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Maintain your autos properly and keep them for a VERY long time.
Don't finance anything unless there's no interest.
Use websites to comparison shop for hotels, and then when you have the lowest price from, say Trivago or Kayak, or some such website, call the hotel directly and ask them to beat the best price you found. A lot of times they'll come down another 5 or 10%.
Purchase plane tickets at approximately 6 weeks before travel and use the "lower fare alert" option so you'll be notified if the price drops.
LOL see op unfortunately I'm the exact opposite. See I saved and scrimped for retirement. retirement is supposed to be the time where I get to enjoy myself.
IMO what's your purpose, to die leaving millions to someone else??
So yes I'm retiring in 19 months give or take a few months. for my 60th I'm going to Europe God willing. Yep I'll be blowing my money on first class seats (useless) and I'm not booking a hotel by what free days I get but instead what amenities I want. ie a balcony (useless) and my plan is to snowbird to a house on the beach in Tybee Island (useless).
LOL, I guess I'm not the one to help you. we do have a really good frugal living area in the Economics forum. check them out.
LOL see op unfortunately I'm the exact opposite. See I saved and scrimped for retirement. retirement is supposed to be the time where I get to enjoy myself.
I agree with this. Eliza, you and I are on the same wavelength.
I was going to write about how I travel overseas most years by using credit card bonuses (& not carrying a charge), just got a 60K point bonus this week - that's this summer's ticket to Europe.
But as a physician you can typically get on some very interesting trips to exotic locales/expeditions for free or almost free. I would start calling some interesting expedition tour sites & barter your services, I'm sure you will also research any potential insurance matters for this. I have a D.O. friend who does just this.
And I want to try anything intellectually stimulating.
Now mind you, when I say "frugal", I don't mean "cheap."
I'm a retired physician, and I've got over $1 MM across my retirement accounts...
But I'd rather leave the bulk of my money in my grandkids education trust, while living the retirement I always dreamed of.
So that might mean I visit Paris, but I save a few bucks by negotiating a low rate on Trivago or Kayak (thank you, TheShadow)...
Or getting the charge card with the maximum airline miles...
Or even a way to travel for free by teaching in another country?
I'm not sure... but thank you for helping me narrow my question!
I hope this makes sense?
Kurt
Absolutely and I think you're doing better than you think. Here's one thing I do that while may not "save" me money, I do think it makes me get the best value for my money especially when traveling.
I try to list the things in order of importance.
So for example, since I'm a pretty tall gal and have horrible knees (thank you osteoarthritis), space on long flights is worth every penny. so I may get the cc that will help me get points to upgrade and then maybe go a little more modest on the hotel accommodations .
I guess it's more of just being aware of how the pennies are spent. I live in a big city so I know movies are still cheaper the first show of the day. stuff like that.
Definitely check out the educational tour companies. I actually have a retired dentist friend who does a lot of travel with our churchs missionary. He does have to commit to spending some time there but he says he gets quite a bit of down time to explore. loves it.
my goal, is to spend the last $1 just before my dying breath......so the older I get, the less frugal I plan on being (within reason). No sense in sitting on a huge nest egg, sacrificing, recycling aluminum foil, reusing ziplock baggies and dying with a ton of $$ in the bank, is there?
That's exactly what I was thinking. Being frugal just means you die with a bigger bank account.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Being frugal just means you die with a bigger bank account.
What is your plan, Erik?
Kurt
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