous without money for emergencies.  (There have been a few this year that scared me.)  So I'm motivated not to touch the money if I don't need it.  Having to drive to a different bank and take money out on purpose also keeps it from being transferred anywhere easily or on a whim.  It's helpful for me to know the money's there, and since it's a lot of trouble to get it out (as well as embarrassing; not sure why, but I get embarrassed at banks, maybe because everyone's so well-dressed), I tend to leave it there without a really good reason for taking it out.

I have, however, been thinking about saving cash for emergencies.  I'm wondering if it would be wise not to have everything in a bank.  (But I'm not sure easy access to cash is a great idea, either, when it comes to saving money.)

In general, the rule of thumb is probably that saving something is better than saving nothing, if you can make it a fun challenge for yourself or your family, rather than an overwhelming chore, you'll probably have better success.  (One thing I've heard from various budgeting people on YouTube is that you shouldn't feel bad about needing your emergency fund.  That's what it's there for: so you don't go into debt.  After the emergency is over, just work on building it back up again, basically.)

It probably helps to know what would work for you as a saver, too.  Is easy access a problem?  If so, how can you make it hard to access without making it impossible to access?  

(I must admit I kind of like the idea of burying money...but I think I'd worry about someone digging it up!!  My property's not all that private...)

M. A. Carey wrote: Long story short, we need to get back into saving up for things that we need, such as a used truck, emergency savings, medical, and other assortments.  

Reinvesting is always the best way to save, though it seems counter-intuitive to many people. As you noted, bank investments are a waste of time. I personally think stashing money is not helpfully, since that money is always fighting inflation whether it's in use or not. (not to mention I helped an old employer move houses a few years ago. I found $2,000 that had apparently been "stashed" in a closet for safe keeping and gave it to her. If it was someone else helping her move, it'd have been in a pocket and gone forsure.)

Grocery bills are usually the best place to start, though I don't want to turn this topic into that subject as there are 100's of sites on the web for it. But you know: the whole save up to buy in bulk = more saving to buy more bulk etc. Food is something you always need, so this is very low risk and worthwhile. As a tip, see how much water you are buying with your purchases when at the store. You can make 3-4x more tomato sauce from the same sized can of tomato paste - something I learned quickly out of highschool.

At first, the game is essentially about eliminating single item purchases. I know roughly how many flat tires I'll get in 2 years, and so I've previously used my bulk saving from groceries to buy 2 new sets of tires online that would cost the same as 1 set of tires bought locally. If you get savvy with e-commerce or connections, you can further this and offer your services to others - I've saved local farmers $1,000's on their truck tires. Tires are also something that tend to not lose value, at least compared to other items, so you can always resell them if you need quick cash.

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The above is not to say you need to reinvest 100% of what you save, but it's to bring to light that increasing revenue streams increases your savings potential. The faster you can save up for a used truck, the faster you can use that truck to make $ for your emergency funds. A few friends I know in the city use their trucks to haul garbage away for people part-time on weekends at $50-100 a full load.

I used the above tactics to live similar life-styles to people who make double the salary I do, and most times because of my pepper/tomato plants on the window in February-April, they think I'm a drug dealer lol. I just use money more efficiently than they do and it's stuff anyone can understand and put into practice, and gives better returns than stocks.

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Maybe to build on what James mentioned about awareness while purchasing, think about the product you are buying and the factors tied into it.  

-How much use will you get out of it?
-Is it a potential asset(makes money) or a liability(loses money)?
-Do you really need that expensive brand?
-Do you really need the item at all?
-Are there any alternatives that would cost less in the long-run?

Only use cash for your local purchases. Using cash makes (me anyway) more cognizant of what I'm buying. Ask for a cash discount at smaller stores, the merchants pay anywhere from 2 to 4% to credit card companies and you may be helping smaller businesses to survive by using cash.

Buy used stuff at garage sales or thrift stores.

When I frequented stores I never dig into my pockets for the correct change instead emptied my pockets into a jar on the bureau when I get home.

