Let’s get a list going. Like with a Target debit card you can get $40 cash back and it takes 1 to 2 days to be withdraw from your checking.
Learn to fix things yourself. Mend your clothes, fix your bike or car, patch drywall, whatever. Learning to do things gives you the option of to save money doing it yourself. If you don’t learn, your only option is to pay someone else to do it.
Food banks. Look at your local church, synagogue, or mosque. A lot of them do community outreach and have some kind of food bank.
If you’re skipping meals or you have $5 'til next Friday, the food bank is for you. Don’t feel like you’re taking something away from someone “more needy.” It’s you. You’re needy. Take the help. That was a hard lesson to learn in my 20s.
If you have a gurdwara in your area, they often do free meals, almost like a restaurant. Baptist churches tend to have dinners on Wednesdays, and the Hare Krishnas are always good for some heavily dairy vegetarian foods. I wish more people knew this.
Remember a lot of effort and money is spent into brainwashing us from young ages to be constantly be buying shit we don’t need and to feel like we are living bad lives if we don’t have it.
Remember it’s bullshit, remember that you are more than the fucking trinkets and landfill filling they want you to trade all your time for.
Boycott shit, find any reasonable moral cause as a good reason not to buy something. There’s almost always a good reason not to buy something that you don’t need.
I feel like it would take just as much effort and basically a whole other upbringing, in a sense, to become accustomed to all the things we were raised with. So i get what you mean, but I dont know exactly how possible it really is, or none of us would really be here, for example.
Get a chest freezer. It’s much more efficient for long-term storage than an upright fridge with a freezer because the cold air doesn’t spill out when you open it.
Toss your incandescent and fluorescent lights. Get LED bulbs (not smart lights, just white LEDs). Where applicable, install timer switches.
Fuck cars, get a bike. A simple, sturdy one, like an onafiets. They run on toast and determination.
Understand the difference between having enough money to buy something and being able to afford something.
Unsubscribe from music/video streaming services. Return to the seven seas.
Maybe engage in some light tax evasion.
- Get a cheap subscription to a 24h fitness with warm showers, lockers and wifi.
- Combine with a library card.
This will allow you to live in your car or be homeless, in relative(!!!) comfort, and still be presentable enough to hold down a job.
Although this seems to be an excellent tip (thanks), this sounded very USA to me.
Out of curiosity, how would a homeless person in your country accomplish the same things?
Not the same person but where I am there are shelters and community centers that offer these things for free. The facilities are not in as good condition as a gym membership though.
We have tons of shelters in the US too. Talk to any homeless person though and they’ll tell you they don’t use the shelter because it either: forces them to not use drugs, splits up a family, has lots of sexual assaults going on, or has more health related problems than it’s worth.
last time i took a shower at a homeless shelter:
you have to hand all your stuff to a guy at a window, he puts it in a bag, then you go to a medium sized room with several shower heads spraying towards the middle…
so you don’t just get your shower, you get the water bouncing off a dozen naked homeless guys…
the water is a tepid, narrow, painful jet…
i caught scabies and athletes foot…
…
i’ve taken one other one at a shelter in another city and state and it was identical…
…
gym is way better, otherwise i’d rather take a bird bath in a random bathroom sink…
learn the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and make sure your money has a most bang for the buck in regards to shelter / food / safety
The library has all your entertainment if but it does require a change of mindset
stay away from anything that only has one type of use, find things that can be used for multiple uses and try and buy it used if possible
Thrift stores sell clothing for pennies on the dollar. You can put together a professional wardrobe for less then a new pair of Levis
SLPT: Get depression! You’ll lose all interest in most things, instantly cutting spending on those things by 100%!
I know credit cards can be a slippery slope for some, so learn how to practice financial discipline before getting one.
That said, if you’re not paying with a credit card, you’re paying at least 2 percent too much for everything you buy except the things that can’t easily be paid for with a credit card.
That adds up big over the years.
Credit cards should be avoided at all times, unless you have the money to pay them off each month. Or if you’re getting zero-interest financing and you are able to stick to the plan of paying it off before interest gets added.
Getting into credit card debt is one of the most common and worst poverty traps. Getting behind on credit card bills can ruin your credit and take years to repair, which impacts your financial stability when it comes time to make a purchase with Real Credit such as a home or car.
My best poverty tip is to not buy expensive things that are unnecessary. Also cook your own food at home, and learn to repair anything that you value. I’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years by doing my own car repairs, and driving old cars long past having them paid off.
On average people spend around 5% more with credit cards. That 2% cash back is a partial refund of increased spending.
Yeah, don’t spend more. Use it as a debit card.
And, again, make sure to be financially responsible and literate before you get a credit card.
Any place to get a proper gist of what financially literate means in this context? I know maybe a few basics but always wondered about the best way to utilize credit to a long term benefit.
Basically use any credit card as you would any debit card. That means never spend any money you don’t already have in your account. And always pay the full statement balance every month on time to avoid paying interest.
That way you will get all the rewards and none of the drawbacks.
And what happens when a big purchase comes along that I really need, like my car breaking down or just a new mattress? I always figure that’s where the utilization starts going up and there’s only so much that can be paid off before the next billing cycle.
Do whatever you would do if you didn’t have a credit card.
Which has usually been borrow to buy things.
I’m not poor but this always helps everyone. Wait for a while before you buy the thing off your shopping list. Wait for a week and reconsider whether you indeed need it.
If the answer is still yes, buy it. It is a must do for expensive things. Never break this rule for any massive purchase like a car or something!
I save a ton with my garden and chickens. If you got just a little land. I live in a small town but in the middle of it, but I got my yard used to its maximum potential. You would be surprised what you can fit if you do it right. You can go vertical if you need too. Where you save a so much money isn’t that “oh well, now I don’t have to buy a squash! I saved 3 dollars “ but if you let it dictate your meals it’s what you eat and then you spend 0 dollars on supper. I ate a lot of squash and bok Choy and rice and home baked bread this late summer and it was great every meal. Probably saved nearly $20,000 on groceries those two months. Give or take. (Don’t try squash if you don’t have the room. They are delicious but will straight up take over a given area with huge beautiful leaves and huge wonderful yellow flowers all summer)
How much time do you spend looking after your garden? In my area, I would need to water the garden occasionally (if there is not much rain), figure out a pest mitigation solution (I don’t want to eat squashes half eaten by rodents, weed the plant bed, etc.
I know all this because my father took up gardening as a retirement hobby and quit after a few years because he did not want another full time job.
