Moving out of your parents’ home is a great milestone to achieve, but finding yourself responsible for covering all of the bills and costs on your own for the first time can be daunting. Especially when you’re used to living a certain lifestyle in a home paid for by your parents—well, your new life can deliver quite the rude awakening.
And it’s even worse when you’re a techie sort of person. Maybe you’re a gamer, looking for a way to afford those new games and that yearly Xbox Live membership. Or perhaps you’re just an average teenager who spends time online chatting it up with friends and streaming movies. Whatever the case, keeping up with new tech and gadgets probably is no longer in your budget.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips on how you can save money to clear room to keep paying for all those gadgets and technology you can’t live without.
1. Consider finding a roommate or renting out a room in your home
If you aren’t married or starting a family yet, you may find that living with multiple people is still a more affordable solution than carrying a household on your own. Having a roommate can not only provide you with someone to help out with the cost of rent and utilities but can also allow you to have company and someone to talk to when you come home at the end of the day. Not sure how to find a roommate? There are plenty of websites out there designed to bring people together.
2. Keep living like you are still a high-school or college kid
When a lot of people get their first real job and move out on their own, they will spend a lot of money just because they are making real money for the first time. It can be tempting to go out and buy a bunch of fancy new stuff for the house, to buy a brand new car or to go out on the town every night for drinks. However, when you are young, it is the best time to save your money so you can take advantage of the magic of compound interest. By continuing to live like a broke student for a little bit longer, you can pocket some extra cash to save up for an emergency fund, put money into a retirement and save for future goals like a wedding or a down payment on a house.
[Read also: 5 Ways to Save Money Using Technology]
3. Use coupons
Coupons may seem like something your mom or grandma uses, but you can save a lot of money on the food products that you likely would buy anyway. Watch for coupons online and in the Sunday newspaper for brands and products you like and throw them in your purse or wallet for when you head out to the grocery store. You can also use coupon for new gadgets. Just Google “coupons for gadgets” or something like that and you’ll find sites that offer codes for discounts.
4. Bundle your Internet and cable service
You’ll need to pay for these essential necessities in your own home but they don’t have to be expensive. There are Internet plans to fit every budget available and by bundling the services that you buy, you can usually get a much better deal and save money on the services.
[Read also: Find a Cost-effective and Dynamic Way to Have an Access to the Internet]
5. Think about skipping the landline
Many young people today rely on cell phone service and Internet / VOIP services for their telephone use. If you don’t need a landline, there is no reason to pay for the monthly cost of having one in your new home.
6. Schedule no-cost or low-cost events
When you have first moved out of your parents’ home, it is a great time to enjoy your freedom and spend time with friends. However, going out all of the time can be really expensive. Instead of always hitting the bar or a restaurant, schedule some fun free or low-cost events and invite your friends along. You can have everyone over for a potluck dinner and game night, for example, or go to a free concert in the park one evening instead of going out and spending cash.
These are just a few of the many different ways that you can live comfortably on a reasonable budget even when you have first moved out of your parents’ home. Living frugally allows you to (hopefully) stay out of debt and put some money away for future goals. It is a lot easier to start saving when you do it when you are young before you have obligations of kids and a mortgage, so be smart with your money and look for ways to save while still enjoying being on your own for the first time.
[Image credit: Colleen Allison, Flickr]
Hi Peter !
We can even sell our old stuffs that we don’t use to purchase a new tech product .. Using coupons and finding a room-mate is an excellent idea . I use discount coupons whenever i purchase a new tech product and I’ve seen my friends (who have migrated to my city for job) and their room-mates contributing money to purchase new tech stuffs. Thanks for sharing the information.
-Pramod
Hi Pramod,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Selling old/used stuff is a very good idea. Come to think of it, part of the money that I used to purchase my laptop was coming from used items that I’ve sold on eBay some time ago. 🙂
Solid article Peter! For #4, I have just gotten rid of cable completely. In my area, it is really expensive. So, I setup a media center. With the high cost of cable, I had the media center paid off in 4 months of no cable bills.
I’m still paying for cable/satellite TV and it’s super expensive here too! Only my wife is watching it, I hardly sit down and watch and I don’t even know how to operate the remote control to be frank! LOL
After landing on my first job, I have to admit I got tempted with spending too much especially spending on things that I haven’t had before. But I am just so glad that even before I got into debts, I realized that I should be wise enough in handling my finances and should save for the future especially now that I have my own kids to raise.
Great advice, I definitely agree that when you get that first paycheck you go a little crazy but you got to live and learn.
We cut our landline but the mobile and internet bills are very long. We can skip tv and use laptop for watching the episodes on internet. Electricity can never be neglected. We must choose a roommate with whom we are comfortable and who is ready to live in all condition. and onle last thing we should be friendly with our room mate so that we dont miss our friends and family.
Nice tips!! Whenever you plan to live outside the home so prepare to tackle with the money problem. The good way to move is to save money. As well decrease your unwanted expenses.
I love this articles! I have to forward this post to my little sister. She needs guidance on how to get tech now that she is moving out of home.
Great stuff! I really think an article like this helps us to spend time thinking about the difference between wanting something and needing something. Using these suggestions, the end result would be understanding all the stuff you can go without in order to get the things you really want, whether it be a massive television or anything else.
Great tips, this will surely help. Especially for me, because i’m not quite good with managing my finances. Thanks!