Reducing Expenses - Tips

I would agree with that.

Another thing to think about but is how much of the "spare cash" stays locally?

Say the product in question costs $100.00 ex GST from the manufacturer including freight etc. The local business puts on a 30% mark up and sells for $130.00 + GST . That puts $30.00 into the local economy. The online retailer works on a 10% margin and sells for $110.00.

If the tight arse buyer then spends the saved $20.00 locally to someone else with a 30% mark up it works out at just $4.62 being put into into the local economy. ($15.38 + 30% ($4.62) = $20.00)

This is purely based of a retail business scenario.
 
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MLP said:
If the tight arse buyer then spends the saved $20.00 locally to someone else with a 30% mark up it works out at just $4.62 being put into into the local economy. ($15.38 + 30% ($4.62) = $20.00)
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Consumption is the end goal of all production.

If the “tight-arse buyer” buys both the online product for $110 and the local product for $20 he has satisfied 2 demands instead of just the one if he just used all his cash locally ie his wealth is further enhanced and his resources have been utilised more effectively.

Choosing to buy locally at inflated prices because the consumer thinks they’re doing the “right thing” is false economy.
 
Our weekly budget is $350 a week minimum.
It came down from $400 since we paid off the mortgage in June.
The $350 covers everything including a little beer/smokes/weed if needed and a little extra but not much.


Off grid lliving and without debt is key for me and not having all those huge expenses that the city folk have.
I can watch anything on my phone for $65 a month, a short walk through the yard to an outhouse once a day for my morning dump, I carry water 20 ft from the well to my front door and carry out waste water of course.
I cut wood for winter for heat but I did that anyway when we lived on the grid and its only 5 or 6 cords total.

Doing all this makes us efficient and we dont waste our resources.
We appreciate every chunk of wood and every drink of cold water and every nice morning dump.


I do love my outhouse.Resized_20240928_085434_477763908442170.jpegResized_1000005981_478325880519820.jpeg
 
Mate, that looks fantastic :D

I wish I could go Off Grid, but I'm committed to caring for my Mum ( 82 yrs, breast cancer )

Maybe 1 day in the future :)

Where are u located in the USA ? All those tree's & greenery looks great.

The outhouse:- :cool:
 
We are in Saguache County Colorado, not far from Gunnison.
Its paradise and its fun to live in a place where people want to come on vacation.
 
We just refigured our budget for 2025 and its $25775 a year, down almost 5k from 2024.
I dropped our car insurance to a minimum coverage saving $800 a year, paid off mortgage saving $216 per month, phone plan down from $135 to $66 cutting that in half and next summer I will qualify for a senior discount at 55.
We added in a little more cushion for eating out or entertainment things.

Comes out to about $560 total broken down per week (46 weeks) which isn't bad for everything and is probably far lower than average.
It should remain the same for 2026 I hope.

Reducing expenses is part of my retirement plan so any little bit i can whittle down will help.

Our biggest expense by far is groceries and we overestimate that amount some too at $20800.

None of that will pay for backhoe parts, replacing a car, solar system repairs or any other big unforseen expenses that always appear out of nowhere.

Id probably figure a work year at around 46 weekly paychecks or so considering holidays and some time off with no paid benefits.
 
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JohnnyBravo300 said:
We just refigured our budget for 2025 and its $25775 a year, down almost 5k from 2024.
I dropped our car insurance to a minimum coverage saving $800 a year, paid off mortgage saving $216 per month, phone plan down from $135 to $66 cutting that in half and next summer I will qualify for a senior discount at 55.
We added in a little more cushion for eating out or entertainment things.

Comes out to about $560 total broken down per week (46 weeks) which isn't bad for everything and is probably far lower than average.
It should remain the same for 2026 I hope.

Reducing expenses is part of my retirement plan so any little bit i can whittle down will help.

Our biggest expense by far is groceries and we overestimate that amount some too at $20800.

None of that will pay for backhoe parts, replacing a car, solar system repairs or any other big unforseen expenses that always appear out of nowhere.

