Part 3: Items 11-15
NYC Bread Line
Installment three of this series of 20 ways to live on little-to-nothing. In these we’ll look at some basics about food, using all of your abilities, and taking honest stock of exactly what you need to do in your life to get through the hard times. If you get hit hard by what’s happening – and cutting back on luxuries just won’t fix the problems – you’ll need to learn to rely on yourself.
11. Taking Honest Stock
If you don’t want to go all Gypsy (and have a family to support), you can still take control of your situation. Keep a careful record of where the money goes over a month. Examine your ‘necessary’ expenses (home, utilities, car, insurance, food, gas, any other fixed expenses). If the ‘necessary’ expenses are larger than net income, it’s time to get out from under the big ones and take a good look at less expensive ways to live. You can live through hard times, but first you have to acknowledge you’re in hard times.
Housing markets are bust right now, so it’s difficult to sell your house even if you were willing to take an equity loss. Same is true for cars and light trucks. It can be the best option to make a clean break and declare bankruptcy, which can allow you to start fresh with a whole different way of approaching life.
12. Put Your Skills to Good Use
Incorporating your skills into your life so you don’t have to pay someone else to do things for you is a way NOT to spend on such things. If your vehicle needs an oil change, new plugs or new brake pads, do it yourself if you know how. Use the opportunity to teach skills to the kids. Quality time with the young’uns as well as not spending $100 or more for something you did for yourself!
And keep in mind that your various skills and talents are themselves valuable. Someone always needs what you can do, and if you play your cards right, you can get a lot (besides cash) in return.
13. Grow Your Own
It’s nearly impossible for any one person to grow all the food they eat. Though there are good ways to barter for things you don’t grow, if you grow a lot of what you do grow (or can trade services). Some good information about community food cooperatives and exchanges is available on the web, through organizations like Local Harvest and Eat Wild.
You’ll inevitably have to spend money on food, but you can spend a lot less by a number of means. And even if you don’t have much land, you can still have a little plot of tomatoes, peppers, salad greens and such. Those can also grow in pots and flats on a sunny patio. Grow heirloom varieties and you can save seeds, too.
14. Make What You Eat
People these days are way too accustomed to eating out. Cooking up a cup of rice and adding some chopped veggies (or canned) to fry makes about 4 servings of fine fried rice for a buck or less, that you’d have to pay $10 or more for at the Chinese Take-Out. Really. Every time you DON’T eat out you’ve saved a chunk of change, done your body a nutritional service, and not contributed to the overabundance of styrofoam garbage that never rots.
One-pot meals (soups, stews, pasta and rice dishes) are not difficult and can go quite far. If you’re cooking for one, try cooking for two and that’s a whole other meal you don’t have to cook another day!
15. Eat What You Make
Eat leftovers for lunch the next day. People tend to roll their eyes at this, but think about it – if it was good enough for dinner, it’s good enough for lunch. That’s money you won’t be spending, food you won’t be throwing away. If you take a morning’s worth of coffee in a thermos, fill it with cold water from the fountain or cooler as soon as it’s empty, you’ve an afternoon’s worth of refreshment available. Buying bottled or fountain drinks adds up quickly.
Every scrap of edible food is valuable nutrition you won’t want to waste. Adding something fresh to the rice or something meaty to the mac and cheese makes a whole new meal. If it goes into your body instead of into the trash or compost pile, you’ve done yourself and your food budget a big favor.
Posts to This Series:
Part 1: Items 1-5
Part 2: Items 6-10
Part 3: Items 11-15
Part 4: Items 16-20