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What are your tips for living frugally?
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That'll be my net income, but when I took this poosition, I did it totally understanding that I'd be dipping into my savings
Right now my savings are about $20k cash...
I also have equity across two rental properties back in Texas (under management)
Yeah. I think transit costs are pretty set in stone.
$48 for 20 PATH round-trips
$76 for unlimited subway pass
Muse
Lifer
Me, I do it at Costco:
Beans in #25 bags, pintos, cheap! I have a pot boiling right now...
Rice: also #25 bags, high quality US grown long grain white.
Flour: I get the #50 bags, bread flour. It's white, high protein. You can use it for anything requiring white flour. When I bake bread, I add maybe 15% WW flour I get at a local market that has a lot of bulk items.
Muse
Lifer
I used to hit the out-door markets, but around here now they are way expensive. I get much better prices at one or two local markets that specialize in produce. For other stuff, shop around. One rule of thumb when you want to live frugally is that there's no source you can depend on. It varies a lot, but any store will have uncompetitive prices for a lot of their stuff when you look at the big picture, i.e. what other sources are charging. So, the point is you have to always look at the tag before buying.
I've heard that Costco's not the best place to buy produce. Most of their produce isn't all that competitively priced, anyway, and I heard that the growing practices can be suspect. I have a favorite local market I get almost all of my produce.
As noted earlier in this thread, Chinatown can be a great source for bargains. I'd imagine that any Chinatown that doesn't cater to tourists is a frugal person's paradise. There too, compare prices!
GasX
Lifer
There are three main things you can control regarding spending
1. food
Don't eat out. Live off staples and left overs. Rice and beans are now your best friend.. If you want something different, use the green hot sauce instead of the red hot sauce. If you really need a change, have some ramen noodles. cook a roast on Sunday and use it as your meat for the week. Learn to be creative in cooking leftovers. Don't expect to see Starbucks again for a year.
2. entertainment
The library is free
Listening to the radio is free
Walks and bike rides are free
A condom costs $1
Night train is cheap... 😛
3. Monthly incidentals
No cable tv
No netflix
No internet (go to the library)
turn the AC off and the heat down
turn off the lights in rooms you aren't in
don't walk around with credit cards in your wallet
buy clothes at the thrift store
Have a good year and try to make a game of living frugally. It will be a lot easier than trying to live as large as you can on a limited budget.
1. food
Don't eat out. Live off staples and left overs. Rice and beans are now your best friend.. If you want something different, use the green hot sauce instead of the red hot sauce. If you really need a change, have some ramen noodles. cook a roast on Sunday and use it as your meat for the week. Learn to be creative in cooking leftovers. Don't expect to see Starbucks again for a year.
2. entertainment
The library is free
Listening to the radio is free
Walks and bike rides are free
A condom costs $1
Night train is cheap... 😛
3. Monthly incidentals
No cable tv
No netflix
No internet (go to the library)
turn the AC off and the heat down
turn off the lights in rooms you aren't in
don't walk around with credit cards in your wallet
buy clothes at the thrift store
Have a good year and try to make a game of living frugally. It will be a lot easier than trying to live as large as you can on a limited budget.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
No kidding. That's like saying I'm a n00b. :laugh:
Muse
Lifer
We're talking seriously frugal here, and that's cool. I've never forgotten what a guy said to me once. I'd gone to high school with him and I ran into him one day at the university. He didn't have much money and he said he stayed out of stores so he wouldn't get ideas of things to buy that he really didn't need. 😉 I don't even look at most mailers because they are generally filled with that kind of stuff.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
You can't claim unemployment unless you are looking for work and available to work. Since you will be doing unpaid work you won't be eligible. Of course you could lie but I wouldn't recommend that.
As for cutting expenses, you could always get around by bike. There are many people who bike commute in the NYC area. Check out Bike Forums and click on commuting for some helpful tips.
nanette1985
Diamond Member
Congrats on the volunteering - good for you.
NYC is full of free entertainment. Take advantage of that. Some great stuff happening.
Health care: New York has a free health care plan for the poor, but if you're living in NJ, I think it's only open to kids these days and isn't nearly as good.
Barter works best with alternative providers - help out your local acupuncturist or chiropracter, get free health care. I don't think it would work as well with regular MD's. Chinese medicine has been around a lot longer than US healthcare, try to find someone in that line - and haggle for the best price.
Also, see if you can stock up on medicine you might need while you still have a job and prescription plan - antibiotics, painkiller, allergy, whatever you can think of.
And don't do stupid stuff like jump off buildings for a dare, or try and beat a bus across 42nd street.
Dental I haven't any ideas, except to brush and floss regularly, and get any necessary or preventitive work done while you still have a dental plan.