If you have a mortgage especially a new one, pay more than the minimum each month. It will take months if not years off the payoff period and save you thousands of dollars. Even $10 more a month will make big difference over the long haul. The banks hate this. It must be good....right? Just make sure you don't have a prepayment penalty.

Sell that stuff in the garage, closet or attic that you haven't used in 2 years on Craigslist, I find this puts extra cash in my wallet for my needed items. If you see something on Craigslist that is ridiculously cheap, buy it and resell it. This is a good source of funds also, especially if it just needs to be cleaned up.

Do you really need to buy Starbucks coffee or bottled water? Both of which cost more per gallon than gasoline. I had a buddy at work that bought a Starbucks coffee everyday for about $3. Multiply that times 300 days=$900 a year! Yet he complained that he could just not save enough for a down payment on a house.

Brown bag your lunches.

I think it is the small items that keep many from saving and usually not even aware of it.

 Saving money is about spending money on things you really don't NEED! Unless of course it an asset or staple.

James Freyr wrote:My wife puts a five dollar bill in a jar once a week, as one of her ways to save. Something I do that I guess could be passive saving, is I try to pay for as much as I can with cash, and the change goes in a jar at the end of the day. I have many coin jars, and after a few years when they're all full, I take them to my bank where they have a coin counting machine with no fee since I have a checking account with them. It's fun, cause the last time I took my jars to the bank, I had a little over $700 which was a nice bonus that I didn't "have" the day before.

Another way that I guess could be considered saving, is this year I've really been conscious of what I buy. Standing in the grocery store for example, I'll see something, think "man that sounds good. wait!! do I really need it? no." and I don't buy it. That, and also taking the time to shop for the lowest price. Since actively practicing this, I really notice how much I don't buy. That started with my attempt to be less of a consumer, and I've really come to like not buying stuff. It's almost a game now.

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I have saved coins by denomination in used RX bottles.  I have to save all of our quarters for purchasing water that we haul, but have saved dimes and nickels in different bottles, pennies are saved too.  Unfortunately, I have never saved long enough to go to the bank to cash in at coin machine, because we have run short of money between paydays and I've never been too proud to go into a store and pay with a bunch of nickels or dimes when I've had to.  Of course, these have been only dire necessities of a few dollars worth of coins at a time.  

I am very good about only buying things that I really, really need, but my husband "needs Pepsi and he drinks A LOT, and he needs snacks out of bags."  I have tried to change that for 43 years.  He did quit cigarettes and he did quit beer, but maybe I can get him to at least cut down on the Pepsi and junk food.  Many times I go without a meal a day because we are short on grocery money between paydays.  I call it fasting.  haha

I had $27 left after paying cash for groceries today and have enough of everything (I hope) to get by until the next payday.  I will cut back as much as I can and sock that cash away in my hidey-hole.  My goal has been to save $100 out of my pay (once per month) and $200 out of his pay (once per month) and give him $100 to spend on whatever he needs, including snack stuff.  Maybe that will open his eyes that we have spent way too much on junk food for him.  He always needs to get something at Home Depot for his projects, which is just something for him to do.  However, 90% of his projects are things that we have been planning in the long-terms goals, but he wants to do it now because he gets bored if not constantly working.  So I finally said spend your $100 on whatever you want and/or need and stay out of our grocery cash, which he has just agreed to.  Maybe he will come around, maybe not,  but at least if I can save the $300 per months plus a few bucks here and there left from grocery cash, it will all add up.  First is the $1000 cash for emergencies, and then start on a CD ladder in $2500 increments for savings.

By the way, I have my junk food fix, but as far as I'm concerned, not considered junk food, and that is either pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.  I spend maybe $4 per month because it takes forever to eat them when from the shell, and I don't eat them but about 3 times per week or so.

Jarret Hynd wrote:



Grocery bills are usually the best place to start, though I don't want to turn this topic into that subject as there are 100's of sites on the web for it. But you know: the whole save up to buy in bulk = more saving to buy more bulk etc. Food is something you always need, so this is very low risk and worthwhile. As a tip, see how much water you are buying with your purchases when at the store. You can make 3-4x more tomato sauce from the same sized can of tomato paste - something I learned quickly out of highschool.

