Cut Your Living Expenses w/o Lowering Your Standard of Living

To cut living expenses, I now do all the cooking. That really changed the way my wife buys groceries; now she eliminates anything that can't be cooked other than being boiled, and that really saves money. And with the enormous amount of leftovers from each meal, we won't even have to go shopping for at least a couple of months. I don't even cook that much; she always says it's filling as she rushes from the dining room. Another Plus is that we no longer have to spend $$ and cook for friends- my cooking has apparently helped them too, as they told me that last time they declined my meals that they no longer get hungry. Once I start getting my eyesight back, maybe I'll put together a cookbook to share with you all.
 

NewRetire18 said:
To cut living expenses, I now do all the cooking. That really changed the way my wife buys groceries; now she eliminates anything that can't be cooked other than being boiled, and that really saves money. And with the enormous amount of leftovers from each meal, we won't even have to go shopping for at least a couple of months. I don't even cook that much; she always says it's filling as she rushes from the dining room. Another Plus is that we no longer have to spend $$ and cook for friends- my cooking has apparently helped them too, as they told me that last time they declined my meals that they no longer get hungry. Once I start getting my eyesight back, maybe I'll put together a cookbook to share with you all.
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Haha!! Thanks for the cookbook offer, but I'll pass :)
 
the problem is cost cutting has a bottom and when expenses you can't control keep rising , eventually you see why not only is cost cutting importnt but growing income as well is very key .

generally in all these frugal living forums to much focus goes in to lowering expenses and not enough on making sure investments can produce enough income to keep up once there is nothing left to cut except to down grade an entire lifestyle .
 

mathjak107 said:
the problem is cost cutting has a bottom and when expenses you can't control keep rising , eventually you see why not only is cost cutting importnt but growing income as well is very key .

generally in all these frugal living forums to much focus goes in to lowering expenses and not enough on making sure investments can produce enough income to keep up once there is nothing left to cut except to down grade an entire lifestyle .
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"Cost cutting" means different things to different people.

For one person it might mean cutting cable TV and not eating out at restaurants.

To another person it might mean cutting golf from three to two times a week...
and vacationing in the Caribbean instead of the French Riviera.
 
mathjak107 said:
the problem is cost cutting has a bottom and when expenses you can't control keep rising , eventually you see why not only is cost cutting importnt but growing income as well is very key .

generally in all these frugal living forums to much focus goes in to lowering expenses and not enough on making sure investments can produce enough income to keep up once there is nothing left to cut except to down grade an entire lifestyle .
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All well and good advice, but a lot of us don't have investments because we never had the money in the beginning or never had an "advisor" to tell us when we needed to do. I think there are more of us "average" middle-class seniors that lived from paycheck to paycheck and didn't have anything left over to "invest". Now, it's too late to get into the game and we are still living from paycheck to paycheck.

Therefore, cutting costs and expenses are the only ways we can keep afloat. I don't need much and I could care less about going to the Caribbean. If that's your "thing"...go for it. I like living simple.
 
Colleen said:
All well and good advice, but a lot of us don't have investments because we never had the money in the beginning or never had an "advisor" to tell us when we needed to do. I think there are more of us "average" middle-class seniors that lived from paycheck to paycheck and didn't have anything left over to "invest". Now, it's too late to get into the game and we are still living from paycheck to paycheck.

Therefore, cutting costs and expenses are the only ways we can keep afloat. I don't need much and I could care less about going to the Caribbean. If that's your "thing"...go for it. I like living simple.
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all well and good but with each cost cutting as expenses rise lifestyle does take a hit then.

which goes back to the point that in retirement you can only cut costs to a certain level and then without planning around increasing income any way you can ,life style must take a hit. Something you wanted has to go.
 
