How much could you cut spending?

[Meadbh]

Well, if I have to sell prints and stuff isn't that called work? I've developed an aversion to that. Selling on ebay is a thought though just to see if anyone would actually pay a reasonable amount for a mounted, matted and framed print. Or some sell them not framed but mounted and matted and let their customer buy the frame they like. That reduces shipping by a lot.

I was thinking you could get a booth at a local farmers' or crafters' market. It would be a fun place to hang out and meet people, and expenses would probably be tax deductible.

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

We are not living particularly frugally right now, but with a sub or near 3% WR, we are not feeling a need to cut back more.

If we had to, we could shave 25% from expenses and not be too troubled. And we could sell our vacation home, which we have about 250k equity in.

 

[Rustic23]

Casita!

Our DS and DIL have one just like that. Very happy with it and the size for two people is perfect!

[/QUOTE]

 

[aja8888]

According to DW, "what do you mean cut spending....".....according to me. 25% with ease.

1. Sell the old truck, gets used infrequently.

2. Get rid of Comcast cable.

3. Spend less on children and grandchildren.

4. Go out to eat less.

5. Sell DW's newer SUV and just live with my 2005 Jetta.

6. Enforce the budget!

 

[eta2020]

We are not living particularly frugally right now, but with a sub or near 3% WR, we are not feeling a need to cut back more.

If we had to, we could shave 25% from expenses and not be too troubled. And we could sell our vacation home, which we have about 250k equity in.

Lekewise.... We live on 2% WR while still full time working for 6 more years. So cutting back simply makes no sense....

 

[cranberryjoe]

I'm sure I could cut by 25% easily, and probably up to 40-50% with some pain. But it would have to be a severe emergency to do so. As it is, my investments are growing more than I'm spending and I'm trying to decide if I should be spending more. However I have some big medical and home maintenance expenses coming up which may take care of that extra spending for the short term. I could defer the home maintenance for awhile if necessary but not the medical.

 

[jjquantz]

Our contingency plan works out like the following:

1) Cut 1/2 of travel budget - 6%
2) Reduce miscellaneous expenditures - 5%
3) Reduce/eliminate hobby spending - 10%
4) Eliminate rest of travel budget - 6%
5) eliminate eating out reduce other food costs - 5%
6) Move back to Midwest to lower housing cost 15-30% depending on details.

I would characterize a 10% cut as fairly easy, a 20% cut as painful, and a 35% cut as draconian. The first five would be temporary, if it looked like they would need to be permanent in order to stay where we are then we would invoke #6 in order to allow reinstatement of some of the others.

 

[FIREd]

Depends if the cut is temporary or permanent. If it's the former (a bad year in the stock market for example), then I could cut up to 30% in expenses (travel, furnishings, entertainment, eating out, clothing, etc...). If it's the latter, I'd probably go after the large recurring expenses first (rent a cheaper apartment, sell one car, cut back on groceries, get rid of cable, get dumb cell phones, review insurance coverage, etc...). Plenty to cut there without feeling a major sting.

 

[Lsbcal]

Current spending is about 3.3% of portfolio

Discretionary about 1.5%

Depression era reductions maybe 0.5%

So around 1.3% of a maybe shrinking portfolio. DW would not be a happy camper.

 

[Mulligan]

Our contingency plan works out like the following:

1) Cut 1/2 of travel budget - 6%
2) Reduce miscellaneous expenditures - 5%
3) Reduce/eliminate hobby spending - 10%
4) Eliminate rest of travel budget - 6%
5) eliminate eating out reduce other food costs - 5%
6) Move back to Midwest to lower housing cost 15-30% depending on details.

I would characterize a 10% cut as fairly easy, a 20% cut as painful, and a 35% cut as draconian. The first five would be temporary, if it looked like they would need to be permanent in order to stay where we are then we would invoke #6 in order to allow reinstatement of some of the others.

Living in the Midwest isn't that bad....especially compared #7 on the list you didn't mention....going back to work.


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[NW-Bound]

Quicken tells me that my expenses for the last 12 months run up to 3.34%, and that even includes the checks for home maintenance/repair that have all cleared. I'm good.

If things get tough, I would cut travel first. Then, if things look really bleak, I will sell the 2nd home. The above are the two big items, and if that did not help enough, I would need a major lifestyle redesign. But if it gets to that point, man, things must be really bad. And there's still SS that will come later.

Reading about how people live with so much less gives me confidence that I can survive any economic calamity, simply because I have to lose a lot to get to that budget point where other people can still live happily.

PS. Actually, unlike Alfred Neuman I still have some worry. But it is not about money.

 

[NW-Bound]

...On another topic, perhaps our biggest goal post ER, is to get a cabin built on our little island property. That cute little place that NW-Bound posted would work nicely on our land. Love that. Would like to see floor plan layout.

I have not been able to find the floorplan nor more details of this "Mini-Double Loft Rock House", other than it was built in Montana and is described in the following book by Lloyd Kahn.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

There are all sorts of things we could still cut - travel, eating out, my Amazon gadget budget (goodbye solar flashlights ).

