5 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Retirement Expenses – The Fool Motley



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Retirement can be a difficult time from a financial point of view. The absence of a current paycheck will effectively force you to a fixed income, and once that happens, you may need to have a tighter budget for your household. Here are some steps you can take to reduce your expenses during your golden age and you avoid getting into trouble with money.

1. Reduce your living space

Maintaining a bigger house costs money. There is more space to heat, more rooms to cool and, in general, higher property taxes to pay. If you do not need the same amount of space as in the past (for example, because your children have grown up and moved), reducing the size of your home could actually dramatically reduce your monthly expenses. This is especially true if you are still paying a mortgage on this house or if you are renting in an expensive area where the square footage is a premium.

Older woman putting her arms around an older man

SOURCE OF IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES.

2. Limit yourself to one car

If you and your spouse used to occupy jobs that could only be reached by car, it was obvious that you had a moment in your life when you had to be a multi-vehicle household. But once you've retired, there's no reason you can not share a single car and save some serious money in the process. According to AAA, owning a car costs an average of $ 8,849 per year on average. Therefore, if you are able to unload a vehicle, you will save money.


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3. Cook more meals at home

Early bird promotions are popular among retirees and, although they may be less expensive than regular restaurant meals, they are still much more expensive than cooking at home. If you want to reduce your retirement expenses, preparing a meal in your own kitchen is a good way to do it. And in the absence of work, you will have time to do it.

4. Explore free entertainment

Staying busy during retirement costs money, but it is an important thing to do because the more you get bored, the more the risk of depression increases. But that does not mean that you have to spend a fortune to stay busy. If you look around you, you may come across many sources of free entertainment, whether it's local parks, free programs in the area's museums or events in the area. community centers nearby. Another way to stay busy for free? Volunteer. You will be able to do something meaningful and feel good about yourself after the fact.

5. Ditch the gym

When you are stuck in a day job, it is not always easy to exercise outside, especially during the daylighting periods. But when you are retired, you will have the opportunity to dictate your days, which means you can go outside to exercise whenever your heart desires. As such, there is no need to continue paying an expensive gym membership fee if you could use this money for more important purposes.

You can take a number of steps to reduce your retirement expenses, some of which are significantly more extreme than others. The key is to find the middle ground between enjoying your golden age without jeopardizing your finances.

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