Id probably figure a work year at around 46 weekly paychecks or so considering holidays and some time off with no paid benefits.
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I like ur Thought Process & that u have followed thru with Actions. Dropping $5K from ur previous Budget is Impressive :cool:

I too Budget my Expenses & spend less than my Income. I even manage to Save some money into a separate high interest account that has Bonus Interest ( an extra 1/2 % ) if u don't spend any money from the account for the month.

My biggest saving was to increase preparing/cooking meals at home to 95%. Most of my meals are around $4/meal. I don't eat Breakfast. Just a cup of Coffee at home for $0.20/cup.

I look for savings all the time, even if they seem small. Eg, I had Netflix for my Mum as she's not really mobile & confined to her Lounge. Netflix was increasing their monthly cost. So I found " tubi TV " for free. I cancelled Netflix & Mum's happy with tubi TV ( YT Movies is also free ). Saving $19.99/month :D Every $ helps in an inflationary economy :mad:

;)
 
Our main personal and business focus is on improving cash flow, reducing expenses comes second.

Cash flow is a key component in remaining solvent so we've been putting as many of our larger bills on payment plans where possible. Yeh it comes at a price (and the extra cost can be tax deductible in certain circumstances) and frees up significant amounts of cash for us and spreads out the cost-of-business and cost-of-living over time as opposed to getting hit with lump sums. We do it with car rego, insurances, rates, power, the accountant's expenses etc.

We've found it very useful so while it's not a "reducing expenses" tip, it's a "managing expenses" tip.
 
Around 2019/20 the missus challenged us to see if we could live off a $100 per week food bill for a year. I said it couldn’t be done and I wasn’t going to miss out on my beef.
Well we did it and successfully to, we still shop the same way today.
We didn’t need to spend the $100 every week, the surplus cash went into a jar and was spent when specials came on.
No eating out when in Australia.
We have close to 50 dishes we can cook ranging from takeaway style up to restaurant style.
Categorised every dish (for 2)into 3 sections $5 and under, $10 and under &$20 and under( put it on a spread sheet on your pc, it’s easy to forget what dishes you can cook)
Most dishes were $5-$10 and waited for specials on big ticket items.
A whole raw chicken was the best value, 3 to 4 meals for two, nothing wasted.
Best tip was Coles policy at the time, wrong price after you paid, get free. Can’t tell you how many free chickens we got because they forget to change the discount pricing in the computers.
 
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Use your fridges and freezers wisely, they actually don’t use much power if you know how.
We have 2 small tucker box freezers, 2 small fridge/freezers( 1500mm high x 500mm wide) 1 60l weaco and sometimes a 60l esky.
each uses around 1kw per day in summer if you keep them closed, seals in good condition and plenty of ventilation.
Keep 2L coke bottles filled with frozen water in your freezer to keep your freezer full. You can also alternate from freezers to to fridge as your fridge gets emptied. Helps massively with reducing power to keep them cold and frozen
 
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betterinvestmentthanshare said:
Around 2019/20 the missus challenged us to see if we could live off a $100 per week food bill for a year. I said it couldn’t be done and I wasn’t going to miss out on my beef.
Well we did it and successfully to, we still shop the same way today.
We didn’t need to spend the $100 every week, the surplus cash went into a jar and was spent when specials came on.
No eating out when in Australia.
We have close to 50 dishes we can cook ranging from takeaway style up to restaurant style.
Categorised every dish (for 2)into 3 sections $5 and under, $10 and under &$20 and under.
Most dishes were $5-$10 and waited for specials on big ticket items.
A whole raw chicken was the best value, 3 to 4 meals for two, nothing wasted.
Best tip was Coles policy at the time, wrong price after you paid, get free. Can’t tell you how many free chickens we got because they forget to change the discount pricing in the computers.
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Great challenge & great that u made the grade. $100/week for 2 is Fantastic :D

I did the wrong price & u get it for free at an IGA with 2 bottles of Champagne. The young girl on the register freaked out when I said that I now get them for free because of the mispricing.

Just before things go hysterical the manager walked up & listened to what I said. Turned to the register girl & said " he get's it for free & tell them to fix the pricing. He then just walked off. '

The register girl was just looking at me stunned with her mouth open. I picked up the 2 bottles, said " thank u " walked out. As I was walking past the front of the store, I could see he still standing there looking at me.

