THE SHOESTRING GIRL:
How I Live on Practically Nothing - And You Can Too!
By
Annie Jean Brewer
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Annie Jean Brewer on SMASHWORDS
THE SHOESTRING GIRL:
How I Live on Practically Nothing - And You Can Too!
Copyright 2011 by Annie Jean Brewer
Discover Other Titles by Annie Jean Brewer at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/annienygma
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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The Shoestring Girl
Table of Contents
Welfare, Social Security and Jobs
Furniture, Appliances, Electronics and Stuff
Thrift Shop, Yard Sales and Other Resources
Groceries, Recipes and Grow Your Own
References and Recommendations
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Introduction
When I left my husband a decade ago I had no job and no money; all I had were my kids, our pets and an old mobile home that I had purchased in preparation.
I did not enter into the challenge without being ready. I knew my income would be sparse so I planned ahead. These were my rules:
*
Make recurring expenses as low as they could go.
* Keep them that
way.
By using this method I would know the bare minimum needed to survive with my kids and I could (hopefully) be a little picky and choose a job that offered mother's hours so I would not have to depend upon child care for all but the youngest.
It worked.
When my income increased I followed the advice of some friends and took out loans and credit cards to "improve my situation" with new appliances and furniture. What a mistake! As a result of those purchases there were a few times when I had to scrape money together just to buy groceries.
I don't want to EVER do that again.
I have discovered several advantages to keeping those recurring expenses low:
* It frees up the bulk of your money for enjoying life.
* You don't have to work as hard to get your bills paid.
* You can better survive economic downturns.
* You can afford to chase your dreams or take risks.
* You can afford to take long vacations by saving up and not working for a time.
* You don't have to search for a roommate or shack up with someone to have help paying your bills--you are able to pay all of your bills on a single income.
I have been living this lifestyle for so many years now that it is second nature. I have become the one that my wealthier friends ask for loans when their income takes a dip. It makes me wonder who is the real wealthy one: the one with all of the money, or the one who knows how to keep it?
Some say that this lifestyle involves sacrifice yet neither I nor my family feels this way. We do what we want, when we want and have money to spare.
Our van is paid for, we rent a nice older home in town and we have money in the bank with more on the way. Our computers are newer (Katie's is 2 years old and mine is a few months old) and we can afford to upgrade on a regular cycle.
We have everything we need but only a portion of the expense of an average household. Here are my recurring bills:
Until recently I had a part-time job at Wal-Mart. We have enough money coming in from my book royalties so I quit to focus on the things that are really important in my life. This accomplishment would have been impossible if it were not for shoestring living.
We did have prepaid cell phones but stopped putting money on them when I started planning to leave the job at Wal Mart. Cell phones are luxuries for all but the perpetually mobile (like truck drivers) so instead we use Google Voice combined with our MagicJack for voice calls and texting.
We do not receive welfare or food stamps yet we eat well and are healthy. Nor do we receive any cash payments from the government. We live entirely on my income as a writer and life is really good.
If we wanted to, we could live on even less than we do right now. Here's how:
* Go to the library for internet access. Save $30/month.
* Eliminate the van and walk everywhere. Save $41/month on car insurance plus maintenance, gasoline, taxes and license fees. Realistic savings would be over $1,000 a year.
* Use Google Voice exclusively for phone service instead of MagicJack. Save $1.67/month.
* Purchase a mobile home on a rented lot and pay cash. Save $100-$150 a month depending upon the lot rent.
If I did these things I would then only pay $230 a month for an additional savings of $202.67. If I wanted to live even cheaper I could purchase a small RV or live in my van and eliminate the rental and utility fees so even my low bills are not the lowest that they could be!
However, there is a line we must walk when being frugal. The goal is to stay on the comfortable side of that line so that our lives do not feel like a sacrifice. Rather like walking on a tightrope, we balance to avoid a fall. I call this line the shoestring.
Anyone can do what I do to save money. All it takes is desire, patience and a willingness to look at things in a different way.
Are you ready to live on a shoestring?
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How to Use This Book
Within these pages you will find the tips and tricks that I have used personally over the years to pare my expenses to the bone. Some of these things I still do today while others did not hold my interest; still others I've kept in reserve for the day that I need the knowledge.
