When It Matters, You'll Make Cuts
A less expensive lifestyle didn't come natural to me. My natural state required all the good stuff money can buy. For almost every product or service, there is a price and quality spectrum. Many people, myself in my earlier years included, simply require the best (or think they do). They can find an unlimited number of reasons why we should all be buying the top of the line.
They say things like, "If you're gonna buy it, you might as well get something you like" or, "You don't want it to break down on you" and, "I want something that will last". Cheap stuff has a reputation of breaking down, not lasting, or causing problems for us. The good stuff has a reputation of making our lives easier, more convenient, and happier.
The truth about the good stuff is that is actually makes our lives worse. It makes us unhappy, frustrated, stressed out, and broke. The good stuff hurts our lives instead of helping. Sure, they are better products, but they "cost" us more and I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about our time and our energy, because that's what money is.
Money is our time and our energy. When we don't have enough money to support ourselves, we must march into the office everyday. I go to work 5 days out of the 7 days in my week. I spend over half of my waking hours each one of those 5 days at the office. I'm there because I need the money. I don't have enough money to be elsewhere during that time. Along those same lines, I don't have the money to be buying top of the line things. Let's be honest, if you're not financially independent, you don't have the money to be buying anything top of the line.
After realizing this simple fact that I didn't have the money to be buying these things, I of course cut my need for this stuff. Over the past 2 years, I've downgraded almost everything I buy on a regular basis. Here are the personal care consumables I've downgraded from top of the line to bottom of the line on and haven't even felt the difference:
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Haircuts - I went from paying $15 plus tip several years ago to buying a $15 hair trimmer at Target and cutting my own hair for the past 4 years. Money saved: $90/year
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Shampoo - Due to my sporting of the buzz cut, I stopped using shampoo completely. Money saved: $10/year
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Deodorant - I used to use Axe Deodorant at around $3.75-$4.00 per stick. I've since downgraded to Degree for Men Fresh Deodorant at about half that price. Money saved: $15/year
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Hand Soap - I used to use name brand foaming hand soap. It smelled really good and looked great in my bathroom. Each container lasted me about two weeks (I wash my hands a lot) and cost about $2.50. Now, I use regular liquid hand soap (the store brand) and I buy the big refill containers of it for like $3, which last me about 3 months. The liquid soap just lasts longer for some reason. I also stopped using as much soap, which matters a lot too. Money saved: $48/year
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Facial Tissue - I used to use Puffs facial tissue, which are around $2.50 per box. They are so soft and great. I decided financial independence was more important to me than the softness of the tissue I blow my nose on, so I downgraded to the cheap store brand version at around $1 per box. Money saved: $10/year
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Tooth Brushes - I used to use Oral B Pulsar Soft Bristle toothbrushes at $5.50 a piece and use them for about 2 months before replacing. Now, I buy regular Oral B toothbrushes at around $1.50 a piece and use them for the same amount of time. Money saved: $25/year
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Skin Lotion - I use skin lotion in the morning after my shower to keep my skin comfortable. I used to use Eucerin Body Lotion, Everyday Protection at over $7 per bottle. I've since switched to Vaseline Men Body & Face Lotion at less than half the price. Money saved: $24/year
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Body Soap - I used to use Dove for Men at around $7 for a 6 pack. Now I use Dial for Men at around half that price and it's just as good. Money saved: $25/year
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Toothpaste - I used to use Crest Vivid White. I've downgraded slightly to Crest Pro-Health. I'd love advice on ideas for further downgrades. Crest is a little too expensive for my liking, but I do like the gel type toothpaste. Money saved: $10/year
Total savings: $257 per year. And that's just on personal care items. This stuff doesn't impact your quality of life one bit.
How would you like to have an extra $257 right now and give nothing in return? That's the equivalent of being able to take one day off from work (or more than that) and get paid for it. Sounds pretty cool to me. I'll trade money for nothing all day long.
My 5 Year Camera Gets Its Second Life
As many of you know, I recently traveled to California. It was a great trip for my sanity and for my bank account. One of the only problems I came upon was that my 5 year old camera, that I love dearly, had a heart attack and died. My girlfriend and I were hiking down a large hill that we'd climbed in the Big Sur area, when all of a sudden my camera went black. It was gone for good.
Or was it? Being the inquisitive guy I am, I quickly turned to my good friend Google. Within the hour, I had diagnosed my camera's cause of death as being a popular manufacturer defect. This defect was one that Canon doesn't apparently stand behind, or even acknowledge existence of so I knew I'd be on my own in fixing it. With yet more research, I found out exactly what happened. A screw had come loose, allowing it to fall down into the electronics of the camera, eventually causing a short and blowing a tiny fuse.
