35 Ways to "Live Below Your Means" & "Reduce Your Cost of Living" to Grow Wealth
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- #costofliving #savemoney #frugal
In this video I share 35 of my favorite money saving/frugal tips!
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Email: jennmariecook2018@gmail.com
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I live off the grid. Car paid, land paid, home paid, house#2 paid. No utility bills. Loving life on the big island.
Hawaii?
How did you do it? Everything paid off.
I buy as much as I can secondhand. Clothes, cookware, perfume, exercise equipment, books, whatever I'm in the market for at the time. It makes me feel good because it's creating less waste, you save so much, and you can usually afford better quality items.
Excellent tip! My sister and I almost never buy anything full price. Goodwill prices went up understandably but still way below mainstream stores.
A no-driving day. I try to give my car a "Lord's day" every week. I don't always manage this one, but it helps the vehicle.
Carrot 🥕 soup. Dice up a bag of Carrots and 1 potato with a sprinkle of herbs 🌿 😋 boil and then blend 😋 So healthy and inexpensive Blessings Maria
Maria, thank you for the suggestion!
Thank you Maria for the recipe I will be making this!
Thank u. I add black beans and tomatoes to it
I add red lentils….. delicious and more fibre!
My hobby is thrifting and then reselling on eBay. It's a hobby where I actually make money and it also satisfies my desire to shop, in which I don't actually keep the item, hence reducing clutter in my home.
Love this idea. I'm actually thinking about selling Tie Dye Tshirts. I love making them and so pretty.
That is such a good idea!
Life is not as complicated as many people think it is. I love simplicity!!
I use regular masking tape and a sharpie to label food. Never has come off in the freezer.
Regarding cell phones, we use Mint Mobile. It costs us $33.67 per month for two phones, down from $105.
Wow, great savings 👌
Thank you for great video. One tip I don’t see posted is using schools for services. I get my hair done for one-third of cost. As a treat, massages for half price. We’re going to try culinary school for fine dining. My mother just got major dental work from graduating students. I’ve had great service and saved so much money.
Talking about movie theaters, our local theaters do $7 Tuesdays. If you want something to drink ask for a glass of water, it's FREE🙂 I love the idea of a NO Spend Day
Basic washer and dryer with the agitator is the best!❤
I’m crocheting while watching this.
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We bought an electric canner and we can our homemade chili. It is wonderful to come home when it is cold and grab a jar of it and enjoy! Next we are canning our vegetable soup !!
Adding to #2 you can actually do these newer hobbies just utilize your resources like the library. I learned Spanish,take knitting classes, coding courses, photoshop etc. all for free using my library
Also some libraries provide streaming services like hoopla (for free)
I have a 2009 Toyota sienna. 14 years going strong. Still absolutely love my van. Not quite 200K miles on it, just yet. Bought it brand spanking new… in cash. Never had a payment on my baby. Have always owned it outright and clear. Was it a crazy amount? Yes. But stupid happy to have done it that way. Would not be surprised if lasts for another 6 years. Another 10 would be amazing.
I have a 19 year old Yaris!
Due to the price of gas and soaring inflation, we've stayed home a lot more lately which has definitely saved us money! I purchased a new Toyota Corolla 22 years ago....still driving it! Great video, great tips.
Linda, that is awesome! ❤️ hugs to you
Amazing!!!
Yeah! Had my brand new toyota corolla in 2005 and still serving me to this day. Never gave me headache. Love my car!
We are driving a 1998 Mercury and a 2005 Jeep. They need maintenance work done now, every so often, but still much cheaper than a car loan and high insurance payments. We'll keep them as long as possible.
@@Carolmaizy I agree with you 100 percent!
I love gardening 👨🌾
Paying off the mortgage is the most important thing and we drew our house onto a sheet of cardboard divided it with vertical lines representing $1,000 which we coloured in each time we paid $1,000 off the principal. It kept us focussed and we paid it off in less than half the time, plus started a family.
