THRIFTY LIVING - PENSIONERS

I´ve heard over and over again elderly retired people saying to each other “We are going to enjoy ourselves to the full now because we’ll soon be gone,” or “Enjoy yourselves now, you’ve earned it!” I always admire and love to see the old folks happy and enjoying themselves. They seem to be just enjoying spending the treasure that they have stored up over their long hardworking years; wealth they have accumulated and saved by making contributions to savings schemes and to pension funds during all their working years.

But what about those who have nothing or very little stored or saved; those who for one reason or another were unable to make regular payments to pension funds or savings schemes? I am thinking of those who were ill or unemployed or just didn’t earn enough during their working years. Well, fortunately in the U.K., there is a state pension fund from which the government will pay-out a very small pension, just enough to cover basic living costs. Hopefully!

Living in Spain has helped my husband and me a lot with our budget. We have found it to be a whole lot cheaper to live here rather than in the U.K. or Ireland. Here´s how and why:

1.  Accommodation rentals are lower than in the U.K. and a whole lot lower than in Ireland.

2.  The cost of living is also cheaper.

3.  Electricity is cheaper.

4.  Gas is cheaper.

5.  Water is free for us because we are renting our apartment.

6.  We do not pay Community charges, again because we are renting our apartment.

Also, choosing the right location for our accommodation contributes a lot too. Why? Because our accommodation is very close to the town, everything is within easy reach, our local church, health clinic, emergency clinic, banks, supermarkets, local markets and bus depot are only a short walk away. And because of this we don’t need a car! We walk to our local open market every Wednesday for fresh cheap fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices and our local butcher is situated just nearby.

Not only that, my retired husband and I always enjoy strolling hand in hand along the paseo (sea front) relishing the beautiful scenery and the glorious sunsets. Mind you we are very fortunate because the sea front is just across the way from our apartment (just 2 minutes’ walk).

That’s why they say “Location! Location! Location!”

However if we need to travel further afield we have available to us very reliable, comfortable and air-conditioned local buses (which can take you all over Spain – if you so desire). We just carefully plan the timings of our roundtrip route before travelling and everything is fine. Additionally the fares are very reasonable and my husband, being a pensioner, travels for half-price as well!

To save on expenses, I have even learned how to cut my husbands hair, yes, it´s amazing what skills you will learn when you have to live frugally. My husband’s hair looked funny at first (ha! ha! ha!) because I found it difficult to do and the cut hair was not even. But my husband didn´t mind - maybe he enjoyed me fondling his hair for a long time (we were both happy anyway). Well practice makes perfect and now I can cut his hair like a professional. That’s a great saving because he doesn´t need to go to the barber shop anymore for expensive haircuts. Wow.

We also learned general practical ways to economise in our daily living and here are some tips that you might find useful:

1.  Using leftover food. Yes, especially if it is good food, don´t throw it away. Freeze it. Small leftovers, or large ones, can be utilised in so many new dishes or desserts and shouldn’t be wasted.

2.  Go to bed early and switch off lights, computers, TV, etc.; don’t leave electrical items on standby – this wastes electric. We used to stay up late and go to bed long after midnight but as we are now economising we go to bed much earlier, especially in winter, in order to switch off the electric that bit sooner. Mind you we both agree with this and we both enjoy it, as long as we don’t switch off our minds when all the lights are off and we are in bed (ha! ha! ha!).

3.  Switch off the water heater in summer time. Well we don’t need hot water here because our summers are so hot and what we prefer is a nice cool shower to keep our temperature down and help refresh us – we don’t have air-conditioning you see.

4.  Don’t eat in restaurants – they’re too expensive. Eat at home instead. We can enjoy and eat delicious luxury food in the comfort of our home without paying the restaurant prices. We have learned the basics of food preparation and cooking so that we can use the cheaper cuts in so many different and interesting ways.

5.  Listen to and adopt suggestions from friends around you. Take their advice on where to buy cheap but enjoyable wine, beers, liquor. Yes, when we need to top up our booze cabinet once in a while, we look for those drinks suggested by friends and we always find it worthwhile to do so.

6. Don’t forget the second-hand shops. I never miss scouring the racks for good value clothes and more often than not I come away with a real bargain. Recently I was able to buy my husband a beautiful chunky knitted woollen cardigan, grey colour with black trimmings, inner lining of polyester with two pockets outside and two inside, for only 3.00 euro (about 4.00 U.S. dollars).

Yes, that’s us; by following the suggestions listed above we have changed our lifestyle to help us live frugally here in Spain. Of course there are many more practical ways that are not included in this list, but I always suggest and emphasise to everybody that we should always act sensibly in everything we do. Whatever we do and wherever we are, the secret is to always treat one another with dignity and respect.

“Love conquers all things and it is the greatest blessing of them all”.

Remember to always do things with prayer!

This is our simple, happy, healthy recipe for thrifty living in Spain (or anywhere).

God Bless!