Worst case we could live like a college kid which isn't that much even in California. I guess taking it a step further we could live like a college kid in an even cheaper location without a car in a state with expanded Medicaid. I saw a show on an Eco-village and the people there lived on $10K a year, so in a state with expanded Medicaid I guess that could be done and still have food, clothing, shelter, health care and a shared car.

Or tiny house living seems like it could be pretty cheap -

I could see having a tiny vacation home like this some day. DH thinks we would get on each other's nerves if we lived in that small a space all the time.

 

[Sea Kayaker]

I have not been able to find the floorplan nor more details of this "Mini-Double Loft Rock House", other than it was built in Montana and is described in the following book by Lloyd Kahn.

I knew that little house was familiar! I love that book and have checked it out from the library many years ago.

Our ace in the hole in terms of the flexibility of our retirement budget is the 15 acres we own on an island off the B.C. coast. If necessary, we could sell our city place, move to the island and live a borderline subsistence lifestyle. I admit to knowing next to nothing about growing food, but I have no doubt I could learn quickly. I have always been an avid fisherman - the bounty the Salish Sea provides right off our beach is endless. I think a sub $1000 monthly budget is POSSIBLE. Don't really want to try it particularly.

 

[steelyman]

Wasn't there someone who lived in a shoe?

 

[aaronc879]

Living in the Midwest isn't that bad....especially compared #7 on the list you didn't mention....going back to work.


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Living in the midwest isn't nearly as bad when you don't need to go to work every day in snow and ice. If you're retired then you can stay home on bad weather days and get things done on the few nice-er days. Makes a big difference.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

For those that are interested in tiny houses, there is a TV series on called 'Tiny House Living' (along those lines) on the FYI network (used to be the Bio channel, I think?)

It's interesting to see people (some with kids) size down to a home that's less than 200 square feet!

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[Ronstar]

I think we could cut 30-50%. Cut back a house, a couple of cars and some travel - that would do it.

 

[jjquantz]

Living in the midwest isn't nearly as bad when you don't need to go to work every day in snow and ice. If you're retired then you can stay home on bad weather days and get things done on the few nice-er days. Makes a big difference.

DW and I both grew up in the Midwest and lived there for 20 years while raising our kids. DW says there are only three reasons why she won't move back: December, January and February.

 

[Mulligan]

Living in the midwest isn't nearly as bad when you don't need to go to work every day in snow and ice. If you're retired then you can stay home on bad weather days and get things done on the few nice-er days. Makes a big difference.

And we get a bonus this week....San Diego weather minus the ocean view for the rest of the week without the high real estate costs. I am going to take advantage of it, too.


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[aaronc879]

DW and I both grew up in the Midwest and lived there for 20 years while raising our kids. DW says there are only three reasons why she won't move back: December, January and February.

That's a good year. In a bad year you can add the second half of November, all of March, and part of April.

 

[NW-Bound]

Living in the [-]midwest[/-] southwest isn't nearly as bad when you don't need to go to work every day in [-]snow and ice[/-] 110-degree heat. If you're retired then you can stay home on [-]bad weather[/-] hot days and get things done on the [-]few nice-er[/-] cooler days. Makes a big difference.

 

[Independent]

It would be impossible for me to cut my spending by any amount without affecting my lifestyle. I get utility out of every dollar that I spend today, so spending less would mean giving up something that I like.

The real question may be "How much could my lifestyle drop without me feeling like I am so poverty stricken that life isn't worth living?"

If I were single (so I don't have to negotiate with anyone else), that would be a long ways.

I could certainly downsize housing, stop traveling, downsize car, eat a simple diet, etc. before I'd decide that I might as well be dead. Give me a chance to live indoors, travel to grocery store and park and library, ride a bike, get on the internet when I like, watch OTA TV (maybe a basic Netflix subscription), see my kids photos and communicate a little with them, and life is worth living. Everything else is luxury.

The big, difficult to control, dollar cost is medical care.

 

[Totoro]

The big, difficult to control, dollar cost is medical care.

I am learning to be extremely grateful for the healthcare system I enjoy here.

In my home country (Belgium) when you have low income you'll almost never spend more than 2000 USD per year on healthcare. Everything above that is picked up by the state.

 

[W2R]

It would be impossible for me to cut my spending by any amount without affecting my lifestyle. I get utility out of every dollar that I spend today, so spending less would mean giving up something that I like.

Wow, tight budget! Good luck with that.

I wish I could say that I get utility out of every dollar that I spend today, but honestly I don't. I could get rid of a lot of expenses that wouldn't affect my quality of life (my landline is next! ). I could stop shopping so much at Amazon and instead play video games or read more free Kindle books for entertainment, for example, and I would be perfectly happy. I could put off house upgrades and that wouldn't change my lifestyle either. There are so many ways in which I could cut back with minimal if any disruption of my lifestyle.