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    The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too
    The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too
    The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too
    Ebook132 pages1 hour

    The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too

    By Annie Jean Brewer

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    About this ebook

    Do You Want to Live on Less?

    Would you like to learn how from someone who actually does?

    Dear Friend,

    Over ten years ago I found myself a single mother with three children to raise.

    I had to learn fast.

    I had to support those kids on a fast food paycheck while I put myself through school.

    Not only did I manage to do it but I topped my own expectations. We ended up living better than I ever would have imagined.

    Since then I have not only quit my day job but I have built up sufficient income to become a single stay-at-home mother to my youngest child. This feat would not have been possible without the frugality of shoestring living.

    We live well on about $500 a month - and know how to live on even LESS!

    Over the years I have shared my secrets with others who have fallen on hard times. I have helped friends who became disabled, single parents, the unemployed and others who found a need to live on as little money as possible.

    The first thing I always shared were the timeless words of my grandmother. Even now I can hear her reminding me to hold up my head because...

    "There's no sin in being poor!"

    This may be your first brush with life below the poverty line. You may be scared. You may be ashamed. You may not know what to do or where to start.

    I'm here to help you save money

    I have drawn upon my 10+ years of personal experience to create the ultimate frugal living guide. I won't bore you with stupid fluff about clipping coupons. Instead, you will find a concise method you can implement to save thousands of dollars over the course of a year.

    Sections Include:
    Housing
    Auto
    Groceries (Includes raising food)
    Computers (includes where to find free and inexpensive software)
    Television (includes watching shows online for free)
    Books (lots of links to free ebooks and how to search for free ebooks online)
    Music (includes links for free music sites)
    Clothing
    Cleaning tips and recipes
    Personal care tips and recipes
    Furniture
    Thrift Shops
    Yard Sales
    Jobs and self-employment
    And much more!

    I not only explain the exact methods that I use to save money and live frugally but I also explain how I could live on about half of the money that I actually do.

    While you may not wish to apply everything here I am confident that you will be inspired to save more money than you ever thought possible. You will learn the skills you need to overcome your current financial challenge.

    Start Saving Money Today!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnnie Jean Brewer
    Release dateOct 31, 2011
    ISBN9781465710192
    The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too
    Author

    Annie Jean Brewer

    Annie Brewer learned how to combine minimalism with frugality to live the life of her dreams. A single mother, she is a computer professional who works from home and primarily supports her family through writing. You can follow her adventures at Annienygma.com, discover her articles on the Yahoo Contributor Network and read free samples of her books here. Download one of her free ebooks today!

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    Reviews for The Shoestring Girl

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      A very good book: easy reading, concise, straight to the point, full of tips, tricks and recipes to star using right away. Congrats to the author.
    • 4/5
      There is a lot of value in this slim, inexpensive book. Annie has -- through a combination of necessity and choice -- chosen to live a much more frugal existence than I would, but she illustrates how easy it is to cut out a lot of expenses we take for granted. I'm just starting out to investigate frugality, and I was impressed by her inclusion of tips about natural remedies for oral health and overall wellness.

      If you're in a severe financial pinch, I think the $2.99 for this book would be a good investment. If you're not in dire straits, this would still be a good book to learn about how you can trim your expenses in order to have more time and money so you pursue what you truly want in life.

    Book preview

    The Shoestring Girl - Annie Jean Brewer

    THE SHOESTRING GIRL:

    How I Live on Practically Nothing - And You Can Too!

    By

    Annie Jean Brewer

    SMASHWORDS EDITION

    * * *

    PUBLISHED BY:

    Annie Jean Brewer on SMASHWORDS

    THE SHOESTRING GIRL:

    How I Live on Practically Nothing - And You Can Too!

    Copyright 2011 by Annie Jean Brewer

    Discover Other Titles by Annie Jean Brewer at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/annienygma

    Smashwords Edition License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

    * * *

    The Shoestring Girl

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    How to Use This Book

    A Temporary Situation

    Welfare, Social Security and Jobs

    Live on Less

    The Curse of Credit

    The Luxury of Insurance

    The Penny Trap

    Housing

    Auto

    Furniture, Appliances, Electronics and Stuff

    Thrift Shop, Yard Sales and Other Resources

    Groceries, Recipes and Grow Your Own

    Medical and Dental Care

    Personal Care

    Home Care and Cleaning

    Conclusion

    References and Recommendations

    About the Author

    Connect With Annie Online

    Other Titles

    * * *

    Introduction

    When I left my husband a decade ago I had no job and no money; all I had were my kids, our pets and an old mobile home that I had purchased in preparation.

