Self-Reliance and Homesteading

When things are tough for you economically, it’s important to pay attention to your monthly budget. We all have bills to pay — some are must-haves, and some items are things we like to have and want to pay for. Among those things, we have fixed and variable spending items.

The key is to keeping your monthly spending down is to focus on the variable cost items in your budget. If you can’t cut out things like rent or your mortgage, or your cell phone bill if you have to have one, then you need to look for other ways to spend less each month.

At the time of this writing, things are tough. Money is tight, so the budget needs to follow suit. Take a look at your own monthly budget and try to find ways to slim down your variable costs. Here are some areas you can start looking to cut down:

• Electricity – We can use less of this each day and have a smaller electricity bill each month. Reduce your overall usage by doing simple things like turning out a light when you’re not using it. Apply this over the whole household, and you might see some significant usage reduction. You can also use a fan instead of the central air conditioning, especially if you only need to cool down one room.
• Water – Take shorter showers, consolidate laundry, and don’t leave the faucet running when shaving your face (guys) or brushing your teeth (everyone). Reduce usage, and you’ll spend less.
• Groceries – The bigger your family, the more food it will eat. But you can still cut your budget down by shopping smartly. Part of this savings equation is also food preparation. For example, dried beans in a bag cost less per pound than canned beans (and they don’t have salt or preservatives in them, either). Buy in bulk when you can, and watch how much something costs. To keep costs down, buy cheese in blocks instead of pre-shreaded, boil eggs for cheap, protein-rich snacks, and cut up your own pineapple instead of buying it in a can. Look at how you eat and prepare food, find some diet staples (ex. Japanese rice in bulk), and work to cut your food budget down while still eating heartily.
• Entertainment – We all need to have fun to stay sane in this world. Stress is all around us, and if we don’t unwind, we may be headed right for some health problems. This will be hard to cut, but try to focus on the most entertainment hours per dollar. Rent movies instead of going to a movie. Read a book at home, get some exercise, watch movies on TV, learn how to build a guitar… The point is to look for ways to have fun and unwind without spending a ton of money. Entertainment doesn’t always have to be acquired at a premium price.

There are many ways we all can reduce our spending each month so that we have less stress, a more secure financial position, and reduce wasteful usage. Take a look at your own budget and find ways to cut down. Look for alternatives to what you normally do, and you may find a pleasant cash cushion after a few months. Then you’ll be able to breathe easier in these financially tough times.