Living On The Cheap

 

Living On The Cheap

By

Stu Cassell

Like so many other Americans, my wife and I were hit hard in 2008 when the economy tanked. She had been an IT professional for 27 years, and I was a property manager for about the same amount of time. We both had risen to the top of our fields and jointly had a family income of about $150,000 a year. By the Spring of 2009 we had both lost our jobs, and had difficulty finding new ones. We ended up moving from St. Louis to Avon Park, Florida, where we used half of our retirement savings and investments to purchase what I now call a “not-for-profit” bed and breakfast.

We fell in love with the palm trees and lakes, and ignored all of the warning signs about this business venture. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say after the first year I had to go on social security at age 62 in order to cover our expenses. My wife is 10 years younger than myself so she wasn’t eligible. Now at age 60, she’s still too young to apply.

We decided to cut our losses and return to St. Louis in the hopes of both getting back to our previously chosen professions. Neither of us was successful. The good news is that we did have enough left of our gutted retirement funds to purchase a nice modest three bedroom two bath home for cash in a decent neighborhood.

My wife secured part-time employment from home transcribing videos. It’s very labor intensive – lots of hours for little pay. But with our cost savings style of living, we manage to get by, even at what I consider an income barely above the poverty level. Our joint income is about $20,000 a year. How can we live so cheaply? We had to adjust to a new financial reality and we had to get creative.

Cost Cutting Measures:

Television: The first thing we did was get rid of DirecTv, which saved us over $1,000 a year for subscription television. I purchased two high definition indoor television antennas and taped them to our basement windows. They cost $25 each. You can find them cheaper now. I ran one to my computer in the basement and attached a signal amplifier with multiple outputs to the other one. I used the DirecTv cables that went from the basement to our living room and my bedroom.

I have to admit I’m a bit of an amateur tech geek, and with on line research have learned how to do a host of things I’d never done before. One of the things I learned was how to use my computer to record local over the air broadcasts and watch them either in the living room or my bedroom. That required three things, a Roku streaming device, free Plex software, and a small AVerTV tuner that connects to my computer, and one of the TV antenna cables. The total one-time cost for these things was under $100.

The TV tuner came with software that enabled me to program which weekly over the air shows I wanted to record. The Plex software gives us the ability to play any recorded shows that are on my computer, as well as mp3’s, and any other videos I may download from the Internet. We can also view digital photographs with it that are stored on my computer. The Roku gives us access to Plex as well as may free streaming services. We watch a lot of television, mostly at night, and after the initial set up of our systems, we don’t pay anything for it.

Cell Phones: We were paying AT&T $60 a month for our two cell phones, and they weren’t even “smart phones” and had no data plan. We basically just used them for emergencies and to communicate with each other from time to time. We ditched them and bought a pair of cell phones from TracFones with pre-paid calling cards. The phones we picked out offered triple minutes, text, and data for life. They also rolled over unused time for each of those 3 categories as long as you purchased a new calling card before the expiration date of the previous one. By buying a year card with 400 minutes for $90 each, we reduced our cost for cell phones from $60 a month to $15 a month for two phones. A few years ago we upgraded to smart phones, and occasionally use the text and data functions, but not much. In fact, we each have over 5000 minutes that have rolled over since we left AT&T.

Food: When we had a six figure family income we didn’t worry about our grocery expense. We shopped at the major chains, but when we discovered Aldi, we started to selectively shop there as well. Now we do most of our shopping at Aldi where eggs are .79 a dozen, 2% milk $2.21 a gallon, and recently bananas were .11 a pound. We shop local food chain supermarkets, but only for sale items. Our last resort for items we can’t get at Aldi is Walmart. We bought a small freezer, so we could stock up on sale items.

Dining Out: This expense took the hardest hit. We used to eat out twice a week, where ever we wanted. Cost just wasn’t a factor before 2008. Now, “eating out” is typically fast food, and mostly around $10 or less for the two of us. On special occasions we’ll splurge a little, but the days of $100 dinners for two are long gone. That’s just part of our new reality.