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I use a calculator when shopping, grocery or otherwise, and shop the loss leaders at Safeway and Frys for the bargains and plan meals around what's on sale.  I cook from scratch 90% of the time.  I shop at $Tree, and [Heaven Forbid] Walmart when I have to.  I have always tried to watch spending on groceries, but I don't only buy for me and my husband likes sodas and snacks.  I drink water and spend maybe $4 on sunflower or pumpkin seeds.  We have grown pumpkin and sunflowers in the past, but we are in high desert now and it is very arid, only get monsoon season and sometimes that is pretty dry.  I pay cash for groceries and dry goods, and actually had $27 left over this time, so that goes into the savings start.

I strongly recommend that, if at all possible, you make an automatic withdrawal from your paycheck (assuming of course you get one) and put it in a good, low-load mutual fund.  I have one going to Vanguard, it averages 13.9% a year.  If you never get the money and carry on like it doesn't exist, you will have a very happy surprise someday.  I find that expenditures usually rise to meet income, so take some out before you ever see it.  Compound interest is a very powerful thing.  If you don't get a regular "paycheck", make a deal with yourself that a certain percentage of any money you get goes into the fund and stick to it.  Most people find that they can put that percentage away without impacting their lifestyle, you just have to treat it as a bill that has to be paid.

I just checked my account so I was sure of the numbers.  This is the fund: VFIAX  Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares    5 Year return = 15.71%  This year = 22%  Fee is .04%

Todd Parr wrote:I strongly recommend that, if at all possible, you make an automatic withdrawal from your paycheck (assuming of course you get one) and put it in a good, low-load mutual fund.  I have one going to Vanguard, it averages 13.9% a year.  If you never get the money and carry on like it doesn't exist, you will have a very happy surprise someday.  I find that expenditures usually rise to meet income, so take some out before you ever see it.  Compound interest is a very powerful thing.  If you don't get a regular "paycheck", make a deal with yourself that a certain percentage of any money you get goes into the fund and stick to it.  Most people find that they can put that percentage away without impacting their lifestyle, you just have to treat it as a bill that has to be paid.

I just checked my account so I was sure of the numbers.  This is the fund: VFIAX  Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares    5 Year return = 15.71%  This year = 22%  Fee is .04%

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I can set up auto withdrawal from my checking acct, but no paycheck.  I used to belong to an investment club, maybe I will start fund in January since right now only have $27 to start with.


Thanks to all suggestions.  You are a great bunch of people!

The problem is that most people don't have enough money for savings. I would have a look at the bigger bills and what can be safed away. Some people still have cable TV, or the phone all these big bills is there anything you could safe on? Otherwise the tin.

Being self employed I have to save for taxes, now taxes are 48% after the tiny allowance, so I put 50% of all earnings to one side, when it comes time to pay tax I have a little more in the account than I need, so savings! We also have jars of change lying around.

Todd Parr has correct idea of selecting a good mutual fund and a low cost fund too.

Create a spreadsheet.  
List every item that takes out money in a month.  
Then do the same for all your income.  

Hopefully your better off with most people live pay check to pay check, if you cut there income for two weeks they are toast.

Todd Parr wrote:I find that expenditures usually rise to meet income, so take some out before you ever see it.  

I agree wholeheartedly.  I always tell the new hires to immediately set up their 401k to take 10-15% of their pay out.  They will never notice if it starts at the beginning of their career and they get used to it.  

Advertisers, friends, frienemies, social media, kids, neighbors and many others conspire to get you to spend money on things you don't really need.  A silly thing like bringing lunch to work instead of hitting the fairly affordable cafeteria saves me $5 a day.  My coworkers snickered a bit but when I did the math for them, their $1200 a year lunch habit didn't look quite as smart.  Whether it's fancy coffee, subscriptions to services you don't really use or need, hitting the nightclub or buying pretty shoes, evaluating if you really need it or if you're doing it just to fit in or "keep up with the Jones's" can help you save a ton of cash.

