Slap Down The Cost Of Living Without Ruining Your Life In The Process

Most people talk about spending less, but when they try to make it happen, they realize it’s easier said than done. As soon as they start cutting their spending, a lot of the joy goes out of their lives, and they wind up indulging in their old habits, not having any money left at the end of the month.

So what can be done about it? Surely there’s an easier way?

Do Some Basic Energy Efficiency Around Your Home

Sometimes to save money, you have to spend money. Take lightbulbs for instance. Modern LED light bulbs use about a tenth of the power of older, incandescent bulbs and they last about 30 times as long. The only problem is that they can often wind up costing $20 to buy, so most people see them on the shelf and ignore them, going for the cheaper options instead.

According to The Simple Dollar, however, each regular light bulb you replace with a LED light bulb can net you between $15 and $20 in savings per year. If you replace 10 bulbs, that’s potentially $200 off your electricity bill. What’s more, because LEDs will last for decades or more, once you’ve made the initial purchase, that’s $200 off your bills for life.

Move To A Mobile Home

The cost per square foot in a brick-and-mortar house is roughly $80, depending on where you are in the country. The cost of a square foot of space in mobile homes is less than half that, meaning that if you’re serious about living cheap, going mobile is the way to go.

Manufactured homes are very different to how they used to be. Modern homes are often better built than older stick homes, and they’re customizable. Far from ruining your life, a manufactured home will give your family more money to spend on things that really matter, like holidays.

Sell Off Anything You Don’t Use

A quick trip through your house will reveal all sorts of things you don’t use anymore. Pick up anything that can be flogged on Ebay and sell it, especially if you’ve got credit card debt. That $200 you owe on your credit card this month? It can easily be paid off by selling a bunch of stuff you don’t want. Plus, once you’ve gotten rid of stuff you don’t need, your house will be less cluttered.

Use Refillable Filter Water Bottles

Hardly anybody drinks water straight out of the tap. Instead, we opt for fizzy drinks (which are bad for us) or bottled water, which is ridiculously expensive for what it is.

There is, however, another way. Perhaps you’re one of those people who really doesn’t like the taste of water out of the tap. If you are, then listen up: you can now get water bottles for under $15 that have built-in water filters. That means that you can get that pure, fresh water taste, without having to shell out a fortune on the bottled stuff. Each bottle of water out of the tap, filtered through your water bottle costs less than a penny.