Telephone & Internet: In St. Louis, there are only two major Internet providers, AT&T and Charter Cable. Each year I either renegotiate our current contract with one of them, or I leave them and get the “new customer” special rate from the other one. Before I began playing this game of switching back and forth between them, we were paying about $80 a month for Internet and the land line. This past year I negotiated a rate with AT&T for the two services for under $50 a month. The only reason we keep the land line is because the bundled price with Internet is actually less than if we dropped the land line and paid only for Internet service.

Cars: We’ve never been the kind of people that bought a new car just because we could. But when our sons became old enough to drive we usually gave them our oldest car, and at that time we purchased new ones. Now my wife drives a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid, that we purchased in 2006 new, and I drive a 2007 Toyota Matrix that I bought in 2014. We’ll drive these cars as long as they hold up.

Health Insurance: Remember the good old days when employers provided decent health coverage for their employees? We do because prior to 2008, we both had employer provided health plans, and when we didn’t, one of us would be added to the other’s health insurance plan. Now, I’m on Medicare with Essence Advantage. My plan doesn’t not charge a monthly premium, and the one prescription drug I’m on is free as well. Because we make so little, my wife is on the Affordable Care Act, and her monthly premium is about ____(?)

Vacations: We used to take trips both in the US and out of the US once or twice a year. Now we can’t afford to take a real vacation more than once every few years. This past year we thought we might do one, and the need to replace our hot water heater took precedence. Once in a while we’ll do a day trip. The last one we did was to Hannibal, Missouri to see Mark Twain’s home. It was just a few hour-drive from St. Louis.

Other Freebies: From time to time I’ve supplemented my income with free-lance writing, and have a few self-published books on Amazon. I consider it passive income, and it doesn’t amount to a lot, but once in a while it’s enough for a nice meal out. I write a lot of on line reviews. A while back Lowe’s took notice and invited me to become a member of their “Lowe’s Loop.” Periodically, they send me a list of items and I choose one to review. In exchange I get to keep it at no cost. So far, I’ve reviewed a carpet, bathroom water faucet, shower head, cordless snow blower, flashlights, socket set, and cordless drill – all items I got for free.

Several years ago I connected with RewardsSurvey.com, a company that offers free magazine subscriptions in exchange for doing brief surveys. The surveys cover a variety of topics and usually take 10 minutes or less to complete. By doing these surveys we’ve had free subscriptions to dozens of popular magazines like Time, People, Forbes, Money, Popular Mechanics, and others.

Home Repairs: I’ve always been the kind of guy to try to do as much as possible around the house. I took joy in the fact that I was mechanically inclined. It used to be an option, now it’s a necessity. Now if something needs repairing and I haven’t done it before I get on Youtube and learn how to do it. Recently, my wife’s computer started making noise. I watched a video and learned how to take apart the power supply and fan assembly so I could lubricate the inside of the fan. It worked. Her computer is now quiet again.

Recreation: My Essence Advantage plan offers a free Silver Sneakers membership. That in turn gets me a free membership to two local community centers and the YMCA. They all offered Silver Sneakers members an assortment of free classes. Through Silver Sneakers I’ve taken water arthritis classes, line dance, variety dance, and various fitness classes – all for free.

I joined AARP and our local chapter is a sponsor of the St. Louis Senior Olympics. They covered the cost of my application free for the St. Louis Senior Olympics for the past two years, as well as providing free t-shirts and hats, and a free post games banquet.

Supplemental Income: From time to time I may take on a seasonal or part time job for a little extra money. The last one I did was working the 2018 mid-term elections. I had to take a 3 hour class, and work nearly 16 hours, but I was serving my community and I earned $170.

At the height of our earnings I used to carry $60 to $100 a week in my wallet for “walk around money.” Anything under $20 I considered “chump change.” Now, the most I ever have in my wallet is about $30, and everything I do is measured in terms of what it costs and what we have in the bank. We’re living on the cheap, but I’m not complaining. We have no mortgage, no debts, still a few dollars in the bank, and a modest investment portfolio. It’s taken an adjustment to downsize and go from a middle class to lower class income. But, I’ve worked hard to make the most of it, to avail us of numerous cost saving and free options. I also know and appreciate we still have a lot more than many people in this country. Most of all, we have each other and our health. Like my grandmother used to say, “Better than a sharp stick in the eye.”