The good news is that the power board, which contained the blown fuse, could be replaced fairly easily and the part was widely available online. After some careful thought, I decided that I must fix this myself and that buying a new camera wasn't an option. I bought the part online for $50 and had it shipped here. The part came on Thursday, 3 days ago. I immediately rushed my dear camera into a 4 hour, open heart surgery, taking out 25 tiny screws, removing several organs of the camera, transplanting the power board, putting the organs back in and closing up the wound. After $50 and 4 hours of my highly skilled labor, my 5 year old Canon G9 lives again.
Sure, I could have bought a new camera. After all, electronics are getting cheaper every day. But could I have gotten one for $50? And would I have liked it as much as my trusty Canon G9, which I've adored over the past 5 years? I would have had to spend over $400 on a new camera after all, since I am an amateur photographer and can't settle for a less than a great camera. In fact, I may have had to break down and upgrade to a DSLR, which would be in the $700-$1,000+ range. Now just isn't the time for that though as it would likely sit and collect dust like my G9 has these past few years. All in all, I practiced a bit of Mustachianism this week and put a little labor into something that was fun and saved me money. It also allowed me to not consume anything. I bought a used part online, put it in myself, saved my camera and didn't do any additional consuming. Pretty awesome if I could say so myself.
Oh, and when everyone else forgot their camera this weekend with my family, mine was alive and present to capture some great memories of my two nephews, one who's just starting to talk (2.5 years old) and the other who's just starting to walk (1 year old tomorrow). It was meant to be.
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26 Comments
- Laurie says:February 3, 2013 at 8:01 PM
Great post, Kraig. You've done alot this year in terms of cutting personal expenses! As far as toothpaste, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide together are great whiteners, bacteria killers, and super cheap, but you've got to be able to stomach the taste. :-). Awesome work on restoring the camera too, I might add.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 3, 2013 at 8:04 PM
Thanks Laurie. Maybe I'll try the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide for toothpaste. I've heard that suggestion before. I'll keep you posted!
- Dividend Mantra says:February 3, 2013 at 8:40 PM
Kraig, Spot on. Couldn't agree more. I look at it like this: What could be worth more than your own freedom? Why would you want to spend all your money to own "things" when you don't even own your own time? Best wishes!
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 3, 2013 at 8:44 PM
DM, Spot on. It's such a common sense mindset, yet it took me until age 28 to think this way. We're on the same page, my friend. Thanks for stopping by and congrats on your portfolio value surpassing $90,000 (although I know you don't focus on the value, but the dividends).
- Jon says:February 3, 2013 at 8:44 PM
Good on you for restoring the camera! I have also adopted the $15 trimmer $0 haircuts. The other big benefit is the amount of time it saves.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 3, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Thanks, Jon. Yes, cutting your own hair is so easy, takes just a few minutes and lessens the need for additional spending on your hair. How great is that?
- Ross says:February 4, 2013 at 7:43 AM
I switched to cutting my own hair about 6 months ago and its great, I can. Do it every other week if I want and mot feel guilty! I've got an idea for you. I believe bar soap ia cheaper than body wash on a per wash basis. I buy bar soap in bulk at Costco. I can look up the price/oz but it's super cheap. Great post, way to cut your spending!
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 4, 2013 at 9:08 AM
Ross, That's great news because I already prefer bar soap over body wash. I haven't thought about buying it in bulk from Costco though. That's a good idea!
- Canadianbudgetbinder says:February 4, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Well said Kraig. I think that we should make the cuts before it matters because for some that is the difference between losing the roof over their head, going bankrupt, food on the table etc. If all we need to do is live with-in our means... it makes things run a bit smoother. We've cut back, budget and recognized and continue to see areas we spend money, for nothing. Shared on FB!
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 11:00 AM
CBB, Thanks for sharing this post on Facebook. I'm a big believer in making these cuts before it matters. There is a big difference between those things. Losing income when you're been living below your means for a while is an inconvenience instead of the emergency it would be for someone who's been spending all they make. Some people are okay with living on the edge and having to stress out and react when someone decides not to keep you on the payroll anymore. I'm not and it sounds like you aren't either.
- krantcents says:February 4, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Very true! When given a choice, I always make the best one. The rest of the world may not be as disciplined though. I think a lot of people never think they even have to make a choice. Therefore, they go ahead and spend anyway.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 11:02 AM
It's quite shocking to me that more people don't think this way. I mean, why would you want to be stuck in this rat race your entire life when there is such a common sense solution? It boggles my mind.