Exercise: this might be a great time to become an expert on stair-climbing. NYC has lots of stairs. There are groups that climb the stairs in tall buildings. Also, there are all sorts of things like races that you can sign up for and have some fun - and of course, collect t-shirts. You can often haggle the entry fee - and lots of group things have snacks etc. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, Geo. Washington Bridge, etc is one of the great experiences in this world. And so on.
One way to get a good workout is find a gym and ask if you can teach a class, or do some one-on-one coaching, for free, and in return get use of some of the facilities.
Food: Get to know the food pantries and the soup kitchens. I used to volunteer AND eat back when I was in college. Some amazing people there.
Breakfast is the cheapest meal to eat out - look around for specials. Also, look out for coupons, specials, whatever for free food. Let your friends know that you'd appreciate leftovers or food they have around the house that theyre going to throw out when cleaning, or stuff they get for presents that they won't eat. And, find out who's allergic to stuff and take things off their hands.
The chinese restaurant across the street has a takeout bowl of wonton soup for under a dollar, and they throw in those crunchy noodles, cookies and teabag - and if I ask nicely, they'll give me extra noodles, cookies & teabags. Just a hint, find out what the cheapest thing on the menu is at your local spots. And find out what places throw stuff out at the end of the day/night and don't be shy about begging. My local bagel bakery gives away free bagels right before closing, for example. I'm not in NYC, but you can find this stuff anywhere.
And, don't be shy about asking all of us ATOT'ers to invite you to dinner.
The hard part about cooking cheap meals is that you often overdo it on the cheap starch and skimp on the veggies - and that will affect your health. Veggies can get expensive, but you need them. 5 decent servings a day of veg/fruit, that adds up on a weekly basis, but don't let it slide. Also, stock up on vitamins while you still have a job.
And, the traditional way to eat cheap in artsy NYC is to get on lists for openings at art galleries, book parties, movie openings etc. Wine-and-cheese is standard. Sometimes there's a really great spread. Don't be shy about asking people for invites to these things.
I've heard of people doing things like going to funerals for the food - people always get together to eat afterwards - but I've never done it. I suppose if you have a nice suit and can master the "I'm so sorry" expression, you could do well.
Incidentals: some of the greatest marketers in the world are in NYC, so work on your resistance skills. If you truly have zilch in the money line, just get it into your head that you can't buy ANYTHING. You will be tempted!
Check the papers or the online shopping boards, like here, for specials at the drugstores. I have tons of toiletries etc that were free-after-coupon. Some of which I actually use.
It's tough to balance shopping around for the lowest price, and wasting too much time.
Oh, and don't hang out with people who spend a lot of money. There's no way to make that work, unfortunately. Be very clear upfront when people invite you out for dinner or drinks that you have NO money. You'll find out very soon who you can have a good (cheap) time with, and who you can't.
Most of the cheap/free NYC places I knew back when I was a poor musician are gone, so I won't bother with that, but there will always be people enjoying the pleasures of frugality, so you'll be able to find stuff if you try.
Best of luck!
NYC is full of free entertainment. Take advantage of that. Some great stuff happening.
Health care: New York has a free health care plan for the poor, but if you're living in NJ, I think it's only open to kids these days and isn't nearly as good.
Barter works best with alternative providers - help out your local acupuncturist or chiropracter, get free health care. I don't think it would work as well with regular MD's. Chinese medicine has been around a lot longer than US healthcare, try to find someone in that line - and haggle for the best price.
Also, see if you can stock up on medicine you might need while you still have a job and prescription plan - antibiotics, painkiller, allergy, whatever you can think of.
And don't do stupid stuff like jump off buildings for a dare, or try and beat a bus across 42nd street.
Dental I haven't any ideas, except to brush and floss regularly, and get any necessary or preventitive work done while you still have a dental plan.
Exercise: this might be a great time to become an expert on stair-climbing. NYC has lots of stairs. There are groups that climb the stairs in tall buildings. Also, there are all sorts of things like races that you can sign up for and have some fun - and of course, collect t-shirts. You can often haggle the entry fee - and lots of group things have snacks etc. Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, Geo. Washington Bridge, etc is one of the great experiences in this world. And so on.
One way to get a good workout is find a gym and ask if you can teach a class, or do some one-on-one coaching, for free, and in return get use of some of the facilities.
Food: Get to know the food pantries and the soup kitchens. I used to volunteer AND eat back when I was in college. Some amazing people there.
Breakfast is the cheapest meal to eat out - look around for specials. Also, look out for coupons, specials, whatever for free food. Let your friends know that you'd appreciate leftovers or food they have around the house that theyre going to throw out when cleaning, or stuff they get for presents that they won't eat. And, find out who's allergic to stuff and take things off their hands.
