My Top 10 Tips for Thrifty Living

Many people are all about the bling.  They love carrying around designer purses and driving shiny new cars.  None of those things are inherently wrong, but they may be unwise depending upon your stage of life.  It’s not wrong to enjoy the fruits of your labor during your latter years, but when you’re just starting out, it is especially important to be responsible with your money.  Most likely, you will one day have children to care for, a house to fix up, cars to repair, and college and retirement to save for.  That being said, most of these hints are aimed at young adults or newly married couples. 

In America today, we live in a very materialistic culture. People want to have the best of the best, even if it means that they have to finance it for a lengthy period of time.  My Bible teacher, David Howe, used to say, “You never finance toys.”  Today, you have the option to finance pretty much everything: houses, cars, phones, furniture, jewelry, etc.  Here’s the problem:  you may be able to afford those things on a monthly basis now, but life changes, and it can happen in the blink of an eye.  Pregnancy, injury, and illness never come when it’s convenient, and will quickly throw one’s life into disarray.  Teach yourself to be patient and wait for what you want to buy.  Make this simple rule for yourself, “If I don’t have the money in the bank right now, then I can’t have it.  I have to save up for it, and buy it when I can pay for it in cash.”

Here are my top 10 tips for saving money:

1. Don’t rack up tens of thousands of dollars in college loans for a worthless degree. 

Don’t get me wrong, some careers require a specialized 4-year degree, and that’s fine, as long as you are dedicated to a particular career path.  However, many young adults will go to a 4-year college with no idea whatsoever about what they want to do for their career. My sneaky trick is to spend your first 2 years at a community college, where you can take your core courses for a fraction of the cost, while you figure out what you would like to do for your career.  Employers don’t care where you started going to college, but rather, where you graduated from.

Most kids will go to a 4-year college simply because they want to leave home.  If that’s the case, then one option could be to go to a community college but get yourself an apartment.  You’ll pay a whole lot less doing that than you would have if you were going to big four-year school, living in a dorm, and paying for a pricey meal plan.  If it means that you have to work and only take a couple of courses at a time, that’s okay too!

Community colleges offer many 2-year degrees that pay as much or more than a 4-year degree anyway!  Which sounds more sensible to you?  Spending 4 years earning a degree that may or may not be useful, and having a large amount of debt once you’re through, or only spending 2 years earning a useful degree with hardly any debt at the end?  I don’t know about you, but plan B sounds a whole lot better to me!

2. Don’t break the bank so that you can have an over-the-top wedding.

One of my foster-brothers married his 18-year-old girlfriend, when he was only 19 himself.  They were happy and in love, and didn’t want to wait.  They found an inexpensive hall to have the reception in, and the caterer served a brunch rather than supper.  The wedding was great, and they were so happy to be married and starting their lives together. 

We also cut corners with our wedding by getting our flowers from a local grocery store, having a friend make our wedding cake inexpensively, buying a budget wedding dress, making our own decorations, and having pink ginger ale rather than champagne for the wedding toast.  It was lovely, and everyone had a great time.

As fun as it is to imagine yourself having the fairy-tale wedding, it’s not worth it if it means that you’re going to start out your married life in debt.  Money troubles are, after all, one of the most commons reason that couples get divorced.  Don’t start out your married life together by setting yourself up for failure. It’s more important to be prepared for the marriage than for the wedding.

3. Don’t buy the biggest, most posh house that you can possibly afford on two incomes.

You may regret it very much when you have a sweet, 6-week-old baby who you have to place in the arms of a stranger every day, simply because you made a 30-year commitment based upon a short-term perspective.  An alternative to this is to decide ahead of time who will be the one to stay home once babies come.  Make sure that your mortgage and other fixed monthly expenses will only add up to 50% of that person’s income.  Don’t try to have the same lifestyle as your parents when you first start out in life.