I always wondered how long she stood there, stunned o_O
 
My last tips maybe the most important.
You MUST Understand the difference between
1.Assets
2.Liabilities
And managing them, this will greatly reduce expenses across the board

Keep your ego in check, it can be costly if you don’t

Know the difference between want and need.
 
mmm....shiney! said:
Our main personal and business focus is on improving cash flow, reducing expenses comes second.

Cash flow is a key component in remaining solvent so we've been putting as many of our larger bills on payment plans where possible. Yeh it comes at a price (and the extra cost can be tax deductible in certain circumstances) and frees up significant amounts of cash for us and spreads out the cost-of-business and cost-of-living over time as opposed to getting hit with lump sums. We do it with car rego, insurances, rates, power, the accountant's expenses etc.

We've found it very useful so while it's not a "reducing expenses" tip, it's a "managing expenses" tip.
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Off the back of the above what I do instead of paying more per month to the insurance company or whatever to pay by the month, I automate it my self.

Example if I know I have larger bill I divide the cost by 52 weeks in a year and set up automatic redraw out of my account into my pooled bill account every week.
In a years time when the bill comes bang the money is sitting there. You can also do this for bigger business bills like work cover/rates etc.

I also go one step further with insurance. I only pay one way 3rd party on all vehicles no fire and theft as that is the most expensive part, all cars have old school hidden kill switch (for a little extra safety from theft) The difference between what I would have paid for full comprehensive and what I pay for 3rd party I automate it and put it in a separate insurance account.
Should I have an accident I can use that money as required.

As a guide each car is about $250 per year one way. Not a lot and barley changes if its a 5K run around or a flash landcruiser

Edit - cheapest 3rd party insurance Ive found is elders, but I always shop it around each year with a broker.

Timmy
 
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One of the biggest items you waste money on is cars.
Everyone wants a nice flash one buts lets stick to important facts regarding cars.

In order of importance

Biggest loss of $$ is depreciation/resale value - how much are you going to loose on this make/model whenever you go to sell it, few years later or 5 or 10, go out and see what older ones of same make/model are selling for.

Maintenance - you want a car/make/model that mechanics see often and know how to work on them, regular problems and general familiarity with them.
Hand in hand with this is parts availability and pricing, more common models generally have cheaper parts and more readily available.

Versatile vehicle - life changes over time, you younger want to look cool in a sports car, you have kids, you move profession, now your hands on whatever. Point is you don't want to be flipping cars constantly, why, well you loose money everywhere, on the depreciation, getting the RW cert done and most over looked is the transfer fees. Especially transfer fees as cars are worth more in $$ every year, even old clappers.

Sometimes its better to have an extra vehicle that fills a more versatile role, that anyone in the family can use if needed, the added advantage of this is if your primary car breaks down or is in an accident, you don't have to rush and pay plenty to get it on the road fast. It allows you to shop pricing for parts, order them online, get mechanic quotes, hell you can be like me an get your hands dirty and give some easy jobs a crack yourself. Point is you have that back up car in the family its bloody handy.

Don't chase or look for tax deductions, yeah you can claim part of a new car on tax, yeah you can claim it as a business expense and all that, I know it all, but fundamentally there are better things to do that piss good money up the wall on a vehicle and look the part.

In summary ideally you want to keep vehicles longer, buy good makes/models, get a little hands on, keep on top of maintenance spend a little more often its cheaper in the long run.

You will find ALL Euro cars depreciate like a rock and are expensive to fix, so to me they are out, anything chineese has zero re-sale value, tesla or anything electric is the same worth nothing second hand.
The Japanese engineer for reliability first, looks/design are way down the list, hence generally they are better.

Good make/models my thoughts, but it all comes down to a blend of the above.

Toyota are great - Landcruisers - 100 series/200 series, any of the 70 series, prado's are great as well.
If you need a ute or a cheaper family run around FG falcons are great value for money, hell even go LPG cheaper fuel costs, though not ideal in country areas.
If you need a cheap run around, plenty of older toyotas from early 2000's. Rav 4, corolla, camry.