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A few years ago a friend was complaining that ice tea had gone up to over $2 at her favorite restaurant.
I told her that restaurants make a lot of profit on beverages and that I always bring bottled water because
I don't usually drink when I eat, restaurant ice machines are infamous for not being clean, and I am frugal
and frankly the ice tea is not worth it. She said she'd be "embarrassed" to bring bottled water to a restaurant.
I told her, I do it all the time and no one cares. But for her, what other people might think is very important.
Fast forward a few years... she has declared bankruptcy. Which was the best thing for her to do in her dire
financial situation. But even then, she was worried about what others might think of her.

I am so glad none of my decisions [financial or otherwise] are influenced by what others might think.
 
KingsX said:
.

A few years ago a friend was complaining that ice tea had gone up to over $2 at her favorite restaurant.
I told her that restaurants make a lot of profit on beverages and that I always bring bottled water because
I don't usually drink when I eat, restaurant ice machines are infamous for not being clean, and I am frugal
and frankly the ice tea is not worth it. She said she'd be "embarrassed" to bring bottled water to a restaurant.
I told her, I do it all the time and no one cares. But for her, what other people might think is very important.
Fast forward a few years... she has declared bankruptcy. Which was the best thing for her to do in her dire
financial situation. But even then, she was worried about what others might think of her.

I am so glad none of my decisions [financial or otherwise] are influenced by what others might think.
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I'm surprised that restaurants don't have a policy against people bringing in outside beverages (other than for very young children or medical conditions). I generally order ice water when dining out and have never gotten sick from eating - or drinking - at a restaurant.

Bottom line - if I didn't have sufficient confidence in restaurants' cleanliness to order ice water, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable about the rest of their food-handling practices and would avoid dining out altogether.
 
StarSong said:
I'm surprised that restaurants don't have a policy against people bringing in outside beverages (other than for very young children or medical conditions). I generally order ice water when dining out and have never gotten sick from eating - or drinking - at a restaurant.

Bottom line - if I didn't have sufficient confidence in restaurants' cleanliness to order ice water, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable about the rest of their food-handling practices and would avoid dining out altogether.
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I've been bringing bottled water into restaurants for decades and at no time did anyone care.
But if they had, I would have left and never returned. There are plenty of restaurants in the
DFW area... lots of competition... I doubt they would intentionally insult a customer.

Ice machines are infamous for harboring mold and bacteria... even home ice makers.

As for eating out.... I tend to stay away from food not cooked and served hot.

.
 
if i ever had to resort to bringing my own water then i would not be going in to someones business to eat out . hey if you can do that great , but my opinion is if someone has to resort to bringing a bottle of water then they either can't afford to be eating out or shouldn't be eating out .. restaurants always sell bottled water so in either case i don't buy in to that . . sorry but that is how i feel about it.
 
StarSong said:
I'm surprised that restaurants don't have a policy against people bringing in outside beverages (other than for very young children or medical conditions). I generally order ice water when dining out and have never gotten sick from eating - or drinking - at a restaurant.

Bottom line - if I didn't have sufficient confidence in restaurants' cleanliness to order ice water, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable about the rest of their food-handling practices and would avoid dining out altogether.
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when we travel i always use bottled water . but i buy it where we eat . i would never walk in with my own bottle of water to drink in their establishment . not even in mexico or cuba did i or would i ever resort to that . .
 
mathjak107 said:
if i ever had to resort to bringing my own water then i would not be going in to someones business to eat out . hey if you can do that great , but my opinion is if someone has to resort to bringing a bottle of water then they either can't afford to be eating out .. restaurants always sell bottled water so in either case i don't buy in to that . . sorry but that is how i feel about it.
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For the reasons I posted, bringing my own bottled water is my personal preference.
Often I don't even open the bottled water because as I also posted, I usually don't
drink when I eat. I couldn't care less what others think, least of all you.

.
 
I have heard that the slice of lemon placed in the glass of water at some restaurants can be full of bacteria if the lemons have sat out too long. I always ask not to put the lemon in my water.
 
If something does not make sense it does not make sense. If you post things that don’ t add up I will say so, people here know my posts. I use facts .

You can hold off ordering a bottle of water if you are not thirsty just as you don’t open yours if you don’t want it. But to bring your own bottle of water to a restaurant is something most of us would not do.
 