    I did not enter into the challenge without being ready. I knew my income would be sparse so I planned ahead. These were my rules:

    * Make recurring expenses as low as they could go.

    * Keep them that way.

    By using this method I would know the bare minimum needed to survive with my kids and I could (hopefully) be a little picky and choose a job that offered mother's hours so I would not have to depend upon child care for all but the youngest.

    It worked.

    When my income increased I followed the advice of some friends and took out loans and credit cards to improve my situation with new appliances and furniture. What a mistake! As a result of those purchases there were a few times when I had to scrape money together just to buy groceries.

    I don't want to EVER do that again.

    I have discovered several advantages to keeping those recurring expenses low:

    * It frees up the bulk of your money for enjoying life.

    * You don't have to work as hard to get your bills paid.

    * You can better survive economic downturns.

    * You can afford to chase your dreams or take risks.

    * You can afford to take long vacations by saving up and not working for a time.

    * You don't have to search for a roommate or shack up with someone to have help paying your bills--you are able to pay all of your bills on a single income.

    I have been living this lifestyle for so many years now that it is second nature. I have become the one that my wealthier friends ask for loans when their income takes a dip. It makes me wonder who is the real wealthy one: the one with all of the money, or the one who knows how to keep it?

    Some say that this lifestyle involves sacrifice yet neither I nor my family feels this way. We do what we want, when we want and have money to spare.

    Our van is paid for, we rent a nice older home in town and we have money in the bank with more on the way. Our computers are newer (Katie's is 2 years old and mine is a few months old) and we can afford to upgrade on a regular cycle.

    We have everything we need but only a portion of the expense of an average household. Here are my recurring bills:

    Until recently I had a part-time job at Wal-Mart. We have enough money coming in from my book royalties so I quit to focus on the things that are really important in my life. This accomplishment would have been impossible if it were not for shoestring living.

    We did have prepaid cell phones but stopped putting money on them when I started planning to leave the job at Wal Mart. Cell phones are luxuries for all but the perpetually mobile (like truck drivers) so instead we use Google Voice combined with our MagicJack for voice calls and texting.

    We do not receive welfare or food stamps yet we eat well and are healthy. Nor do we receive any cash payments from the government. We live entirely on my income as a writer and life is really good.

    If we wanted to, we could live on even less than we do right now. Here's how:

    * Go to the library for internet access. Save $30/month.

    * Eliminate the van and walk everywhere. Save $41/month on car insurance plus maintenance, gasoline, taxes and license fees. Realistic savings would be over $1,000 a year.

    * Use Google Voice exclusively for phone service instead of MagicJack. Save $1.67/month.

    * Purchase a mobile home on a rented lot and pay cash. Save $100-$150 a month depending upon the lot rent.

    If I did these things I would then only pay $230 a month for an additional savings of $202.67. If I wanted to live even cheaper I could purchase a small RV or live in my van and eliminate the rental and utility fees so even my low bills are not the lowest that they could be!

    However, there is a line we must walk when being frugal. The goal is to stay on the comfortable side of that line so that our lives do not feel like a sacrifice. Rather like walking on a tightrope, we balance to avoid a fall. I call this line the shoestring.

    Anyone can do what I do to save money. All it takes is desire, patience and a willingness to look at things in a different way.

    Are you ready to live on a shoestring?

    * * *

    How to Use This Book

    Within these pages you will find the tips and tricks that I have used personally over the years to pare my expenses to the bone. Some of these things I still do today while others did not hold my interest; still others I've kept in reserve for the day that I need the knowledge.

    This book is written so that you can read it in its entirety to get an overview and then bookmark the stuff you want to try yourself. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel so if there is a resource available that can help you better I will lead you there with a link or a reference. That way if you

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