My wife introduced me to budgeting.  It really helped.  We track every expense in Excel in a number of spending categories. Paychecks are distributed among them.  We know exactly how much money we have for hobbies, trips, taxes, fun or repairs at any given time.  Saving up for annual expenses (property taxes) or decadely expenses (cars) happens automatically in the spreadsheet.  It keeps us (me) from saying "Gee, we have $5000 saved up, let's go to Vegas".  When $500 of that is for taxes and $3000 is building up to buy a car in 5 years, the war chest looks more barren and I just treat myself to a new drill bit instead.

Tactical places to put the money for us is usually checking accounts and investment vehicles (401k, Roth IRAs, etc).  For those who think savings accounts and CDs are low interest and not worth it, be sure to shop around.  Our local bank offers 3% interest on checking accounts if you jump through a few hoops.  We have an online bank that pays 1.25% interest.  Granted that's not nearly as good as Todd's mutual fund but it's FDIC insured and a perfect place to "save" while you prepare to "invest".

My wife and i had a plan to pay off our house in less than 5 years. I work in maintenance for 18/hr and she managed a kitchen for around 15/ hr. I work 40,  she 35ish. Our house is a fixer upper on an acre bought from an inheritter after a death. We have lived here for two years but i have worked like mad gutting many rooms and renovating not to mention the sheep hut and chicken coop. It was bought  for 130,000 usd. We had 10k downpayment, but have already payed off 40k more.

We are frugal. Most of our furniture has come from tenants that discard their stuff after moving. I have made a few very nice tables from scrap wood from work. I have even made lamps, and a medicine cabinet. I only use hand tools and buy them used. Usually all beat up from ebay or an antique store or flea market.

I get tons of free logs and woodchips from a local tree service.
We cook most all of our meals.
We dont eat meat every meal.
We dont have tv.
I only use a work flip phone i dont pay for.
She uses a very old smart phone. She doesnt use a lot of data ( no videos) and we share a plan.
We dont have the internet.
We use a cost sharing inurance plan.
We buy clothes from thrift stores.
We play music and games and craft for fun.
We bought our vehicles in cash second hand.
We have no credit card debt.
We have payed off school loans.

We just had our first baby a week ago, so im really trying to think how we can make money from home or being a personal contractor. Im college educated, but i cant stand being around most people that are. I work with highschool grads and illegal latinos every day. My spanish has dramatically improved.

Ps. When both working, we saved 2,500 or more a month

Thats with 250 in materials to fix up the house.

Our budget is

80 heat (more in winter months but spread through year)
80 electric
300 gas
300 food
25 phone
250 fix up house
250 car maintenance
850 mortgage
42 car insurance
240 health insurance
100 misc.

We have around 20,000 in the bank for emergencies.

Riding a bike to work, cooking everything I eat, checking the discount bins and foraging.

We live by the sales at the grocery store where my husband works, and the discount shelf of course.  We always ask ourselves "Do I need this today, or could I wait a week?", ways to put off purchases.  When we have extra we try and set it aside in savings, whether in the bank or the safe.  We have gotten okay at saving up for goals.  What we struggle with is saving up for savings, like without a goal in mind but just for the purpose of saving.  My husband has a lunchbox so he can take lunch to work at least some of the time, My gardening mostly consists of free seeds I obtain, only occasionally do I spend money on the process, We go on trips with friends and family so as to cut costs but still go on trips, and they all know they can come here to stay for a trip.  We go to trade blankets/barter circles, etc.  We eat out way less than we used to, though we still do it some because we love it.  We do inexpensive things, like having friends over instead of meeting them out and about, lots of swimming in the river at the free local swim parks instead of state parks with a cost, etc.

There are some good responses here so far. Know where your money is going. Stop buying stuff you don't need. Try to need less stuff. Find cheaper ways to get what you do need. We are big on making sure lots of our money goes directly to savings, in a variety of places, before it ever hits our checking account.

