Probably not for everyone, but I did a couple things that have saved me a lot of money in the long run, which is good as I have VERY limited funds for the time being.
1. Got free or cheap hobbies. I used to be into video games a lot, but my interest was kind of waning and it's a pretty expensive hobby, so I dropped it in favor of some free hobbies (writing, cartography, listening to music on Youtube) and some cheap ones (reading and quilting) that has let me have time to myself to do hobbies without it costing more than, honestly, $20 a month at the very most, but usually closer to $5 or $0.
2. Dog food diet. Really not something I'd exactly recommend, but with little money I make it work. Basically, buy all the stuff to make a single meal and eat that meal for every meal every day. It sucks and you get tired of the food, but it's cheap (I spend no more than $150 on groceries a month, usually closer to $120) and it's helped me lose a good bit of weight, especially by subbing out soda for water and junk food for richer, whole foods that can be used for several meals in a row.
"dog food diet"
Reading this, I was afraid you literally meant dog food. That would have been desperate...
But yeah, I experienced the dog food diet too. Rice and cheap-ass meatloaf all day, every day. Now I have more variety, but I still have to invest in a slow cooker myself because I hear from everywhere that it's the bee's knees.
Yeah, it's bland but it works. Slow cookers are great because you can actually make some tasty cheap meals with it that'll last a while if you freeze leftovers and thaw them out only when you need them. Definitely better, in my opinion, than rice and cheap meat.
I'm with you on the dog food diet, Running joke in my house "is it spag bol or veggie chilli tonight". Also, get yourself a slow cooker, saves electric and you can make a huge pot of something for the week ahead.
That's one of the few meals that I try to rotate out every month. Some months I just make almost a whole month's worth of stew or soup, freeze the lot of it, and just have it all month. Slow cookers are a lifesaver.
I'd really disagree that gaming is an expensive Hobby. I can pay $5 for a bundle of games on the computer that can easily get me 50+ Hours of entertainment. Loads of gems are out there that cost under 10 or twenty dollars.
I think I have maybe spent around $500 dollars on m steam collection in its life, and have over 500 games, many of which have a huge amount of content. Easily a solid return on investment per dollar. That's the equivalent of 50 movie tickets.
Well, it's more like I don't have a very good computer and won't likely be able to get more than a laptop in the future (since I need portability more than power), so, to me, it's not worth it to save up for a good rig or console. Like I said, though, I've just not been interested in them lately anyway, so any monetary investment in them doesn't sit well with me.
Probably not for everyone, but I did a couple things that have saved me a lot of money in the long run, which is good as I have VERY limited funds for the time being.
1. Got free or cheap hobbies. I used to be into video games a lot, but my interest was kind of waning and it's a pretty expensive hobby, so I dropped it in favor of some free hobbies (writing, cartography, listening to music on Youtube) and some cheap ones (reading and quilting) that has let me have time to myself to do hobbies without it costing more than, honestly, $20 a month at the very most, but usually closer to $5 or $0.
2. Dog food diet. Really not something I'd exactly recommend, but with little money I make it work. Basically, buy all the stuff to make a single meal and eat that meal for every meal every day. It sucks and you get tired of the food, but it's cheap (I spend no more than $150 on groceries a month, usually closer to $120) and it's helped me lose a good bit of weight, especially by subbing out soda for water and junk food for richer, whole foods that can be used for several meals in a row.
"dog food diet"
Reading this, I was afraid you literally meant dog food. That would have been desperate...
But yeah, I experienced the dog food diet too. Rice and cheap-ass meatloaf all day, every day. Now I have more variety, but I still have to invest in a slow cooker myself because I hear from everywhere that it's the bee's knees.
Yeah, it's bland but it works. Slow cookers are great because you can actually make some tasty cheap meals with it that'll last a while if you freeze leftovers and thaw them out only when you need them. Definitely better, in my opinion, than rice and cheap meat.
I'm with you on the dog food diet, Running joke in my house "is it spag bol or veggie chilli tonight". Also, get yourself a slow cooker, saves electric and you can make a huge pot of something for the week ahead.
That's one of the few meals that I try to rotate out every month. Some months I just make almost a whole month's worth of stew or soup, freeze the lot of it, and just have it all month. Slow cookers are a lifesaver.
I'd really disagree that gaming is an expensive Hobby. I can pay $5 for a bundle of games on the computer that can easily get me 50+ Hours of entertainment. Loads of gems are out there that cost under 10 or twenty dollars.
I think I have maybe spent around $500 dollars on m steam collection in its life, and have over 500 games, many of which have a huge amount of content. Easily a solid return on investment per dollar. That's the equivalent of 50 movie tickets.
Well, it's more like I don't have a very good computer and won't likely be able to get more than a laptop in the future (since I need portability more than power), so, to me, it's not worth it to save up for a good rig or console. Like I said, though, I've just not been interested in them lately anyway, so any monetary investment in them doesn't sit well with me.