Dear All, Some of us are not blessed with spouse & children.  We tend to live in apartments, & maybe our chief solace is a pet.  The specific ways in which we keep frugal cannot include true gardening, homeschooling, & so forth.  Maybe a thread on this forum would be of mutual help for us?

Deb, while I am not single, I do think that the single person has to stretch dollars differently than a family. I think a single's viewpoint is important and please do share some of that.

 

Deb, I live alone now and I've been trying to think of how to respond to your topic all day. For me, I have to be careful to not overbuy, but that's probably an adjustment thing. I can do things now to save that I couldn't before, like turning off all the lights except the one I'm using, or not even washing dishes every day. I don't need to eat something different every day of the week so leftovers suit me fine. That saves on cooking fuel as well as food.

Single people save a lot without even trying, too. It takes less water for one shower instead of two or more, less laundry to do, less food to buy and so on. 

I live in a 2,000 sq foot house, with a full yard both front and back, a garage, a large laundry room and a finished basement, so I don't have much experience with small apartment living. The house is much too large for me, but circumstances being what they are, I'll stay here at least for the time being.

I've heard some single folks complain because foods come in packages too large for one person, but I've yet to buy anything that I couldn't portion out and freeze or refrigerate the rest.  The biggest problem I face with food is that I don't want to cook just for me, so I wind up eating a lot of sandwiches and quick things like eggs or canned meats.

This may seem like a rambling response, but it's been a busy weekend and I'm tired! :)  

Dear Brandy, One of the advantages of being single is that you can choose your frugalities without having to worry about the health/comfort of another person.  Here in San Francisco, except in our Sept-Oct heat, the temperature can go down to 40 nighttime.  I choose not to heat the apartment, as do many of my fellow citizens.  But, if we had children or even spouses, it might be much more difficult to either justify this or to satisfy them.

Dear Pat, I cook normal recipes (which generally have 4-6 servings).  I eat one serving, & then if I love hte dish, have refrigerated leftovers.  If the dish isn't fabulous, I store it in my 1-pint square freezer boxes, labeled.

To both of you, I appreciate your willignness to let us singles share with you our special perks & our inevitable disappointments.

"But, if we had children or even spouses, it might be much more difficult to either justify this or to satisfy them."

Absolutely! I can't count how many tips I have read that I feel I could live with but and there is often a but in there..someone else here won't or can't.

My food budget is a fine example of this. I can eat a lot of the cheaper foods  as long as it's low sodium and  I get iron. But two others here can't eat that way as they need to stay away from the starchy foods, high carbs and sugar.

 

What a great thread.  When I started writing down where my money went, I found that as a single person with 4 dogs (not my idea; inherited from mother) my biggest expenses ahve been rent, car and dogs in that order.  food, insurance and clothing make up such a small part of my budget that I've stopped concentrating on them and started trying to shave down my car costs.  I think the biggest problem for single people is shaving down those expenses that have high initial or high fixed costs, like car and housing. 

I really don't like San Francisco for various reasons and i prefer the OC, but i do envy Deb's ability to live without a car.  I am workiing on reducing my car dependence.  I spend $1500-$2000 on gas, insurance, and car maintenance each year so that's a huge part of my budget every year. 

If I can live frugally and get my car expenses down, I am on track to retire by 55.  I am 35 now.

Deborahmichelle:

I cook normal recipes (which generally have 4-6 servings).  I eat one serving, & then if I love hte dish, have refrigerated leftovers.  If the dish isn't fabulous, I store it in my 1-pint square freezer boxes, labeled.

I do make myself cook at least a couple of times a week, and, as I said, I eat leftovers gladly.  By "cook," I mean full meals, not just a potato in the microwave topped with canned chili! I think my real problem is that I'm lazy. :) After having had to get a meal on the table most of the time twice a day, every day of my life, I'm enjoying not having to.

I can still eat pretty cheaply even if I don't cook, though.  

You certainly can't live in spread-out Orange County without some mode of private transportation!  As I mentioned in another thread, I wonder if bicycling would be of help.  It would reduce the maintenace & gas expenses, leaving the insurance as is.  What do you think?

I have bicycled in the past and I think in general it is a great idea.  My SO bikes to work and while he doesn't love it because he's lazy, at least it keeps him fit and on a low budget.

Right now, biking for me is impractical because of the school I go to and the number of books I have to carry at one time.  Once I start working again, bicycling will become a reality.  Oh geez, I can't wait.  actually i might even be able to work from home.

I can't really complain because I saved at least $50,000 going to this school.  However, for the next year, I will just have to cut expenses elsewhere.  It's not the gas that's really killing me, but the repair expenses that are all coming at once.  my car is getting old.

What's interesting about the bay area is that my transportation costs were three times that of my costs now, even with my recent repair bills of $600, 200 and $400 dollars.

 I spent last summer in Berkeley and had to work in San Francisco.  I worked downtown for 2 months and transportation costs to take me the 3 miles across the bay was $1000 for those two months.  That makes $6,000 in transportation costs for the year.  I took bart since I calculated it as being the cheapest.  I would have taken the bus if it was cheaper but it was actually more pricey at $4 each way.  Parking costs make driving not a good choice.

If you have tips on how to bike across the bridge I'm all ears.  I'm not sure how people would bike across the bridge since I've never seen any.