Is it a possibility to live off 23K a year and still manage to save?
I'm needing inspiration from other people who have lived on minimal income with a family? Frugal ideas? Ways to minimise on spending, overspending and living a minimal life to little to no wastage?
I'm a university FT student and only work PT. My child goes to high school.
Things I'm doing now to cut costs:
1. Monthly food budget/plan - ATM trialing a 3-month food budget and plan, 3 weeks in - going well.
- Buy at Costco in bulk (only if it works out cheaper there and not elsewhere).
- Only buy meat on sale/cheap ete (butcher, Costco, Woolies, Coles etc)
- Have a set budget and stick to it (cash, no card)
- Make food from scratch - not in packaging,
- Buy fruit and veg in season, & frozen veg for stock up.
2. Frozen meals - Deep chest freezer:
- I make all the food (dinners & snacks) from scratch and freeze them in meal size portions.
- Clean and cut fresh fruit and veg for freezer
- Buy milk & bread in bulk
- Make pastries & cakes - freeze them.
3. Instead of outing activities like movies, take away etc
- our splurge is both Netflix & Stan is a rough $5 together per week.
- Fakeaway - we recreate our favorite takeaway meal at home for the fraction of the price.
4. Pay bills in advance: (In separate account)
- $100 a week for Personal Loan (additional $15 included)
- $30 a week for Rego, Insurance + Car maintenance.
- $20 a week for Electricity + $15 a week for Gas.
- $10 a week for Contents insurance.
- $13 a week for Internet/phone bundle.
- $10 a week for mobile prepaid (2x mobiles)
- $20 a week for Go-Cards (2x)
- $12 a week for fuel (fill up tank every 3-weeks)
After bills, I feel like I'm left with nothing. What else can I do to make my money stretch further?
Also to add, I know I've got a really good deal with my car insurance being it's only $480 full comp + unlimited window replacement for the year. And with my concession card, Rego, Electricity & gas I get a percentage off. Contents insurance I'm iffy about - I'm with Suncorp and pay $46.59 each month and covers 42k of stuff, I'm too scared to change as they have done things so quickly in the past + now charge me more due to relocating into a house, oppose to a full secured unit previously.
I thought about having our own veggie/fruit garden - but have no idea where to start, and how to do it on the cheap side. Looking for suggested ideas? And contemplating having chickens? Worm farm - for fertiliser? Compost? etc === Are these ideas at all going to be helpful in the future? I get that most great ideas stem from spending something to create a lifelong produce. Anything is helpful at this stage :)
What is your money saving tips? Frugal ideas? Do you make your own washing powder./cleaning products? if so how and have you found it was financially better off doing it that way then buying it at the shops? - We're a sensitive skin family (everything is more expensive). I have Pinterest and LOVE it but looking for personal experiences.
Looking forward to what others suggest, open for suggestions and ideas :) TIA
6 Replies
We grow our own food. We have citrus and pear trees, we grow herbs that we use a lot of and also veggies we use a lot of. Things like celery, spring onions etc can be grown from off cuts of store bought. We grow celery, lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions, capsicums but it varies season to season.
On the chickens it depends on how many eggs you use in a week. We only buy 1/2 a dozen and will last us a fortnight so cost/benefit isn't worth the set up and waiting for them to get old enough that they lay a few eggs, you've also got to take into the cost of a coup and vet costs.
On the vegetable garden, there are heaps of YouTube videos. Think about what you use in cooking and research those. I grow a lot and I started with no knowledge and known pot plant killer.
Yes it is possible, for me I didnt get into the whole sustainable living thing. I found very cheap rent in a place I liked to live & had no other expenses so we were fine. Home cooking & not a lot of meat. We grow a few things Im no green thumb but it all helps.alternatively to that you could find the free food places and stock up. A van used to come around & I would grab bread and baked goods and fruit and veggies probably $50 I dont have to spend and an extra four days before I need to go to shops.
my biggest tip is simplify your life & bills. Cut off internet and use the library. But if you have it, delete allthe pages that sell things or show products others have bought or made. It just makes you get ideas. The goal is to stay away from shops, permanently, except op shops -use them for everything!
Do you have spare room you could rent to another student?
Definitely shop around for a better contents insurance deal, we were with Suncorp until they tried to put our insurance up in 2011 because we are in a flood area, despite the fact we didn't flood nor claim. Now with RACQ and I pay about twice your premium for house and contents.
Veg/fruit/herbs are great and easy, get cuttings or seeds from people you know. Start a compost heaps and grow stuff just to compost it, cheap leafy stuff and the most efficient I've found is just a pile of compost in the backyard, compost bin was a waste of money, compost tumbler the same. There's a lot you can grow in pots so start searching for some giveaway pots and raid earthworks sites to see if you can grab a few buckets of left over soil. Seaweed is a god send and Bunnings have a concentrated one for about $10 which lasts me a year. I also use molasses at $4 per milk bottle from the produce, also when mixed with the seaweed lasts me a year. I grow herbs in bulk while they're in season and I harvest my whole crop and freeze it in clip seal bags :) Other than that I grow some of the more expensive stuff that are easy to grow, leeks, beetroot, button squash, eggplant etc. I tried kale and cabbage but every time get bloody grubs!!!! Slowly build up to collecting materials (free pallets?) to make your garden beds. Worm farms sometimes come up for free on BSS sites so keep your eyes peeled, or even advertise you're looking for one. I love having chickens but it's not actually cheap, I know my two are spoilt (I call them my bitches) but between grain/pellets (which isn't cheap unless you buy it by the tonne haha), the coop (a few hundred for something big enough for them to be comfortable with an added fresh air run, secure enough to protect them from dogs/cats/snakes and to provide adequate shelter), the worming and spraying to control pests and the fact they don't always put out (if you know what I mean) and the constant destruction of my chilli garden bed means there's a fair bit of time my eggs are actually very bloody expensive, lucky I like them haha. If you know someone with a few chickens can you swap your scraps for eggs while you think that one over? And maybe collect some poo, it's too high in nitrogen to use straight but chuck a little bit in your compost.
My favourite cleaning stuff is bicarb and vinegar, I use a lot of commercial cleaners but it's still these I go back to for stubborn stuff. Steam mops are good too, I have the Kmart one at the moment and it's doing the job.
Spray with peppermint oil to help repel pests from the house and leave it smelling nice. I actually add it to the steam mop but they do say not to, shhh.
For your buying in bulk, look to factories, outlets and who you know. I work in the meat industry and we used to sell direct to anyone that got off their ass and drove out to pick it up, that has changed for us but there might be others that still do it. Then there's discount butchers that have low prices if you buy the box (ie 99c/kg drumsticks when you buy the 10kg box), the Primo outlet in Brisbane has specials from the factory across the road and If you know someone who works somewhere handy you can cash in on their employee discount, I just shared a 24kg box of bulk Porterhouse with a friend that was $10kg!
Lastly, don't miss out on real outtings. Depending on where you are pack your own food and water and go to the beach, botanic gardens etc. If there's a paid concert at the botanic gardens you can sit near it for a picnic and listen :) Camp in a cheap tent (see if someone is giving one away if you don't have one) in the back yard, or at a local free camp site (we have heaps here), check out what the PCYC is doing for teen friendly entertainment.
If the $100 a week for that personal loan is due to stretch on for a while I'd be looking at everything I could for some additional income (cleaning, babysitting etc) to pay it down faster, once it's out of the way and you can save the $100 for emergencies you'll be in a much better position to make this work.
Thank you so much for your advice and answering all my questions ?