I guess another thing worth mentioning is, if you're trying to save money, it helps to get more money in the first place. When I was younger (in my teens and 20s) and needed a job, I went around to places like grocery stores and filled out applications. This usually resulted in me getting a crappy job I hated going to that paid very little, which I rarely kept as long as a year.

The other stupid thing I did was go to college to start a career that didn't require a college degree, in an industry where labor supply far outpaced labor demand--i.e. there were always lots of people competing for a small number of jobs. So I was often filling out applications at the grocery store even though I had a college degree. Plus now I have college debt to pay down.

If I could go back in time I would have told my younger self to do what I did last year, which is to decide on a trade and then go be an apprentice to a tradesman. You can find a tradesman the same way you would find someone to fix something in your house. If you present yourself professionally and show up on time when you meet them and demonstrate any mechanical aptitude at all, you will likely be hired on the spot. ("Good help is hard to find" is something I hear all the time.) There's a bit of luck required to not end up working for someone who's a jerk, but there are usually enough tradesmen around that I bet if you get a bad feeling about the first one you interview with you can easily find another. If you ever hired someone to fix something in your house and got a good feeling about them, I'd say call that person up and start there. Even if that person doesn't want an apprentice, I bet he or she knows someone who does; good people tend to network together.

Even as a first-day apprentice you would likely already be making more than you'd make cashiering at a grocery store, while doing something much more interesting and useful (not to mention fun), and which puts you on a path to earn a lot more money in the not-too-distant future. The trades teach a set of skills that make you incredibly valuable, as opposed to a lot of other careers that teach skills which are only useful in a very narrow way. Often within 5-10 years in the trades you can reach a 6-figure earning potential. (Thus I know some 23 year-old electricians with paid-off houses and car collections.)

It's a lot easier to save money when you have more of it.

Riona Abhainn wrote: What we struggle with is saving up for savings, like without a goal in mind but just for the purpose of saving...

Might it work to call it, 'your retirement fund' or 'your emergency fund'? Possibly even your, 'decide where you want to be in 10 years' fund?

I agree - saving generally is easier with a goal and so is life in general. I would find myself just floating through life if I didn't find some interest that qualified as a "goal" of some sort. It could be taking a course or learning a new skill - it didn't need to be something solid like buying a house.

It helped that I was raised by a father who felt strongly about saving for retirement. I see too many people in our local city who are genuinely worried that their money will run out before their lifespan.

What helped me the most was Dave Ramsey's Envelope Method.

I never could follow a budget so the Envelope Method helped me see where my money was going and how much I had left over to put into saving.

Dave Ramsey also helped us become debt free (except for a mortgage).

I could easily pay off the mortgage though dear hubby wants to keep it as an Estate Strategy (that I cant go there for personal reasons).

https://permies.com/t/133420/budget-tips

https://permies.com/t/179451/Dave-Ramsey-Total-Money-Makeover  

The fastest way to save a ton of money is to remember the simple facts of life...if mankind used to get along fine without it than you can still get along without it today. I typically spend $4,000-5,000 per year, all expenses included, including almost $1300 for property taxes.

You say, how the heck do you do it...

I'm single, no honey-do projects or honey to have to spend money on.

I live by myself in a 450 square foot house. Not much repair expenses to do on a small structure like that. Not many things you can buy to put in a small house like that, there is nowhere to put any useless garbage in such a small house.

I have no car.

I do not have landline or cellphone. I have no phone bill, either landline or cell.

I do not have internet access at my house, i use free wifi.

I do not a have tell-a-vision, so they can PROGRAM my mind. I have no satellite or cable bill.

I belong to no organizations and don't subscribe to any magazines/newspapers.

I do not consume electricity for items I don't need in the first place.

I'm 52 years old and I have been unemployed most of my life. Not because I'm super rich, but rather because I realize if I don't spend it, I don't have to make it. If I don't have to make it, than I can have all the free time to do things I would much rather off be doing rather than being a slave to society. Freedom is free, slavery costs money. Anytime you spend money, you are a slave, you had to get the money before you could spend it.

