Spinoff: How do you live below your means?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work hard to the point that there is no time left for me to spend money.
I work 6 days a week. I have a high paying job. I work a second job on the week end.
I'm always working and there is no time left for me to do anything else.
I live way below my means. I rent a bedroom in a basement for $500.
I have been doing this for 10 years. My savings keep growing.

You can’t be American, right?

I'm American.
I'm single with no children.
My goal is to retire in my 40s.

That was me until marriage and kids
There are pros and cons to both things
If you want to get married and have kids because you have to be somewhat social and live at a certain level to attract someone decent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our #1 is never paying someone to do work for us. Mow your own lawn, lay your own wood floors, paint the walls yourself, put your own brakes on (dh learned through YouTube), install your own light fixtures, clean your own house. We have a well maintained, beautiful house with new kitchens and baths we did ourselves. We only hired out what was mandatory under code (like gas lines). We've saved tens of thousands.

This is assuming you want to sacrifice family time for these things. We are firmly in the camp of not worth it. Plus i don't want to have a bunch of tools around the house. We just had our HW floors refinished and it took 3 guys 5 full work days to do our floors. That's 120 man hours. That would take us months to complete.

We don't sacrifice family time. If we'd do this while our kids are awake one of us is playing with them (toddler and baby). We mostly work from 7-11pm when they sleep. We sacrifice TV time. Kids actually sleep through the sawing and hammering since this is all they've known

For our hardwood floors we did 3200 sq ft. We worked one room at a time. We are more meticulous than the 90% of hired handymen. It's not a diy looking house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We max out retirement and send a dedicated amount to savings/investing out of every paycheck, so we never see that money. We live on the rest. Even if we spend every dollar of the rest, we're living below our means and our net worth is growing.

The rest of what you're asking sounds like just looking for frugal tips. We take lunch most days and cook at home instead of eating out. We bought much less house than we were approved for. We shop at Costco and watch Netflix instead of going to the movies.

Why do you want to live like this??

What about my life sounds difficult? Shopping at Costco instead of Whole Foods? Taking lunch instead of dropping $12x2x5 on fast casual during the weekdays? I don't see any real QoL improvement that would come from being more spendy in areas that don't matter to me.

We live in a nice house in the District, we have short commutes, we travel frequently, we have a good life. We just don't throw money at everything we can imagine to prove to interested onlookers that we make a decent living. But you should live the life that makes you happy.

[Anonymous]

DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

[Anonymous]

However you choose to save money and live below your means is great. You can decide to be very frugal because you find value in paying for expensive real estate. You can decide to outsource chores and live in a low COL area. You can decide to live in a small house to pay for an expensive private school. In short, you can do anything that you want with the money that you have and still live below your means.

The things to understand is that most average people become wealthy by doing this -
a) Start saving early, making sure that they take the full employer match. Pay yourself first.
b) Keep fixed costs low.
c) Don't incur credit card debt.
d) Put need before want.

Another thing I would suggest is to make sure you track every single cent that you spend every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

[Anonymous]

Our HHI is $140k. We live in D.C. Here is how we have been able to live below our means:
Started renting our house 7 years ago before the neighborhood became desirable, then we were able to buy it from our landlord a bit below market value.
We live in a duplex but rent out our basement. This helps pay the mortgage. We don't have a lot of space but we make do and our kids are happy.
I stayed home when the kids were little so no daycare costs and now am able to work part time during their school hours.
I shop at places like Aldi and Price Rite as well as Costco. Cook most nights.
We own one car and paid it off with a bonus my DH received last year.
1 vacation per year to visit family on west coast and a few shorter trips within driving distance
Kids do 1 extracurricular activity each.
I shop at thrift stores and Wal-Mart for kids clothes since they grow so fast. I do buy good quality shoes for them.
We don't do date nights often because of the expense of babysitters and nice restaurants but I'd like to try to do this at least every other month.
So basically a combination of things working out at the right time (house purchase) and sacrifices. But it's definitely possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

If your lunch is a soggy sandwich, you are doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

+1

This week my work lunches included black bean soup, caprese salad, Spanish tortilla with salad and baguette, roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo on focaccia, fruit salad.

Soggy sandwich indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

+1

This week my work lunches included black bean soup, caprese salad, Spanish tortilla with salad and baguette, roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo on focaccia, fruit salad.

Soggy sandwich indeed.

But is this any cheaper? Probably not by much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

+1

This week my work lunches included black bean soup, caprese salad, Spanish tortilla with salad and baguette, roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo on focaccia, fruit salad.

Soggy sandwich indeed.

But is this any cheaper? Probably not by much.

Not that PP, but yes, taking leftovers is much cheaper. You don't have to do it, but pretending it doesn't save money to make food yourself is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

+1

This week my work lunches included black bean soup, caprese salad, Spanish tortilla with salad and baguette, roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo on focaccia, fruit salad.

Soggy sandwich indeed.

What the PP listed doesn’t sound like leftovers.

But is this any cheaper? Probably not by much.

Not that PP, but yes, taking leftovers is much cheaper. You don't have to do it, but pretending it doesn't save money to make food yourself is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I both work downtown and are desensitized to $10+ lunches every day. A few years ago I tried to cut costs and made lunches for each of us...l.i ate my soggy sandwich and when we were home having dinner DH admitted he couldn’t eat the crappy sandwich and bought something at Cosi. I think it’s really rare to see any professional dc workers brown bag it but I do think we could all save a little money if we did.

We don't take sandwiches, we take leftovers. So it's a hot meal every day at lunch, and I see plenty of my BigLaw coworkers doing the same based on the break room refrigerator. But if it doesn't work for you, don't do it. However, it is strange to say "why do you want to live like this" as though not going to Au Bon Pain twice a week is a rights violation.

+1

This week my work lunches included black bean soup, caprese salad, Spanish tortilla with salad and baguette, roast beef sandwich with horseradish mayo on focaccia, fruit salad.

Soggy sandwich indeed.

What the PP listed doesn’t sound like leftovers.

But is this any cheaper? Probably not by much.

Not that PP, but yes, taking leftovers is much cheaper. You don't have to do it, but pretending it doesn't save money to make food yourself is silly.

Of course it does, unless you think a brown bag lunch has to be PB&J. You think she made a separate black bean soup in the morning to take for lunch?

And if she made the sandwich separately and it wasn't leftovers -- she still bought the ingredients at the grocery store, and that's significantly cheaper than getting a similar sandwich from Taylor or the like.

[Anonymous]

We cook most of our own food. Less expensive and better than most of the food in our area.