- February 5, 2013 at 9:42 PM
We used to spend quiet a bit of money on personal care supplies. I'd head to target and buy shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste etc. and end up walking out of the store with $100 worth of supplies that would only last us a month or two. Now that I use coupons we can buy the same name brand products for a fraction of the cost (usually free or really close to it when I shop at the drugstores). There are so many places we can make cuts if we're willing to make sacrifices or learn new things.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 11:12 AM
Hi KK, Coupons are a great idea to cut costs on personal care supplies. I haven't really gotten into them because of all the worth they take, but I do think they would be worth looking at. I wonder how much I could cut if I started using them. Do you have any idea?
- Eddie Shore says:February 7, 2013 at 7:15 AM
This is an awesome list you put together Kraig. I have an iPad and iPod Touch that I purchased in 2012 and 2011 respectively - and decided to save the money by not buying the new versions. When several hundreds of dollars are invested, I like to make things last more than a product cycle. I have also cut back (in some cases stopped going completely) to stores I know where I'll just spend money on what ultimately turns into junk. I shop at Fresh and Easy where I can buy microwave meals at $1.99 (sometimes $1.49 with a coupon) and other items at a lower price than the main grocery stores, which allowed me cut my lunch costs in half. Keep up the good work Kraig. And thanks for having patience with me.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Hi Eddie, Glad to have you here. Interesting strategy on buying the older model. It certainly will save you bucks over the new models. I've never heard of Fresh and Easy, but it sounds like an Aldi equivalent. Thanks for the kind words and hope to see you around here again soon.
- Eddie Shore says:February 9, 2013 at 7:14 PM
Thank you Kraig. I also did something last night that I don't think I would have done a year ago - clean the printer header and contacts on my two year old printer. All it took was Q-tips and patience. $120 was saved.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 7:29 PM
Nice work, Eddie. That kind of thinking an action will pay off big time over the long term!
- Benjamin Reynolds says:February 7, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Besides saving money, do you have any sort of passion or hobbies that you will spend that extra dollar on?
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 9, 2013 at 11:16 AM
Yes, this blog. I spend the extra dollar on going out to Denver last September for the Financial Blogger Conference. I spent over $1,000 last year on this site/my networking/marketing of it and didn't earn but a fraction of that in return. I'd say that's something that I spent the extra dollar on, wouldn't you say?
- John@MoneyPrinciple says:February 8, 2013 at 6:15 PM
Each to his own but there are some things that are not so much luxuries but define you. Haircuts are one in this house and if you think about it, your hairdresser along with your dentist is one of the few people who actually lay a finger on your person! Well maybe the manicurist, osteopath, partner etc but you know what I mean. Repairing things - yes I agree for most things. I am a dab hand with a soldering iron and used to spend time under the bonnet (=hood) of whatever car I was running in the days when all you needed was a timing light, dwell meter and a full toolkit if the bottom ends or gearbox needed rebuilding.
- Peter says:February 16, 2013 at 9:47 PM
Great job fixing the camera instead of spending hundreds of dollars for a new upgraded camera. I did the same thing a couple of years ago when the screen went bad on my old Canon camera. Bought a new screen online for cheap and installed it myself. Then a year later the card reader went bad, but I researched it and it was covered by warranty. Got that fixed too. I finally had to buy a new camera when the old one was stolen, but by that time I'd gotten 5-6 years of use out of it. Why buy new when fixing up will do? :)
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:February 16, 2013 at 9:51 PM
Agreed, Peter. Spending $50 was much better than $400 for a camera just like it or over $700 for one that I would want now. I figure I'm not ready for a real nice one right now and it would just collect dust, but at the same time I still want a nice camera for taking pictures when I want to. So, since I liked my current camera so much, I decided that fixing it made sense. I'm glad I did it. It sounds like you had some serious issues with yours. Hopefully, you're new one "assuming you bought a new one" will give you a lot of use in the future.
- Financial Samurai says:February 22, 2013 at 2:01 PM
I agree w/ this. Before I retired from Corporate America, I wondered whether I'd be OK, despite planning the move for years. Once it came, I realized it's pretty easy to live on less. We just prioritize our spending more. Sam
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:March 3, 2013 at 9:05 AM
Sam, Thanks for the words of wisdom from someone who's been there and done that. I've realized the ease of cutting my lifestyle as well. Although as it gets lower, it gets harder and harder to make further cuts. I wonder why that is.
- February 27, 2013 at 8:02 AM
Yikes, you were able to fix the camera. Now that is impressive. I can relate to the hair thing as I have my wife "buzz" my hair as there is not a lot up there to cut.