Sandra, that is awesome! Congratulations on having a paid off house! Yes!!! 🤗❤️
If you can't use up all your vegetables, freeze them and use them to make vegetable broth. Celery leaves and mushroom stems are really good for broth.
got some great freezing tupperwear containers and i freeze extra brocolli, celery, leftovers etc
Shopping my existing pantry is a big saving for me- it can really decrease monthly food shopping when I use what I have and make dishes using already bought items
I've had my Toyota Tundra for 21 yrs...love it.
That is awesome!
I so rarely hear utility bills mentioned on frugality vids! Turn the heat down in the winter. When I lived in Buffalo I kept my heat - on average - on about 64F. It was fine. Now, in Florida, I keep the AC as warm as I can handle.
Becky at Acre Homestead is an amazing resource for growing, home-cooking, and preserving.
Maria, I will check out her channel! Thank you for the recommendation 🤗
Going to the library is a great free hobby for people who like to read. You can even check out movies and many libraries have puzzle exchanges and fun craft activities for kids. I like to browse recipe books at the library and screenshot recipes I want to try.
We needed an oil change and new filter, and also a broken bolt replaced on our Zero-turn mower. The company that sold it to us was going to cost $750 to do it!! That included $100 to pick it up and bring it back. We kept researching options and found a very nice repair shop in town with a great reputation and borrowed a trailer from a nice neighbor to transport the mower there and back. Total cost? $100!!! No kidding!
I really like Pick Up Limes here on UA-cam. She is a dietitian and makes all kinds of delicious foods. She also makes videos about cheap and healthy meals.
I will definitely check out her channel! Thank you ❤️
I like her too.
I love your tip about DIY! Sometimes it’s cheaper to just buy it already completed!! I’ve learned that lesson 😊
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I am so impressed with the appliance recommendation
I have been purchasing the most basic washer dryer (stainless steel), refrigerator, and dishwasher for decades WITH a warranty. The warranty is cheap, because the appliances are cheap, and when and if they fail which they will often times they get replaced rather than repaired
Take note… You can get a new warranty on the replacement appliance… It carries you forward like nobody’s business
We bought a 2007 Toyota Camry for 8000.00 cash. Fully loaded, one owner, the sales receipt in the glove box was 39,000.00 when purchased. You CAN FIND that bargain. The mileage was good, perfect condition. Our other car is a 2002 Camry. Still running great. Maintenance is key. Great video. Love all the common sense ideas!
Sorry to burst your bubble I also got a 2007 Camry and there are a few major recalls one of them being melting dashboard and engine burning oil between changes. Luckily I bought mine for half price from an old lady. Only had 55k miles and got it for 3k
Frugal Money Saver on youtube cooks an item from scratch almost every video. Emmy and Paul do a great job with this.
Mary's Nest is a great UA-cam channel for cooking from scratch and cooking without artificial anything
No sprinkles on the Pop Tarts? 1st world problems!
I learned from working in a school cafeteria kitchen to keep a running list of leftovers. At the school we would use leftovers as an extra side the kids could pick from on another day. At home less things get lost and turn fuzzy.
Buy a basic but high quality washer and dryer...Speedqueen. A lil pricey but well worth it. You will have it for the rest of your life for sure. Its the brand that the laundromat use😉.
An appliance repair man recommended this brand to us.
Yes to the air fryer! I didn’t know I needed it until I got one for Christmas last year 😂 Great ideas, thanks!
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A couple channels I watch with lots of scratch cooking are Acre Homestead and Three Rivers Homestead.
Thanks Jennifer for this video! As much as one tries to be frugal, it's good to be reminded of some other tips that one can do to save money. Focus on needs rather than wants truly helps. Always.
Respectfully, the cost of fabric or yarn can often be considerably higher than buying the article! I enjoy sewing and knitting, but I'm aware that they're not necessarily frugal.
But they ARE frugal as a hobby. Eg. My kids knit . This is cheaper than buying electronics for them or taking them to museums and such often. We still do museums and zoo sometimes but handicrafts keep kids busy.:)
The focus was on enriching hobbies not the article itself. This hobby can also yield an extra income.
Absolutely love your videos Jennifer!
Frugal Fit Mom is great for being frugal and scratch cooking
Lots of great ideas. Thanks When I was growing up we had a finished basement and we always had a puzzle going on a table down there. That way if was out of the way .I am retired and we still do puzzles. They say it keeps your mind sharp.