The chinese restaurant across the street has a takeout bowl of wonton soup for under a dollar, and they throw in those crunchy noodles, cookies and teabag - and if I ask nicely, they'll give me extra noodles, cookies & teabags. Just a hint, find out what the cheapest thing on the menu is at your local spots. And find out what places throw stuff out at the end of the day/night and don't be shy about begging. My local bagel bakery gives away free bagels right before closing, for example. I'm not in NYC, but you can find this stuff anywhere.
And, don't be shy about asking all of us ATOT'ers to invite you to dinner.
The hard part about cooking cheap meals is that you often overdo it on the cheap starch and skimp on the veggies - and that will affect your health. Veggies can get expensive, but you need them. 5 decent servings a day of veg/fruit, that adds up on a weekly basis, but don't let it slide. Also, stock up on vitamins while you still have a job.
And, the traditional way to eat cheap in artsy NYC is to get on lists for openings at art galleries, book parties, movie openings etc. Wine-and-cheese is standard. Sometimes there's a really great spread. Don't be shy about asking people for invites to these things.
I've heard of people doing things like going to funerals for the food - people always get together to eat afterwards - but I've never done it. I suppose if you have a nice suit and can master the "I'm so sorry" expression, you could do well.
Incidentals: some of the greatest marketers in the world are in NYC, so work on your resistance skills. If you truly have zilch in the money line, just get it into your head that you can't buy ANYTHING. You will be tempted!
Check the papers or the online shopping boards, like here, for specials at the drugstores. I have tons of toiletries etc that were free-after-coupon. Some of which I actually use.
It's tough to balance shopping around for the lowest price, and wasting too much time.
Oh, and don't hang out with people who spend a lot of money. There's no way to make that work, unfortunately. Be very clear upfront when people invite you out for dinner or drinks that you have NO money. You'll find out very soon who you can have a good (cheap) time with, and who you can't.
Most of the cheap/free NYC places I knew back when I was a poor musician are gone, so I won't bother with that, but there will always be people enjoying the pleasures of frugality, so you'll be able to find stuff if you try.
Best of luck!
BarneyFife
Diamond Member
Why would you do this? One thing to volunteer if you are wealthy or do it part time if you are working but you are doing it full time for free. Why? What do you get out of wasting your savings and putting your life on hold for 15 months. God forbid you break a bone and you don't even have health insurance.
JEDI
Lifer
although community volunteering is a noble act, shouldnt u have thought of all this b4 quitting your job?!
you dont get unemployment for quitting.
ehealthinsurance.com for both heath + dental quotes.
i dont think u can survive on $600/month + $20k savings for 15months in NYC?
food-> search for ATOT wheat loaf recipe. 2.5lb loaf for $0.10.
working out:
you're in the Guard. dont they have a gym u can use?
workouts at home: pushups, situps, squat thrusts. that's 3 of 4 major muscle groups. if u have a chin up bar, you got the back.
work part time at Starbucks. you get benefits for working only 20hrs/week.
btw- what the hell r u talking about long time lurker, 1st time poster with 20k posts?! 😕
meltdown75
Lifer
#1 tip for living frugally:
have a sammich
have a sammich
Howdy BarneyFife,
Well, I put a lot of thought into this...Here are some of the reasons and circumstances
Why now?
(1) I'm not in the middle of a career. If I were to try to do this 12 years from now, I would be...right now, opportunity cost is just that I push everything else back one year
(2) I have no real ties to any people or to any place. Later in life, I may have a wife and kids and wouldn't put them through hardship. Right now, I'll be the only one eating beans and rice every night
(3) I have a comfortable-ish amount of savings. Besides the $20k in cash, there's also the less-liquid (but still available in an emergency) $16k in retirement accounts, and $100k+ in home equity
(4) Only get the general opportunity to do this once every four years, and get the specific opportunity even less frequently
Why this?
(5) Continuation of public service
(6) Could potentially open up doors in terms of the experience I'll get and the people I'll get to network with. So besides the altruistic motives, I could potentially benefit concretely in an amount equal to what I'm giving up
thomsbrain
Lifer
Costco.
Stop eating out.
Stop going to movies.
No land line.
No Cable TV.
No Gym.
Don't get sick.
Stop eating out.
Stop going to movies.
No land line.
No Cable TV.
No Gym.
Don't get sick.
Muse
Lifer
I met a guy in the gym who was super buff. He said that for many years he basically stayed in shape by doing tons and tons of pushups and situps... several times a day. His description of it was very impressive. Although I'd always been into fitness and spent many years not going to a gym or doing anything other than some stuff at home, a lot of running and a fair amount of pickup basketball, I was never able to do the sort of pushups and situps he described.
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