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I'm sorry if this has been covered before and I imagine maybe it has and I'm sure parts of it has, like with the cutting cable thread. There are many pretty well known things like senior discounts at restaurants. (I don't qualify for all of them yet)
I'd be interested in programs that those who are retired can take advantage of to pay out less. I already cut cable and I've started on the process of cutting cell phone costs. (anything cheaper than $100 a month for 4 phones unlimited)?
There has to be a lot of things I've not even considered yet.
Why would a retired person be paying for 4 phones?
As a retired person, I have a cell phone, not a smart phone. It's prepaid, so it costs me about $100/year. I will be upgrading so that I have more features I think I need. But it may end up costing me, I hope, no more than $200/yr...if that.
I don't want people calling me in my car. I have a VOIP at home, and I tell people I prefer they call me there and leave a msg if I'm not home. That's the number I give out.
The general frugalities of a retired person are pretty much the same as for non-retired people.
The first rule of frugality, IMO, is not to spend money wastefully, in the first place. To learn to distinguish between want and need. Go ahead and buy a want, but recognize that something IS a want, and an optional purchase.
In the U.S., we are surrounded by ads trying to get into our heads and make us buy things we don't need. They're everywhere. On the internet, billboards, knocking at the door, on the radio, streaming services, ads in the mail, telemarketers calling our phones. Sales at stores (esp Amazon Prime day) are especially dangerous, with enticing sales for things you don't need. Try to think of those sales as maybe good times to buy things you are planning on buying, anyway. And always remember that those sales occur several times a year.
There is a frugal forum in City-Data. Living just a frugal lifestyle generally will save money. Small amounts add up over the course of a year. But I try to focus on big items. Putting off buying a new car, for example, will save more than using coupons at the grocery store. Not taking a vacation will save quite a bit, depending. Is there something else you could do locally for a stay-cation, instead?
A person can be quietly frugal without shouting it to the world, if a person is concerned about being label cheap.
Use your electronics until they break or until it gets to the point of being not supported anymore and hinders you.
My Samsung Galaxy S3 is about getting to that point. I've had it since way back when the cell phone companies actually gave you a phone when you signed up for another two years.
I generally keep using things as long as they are still working, partly because every time I decide to replace something, it is a pretty cumbersome process to decide what to get, so I just keep using what I have until it melts into a puddle.
But it is getting to the point with my S3 that when I get a notice I need to update an app, I know I have a less than 50% chance of actually being able to update and use it. Luckily, I mostly use my phone for phone calls and texts -- so I can do without a lot of the apps.
Why would a retired person be paying for 4 phones?
Maybe because they still have kids at home? (*) Maybe because they elderly parents they are taking care of? Maybe they have a side hustle as a drug dealer?
(*) this is us. retiring in our early 50s. Had kids late in life. The empty nest life is still a good ways away.
Your parent doesn't NEED them, he thinks he does...I'm more a minimalist than ever in my life, but I grew up in a world of NO TECH gadgets cwap....app for this app for that...good grief such waste.
Bill Gates in his $173M compound loves you and thanks you and so do the Apple crowds...
You also grew up in a world with a thick morning and afternoon newspaper where it cost you 20 cents a minute to phone someone 20 miles away, and you could find anyone's phone number in the phone book. The world has moved on. The tech from your childhood was more expensive and less convenient.
Jamine, buying in bulk can save some money. It works well for the two of us, as we have storage space. And, COSTCO products are generally high quality.
Buying from a wholesaler is a choice we make; what is valid for us might not be valid for you.
Well you can look at it that way and spend so much up front. Personally I don't want year's worth of soaps etc sitting around .. whatever works for you all, Costco loves you. It's only me and even when Costco first opened here some friends wanted to go with a membership together, and I still could NOT see buying all that toilet paper and soap. And I don't use paper plates.
You also grew up in a world with a thick morning and afternoon newspaper where it cost you 20 cents a minute to phone someone 20 miles away, and you could find anyone's phone number in the phone book. The world has moved on. The tech from your childhood was more expensive and less convenient.
Yeah, I don't know how I've made it, 81 soon. It all worked. Loved talking to a phone operator to get information for a number. And so many phone employees -- no jobs.
It's a very impersonal world -- often when I have to call companies for this or that, we make some chit chat, I believe they enjoy that too.
Why would a retired person be paying for 4 phones?
As a retired person, I have a cell phone, not a smart phone. It's prepaid, so it costs me about $100/year. I will be upgrading so that I have more features I think I need. But it may end up costing me, I hope, no more than $200/yr...if that.
I don't want people calling me in my car. I have a VOIP at home, and I tell people I prefer they call me there and leave a msg if I'm not home. That's the number I give out.
The general frugalities of a retired person are pretty much the same as for non-retired people.
The first rule of frugality, IMO, is not to spend money wastefully, in the first place. To learn to distinguish between want and need. Go ahead and buy a want, but recognize that something IS a want, and an optional purchase.
In the U.S., we are surrounded by ads trying to get into our heads and make us buy things we don't need. They're everywhere. On the internet, billboards, knocking at the door, on the radio, streaming services, ads in the mail, telemarketers calling our phones. Sales at stores (esp Amazon Prime day) are especially dangerous, with enticing sales for things you don't need. Try to think of those sales as maybe good times to buy things you are planning on buying, anyway. And always remember that those sales occur several times a year.
There is a frugal forum in City-Data. Living just a frugal lifestyle generally will save money. Small amounts add up over the course of a year. But I try to focus on big items. Putting off buying a new car, for example, will save more than using coupons at the grocery store. Not taking a vacation will save quite a bit, depending. Is there something else you could do locally for a stay-cation, instead?
A person can be quietly frugal without shouting it to the world, if a person is concerned about being label cheap.
There is little that can not be done cheaper ..just about everything has a lower bottom then where our line in the sand is drawn so pretty much most of what we buy are wants ....everything from where we live to what we eat and wear can all likely be done cheaper or substituted ....so the term needs and wants really are a very fine line ....
What we really do is draw our personal choice and minimum standards in a line in the sand and call that our needs but they are really the standards we set and want not actually need.
We only need that because we choose to set our standards at that level ...if we didn’t we would be living golden girl style to satisfy our housing needs to go to one extreme
I find that by staying home on the farm I can save the most money. Every time I start the truck to go to town it costs money, if I go shopping well that costs money, then I might stop and get a doughnut or a coffee or a milkshake, mmmmmm milkshake, so I find it better to just stay home and work on the farm. There is always plenty to do to keep busy. or you could always join the we save money club.
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