Finally Learned To Stop Bleeding Money In Retirement
Finally Learned To Stop Bleeding Money In Retirement
“Turn off the lights.” “Why would you go out and spend money for coffee?” I grew up middle-class in the 1950s with a litany of lines like that from my Depression-era mother. Usually, I didn’t listen to them. But now that I’m 70 and figuring out ways to budget in retirement in San Francisco, I’m taking my mom’s advice to heart.
It’s not easy.
But my retired husband Jim, who’s 76, and I have realized we needed to stop bleeding money. So, we’re getting better at it. And you might want to try some of our money-saving techniques, too, if you’re retired or will be soon.
Before retiring, I was a community college professor and Jim was director of a senior center. We’re now bringing in about half our salaries, from my pension, his Social Security, money I earn from teaching and writing and from renting out our home as an Airbnb. We still have a mortgage and a home equity line.
Saving an Extra $500 a Month
We’d been growing tired of renting out the house so much and moving to relatives’ and friends’ homes to make room for our Airbnb guests, though. So, five months ago, we decided to Airbnb less and save more. We’re now saving an extra $500 a month — a significant amount.
How did we do it? Mostly through jam-jar economics.
That’s an old term, referring to putting into a jar for jam the cash that we can spend each week. Instead of a jar, Jim and I use a drawer.
After I know exactly what the bills will be for that month, I divide up the remainder into four weeks and take out cash each week and place it in the drawer. Jim and I might want to go to a restaurant or a movie one night, but if we’ve used up our stash, we know we can’t. Interestingly, we haven’t felt deprived. Our goal is to not have credit card debt and the drawer helps enormously.