You can't take it with you when you die...you can try, but you can't control it from the grave either, so what's the point. Everything is meaningless, its a chasing after the sun...you'll never get there, you'll just burn up trying.

Hank Fletcher wrote:The fastest way to save a ton of money is to remember the simple facts of life...if mankind used to get along fine without it than you can still get along without it today. I typically spend $4,000-5,000 per year, all expenses included, including almost $1300 for property taxes.

You say, how the heck do you do it...

I'm single, no honey-do projects or honey to have to spend money on.

I live by myself in a 450 square foot house. Not much repair expenses to do on a small structure like that. Not many things you can buy to put in a small house like that, there is nowhere to put any useless garbage in such a small house.

I have no car.

I do not have landline or cellphone. I have no phone bill, either landline or cell.

I do not have internet access at my house, i use free wifi.

I do not a have tell-a-vision, so they can PROGRAM my mind. I have no satellite or cable bill.

I belong to no organizations and don't subscribe to any magazines/newspapers.

I do not consume electricity for items I don't need in the first place.

I'm 52 years old and I have been unemployed most of my life. Not because I'm super rich, but rather because I realize if I don't spend it, I don't have to make it. If I don't have to make it, than I can have all the free time to do things I would much rather off be doing rather than being a slave to society. Freedom is free, slavery costs money. Anytime you spend money, you are a slave, you had to get the money before you could spend it.

You can't take it with you when you die...you can try, but you can't control it from the grave either, so what's the point. Everything is meaningless, its a chasing after the sun...you'll never get there, you'll just burn up trying.

I've always admired and been in awe of people who live like you do; it resonates deeply with a big part of me. I feel that in an alternative universe I could easily have wound up doing this also.

I do wonder though, whether this is a good way to live in general, or a commendable "phase" or "period" in a "life well lived". For instance, without a significant other and kids, who takes care of you when you're too sick and/or old to care for yourself?

Hopefully it won't be too long before you're back at the library or wherever you're getting your free internet-connected computing so you can enlighten me...

By the way I also have some "how the heck do you do it" questions, stuff I'm just curious about:

- It wasn't clear whether you are unemployed right now, but if you are, you do have several thousand dollars in expenses per year, so how do you earn the money for those? Even a small house will have things that need to be replaced/maintained...plus you gotta eat, etc...And what if your friends want to go out and do something that costs money, do you have to rely on one of them to spot you? Or do you have a big cache of savings to draw on, or...?

- Being unemployed, how do you pass your days, how do you learn and grow? (Not that I doubt you, I just wonder what is your particular means of doing so.) Do you read books? Do you do anything creative?

- How did you acquire the land on which your small house sits, and did you have any trouble building the house itself? (Some places will not let you occupy or in some cases even build a structure if it is below a certain square footage, or if it lacks certain amenities.)

- Lastly, are you familiar with the "Chappy" character from King of the Hill? I'm guessing not, but that's a shame!

Ned Harr wrote:I do wonder though, whether this is a good way to live in general, or a commendable "phase" or "period" in a "life well lived". For instance, without a significant other and kids, who takes care of you when you're too sick and/or old to care for yourself?

Hopefully it won't be too long before you're back at the library or wherever you're getting your free internet-connected computing so you can enlighten me...

By the way I also have some "how the heck do you do it" questions, stuff I'm just curious about:

- It wasn't clear whether you are unemployed right now, but if you are, you do have several thousand dollars in expenses per year, so how do you earn the money for those? Even a small house will have things that need to be replaced/maintained...plus you gotta eat, etc...And what if your friends want to go out and do something that costs money, do you have to rely on one of them to spot you? Or do you have a big cache of savings to draw on, or...?

- Being unemployed, how do you pass your days, how do you learn and grow? (Not that I doubt you, I just wonder what is your particular means of doing so.) Do you read books? Do you do anything creative?

- How did you acquire the land on which your small house sits, and did you have any trouble building the house itself? (Some places will not let you occupy or in some cases even build a structure if it is below a certain square footage, or if it lacks certain amenities.)

