How to afford almost anything & live well without a big income

Its important to understand the following:

Your INCOME has absolutely NO BEARING on how you live or what you can afford. That is purely down to how you manage your life, and how you manage your money. 

Society is designed to take as much money from you as possible. Don't let it!

b) Never buy anything on the "drip" monthly even if its "interest free"...  They are letting you have something you really cannot afford. Pay it now. Even if it means going without for a couple of months. Such as car insurance or "the UKs Council Tax" or that sofa,. For two reasons.

c) Never RENT accommodation! Its the same thing as throwing your money down a big hole. You are effectively paying the mortgage and buying the place for its owner...  Buying is often CHEAPER than renting, and if you run your life correctly, you CAN buy. If you DO rent, because you cannot beg a friend or relative to let you live somewhere to allow you to save up a deposit, or cant bear to live in a car/tent, then rent the cheapest single room you can for the least time possible. All this gets harder as you get older. I bought a ground floor flat when I was living with my parents. I rented it out until it was paid for completely by the tenants, and then sold it for more than double what I paid for it. The rent coming in was more than the mortgage so it also paid for my beer.  You can only do this when you are young and living elsewhere. By the time I needed a house I already had one bought and paid for.

e) Buy everything you will use lots of, that doesn't go out of date, in bulk!  Cheaply or at, trade prices and store it. Open an imaginary business, invent a letter heading, open a business account. It opens many doors. An example of this is toilet paper, A4 printing paper, canned food, meat for the freezer, Hoover bags, washing up liquid, soap powder, towels, dish washer salt, dried dog food, bin liners, bbq fuel, etc. No garage? Refer to c)  I even buy may powerchairs at half price.

f) if you find a good deal on the "WIDGET" you were buying, buy 2 or as many as you can afford. If you cant don't buy any unless you have no choice. And if you live by these rules you can afford to buy bulk!   Use one for "widget" yourself, eBay the rest for a profit.  Example. Wheelchair tyres are extortionately priced. I need about 3 sets a year. I buy them in bulk, in sets of 10 or 20 very cheaply, I use some for myself, sell the rest in pairs, on eBay to people that cannot afford to buy in bulk because they don't practice this methodology!. My tyres are then free or in fact make money to offset other mobility related expenses. I do this with lots of things.

g) think out of the box. I drive a modified car for disabled use. Mine cost me 30k UK Pounds brand new since I bought from the US when there was 2.00 US Dollars to the UK Pound. At that time an identical but right hand drive UK registered one was 54k. Saving me 24k pounds. I can afford to sell this van after a year and get all of my money back and do it all again...  Free new car every year.  Don't have 30k?  You WILL HAVE if you follow this page info from an early age!

 

h) don't WASTE your money. Eat the cheapest meal in a restaurant. Don't buy expensive clothes, Holidays, "new" cars unless you do it or do what I do above, Don't buy things that don't last, de-value fast or perish. Avoid technology, Don't waste money on jewellery, perfume and don't buy other peoples drinks, meals, etc. There are THOUSANDS of things to waste money on. Like CDs, Movies, Games, etc. Have a monthly phone account? Why? Monthly line rental drip again. Get rid of it. Have a mobile? On a contract? GET RID of the contract! Its a huge waste that costs hundreds to thousands every year. Get a pay as you go card, and only do "free SMS" and let others call you.

I have a BOUGHT AND PAID FOR used phone from eBay for 25 UK Pounds. Its now 6 years old, working fine. It costs me 10 pounds top up every 3 to 4 months maximum. If your phone bill is higher then you are throwing your money away. Cable/ Satellite TV? Again a total waste of huge amounts of money on the monthly drip.  I no longer have a TV licence, no longer watch TV (live TV) at all. Almost everything is available free to watch after the event on the internet NO Licence, no rented set top box, no fees to sky or whoever every month. All these monthly direct debits really add up! So I have NONE! So DO BUY a big computer monitor, and a cheap fast internet connection as it SAVES you money.

 

i) DO buy things that SAVE you cash long term. E.G. I converted all of my house years ago to be as cheap to run, as soon as possible, and as soon as I could afford to do it. Prioritise!   The holiday can come after you start saving. I spent lots on roof, wall insulation. I spent more still on super high efficiency central heating, 100 percent efficient gas fires, double glazing etc to reduce my gas bills to less than half.  The sooner / faster you do all of this this the sooner you start saving.

J) I replaced every single light in the house and 8 external spot lights with super efficient LED lighting. I utilise all the power saving of a modern computer system, and replaced all electrical devices such as washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers, battery chargers, fridges etc with the most energy efficient devices available. It reduced my electricity bill by around half. The sooner you spend a few thousand on i), and j), the sooner you have the extra few hundred a month to spend (or save!) Remember long after the initial outlay is forgotten the savings continue indefinitely. Do it sooner!!! Save MORE.

k) learn to help yourself. I can fix and maintain almost anything myself. Today for e.g. I serviced my van, at about 1/4 the cost of a garage or less. And did a better more careful job. Last week I repaired the washing machine. A new pump is easy to fit, costs very little. Who needs insurance! I do the same with almost everything.

l) Do things properly first time.  Don't pay twice.  E.G. the fence around my property had been repaired a few times. It takes time, money and energy to keep on top. Do the lot!  Properly. All at once. Treat it (soak it) with preservative, use concrete posts and forget about it for 10 years or longer. Long after the expense is forgotten the advantage (and property price) remains... This also applies to I), and J), above... Spending on your house is money in your bank, not an expense but a long term saving. As such I spent 10 years replacing all the wood on my house with maintenance free plastic, replacing the large flat roof covering with high quality expensive solutions that LAST. No more future repairs, painting, etc.

m) Don't get married, or have kids. This sounds stupid but I am serious! I can live massively cheaper as a single guy, than if I was permanently repairing damage done by more people, and the expense that women and kids cause. A kid is the single biggest expense that most people ever have.  And we thought women were expensive. Women spend (waste) mountains of money on frivolous pointless things that are forgotten ten minutes later. Expensive ornaments, make up, hair styling, holidays, frilly bed/curtain/other stuff... Get one you will see!

n) I waste apparently huge sums of money on things I want to learn from. All my life if I ever saw anything I did not understand, I wanted it. So I can pull it apart, figure out what makes it tick. My GF and family, and now my carers, think/thought I was mad. I am doing it now, developing a lithium powered high speed powerchair, that may all go bad! But I learn from it.

Developing things such as water cooled computer systems in the 80s, with aquarium pumps, underground oxygen bottles, and home made water cooling blocks (still inside the PC I am typing this on). It all costs a fortune.  But to me, what I learn from all my "crazy" (to others) projects, is way more valuable than the cost in £...

And while its true to say many of these projects are now abandoned, or failures as "projects" as such but what I learned was absolutely invaluable. For e.g. I used to run two businesses building automotive dynamometer systems, and Nitrous Injection for drag racing. (www.nitrous.info) all because of some of the things I learned along the way. Which paid for much of my life before my accident left me in a powerchair.