C'est Moi said:
It was my understanding that a home is exempt from Medicaid's "asset limit" and Medicaid does not require it to be sold to pay for long-term care.

I don't expect my children to "act like spoiled children" at all; I just don't want to burden them with unnecessary taxes and insurance payments on MY house. As long as I am capable of handling my business I intend to do so. To each their own.
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a house is only a protected asset if held in personal names . any living revocable trust un-protects it .

the trust keeps the house from going going through probate but what happens is the value of that house now counts towards qualifying for medicaid . many made this mistake and now have to sell the house , spend down the cash they got in order to qualify for medicaid .

so while most states will only go after probated assets in recovery and the house in the trust won't be probated , you just can't qualify for medicaid in the first place in this case with the house in a living trust since it now counts as an asset that has to be spent down for care first ..
 
there is a reason wall street looks at profits and revenue . profits can come from cost cutting . but once there is nothing to cut and expenses rise it takes growing revenue to avoid failure or else down sizing is in order . it applies to our lives as well . lifestyles will take a hit once costs bottom and expenses rise unless income increases . there is no magic here .
 
StarSong said:
I've looked into this a little bit, and GiantFan, you're not kidding when you say this is very bad advice. Anyone considering this would be well advised to consult attorneys and financial planners who specialize in elder matters, plus do plenty of other research.

C'est Moi is correct in her statement about a person's residence being exempt from the Medicaid's asset limit.

IMHO, transferring a house or other assets to preserve an estate or avoid paying one's own medical expenses is no different morally or ethically than welfare, food stamp or other fraud against governmental agencies.

https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/medicaid/look-back-period.html
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why do you think medicaid trusts and all these tools and laws exist that let one preserve assets ?

for the same reason we have all these tools and tax laws that let you reduce taxes .


your fair share of taxes is what ever you can legally reduce them to using the laws and tools purposely left for that purpose .

it would be very easy to make look back 20 years or do away with medicaid trusts if the courts wanted to . but they can't nor want to .

some of the tools are :

making medicaid approved family loans -protects up to 50% of assets .

irrevocable medicaid trusts

long term care insurance

hybrid life insurance policy's with long term care links

right of refusal

and a lot more .

the last thing states want is to have states full of impoverished seniors . by depleting assets down to what is impoverishment for the stay at home spouse the states end up with two people on public assistance .

many states are trying to come up with ways for the stay at home spouse to retain more assets not less . states now have partnership plans for long term care . you take 3 years insurance and when insurance runs out they have you hand medicaid the bills .

in our state a partnership plan protects 100% of your assets from any recovery and we have no income limits for the stay at home spouse once medicaid pays . while we offer 100% asset protection in ny as an option , other states offer dollar for dollar protection . if they spend 300k as an example on your care 300k in assets is protected .

most nice homes will take medicaid assignment in our area if you paid your own way for 3 years .

florida , ny and CT courts have been upholding a spouses right to say no , and negotiations as to a fair cost are becoming the norm . a ct high court judge said he will not impoverish the seniors in his state and ordered medicaid to negotiate prices that do not hurt the stay at home spouse . ny and florida have followed .

our elder law /estate attorney is one of the biggest in ny . they have no recovery cases , only negotiating costs at this point .

so all these things are purposely left in place to be utilized .

https://www.elderlawanswers.com/medicaid-spousal-refusal-just-say-no-12156
 
Lara said:
Things you can do to cut your living expenses without lowering your standard of living:

1. Give your house to your children via an Irrevocable Trust. Then rent the house and live there. Have an estate attorney draft the documents and provisions.

2. Sell your home to your kids and live there...maybe pay rent, maybe not.

Gifting or selling your house to your children and then living there is the only option that will both maintain your lifestyle and reduce your costs according to Timothy Speises of the firm, EisnerAmper.

As long as your children are willing and able to pay for the property taxes, maintenance, repairs, and any remaining mortgage payments, your house costs will be low...maybe even non-existent.
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just terrible advice on so many levels .
 

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