Groceries and Power are my two biggest expenses…. taxes are only once a year but are surprisingly low(very rural on a dead end road)
I don’t see how you manage on $325/month. Maybe we need to move to your neighborhood. Our property taxes are $125/month and water, gas & electric are another $225/month. That would eat up all of what you’re living on and leave us nothing for food, gas, property insurance, car insurance, internet, clothing, or vehicle payment. How did you structure your retirement living to have such low expenses? Do you even have a motor vehicle? Do you heat and air condition your house? I would like to be able to live on so little, but how?
Everything thing I have is paid for…. so no added expenses there. I think the biggest secret is that I take the $300 out of my monthly $625 SS deposit as soon as it is deposited and put it ‘away’ like it doesnt exist. That, more or less, forces me to make do with $325 but I do not see it as an imposition, more as a mission not to waste(almost to a fault).
Groceries? I look at eating simply as something I must do to survive and do not particularly enjoy it. I do a lot of crock-potting (stews/gumbos) and I mix those with rice to make them go further. I also put a lot of stuff up. I shop at a salvage store and get canned goods about 1/2 price.
Im not sure how your land taxes work but I pay mine once a year. This is a very rural community and I live on the end of a dead end road. When I moved here 20 years ago, it was just 3ac of land and no house and if I remember correctly the land taxes were $8/year. It took me several years to finish the house while living in a RV and the taxes remained low because I was not living in the house. Im not sure they even come out anymore to reevaluate the property(I havent seen them in years) but the land taxes are still less than $20/year.
Electricity is my second biggest expense(next to food). I only ‘turn on’ what I need and turn it off when I dont. Power is usually +/- $75 but rarely over $100 except for a couple of extreme winter/summer months. My internet is $10/mo(ATT Access). Heat and Air? I have both but I usually use fans and goose down bags for comfort. Probably one of the biggest factors that limits my expenses is I suffer from CTE and it has forced me to isolate myself for the past 20years. I only go into town @ 6-8weeks for supplies and generally wont see another human until then. I always tell folks, the best way to save money is to not leave the house. I am kinda amused how others are currently dealing with staying at home although most dont seem to go more than a few days without ‘having to go’ into town for ‘something’ and it is usually for something they dont need or didnt ‘plan’ for. When I have to leave the house I mostly ride a motorcycle when I can but I also have a Jeep that I use when I cant tote things on the bike. If I had to guess I would say my carbon footprint is probably less than 99.99% of most folks except for folks in ‘undeveloped countries’. There was never any structuring to my retirement…… Im simply not a needy person. Sometimes I feel I was born in the wrong century before unneeded conveniences became the standard.
My taxes are about $13,000 a year for a one family home in a half way decent area . One of my wife’s sisters lives in an upscale town about 30 minutes away and pays $34,000.00 a year.
I gotta get out of NJ
Oh, and vehicle insurance. That is a thorn in my side. I have comprehensive on the motorcycle @ $75/yr but the Jeep is uninsured and that is why I only drive it when I absolutely ‘have to’. I have tried getting insurance for it but I cant find anyone that will believe that I only drive it one or two times every 4-6months. I refuse to pay $600 every 6 mos just to drive less than 100 highway miles(thats 3 round trips to town).
My car insurance situation is getting a bit better:
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has ordered all insurance companies to refund premiums for March and April.
And maybe June. Haven’t had to buy gasoline for a month or more, too.
And even better: How Much Money Will You Get Back from Your Car Insurance Company? – NBC Bay Area
EXCERPT:
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If you don’t live in California, it might pay to look up whoever regulates auto insurance companies in your state, and give’em a nudge about refunds for non-driving months.
One thing I forgot. I have Humana as my health insurance. Because of my age and low Social Security, it gives me a $300 allowance every 3 months to order OTC (over the counter) pharmacy items that I can order online and they mail what I order to me…… no fuss. Humana also gives me a $50/mo food credit card that I can use for food at Walmart or Dollar General. The only problem with the food card is…… the $50 doesnt roll over if you dont use it monthly and if I dont go into town at least once a month, that money is lost and that REALLY bothers me (more than it should) because I feel the money is ‘wasted’ if I dont get into town to use it and I am constantly forced to decide which I hate worse… going into town or wasting $50.