Janice, that is always the hard part about a puzzle is having a place it can hang out while you work on it. They do keep your mind sharp, and it's always fun to find that one piece that has been hard to find.
Hillbilly kitchen is a really good youtube channel for baking from scratch. When buying appliances we researched the kwh for the stove and frig. We also checked the kwh on the washer and how much water it used. It is an lg front loader, and it has saved us quite a bit. Our toploader was a maytag and it lasted only eight years. The lg gets the clothes much cleaner and it is very basic. The pedestals are not necessary either. It has a short cold water wash too. The washer and frig are energy star which really helps with bills.
I’m glad to hear I already do a lot of these! We bought basic secondhand washer and dryer when we got our first home 11 years ago and still going strong. And we’ve had both vehicles for 12 years. So far so good! 🤞🏻
That is fantastic! 🤗❤️
What brand vehicles are they?! 😊
@@Starfish12345 a Honda Civic and Nissan Frontier 😊.
@@Starfish12345 I had a 1998 Honda Accord. It was going great until a hit and run destroyed it in my driveway one night. They were good little cars back then. It was a standard. My daughter learned to drive in it. You can drive any car after that. Lol
Yup, air fryer is a must in our house🙌🏿
No spend day per week? I can do that.
When overloaded with garden vegetables, I share Them with Neighbours and Friends
I have a Mazda Miata and have owned it for 23 years. I am still driving it and loving it.
Fantastic! ❤️
Stay away from home shopping channels. I know of a woman who got over $35,000.00 in credit card debt because she lacked self-control and had to have everything she saw. Also, live simply. Also, I LOVE to use the envelope system. I keep my stash of cash in the freezer, (between slices of bread.)
Sewing kit , manicure kit and diy hair cutting kits saves me some money , good advice !
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I recently had to become comfortable doing more with less...The library is my new best friend for my love of reading..
Debra, we love the library too!
Smart! Great free resource
The library is awesome! They have so much programming as well
I usually have at least 30 books and audio books from the library.
I only buy bulk items that don’t expire like household cleaning products, bath tissue, and paper towels. I definitely love cloth towels more than sponges, but sponges sometimes clean better than regular towels.
Great tips! I love using my air fryer for French fries and frozen broccoli 😋
Weekly Leftover Checks. I pull out all of the leftovers on Wednesday and Sunday. Most leftovers are only good for 4-5 days. Use it up or freeze it twice a week.
Maria, that's a great routine! 🤗
Get on a prepaid cell phone plan. I switched this week and am now saving $600 a year for unlimited talk/text with 12GB of data. Wish I'd done it long ago.
My favourite cookbook is Yum and Yummer by Greta Podleski. It is Canadian and every recipe I’ve tried is really good and I’ve tried nearly half of them. The bonus is a QR code on each recipe that takes you to a video to show you how it’s done. Great for learning to scratch cook. And yes - an air fryer is life changing. Great video - thanks 🇨🇦🇨🇦
Rhonda, that is smart to have a video to link to the recipe!
I'll see if I can find it online. Thank you.
Many things I have done for years. Some weeks I do not spend money on anything. I listen to music on UA-cam, I make money online for gift cards and to pay bills. I keep all of my previous cellphones to make money with apps used in the background. So I cash out monthly with Amazon gift cards and PayPal.
Our gas & batter bills have doubled & tripled. Such robbery! What’s next? Car insurance? Property taxes? They’re squeezing the middle class
I feel fine if I see something while shopping and I say, "I need this." But I know I'm crossing a line when I see something and say, "I might need this." Unfortunately, I know too well about hoarding and the emotions that are connected to it. Hoarding creates debt.
i deepfreeze every piece of vegetable or fruit that i cannot use up in due course, if i buy in bulk, i never throw any food away...i slice up zucchinis, carrots, homemade bread, peppers, pumpkins, and leek and deepfreeze it, i grind carrots for soup and deepfreeze....i make pizza dough from scratch and deep-freeze it in portions, either in a lump or already rolled out....
My favorite cookbook is Yum And Yummer. Great, easy recipes with no fancy ingredients!
Thanks for the great tips!
