How I saved for my THOW
While this post is titled “how I saved for my tiny house”, what it really should be called is, “all the ways I avoid spending money.”
As a kid, I worked for any money I got besides birthday money and the first thing I remember saving for was a big kid bike. I had all my cash stashed away in a little box. As I got older, I started stashing cash away in boxes or drawers just to forget about them and then what a happy surprise I would find when I reorganized! Now I try to just keep my money in bank accounts.
The thing that kept me from spending money as a kid was my dislike for making decisions. Shopping for me goes a bit like this,
“Oh that’s nice! Wait. Do I need this? Technically I’ve lived this long with out it. Would it make something easier or more enjoyable? Do I really need this? Would I regret buying it? Is it worth the price being asked? I do like it…oh no. It comes in different colors and I like all the colors? Yeah, there’s not enough time today for me to make a decision. Moving on.
Ok. Ok. I’ll stick to more practical tactics.
1) I rented tiny apartments that were almost the cheapest in town.
They weren’t in bad neighborhoods exactly, but it wasn’t the part of town that people expected me to be in.
2) I lived in company provided housing.
While the roommate situation was not great, the flat rate rent of $200 a month was great. While the job didn’t quite pay $12 per hour, I was working 40 hours and kept my other expenses pretty low. Speaking of which,
3) I had a budget.
In college I started sticking to a budget. I had a self imposed food budget for each week. This habit continued on past college. To be completely honest, my food budget at its biggest was $35 a week. I cooked everything I ate and I used the tactic of avoiding processed foods in order to get the most nutrition for my dollar.
4) I worked in food service.
Fun fact about working for fast food restaurants, a lot of places give you a free meal on the days you work. I took advantage of that opportunity. Granted, I was working at places that had some fairly healthy options, so I wasn’t eating fries and burgers every day. Working in food service also helped me work on my cooking skills making it easier to change things up when cooking at home.
5) I lived with family members.
On a couple occasions it worked out that I could live with my grandparents and help them with some projects or house sit while they were away. I have also moved back with my parents. It’s not glamorous, but it’s easier and cheaper than renting a house or apartment in a town that doesn’t have much available.
What have you done to save money for your dream living situation? Are any of them the same?