- Lastly, are you familiar with the "Chappy" character from King of the Hill? I'm guessing not, but that's a shame!

There is a thing called friends. Yes, thanks to my childhood, I do think about that now. Most of my life, like since 6th grade in school I have only hung out with people who are 20+ years older than me. Yes, they are dying off, so I do realize what is meant by the term TROUBLE, err, trouble is brewing.

One thing you really learn how to do is to not follow the crowd. I had basically no friends growing up. I never fought back, so everyone took advantage of me and I ended up getting badly bullied as a kid. As a result of that combined with, just last year figured out I was also neglected at home, I come to the simple understanding if I wanted to get along in the life and not get taken advantage of, there was a simple solution, stay the heck away from people. Sure I go out to the libraries to get online, but unless someone talks to me, I don't talk to anyone. So I have few friends and they are all older than me. Actually since the end of 2019 I spent a fair amount of time helping them with health issues, hence why I started coming to understand that I'm not getting any younger.

You learn to be innovative by not following the crowd and having to rely on yourself. Over a decade ago I broke my leg. I only had the bicycle for getting around, plus a couple of friends. They helped out with getting the doctor office but otherwise I come to realize, if an amputee can ride a bicycle, damn it, so can I. I had a homemade rack on the back that I made big enough so I could lay a full size daypack on it without anything overhanging off the rack. After getting fed up with not being sick and more importantly not being tired I knew I had to do something other lay around home all day long. I figured out how I could mount the crutches to the bike and I found I could put the broken leg up on the rack to keep it out of the way. I ended up riding almost 500 miles one legged while still in the cast. You don't have to let the small things stand in your way, you just have to learn how to think outside the box. Again, don't follow the crowd.

I do have some farmland that generates around the same 4000-5000 annually so I can use the money from it to pay my way each year. I had a house I sold in the midwest when I moved up here to NH and bought my place up here for less than I sold the house for back in the midwest. The property already had the house on it(built in the 1950s). I knew when I moved up here I wanted to buy something that not only I could pay cash for but also something that wouldn't leave me paying out massive property tax bill each year. I knew by buying a small house I wouldn't have much in the way property taxes, repairs, or making it look like its being lived in. I just bought smart. People don't need all the garbage they have. If they first got rid of the tell-a-vision, and stopped wasting time on social media, they could easily save themselves massive amounts of money as they wouldn't have any reason to buy all the unnecessary items that clutter up their house. Now by not having all the items, they would quickly find they didn't need such a large house. Now they move into a more reasonable sized house the process can repeat itself again, and again and again. You get down to where you don't need anything any longer. I hardly buy anything other than food anymore. I have no reason for it. I don't want it, I don't have the space for it, so why buy it?

I have come to learn to listen to what interests me. I hop online and download videos to teach myself how to do it. The craziest thing 1.5 years ago was wood turning. I got a freebie lathe from a friend of mine who didn't want it anymore. I downloaded videos and followed along. I taught myself a good chunk of the way through learning how to turn wood. If you want to teach yourself anything, you can teach it to yourself quite easily anymore by hopping on the internet and downloading videos.

Sure I have 24 hours a day of free time, does it mean I tons of FREE time, NO. I typically never have enough time available to get everything done I would like to get accomplished each day. I have no trouble keeping myself busy. I have learnt that if I don't have to follow the crowd, I don't have to do things the way the crowd does them. I don't have to get from point A to point B by automobile. I'm not in a major rush to get there so I don't have to have the car or the car expenses. By not having the car expenses, it cut my annual expenses by close to 50%. It meant I didn't need to have the job which eats up tons of time each day between getting to and from work but also Slaving Nine to Five(what a crummy way to make a living). By not doing things the way everyone else does them I can 'black' rig things instead of doing them the standard way. Most things when I do it is not done using standard tools, standard materials, or standard methods. I make up my own system and try to get it so I can do it for nothing. I try to use what I already have laying around not being used for something else and 'black' rig it up so I can get the items to do what I want them to do. Staying busy isn't difficult, even if you have all the time in the world and don't have someone sitting beside you giving you honey do projects. Everybody wants to make you think that if you had all the time the world you would go crazy. Remember what happens when you retire. You never retire, you only find yourself doing more things, having less time then you had while you were still working. I know of a man who sold both businesses he used to own, a bicycle shop and car dealership. His wife died in between selling both businesses. He has less time now then what he used to have while married and owning both businesses. He is always busy helping other people out. I volunteer a couple of days a week at the local Makerspace(I don't do anything there other than volunteer, got involved due the guy mentioned above, he needed some help in the Makerspace and I was living with him at the time, helping him recover after knee replacement surgery and as he was rehabbing the now vacant bicycle shop, the only way I could go in was to become a member, the offer was there for doing it volunteer style so I jumped on it and have volunteering there for over two years now, it has helped me with bigtime my so called introvertedness).

