When we left our old life behind in South Carolina, my husband and I decided he would use his skills and abilities to create the life in Virginia that we longed for. We made preparations for him to take a couple of years off to concentrate on preparing our building site and completing our new home. Needless to say, those are monumental tasks! Saving money was our priority.
Living on one income, it was important for us to trim expenses in any area we could. Part of our desire in living on the mountaintop was to create a more simple and meaningful life! Consequently, we are now in the fat trimming business!! Below is a list of money-saving ideas that have worked well for us living in our tiny space.
Large Money Saving Ideas
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Tiny cabin
The most obvious way we save money is living in our tiny cabin. You can’t really beat not having rent, utilities, mortgage, property tax, home owner’s insurance, etc. That’s a rough savings of $20,000 a year for us. Downsizing is great for the wallet!
Getting rid of credit card debt
Part of our preparation in relocating was to get rid of any credit card debt that we had. It was much easier to tackle before moving off-grid. Having accomplished this, we never make purchases on credit that we are not able to pay off immediately. At this point, we don’t even use credit cards.
Only having one vehicle
I know this is not possible for everybody. Fortunately, it was possible for us in this stage of our lives. We have always had two or more vehicles, but it’s been a great way to save on payments, fuel, taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
Saving trips to town
The closest town to us that has a building center and other “big box stores” is 45 minutes away. We never make that trip unless there are multiple things that need purchasing. Making a list of things we need is a great way to prevent unnecessary trips that would cost us time and fuel. Online purchases are also an excellent way to get products that you need. I never order online without free shipping. Talk about savings! I don’t even have to leave the house!
Instant coffee
My husband calls it “Cowboy Coffee.” You know, the coffee that you toss a teaspoon of in a cup and add hot water. We are not particularly snobbish about our coffee and use the old JFG brand. Yes, we had a Keurig, but we never fell in love with it. We tried so many K-cups, but always kept going back to instant. Our instant JFG costs about $9, includes 180 cups at about 5 cents per 6 oz. cup. If you add in your coffee favorites like creamers and sweeteners, that’s about 15-20 cents a cup! That’s a lot of savings if you are a coffee junkie. Is it fun to treat yourself to a special coffee, sure it is. Those little treats do add up!
Saving By Going Natural
Replace paper towels with cloth towels
Don’t get me wrong, I still love and use my paper towels! Sometimes, there’s just nothing better. However, living off-grid, I was constantly using them. I am snobbish about paper towels. Because of this, I won’t buy anything other than the large rolls of Bounty select a size. Unfortunately, I was going through too many. I lessened my paper towel use by using real, cloth towels that I can toss into the washer.
Homemade toothpaste
This might sound strange, but we’ve been making our own toothpaste for some time. After suffering some dental issues, I truly believed that a lot of the commercial toothpaste I used was too harsh for my mouth! The recipe I use is simple: 2 cups of extra virgin coconut oil, 3-4 tbsp. baking soda, 1-2 packs of Stevia, 15-20 drops of peppermint and/or clove essential oils, mixing well.
Don’t buy bottled water
Home haircuts
At this point, it has been over six months since I last had my hair colored or cut. I am not brave enough to tackle those on my own. As you can imagine, a baseball cap is a necessity for a woman living off-grid. It’s definitely my go-to accessory at the moment on the mountaintop! However, I have had no problem cutting my husband’s hair. After buying a Wahl kit, getting a couple of haircuts under my belt, his hair has never looked better! He loves the convenience of having a haircut on his time as well as the money we save doing this at home.
Saving By Cutting Out Extras
No cable, satellite or movies
Trust me, you really can live without them. They are costly and have the potential to waste a lot of time. We gave these up long before we moved off-grid. We do have an Amazon Prime membership which is a huge saving over cable and satellite packages. Occasionally, we can watch programming that we choose instead of paying for monthly access to so much we wouldn’t watch. I also enjoy Amazon music and the ability to select the music that I enjoy without commercials or ads.
Doing projects ourselves
Let’s be honest, it is very hard to get a quality job or find someone who takes pride in their work. We have found that doing projects that we can handle results in a much happier, cheaper and more satisfied outcome.
Eat out once a week
Some weeks, we don’t eat out at all. Usually, we end up eating out on the way to the way to the grocery store! Never go to the grocery store hungry. You’ll end up spending more money because everything looks good when you’re starving!
Rarely going shopping/no impulse buying
By shopping, I mean the times you go to Wal-Mart for Bounty paper towels and end up spending $100 on things you didn’t intend to buy. It’s so easy to grab those extras! In a year’s time living off-grid, I can honestly say that I have not purchased any items that were not absolute necessities. Unfortunately, no fun extras now. There’s an old saying, “If you don’t want a haircut, stay out of the barbershop.” Sooner or later if you hang out there long enough, you’ll end up with a haircut. Much the same is said for spending time in places that makes impulse buying very easy and hard to resist.
Look At The Big Picture
The biggest money saving tip that I can give you is to look at the “Big Picture.” It’s human nature to look at what’s right in front of you and not to consider the long term effect. Allow me to illustrate.
We are creatures of habit
Humans are creatures of habit and therefore get in routines like stopping by the same store and buying the same drink, coffee, snack, etc. everyday on the way to or from work. A lot of chilled, bottled soft drinks at convenience stores cost around $2.00 including tax. That $2.00 drink that you purchase doesn’t sound like much money. What’s $2.00 right? After all, you are about to pull an 8 hour shift or just pulled one and you deserve it! Well, by Friday, you have now spent $10.00 ($2 per day multiplied by 5 days) on your well deserved soft drink or treat. Still doesn’t sound like much money.
Time will tell
By New Years Eve you have now spent $520.00 ($10 per week multiplied by 52 weeks). That may be a week’s pay? It still doesn’t sound like a bunch of money. Your Christmas bonus will cover that, right? In 5 years that soft drink has now cost you $2,600 ($520 a year multiplied by 5 years). Now the money is adding up! In 10 years, that cold bottled soft drink that you deserved so much has costs you $5,200 ($520 a year multiplied by 10 years)! The question is, what could you do right now with $5,200? That’s a lot of money and I used a small dollar amount as an example. Many people spend $5.00-$10.00 at Starbucks everyday! That’s a lot of money in 10 years!
My point is, look at your spending long term. Every little expense adds up. Someone once told me that, “You will only make so much money during your lifetime!” No one really knows how much that will be! Spend what you have prudently. You don’t have to be Ebenezer Scrooge, but “choosing” to watch your expenses before you “have” to watch your expenses is a much better way to live.
