Part 1; Cheap Living and Travel
Welcome to a new guest contributor, the Broke Bytch. She is a new college grad with a minimum wage job. Enjoy her irreverent tips for saving and spending. Caveat; Her ideas are her own and I bear no responsibility for their content!
Broke Bytch Background
Like most people in their early twenties, I’m strapped for cash. Sometimes I feel like my monetary impairment keeps me from going out and living life to its fullest. What can you do for fun these days for free? I’ve done my research and most articles professing solutions to a lack of funding suggest things like: reading a book, taking a walk, going on a hike, stargazing, window shopping, renting a movie from the library, sunbathing; I think you get the idea. Well if you’re like me, you can only go on so many walks and hikes or read so many–ha! I had to stop, its too absurd, I’m out of college, please, like I read.
So I made a list of my greatest spending categories and came up with cheaper alternatives, so I wouldn’t feel so burdened by my my financial state.
My greatest spending categories list looked something like this:
- Housing
- Food
- Entertainment
- Transportation
- Cell phone
- Clothes
True Confession About My Housing Arrangements and Other Cheap Living Options
First, before I begin showering you you with my unbridled wisdom, I must confess I partake in one of the biggest money-saving techniques out there: I live with my parents. However, if you are unable to afford this luxury, there are other solutions.
A potential option, other than cramming into a hole in the wall with twenty other roommates is to look for an in-house caregiver or nanny position. Aupair-World is a cool site to check out.
Ever considered farming? If you are flexible in where you live you could work on an organic farm or WOOF. This organization profiles farms world wide, so it’s a great option for those broke souls with wanderlust. Other benefits of farming are, you won’t need a gym membership or sleeping aids because you’ll be working so hard doing back breaking labor.
Skip the apartment altogether and travel instead. In terms of traveling on the cheap STA travel and couch-surfing are awesome options. In fact couch surfing is promoted by NPR, the Frugal Traveler, the New York Times, the Guardian, and Time Magazine, so it must be okay.
If you can’t live with your folks “rent free” you could even rent a room in someone’s home. All those people who got slammed by the mortgage meltdown are now renting out rooms to help with the mortgage payments. And if the family is really helpful, maybe they will even do your laundry (although don’t count on it).
What to Expect From the Broke Bytch
…Wait, wait, one more thing: as you can already gather from my previous paragraphs, I’m not exactly a short-winded person, so in order to make my mind-numbing awesomeness easier to digest for all of you weak-minded individuals, I’ve broken down my entries into manageable chunks. Therefore my subsequent entries will be grouped as follows:
- Food: How to not eat through your wallet, no matter how high the fiber content
- Entertainment and Transportation: Time to wake up from your drunken stupor and get home (oh wait, that’s me..)
- Phone and Clothes: Brrrring, brrrring, Its the 90’s calling, time to get some new duds, dude (because that is apparently how the 90’s talk)
I would like to promise a particular schedule, but I’m too busy trying to make a buck to commit. Why not pick up the RSS feed and then you’ll be sure to catch every column.
Update; I finally published Part 2: FOOD; How to Not Eat Through Your Wallet, No Matter How High the Fiber Content. Squeeze in a few minutes to check it out.
See you next time,
Broke Bytch
How do you slash living costs?