Doing more with less is quite easy, you just have to want to do it badly enough to make it happen. Sure I'm not permaculture kind of person. In some cases I am, but in the standard sense of things I'm not. Yeah, the property I own limits me quite nicely since it is most junk ground, the only things I can grow are stuff I'm not suppose to even try to grow, like avocados. Anything else and the ground needs massive overhaul. Heck a nice part of the yard is nothing but bog thanks to the high water table around my place.

Biggest bit of advice I can give, don't listen to what everyone tells you. They tell you that crazy stuff to scare you off and make you not even want to try to change. They want to keep you doing the same thing as long as they possibly can. Go out and spend some time in nature, aka go a long hike, two week minimum. Get out in nature and stay out there for a while and see for yourself that you don't need much in the way of anything other than food and water. It will shift the way you think massively. My AT thruhike in the late 90s helped show me how little I really need.

Before the age of instant banking, ATMs and plastic spending, I had a check register. And like everyone everywhere with a checkings account received the monthly bank statement.

Unfortunately, being deslyix, I am not good at math. (Deslyics of the world UNTIE!)

I could never reconcile my register with the bank statement. But I KNeW MY register was RIGHT, I still have checks!

This broke my accountant Mother's number crunching heart. Then, Dad suggested that I round up the check entries.

And The World Changed.  He said at the end of the month put the difference between the bank and the register into the savings account.  

He also confirmed that the bank was very likely right.

I still do this. Not the rounding up, but putting whatever is left over at the end of the month in savings. Having emergency savings is important and a huge stress reducer.

Having a budget is really important. But don't try to account for every penny (round up!). Plan on saving. This used to be called paying yourself first. Put it in your budget.

If you are still on grid, see if the electric company offers budget billing. This gives you a bill you can plan on.

Turn off lights
Insulate to reduce heat and cooling costs.
Wear more clothes in full winter. Turn the thermostat down.
Raise the AC in the summer. I live in the deep south, wearing less clothes in the full summer is likely illegal. At least outside...
Always run a full load of wash. And if you buy laundry soap, buy powder. And use less soap.
I buy ammonia to sanitize laundry.
Line dry your clothes if you can. Indoors or outside clothes lines are handy. I hang bath towels and when almost dry put them in the dryer. I like fluffy towels. Same with jeans.
Dont waste leftovers. Consider cooking a roast for Sunday and using it in different ways through the week for dinners. Meatloaf to spaghetti to chili, to pizza.
Convince is expensive. Time is valuable. If you have more time than money, make it. Even if you don't, make it. Good health is valuable. Hand made is joyous.
Check for free activities offered by library or parks department. The parks department here has free movie nights. Civics organizations often have fun things to do for free.
Borrow before you buy. Or rent before you buy. This is a great way to get a job done AND figure out if that 'thing' is as great as you thought it would be.
Double and triple check prices. I have an instant cart account. I don't order. But I can search for a item to see what store has the best price.
Keep a price book for shipping. This book helps you to really know if the sale price is really a markdown. Start with listing 3 things you always buy. My 3 are Milk, butter, coffee. Jot down the cost every time you buy. You'll see the buy cycle patterns after a few weeks.

I have a lot more strategies, but I may run out of "posting" room. So I will end here