Coscar - sounds like you are in a different world - $20/year... Wow! We pay like $9K for a small plot, 4 small bedroom ranch in a average neighborhood. Not to mention all the other crazy LI/NY taxes and jacked up prices on everything. Our house is paid off but it's almost meaningless.
Geeez, that is scary to even think about. Yeah, I realize my situation is different and I am lucky. If my land taxes were even $1k/year…… I would need to go acorn hunting and I would have to make drastic changes.
There is a very real discrepancy in property taxes across the country. I know people here in NM, in a city, who pay for a full year what friends in NY state pay every month. I think we have everybody beat though for low tax fee per acre. Most of our land is classed as a tree farm. The per acre tax is $0.032546583. The two acres classed as residential is a little higher at $836.01 an acre.
I never heard of a health ins. co. giving back money for anything. What’s the deal with that?
My next door neighbor pays $36,000 per year in property taxes for a 2,500 square foot home (lot size 3,300 square feet) in San Francisco.
There is a $50 per month allowance but it does not carry over if you dont use it
https://www.humanapharmacy.com/shopping/personal-care/7752.uts
There is a $300 every 3month allowance for OTC pharmacy…… also no carry over
“A man worth listening to” I would say.
I do full time work.
Done so for not longer than 20 years - so still A LOT left.
I always had something that “I needed” the money for. It took 19 years to realize the thing this man had realized far earlier. Well some definitely are smarter but I´m happy I eventually figured it out 
My employer is quite flexible, so when it gets even a little bit quieter, I usually can arrange it so, that I step out for some months on zero payment.
Now I´m looking forward to get laid off from work as a volunteer, hopefully at least for a month or two (especially nice in these kind of times!!).
Funny thing is, when I´m off, I never count how much I lose.
I always feel like I´m winning - like taking advance cash withdrawal from my pension time!
There really are things money can´t buy and I´m happy that I figured it out before it was too late.
edit: Land tax for house + area (0.4 acres I think) maybe 400 a year. From my forest land theres no tax in owning it.
*notice my strike-thru on your quote
That’s how it has always been for me …… and I think you are on the right track. Too many folks never realize how valuable their free time is until it is too late. I have lost too many friends long before they were able to retire and enjoy life leaving behind a bunch of stuff that if they had it to do over again those things really weren’t worth trading and losing time for.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with people spending money on whatever they want and I understand things can get complicated if you have someone else depending on you for ‘their stuff’ …. they may not feel the same. I just think a lot of folks have adopted a ‘keep up with the Jones’ way of thinking without realizing what they are actually giving up. To me it almost seems our brains have evolved to where we no longer seek the true purpose of our existence …… that’s NOT to work, but to live. Work to me has always meant doing things that needed to be done for myself…… not for someone else, unless I needed money.
Ive always envied the other ‘creatures’ we share(?) our planet with that seem to have a good take on enjoying life without ANY possessions. Pets are a great example of living in the moment and enjoying life. Only problem with pets is WE have ‘changed’ them, almost selfishly, voiding their natural instincts so now they depend on us, just as we have come to depend on material possessions. Thankfully our pets still command the ability to live in the moment.
Living in the moment and enjoying what you have is easy once you get the hang of it. Just learn to ‘not want’ things if they are not worth trading ‘your’ time to have them.
I always got a kick out of Carlin’s take on …… “Stuff”
Thanks for entertaining my philosophy ‘rant’…… I guess I got a little bored. No more editing… Where ya at LB…. you got me started.
Time for a Beer! 
No b33r since last year’s Samuel Jackson Octoberfest, unfortunately. Cold b33r doesn’t go over too well in cold winter.
Did get some honey-bourbon to sip on, though. Alcohol kills germs.