5 ms·

Can you give examples of better ways to cut down your expenses?

by darzu 10y ago

oxryly1 10y ago
Move to a small apartment in a downtown area, ideally where you don't need a car. Get a roommate, cancel netflix, etc etc. Pretty mundane stuff...
- 4ad 10y ago
  Downtown is expensive, roommate is annoying, especially in small apartment. Plus, we're talking here about reducing costs in general, for for 20 year olds. We're talking about people with family, kids, jobs, etc. If you live in downtown so you don't need a car, you'll find out your groceries suddenly become much more expensive.
Paul_S 10y ago
Don't want to spend your salary on your mortgage? Houseshare. Has the added benefit of still living in a house. Cook for yourself. Don't own a car. Live outside the city (obviously some are mutually exclusive). Stop buying useless crap (that includes a gym membership, netflix, prime). You can drive down your expenses to quarter rent and food. You can live frugally without an RV. Running and maintaining an RV costs money (aside from building it).
- justonepost 10y ago
  Very very true! As someone who lives in a Van, I can assure you, gas is very expensive. I could live much much cheaper with a bus pass and a house share (or maybe not, who knows I haven't really looked) problem is I despise roommates... so there is that.
johngalt 10y ago
Transportation is the big one. The biggest wasters you'll find in most peoples budgets are cars. The author put everything into a van. Go the opposite direction. Pull every dollar you can away from your car. Have no car if you can get away with it. Or only one car instead of two in a family setting. Consider the TCO of any car you buy. A lot of people say 'buy used' but IMHO it's more important to buy less car.
- abakker 10y ago
  This is true, and relevant as long as a) you don't need to commute by car (or you have all the time in the world to manage convoluted public transit) and b) you can rely on that same public transit for all the errands you will need to do. For people outside of select cities, these are far from given in the USA.

Can you give examples of better ways to cut down your expenses?

by darzu 10y ago

Can you give examples of better ways to cut down your expenses?

Move to a small apartment in a downtown area, ideally where you don't need a car. Get a roommate, cancel netflix, etc etc. Pretty mundane stuff...

4ad 10y ago
Downtown is expensive, roommate is annoying, especially in small apartment. Plus, we're talking here about reducing costs in general, for for 20 year olds. We're talking about people with family, kids, jobs, etc. If you live in downtown so you don't need a car, you'll find out your groceries suddenly become much more expensive.

Paul_S 10y ago

Don't want to spend your salary on your mortgage? Houseshare. Has the added benefit of still living in a house. Cook for yourself. Don't own a car. Live outside the city (obviously some are mutually exclusive). Stop buying useless crap (that includes a gym membership, netflix, prime). You can drive down your expenses to quarter rent and food. You can live frugally without an RV. Running and maintaining an RV costs money (aside from building it).

justonepost 10y ago
Very very true! As someone who lives in a Van, I can assure you, gas is very expensive. I could live much much cheaper with a bus pass and a house share (or maybe not, who knows I haven't really looked) problem is I despise roommates... so there is that.

johngalt 10y ago

Transportation is the big one. The biggest wasters you'll find in most peoples budgets are cars. The author put everything into a van. Go the opposite direction. Pull every dollar you can away from your car. Have no car if you can get away with it. Or only one car instead of two in a family setting. Consider the TCO of any car you buy. A lot of people say 'buy used' but IMHO it's more important to buy less car.

abakker 10y ago
This is true, and relevant as long as a) you don't need to commute by car (or you have all the time in the world to manage convoluted public transit) and b) you can rely on that same public transit for all the errands you will need to do. For people outside of select cities, these are far from given in the USA.