Apart from big, one-time expenditures, or perhaps expensive “habits” like collecting shoes or smoking cigars, a large portion of the population ends up spending the majority of their income on essentials. This includes expenses like housing, utilities, food, professional certifications, cleaning products, toothpaste, and the list can go on and on.
We often don’t stop to think about how to lower this base cost of living, usually overlooking that option and going straight to hacking off the things that give us pleasure, like golfing, traveling, or dressing like a fashionista.
There are ways, however, in which you can lower your cost of living and perhaps be able to continue to thoughtfully spend time and money on those “bonus” activities or items which keep you thriving or allow you to be more “you”.
It might take an initial investment on your end at first, but here are some “hacks” you can use to lower your base cost of living and boost your “fun fund”.
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Buy Food in Bulk
Being intelligent about your grocery shopping can save you thousands of dollars a year- talk about funding that adventure trip to Thailand! The trick is to buy things in bulk when they are on sale, store them in the appropriate manner, and use them in your everyday cooking. From items like chicken breasts, to your favorite cereal, or even spices, you won’t run into as many situations when you buy regular price just because you suddenly need that product for one of your meals. By stocking the cupboard with sale items, you can shop first in your pantry and use weekly grocery trips for selecting fresh fruits and vegetables that won’t keep otherwise.
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Invest in Your Personal Health and Hygiene
It’s time to put our long-term thinking caps on and consider the costs it takes to maintain ourselves- everything from basic health, like doctor’s visits, to supplementary services like physiotherapy, down to basic routines like shaving.
Is there anything we can do to minimize the time and expense that it takes to keep us in good shape? Consider joining a gym or committing to a fitness program as a way of cutting down on treating your health problems and funding health care visits, or getting braces in order to correct your bite and avoid a slew of dental issues down the road. You can even eliminate a lifetime cost of shaving accessories when you sign up for treatment with an IPL device that provides permanent hair removal results 4 to 5 times faster than diode laser, and is certainly more convenient than everyday maintenance.
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Retrofit Your Home
Good bye high utility bills- it’s time for you to meet your match. You can significantly lower the cost of your bills when you invest in energy-saving technology in your home. Start with replacing your lightbulbs for LED alternatives, purchase high efficiency appliances, and research methods in which you can better heat and cool your home during the different seasons. From simple fixes like replacing your windows to reinsulating your roof, by doing it “right”, not only will you appease your inner environmentalist, you will delight your inner economist who won’t have to wait long to see the payback on these investments.
When attempting to balance the budget in your household, we often lean towards depriving ourselves of those “extras” which keep us happy and satisfied. However, that’s just one option that we have to choose from. Though attempting to lower our base cost of living can be difficult, it can be more rewarding in the end since we don’t have to sacrifice that which makes us feel like ourselves.