I have had repairmen tell me about the newer machines. They said that the digital parts break down sooner. Also the manufacturers have a name for this it’s called planned obsolescence.
Great Video ! Living on a Dime to Grow Rich , she has good cooking Videos . And also has two great cook Books.
Excellent advice. Great video!
Excellent tips, Jennifer!
Love you Jennifer!!! Thank you for your videos. I’m starting a notebook for notes!! Love you, ❤❤❤ Stacie Thomas
Stacie, thank you so much! I hope you have a fantastic week ❤️
I have an extra freezer. I keep at least a dozen freezer containers, quart and pint size and a vacuum sealer. When I had a lot of veggies to use up, I made vegetable soup with a can of crushed tomatoes and froze about five containers. Besides soup, use in chili and for my vegetarian grand daughter. I prefer homemade soups with bone. Found bone in chicken breast for $ .99 per pound. Got a lot of soup. I just cook it simple, onion, celery, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Use less water. Then when I heat it up, I add water, carrots, noodles or dumplings. I have done this with all kinds of meats, fruits and veggies. I also can some, but some things taste better frozen.
These are great tips and what blows me away are the comments. U must have the best subscribers. There are so many tips or suggestions I'm going to have to write them all down
Yes, there is a great group here who are so generous with sharing their experiences and tips. I have truly learned so much from them during my time on UA-cam.
Great tips. I do a lot of these. Paying more than the minimum payment really works!!
Danielle, thank you! 🤗
Nice tips, I find using an electric pressure cooker or Instapot very helpful in providing large, inexpensive batches of food.
This is made up of SO MANY GREAT IDEAS!! I did get a good laugh out of your “soggy salad” comment tho IYKYK 😂 love your personality shining thru like usual! I’m sharing this with my good friend too! Thank you!!
Thank you so much! 🤗❤️
Great idea to rotate subscriptions! We let our streaming subscriptions get out of control last year and I went on a cancelling spree in January. We kept two affordable options (around $5/mo each) but I'll be cancelling those by May when the weather gets nice outside. Also, I'm more familiar with the FREE options (so many now) and it is going to be easier to say "no" to many subscriptions going forward My favorite thing to consider with subscriptions is to take any recurring monthly subscription cost and multiply it by 12. When I consider the yearly cost I sometimes change my mind and determine that item not to be of such great value. We also shopped around on auto insurance last year since we were adding a teen to the policy and it came in lower even with the addition of a new driver! We also shopped around on house insurance and ended up having our policy rewritten with the same company which saved us a gob of money when the rates were going up. I also changed phone plans to save $30/mo. We make our teens pay for their own phones and they turned us on to the more affordable options.
Thank you for sharing this! So many great tips and how they saved money ❤️
Mint mobile is $30 monthly for unlimited. I’ve been using it for 10 months and I love it.
Great work, fantastic list.....I hope everyone is picking up on the fact that no matter how many frugal/budget videos you watch, there are THREE things that always always always come up, & there's a reason why: 1) eating out; 2) streaming subscriptions; & 3) paying just the minimum
Gracias por el video!
A nice basic thrifty recipe book you might want to try, the More with Less cookbook.
Great video I already do alo of those things but I always learn something from you thanks for sharing .
Beatrice, thank you! Hugs to you 🤗
Thank you!
Hi Jennifer, long time subscriber, but don't comment often. Thanks for making all these videos to help us save money! By the way, knitting and crocheting are not cheap hobbies. The price of yarn is...yikes! 😂
Jenny, thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! Hugs 🤗
We get yarn at the thrift store. For a kids ' hobby it is cheap. They knit slowly. Lol!
I love love love your content❤ New subscriber here by the way. I’m also bent on undoing and redoing my relationship with money and being on top of my finances. Thank you for sharing great ideas and advice!
Dee, welcome! I like how you say, "redoing your relationship with money." I think that is a spot-on way of looking at it. Very well said! 🤗
When you get a raise, automatically send it to an investment account. You may need to account for the increased tax burden. Money not seen won't be spent.
When you label your canned goods of the contents, also write down the Best Buy date. It helps you rotate everything.
Our cars are approaching 17 years and 20 years.