This book is written so that you can read it in its entirety to get an overview and then bookmark the stuff you want to try yourself. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel so if there is a resource available that can help you better I will lead you there with a link or a reference. That way if you want to know more you can find it but if not you can just skip over. I have done this deliberately to save you time while you learn about saving money.
If you don't like an idea, that's okay. Just move to the next one. The frugality police are not going to knock on your door just because you use paper products or enjoy eating out!
Above all have fun while you experiment. If you try something and don't enjoy it then put it back on the shelf and try something else. The object of the game is to keep trying and experimenting--to keep thinking out of the box that you are trapped in.
If any of these ideas make you think then I have done my job. If you know of any ideas that will make this book better, email me your suggestions at annie (at) annienygma.com. This work is designed to help people and as a result will grow and change over time.
When you are finished with this book please leave an honest review at the website where you purchased it. This will help others determine if this book will be helpful.
Thank you for your support!
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Disclaimer
As with any book we have to have a section with the legal stuff. I am not your mother and there isn't any warranty implied or implicated in any form in any of these pages. I am not responsible for any loss, dismemberment or jail time you incur because you tried the stuff in this book. Use your brain and check your local laws. I use this stuff but you may not want to take the risk.
A Temporary Situation
Ideally, living on a shoestring should be a temporary situation for most of the folks who try it. Once your expenses are as low as they can go you will have the free time to pursue other forms of income.
For instance, you can share your tips and tricks on living frugally in a simple ebook like this one to generate income even while you sleep. Everyone is special and has knowledge to share; not enough of us realize that we each have something important to contribute to the world.
If you are not interested in sharing your knowledge there are other ways of creating income, both passive and regular. Two books I recommend for those who are sincerely interested in improving their financial situation are The Millionaire Fastlane and Where to Work Online.
I used my shoestring skills to be a stay at home mother for my daughter while she was younger; now I use those same skills to pursue my love of writing and help others through my books. Sometimes I even take a break and stop working entirely - an extended stay at home vacation that is paid for with the money I've saved. The possibilities are endless once you live beneath your means!
Be warned that the shoestring lifestyle can be addictive: once you discover how little it actually can take to live well you may not want to go back to your old life even if you're rolling in the dough!
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Welfare, Social Security and Jobs
My belief in Social Security went out the door along with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Here is a person who shares my opinion:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/20/opinion/granderson-social-security/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
True, there are many who have figured out how to game the system; who get "disability," food stamps, medical assistance, utility assistance and however many other "assistances" that are out there but I don't.
It isn't that I think they are wrong; I simply do not trust that money to be there should I ever really need it so I do not want to grow dependent.
As a result I am planning for a future without government assistance: along with saving some money I am building passive income. Eventually should I settle down I may invest in cheap mobile homes to rent for extra money as well. An apartment building, where the owner lives in one unit and rents out the others has been an investment I have also considered.
Or perhaps I will continue to live on practically nothing.
One day the government's money will dry up. It has to. Logic dictates that nothing can continue to spend more than it receives without eventually hitting a wall. All of us have a credit limit. When our nation reaches that limit austerity measures will be taken in a last ditch attempt to keep the government afloat.
Payment to the states for food, medical benefits, SSI, disability payments and other monies to the defenseless will be the first to go.
Benefits to the retirees will be next. Some of them actually have money to fight so I don't expect them to be in the first wave.
When that happens watch to see what happens when millions who have not learned to count upon themselves discover that they've traveled up the Shit Creek and just lost their only paddle.
I have no intention of being one of those people. I plan to be on the sidelines watching, safely away from the shit that will hit the fan.
I will be one of the several who will actually be able to survive--thrive even--without government assistance.
"But what about a regular job?"
Regular jobs are nice if you don't count on them. This economy has shown that we are unable to count upon those jobs to be there when we need them.
For instance, Wal Mart is one of the biggest employers in the United States. Millions of people work there every day. Students, singles, fathers, mothers, retirees all work for this mecca of consumerism.
Note: I love Wal Mart even if I don't agree with all of their practices. They're one of the cheapest places around for shoestringers to get what they need.