4. Don’t try to have the same lifestyle as your parents when you first start out in life.

The vast majority of people start out dirt poor and work for 30 years before they obtain the lifestyle that they have by the time their children leave the nest.  Know that you will probably have to do the same, and there’s no shame in it. 

Many people have unrealistic expectations about what married life will be like.  You probably will live in a cheap apartment without many frills at first.  It will be a struggle, and that’s just the way that it is.  Unless you want to work for years and build up a nest egg (and probably struggle to stay sexually pure because of the long wait), then money will probably be tight.  Choose to have an attitude of thankfulness for what you have, rather than comparing your situation to others around you.  Be thankful that you have each other, knowing that your circumstances will probably improve as long as you’re being wise with your money.

5. Buy used items as much as possible.

My papa used to refer to me as “The Craigslist Queen”.  95% of the furniture in our home is either a hand-me-down, was bought at a tag sale, or was purchased inexpensively or was free through Craigslist.  People who come to my home would never know to look at it, though!  Let’s face it, the furniture only stays pristine for like two seconds anyway!  You can also find really great, name brand clothing for a fraction of the cost at a thrift store.  I make it my policy to check the thrift store for what I need first, and if I can’t find it, then I look into buying it new.

6. Don’t buy a new car. 

The second that you drive a new car off of the lot, it depreciates by around 10%, and will lose a further 10%-20% just in the first year alone.  Don’t pay top dollar for your car when you can get one that’s a few years old for a huge discount!  Also, if you buy your car from an owner, rather than from a dealer, you will pay a couple thousand dollars less.  Just take it to your mechanic and have them check it out for $50 before you buy it.  Even if it needs a few small repairs, you’ll probably pay less than you would have if you got it from a dealer.   

7. Do your eating in the home, and cook real food. 

I am a mama of five kids, and I pay about $185-$200 a week for groceries and toiletries.  How is that possible?  Because I buy mostly raw ingredients.  For instance, it costs about $12-$15 for me to make a giant stew that will feed us for 3 meals.  If I were to buy the same volume of canned stew, it would probably cost 3X that amount. Yes, I had to pull myself up by the bootstraps and learn how to cook in order to accomplish this, but it was so worth it!!  Not only does the food taste better, but it is healthier too.  I usually plan to make 3-4 recipes a week.  At least 2 of those should be large enough to have for 2 nights.  Then, I usually order cheap pizza once ever week or two (an indulgence that we only started after 15 years of marriage!) 

As much as we enjoy going out to eat as part of our date night, we limit ourselves to going out to eat as a couple to once every two weeks.  This keeps us from over-indulging in that area of our spending. 

Also, make your coffee at home, instead of purchasing it on-the-go.  It takes 2 minutes to set it up the night before and have it brewing before your feet even hit the floor the following morning.  It will save you loads of money! 

8. Don’t pay too much for entertainment. 

When we were newlyweds, we had a cheap hand-me-down TV and a DVD player that was a Christmas present.  We couldn’t afford cable, so we went to the library and rented movies for free. Tim would also read The Lord of the Rings out loud to me while we snuggled, or we would play cards together.  We probably bonded more because we weren’t plopping down in front of the TV every night anyway!

Nowadays, you can stream shows for free, or get a cheap Netflix subscription.  However, during financial struggles, entertainment should be the first thing to cut back on. 

9. Don’t ever get a Payday loan. 

It may seem like a quick fix, but the interest rates are so high, it’s no better than going to a loan-shark.  Trust me, you’d be better off living out of your car or crashing on a friend’s couch for a month than to have a debt that piles up faster than your cash does. 

10. Pay your credit card balance off every month.  

Don’t allow your financial peace to be eaten away by interest and late fees.  Your credit card should not be treated like it’s a loan, but rather, like it’s an efficient way to pay for things.  If you always pay off your balance every month, and never buy what you can’t afford to pay for that month, then you’ll save yourself the angst of high interest and the frustration of having debt hanging over your head.  If this is something that you have a hard time with, then I would suggest that you pitch your card and only use your debit card or integrate a cash-only system.