I’m going to have to show my husband this video because I put those tiny posted notes on all our leftovers. He doesn’t. But for me, it really helps me eat my leftovers. If you don’t label it, you don’t know what it is I would also like to add that you need to have a regular schedule of checking the bottom back shelf of your refrigerator. Things seem to go they are to die
Awesome, Jennifer ❤
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Haven't watched yet. Going to put mine in. No cable. Watch DVDs and VHS tapes or UA-cam videos. Phone is Straight Talk. $45 plus taxes. Hang clothes out. Never eat out. Eat leftovers. Seldom buy clothes. Thrift store for tops, etc. 1999 car. Seldom go out of town. Heat at 65°. Wash dishes in the sink. All I can think of atm.
Susan, thank you so much for sharing these! 🤗
Another tip is doing an annual pantry challenge where you cook from what you have at also
Great ideas! Thank you 🙏
Nancy, thank you! 🤗
Thank you so informative !
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On Fridays I don't cook we only eat leftovers from the last 3 days.
Nancy, that is a great habit! Fridge clean out meal 🤗
Great tips. I love my air fryer too! What are your favorite shopping sites for your daughter’s clothes?
Thank you so much! I find the best deals on department store websites like Belk and Dillard's.
Wow Pat you home in a few years most be awesome!!!!!!
Home cooking youtube recommend: Mary's Nest. She is phenomenal and sweet and easy to learn from! Plus her cookbook just got published!
Thanks for the tip!
Better Homes & Gardens, the plaid cookbook, not the newer ones, but one of the little bit older ones you might get in the thrift store is a really good cookbook with about everything you need. Also, I have a really good cookbook called better than store-bought. Just some ideas.
Joyce, thank you so much! I will keep an eye out for it at the thrift store.
Respectfully, the start of cost of a garden usually mean that you don’t save money at all in the first year. You might be able to break, even if you can get many of the materials for free, and start things from seed.
And if you have figured out some magic for growing more than you can possibly eat, please make a video completely about that! I have been gardening for four years, I have 82 ft.² in a raised bed in my backyard, and we have never grown enough to can, or preserve
Yes I've noticed that as well
Have you tried square foot gardening? Also, look into growing things up, and not out. I had a very limited amount of garden space in the city and so planted things everywhere. I grew potatoes in free buckets from the bakery. I grew corn in cheap $10 trash bins from Walmart. Make sure you compost everything you can to put it back into your soil. There's no law that says you have to have a "traditional" garden.😊
I 💘 watching your video great tips thank u
Emillia, thank you for your kind words!🤗
People need to use what they already have or know what they really need and what can really help their daily life. I don't have an air fryer or a toaster, but I have an electric high-pressure cooker. It is very useful for me. I use it to cook rice (yes, I don't have a rice cooker either), meat/potatoes, and many other things. Not only it speeds up the cooking time, uses less energy to cook, and I don't need to stand beside it. I also have a juicer but only used it for a limited time (a waste of money). However, one of my friends uses hers multiple times every day.
Me too! Better than airfryer! ❤️
Finally subscribed! Love your vidoes!
Astrid, thank you so much! I hope you have a wonderful week 👍
@@THEJENNIFERCOOK thanks, you too!
Gave up drying clothes, keeping heat on 65, doing everything we know AND STILL GET A 400 electric bill. So stinking ridiculous!!!
Brenda, wow, that is a lot! I'm shocked it is still so high after those changes.
We had a high electric bill, and finally realized it was an older freezer we had that was drawing way too much energy. It made a big difference when we stopped using it and unplugged it.
Check your electric company to see if they offer free energy audits to figure out why it's so high. I know companies are raising their rate per kw but that still seems very high.
appreciate your good advice thank you
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Leftovers for packed lunch? Nooooo. I make a deluxe sandwich on whole grain bread bursting with veggies. It's a vegetarian sandwich. Meat is expensive. Cheese is allowed.
That sounds yummy!
That sounds delicious!
Very nice tips as usual Jennifer, but in my country south africa I don't see any coupons in the newspaper, or online
Also Mandy in the making for great recipes
Marlena, thank you for sharing this channel! I just checked it out and am excited to watch some of her videos.
Watch Julia Pacheco for scratch cooking and stretching your money.