While I worked there the past several weeks saw a slow reduction in our hours without a single explanation. Currently a large number of my fellow part time workers have watched their hours reduced to 16 hours a week. They even expected me to drive from a neighboring town for 4 hours a day.
A friend in a nearby department hired on to join the management program. He is living with his parents because he could not afford to support his children on 30+ part time hours a week he originally received. When he confronted his supervisor about his drastically reduced hours he was informed that he would have to deal with it because he was "low head on the totem pole."
Another young lady, a single mother, is a cashier at the very same store. She burst out in tears when she saw her 16 work-hour schedule. She, like me, is all alone in the duties of supporting her children. She has no clue how she will pay her bills or how long she will last.
Another gentleman had a conniption when he discovered his hours; his wife is the primary breadwinner and is currently laid up from a surgery - he has no idea how he will make ends meet while she is off work.
The tension there was so thick that you could feel it when you walked through the halls. The managers cringed when they asked you how you were doing, waiting to get pounced upon by angry employees.
This is what corporate security will get you: a bunch of empty promises. Almost every place of employment can be counted on to consider their workers "lucky" to have a job and will treat them as such. In some places you are lucky to even get a break. I've worked in a number of restaurants where I had to pretend to take up cigarette smoking in order to get a "smoke" break -- the smokers frequently relaxed outside while the nonsmokers were expected to take up the slack without complaint.
Businesses will promise you the moon and then cut your hours at the slightest provocation; I knew one manager whose favorite punishment was not scheduling workers who fell out of favor, sometimes for weeks at a time. These workers would be so happy to be allowed to work again they would fall under her thumb and gratefully do whatever she asked.
Others would regularly lay off people -- sometimes weekly. Your days would be spent in terror of attracting unwanted notice, terrified that you would be called into the office or taken for a walk. When they didn't lay off you were forced to work for 50-60 hours a week in wintertime: 10 hours a day with "encouragement" to work all of them and sometimes they would even work up to 70 by opening the factory all seven days of the week. Those who worked like slaves in the winter were the ones who generally escaped the layoffs in the summer.
Some will promise you the moon - and lay you off before the next one. Still others refuse to lay people off and instead fire their workers for the smallest offense and refuse to pay unemployment.
When you get closer to retirement age a reason will be found to fill your spot with someone younger to avoid the promised stipend; sometimes the fortunate ones can sue and get a portion back but most just feel powerless and move on to their next career as a greeter at Wal Mart.
Job security Is NO security. It is simply a bunch of empty promises issued to keep the masses docile. The only real security to be had in this country is by those who count upon themselves.
Is this what you want for your future?
If not then the time to act is now. Start by reducing your expenses to the bare minimum while creating sources of income that are not dependent upon a public job. Small businesses do not need a lot of capital to start. A few tools, an ad in a paper, maybe some free business cards from Vistaprint and you are on your way.
Instead of being dependent upon one source of income you will have lots of little sources. If one client stops using you there will be others to take his place.
Look for ways to make your money take care of you. Buy an inexpensive mobile home and rent it out for additional income. Take that income and buy another one, Repeat. Buy a duplex and rent out one side to pay the expenses. You will have a home rent-free then.
Start working online and stash the cash to invest in something else. Grow a garden and sell the produce. Heck, sell your junk on eBay or Craigslist!
The sooner you work to reduce your expenses and diversify your income the sooner you will gain real security. I know from experience that most employers will treat you like garbage if they know they are your only source of money. If they know that you have enough income from other sources to walk away--and the guts to do so if they pull any crap--they will treat you with much more respect.
Now, are you ready for true job security, or are you content with a cheap imitation?
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Live On Less
One thing I have learned over the years is that we all have the ability to live on much less than we think we can. The amazing part is that living on less will not make you feel deprived but instead you will feel liberated if it is done in a rational manner.
There are numerous reasons to live on less:
* It is cheaper. It is much cheaper not to buy something than to buy it, bring it home and care for it.
* It saves time. It takes less time not to buy something than it does to buy it and care for it.
* Less to clean.
* Less to care for.
* Less to store.
* Less to move.
* Less to trip over.
There is a trick to living with less and it does NOT involve going cold turkey. The trick is to start small.
When you feel the desire to acquire something, ask yourself if you have something else already that will accomplish the job.