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"Off the grid" with HDTV, smartphone, and internet??...
You can have solar panels instead of electricity, well water instead of city water, propane tanks instead of natural gas, septic tanks instead of city sewer services, satellite instead of cable -- be considered off the grid and still have television, smart phones and internet.
You can have solar panels instead of electricity, well water instead of city water, propane tanks instead of natural gas, septic tanks instead of city sewer services, satellite instead of cable -- be considered off the grid and still have television, smart phones and internet.
Hi malamute--
I'm going to say it before another friendly poster does:
You could just get an early 80's VW diesel Rabbit for $50 at a junk yard, rebuild it, and run it off vegetable oil, 50 MPG since 1976, no OPEC or Dino's required.
Some people enjoy the peace of mind of not being broke. Maybe they were going through a rough spot in life and needed to be frugal to make it through and found out they enjoyed it and remained frugal after they got back on their feet.
What does the forum consider, other than complete homelessness or being a beggar, the ultimate in frugal living. I wondered about this because I was wondering about some scenarios that would give you the lowest cost of living.
I have two of my own to contribute. First, my parents. After my dad retired, he found a position working for a very wealthy lady. She built them a house to live in on the grounds of her property. She paid my dad a salary to be the caretaker, he rented out the house he owned, and lived there till he died. She was an old maid, so she would take them along on her vacations and pay their way. On top of that, he had his pension. It was an easy gig, because he could hire people to do some of the hard work, and some days his biggest task was driving his employer into town. (Like Driving Miss Daisy)
Second one I can see is buying a house where housing demand is almost nil, like in a small town on great plains, where nice houses can be purchased in the area of $25,000. That means your taxes and insurance will also be very low. This would be ideal for someone trying to live on SS alone. Anyone else?
I never expected to live in a world were the rich and successful are despised, but the cheap and stingy folks are admired.
This is how I am living on $1755 a month. I don't have to work and all I do is fart around My land in paradise is payed off, so is my truck. I am up against a 3000 sq. mile natl. forest. I have a riding horse and a milk cow and a garden and some chickens. I heat with wood I chop from my forest. There is a spring water piped in. Cooking and hot water is with gas. I built my own small house by buying a wooden portable building, insulating and finishing it out and building a porch all the way around it. No building permit needed. The property taxes are $470 a year on this 8 acre place. I can ride my horse to the grocery store over a 4 mile trail I made myself over the hills in the back, or drive to the 1000 person fishing village (town) if I want to. I go to the library and bring home actual books to read. Wild blackberry wine is made in this house. I live out of cell phone range but go downriver if I need to call someone. The river below me is a string of jewels full of salmon and fish, and the country people here are good neighbors and we look out for each other. I don't eat meat so that is cheaper and healthier, I buy bulk rice and beans and nuts and bake my own bread and make my own butter and cheese. I am a nurse so I can be my own doctor but no one elses. I get my meds off the internet from overseas pharmacies and order and interpret my own labs from a walk-in lab. ($350 thyroid panel in the medical establishment lab, $37 at walk-in lab.) I am happy and healthy and I have no worries. Here is another thing. Women are natural foragers. We like good deals. We are SUPPOSED to be frugal. I was born for this!
Being frugal is not about doing without until you live like a homeless third world peasant. It is about taking what money you have and stretching it as far as it can be stretched, to get your lifestyle for less than other people are paying and still have a % of it to put away in savings or investments.
The guy in that falling down shack might possibly be frugal, but it is much more likely that he is simply broke.
Being frugal is not about doing without until you live like a homeless third world peasant. It is about taking what money you have and stretching it as far as it can be stretched, to get your lifestyle for less than other people are paying and still have a % of it to put away in savings or investments.
The guy in that falling down shack might possibly be frugal, but it is much more likely that he is simply broke.
Frugal can mean both living within your means and also spending less here so you can have more there. Living in the worst house in the worst part of town isn't really all that frugal because your home is never going to go up in value. You might buy a house for $20,000 but it's never going to be worth more than that even if you make improvements if the location is bad.
It can be frugal to spend less on cars to spend more on a real estate because cars only go down in value while real estate usually goes up. Frugal can mean bringing your lunch to work because you want to enjoy taking your family on a vacation trip. I don't think frugal means you have to live like the homeless and dig through someone's trash because that's really where the best "deals" are.
Frugal means you understand the value of a dollar, you worked hard for that dollar and you want to stretch it as far as you can so you can enjoy it, not act like you don't have it. Frugal also means a kind of envrionmentalism where you want to live as green as possible and waste as little as possible but that doesn't mean you have nothing at all. You simply try not to waste anything.
I live in a basement apartment, I pay no utilities, just rent. Am I living frugally? Yes, this apartment is well below 25% of my income. I have no car payment, my car is ten years old.
I do have a fancy cell phone, probably not frugal. I have a data plan. This is quite an expense, I pay, if I was really frugal, I would have no cell phone and just use my phone at work.
This weekend, I went skiing, not for the frugal. If I was very frugal, I would not have spent money on a day of skiing. But, I did bring food from home, and did not eat out.
Balance....I am not the "ultimate" in frugal living...but, I try to save on things I can.
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My land in paradise is payed off, so is my truck. I am up against a 3000 sq. mile natl. forest. I have a riding horse and a milk cow and a garden and some chickens. I heat with wood I chop from my forest. There is a spring water piped in. Cooking and hot water is with gas. I built my own small house by buying a wooden portable building, insulating and finishing it out and building a porch all the way around it. No building permit needed. The property taxes are $470 a year on this 8 acre place. I can ride my horse to the grocery store over a 4 mile trail I made myself over the hills in the back, or drive to the 1000 person fishing village (town) if I want to. I go to the library and bring home actual books to read. Wild blackberry wine is made in this house. I live out of cell phone range but go downriver if I need to call someone. The river below me is a string of jewels full of salmon and fish, and the country people here are good neighbors and we look out for each other. I don't eat meat so that is cheaper and healthier, I buy bulk rice and beans and nuts and bake my own bread and make my own butter and cheese. I am a nurse so I can be my own doctor but no one elses. I get my meds off the internet from overseas pharmacies and order and interpret my own labs from a walk-in lab. ($350 thyroid panel in the medical establishment lab, $37 at walk-in lab.) I am happy and healthy and I have no worries. Here is another thing. Women are natural foragers. We like good deals. We are SUPPOSED to be frugal. I was born for this!