Timmy
 
Diving into our budget even more because $20,800 seems really high for "food and laundry".

I had just passed this number over without question figuring its close enough, but my wife dug out our original papers.
We included animal feed for our 3 cats, 3 dogs and 38 chickens.
Ice for our coolers for 5 months.
Laundry at whatever that was like $1500
Food was only about $7500 total.
And just over 10k for "weed cigs and beer"!!!

Holy crap thats alot of money but I was trying to be honest with myself I think.
Nowadays I rarely drink or use tobacco but years ago I did daily. I just enjoy the herb now and thats it.


Point is, go through ALL your numbers every so often.
As your lifestyle changes the numbers can change drastically.
 
Timmy88 said:
One of the biggest items you waste money on is cars.
Everyone wants a nice flash one buts lets stick to important facts regarding cars.

In order of importance

Biggest loss of $$ is depreciation/resale value - how much are you going to loose on this make/model whenever you go to sell it, few years later or 5 or 10, go out and see what older ones of same make/model are selling for.

Maintenance - you want a car/make/model that mechanics see often and know how to work on them, regular problems and general familiarity with them.
Hand in hand with this is parts availability and pricing, more common models generally have cheaper parts and more readily available.

Versatile vehicle - life changes over time, you younger want to look cool in a sports car, you have kids, you move profession, now your hands on whatever. Point is you don't want to be flipping cars constantly, why, well you loose money everywhere, on the depreciation, getting the RW cert done and most over looked is the transfer fees. Especially transfer fees as cars are worth more in $$ every year, even old clappers.

Sometimes its better to have an extra vehicle that fills a more versatile role, that anyone in the family can use if needed, the added advantage of this is if your primary car breaks down or is in an accident, you don't have to rush and pay plenty to get it on the road fast. It allows you to shop pricing for parts, order them online, get mechanic quotes, hell you can be like me an get your hands dirty and give some easy jobs a crack yourself. Point is you have that back up car in the family its bloody handy.

Don't chase or look for tax deductions, yeah you can claim part of a new car on tax, yeah you can claim it as a business expense and all that, I know it all, but fundamentally there are better things to do that piss good money up the wall on a vehicle and look the part.

In summary ideally you want to keep vehicles longer, buy good makes/models, get a little hands on, keep on top of maintenance spend a little more often its cheaper in the long run.

You will find ALL Euro cars depreciate like a rock and are expensive to fix, so to me they are out, anything chineese has zero re-sale value, tesla or anything electric is the same worth nothing second hand.
The Japanese engineer for reliability first, looks/design are way down the list, hence generally they are better.

Good make/models my thoughts, but it all comes down to a blend of the above.

Toyota are great - Landcruisers - 100 series/200 series, any of the 70 series, prado's are great as well.
If you need a ute or a cheaper family run around FG falcons are great value for money, hell even go LPG cheaper fuel costs, though not ideal in country areas.
If you need a cheap run around, plenty of older toyotas from early 2000's. Rav 4, corolla, camry.

Timmy
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Cars for us was a big one too. We bought a 94 Subaru Impreza in 09 for $800, needed a battery and front struts/alignment and I have replaced most things on it since then.
Its got 290k miles right now and she runs great.
I just drove her 1500 miles back home to visit mom and it was nothing.
Progressive rate King Springs with a 2 inch lift has made that car into a rally beast and it handles like its on rails.
I made that upgrade about 10 years ago and it was well worth it.

We bought a 98 Subaru Outback Legacy in 2013 for $1000 and it needed rear struts and over the years i slowly mostly rebuilt it too.

I just gave it away to a guy at work with 340,000 miles. He came out to my place and drove it home.
It had a few growing leaks and with the crazy miles I didn't feel right trying to sell it haha.

Now we have a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 2011 Grand Cherokee that I spent about 10k total and ill try to do the same with these cars.
The 97 only has 110k and the 2011 has 170k.

I do love Subarus and would buy them again for sure.
A thing I noticed while car shopping recently is that the $800-$1000 Subarus no longer exist.
They are all 3k to 5k now!
 
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