The Shoestring Millionaire

A friend of mine I’ll call "The Shoestring Millionaire" was worth interviewing exclusively for IRL members.

This is a fascinating insight into how slashing your expenses really doesn’t have to mean suffering. It just means changing your habits and possibly your philosophy on life.

I’m not saying you should adopt all his ideas, but you’ll probably want to do at least some of them and at the same time, see how you can live free. Also, notice how ‘The Shoestring Millionaire’ isn’t just blindly taking cost-cutting moves without thinking about if/when the resultant savings will make up for the cost of doing this.

The Shoestring Millionaire really is a millionaire. He lives in a multi-million dollar house and has a Mercedes SL and a Land Rover as well as a large property portfolio.

But you want to know the biggest secret about rich people?

They actually don’t spend very much!

Here’s some pointers from ‘The Shoestring Millionaire’ on how to live like a millionaire… on a shoestring…!

• I tinted my windows (I live in FL) and saved about 10% a month on electric bills so that paid for itself.
  
  
• I had a WELL drilled for my water and saved a fortune on that bill. It only cost $800 to do this.
  
  
• I also have plenty of barrels to catch rainwater and each barrel has a hosepipe attached with holes in that I run around the garden for AUTOMATIC and FREE sprinkling.
  
  
• Get TWO water meters from the water company. One is for sewer and the other water. Sewer bills are ESTIMATES and a way to rip you off, but if there’s a meter there’s no argument and you pay less.
  
  
• Think about wastage around your home. Right now, I’m looking into the possibility of linking my pool heater and air conditioner. Think about it: one throws off cold air and the other hot air! At the very least, it would be easy to have a shroud and pipe on the pool heater and have cold air ducted into the house.
  
  
• Do NOT get a gym membership. If for no other reason, you simply won’t get around to going. Instead, go to Play it Again Sports (or any other second hand sports store) and get a treadmill. Not in the first part of the year though as everyone wants one in January. By Summer those failed New Year’s resolutions everywhere will help the price go down and you get a better choice.
  
  
• Go through all your monthly subscriptions to things and ruthlessly cancel what you can.
  
  
• How to have FREE meals, FREE entertainment and a FREE dating service or social network. Get on the mailing lists for every local gallery, book club, ballet or whatever. Go to all the free events you can and get your name down. I could get a free night out pretty much most nights now. Remember: a man wearing a jacket can get in almost anywhere!
  
  
• Get a FREE lunch of delicacies by walking around the mall food court at lunch time. By the time you’ve tried all the free samples going you’re full.
  
  
• Get on restaurant mailing lists and you’ll get heavily discounted coupons.
  
  
• In fact, before you go anywhere to do anything where you’ll be parting with money, check online for a voucher for that thing. 90% of the time you’ll find one by either simply printing off the coupon and/or joining their mailing list.
  
  
• Don’t be a slave to the latest fashion. I buy all my clothes at Target. All clothes are made in the same Chinese sweat shop anyway. Buy solid colors so they match more things and this way you don’t have to spend so much on renewing clothes.
  
  
• Save gas money by doing all your shopping online AND this way you don’t succumb to impulse purchases. Amazon Prime is a club you can join on amazon.com where you pay $80 a year and all shipping is FREE- I get that back in a month with how often I shop there.
  
  
• The best price doesn’t mean the best item! I know wine retailers who confess that they mark up wines purely because people want to feel like wine snobs. This rule applies to a lot of things though; anytime you see the words “Gold Package” as an upsell, run away.
  
  
• The price of wines often has nothing to do with quality but rather the supply and demand of the grape in question. For example, Cabernet Sauvignon is highly in demand so it costs more, whereas a Malbec tastes even better but is cheap because most people have never heard of a Malbec. Even better, therefore ordering a Malbec in a restaurant makes you look like you know your wines. Chardonnay is another overpriced grape- get Sauvignon Blanc instead. Also Australian wines have a serious glut now and are inevitably cheaper.
  
  
• Vodka is all the same. I buy an expensive bottle and after I’ve drunk it, I fill it up with the liquor store own brand vodka (if you’re worried about people caring that is).
  
  
• I’m a brandy fan and that really can be told apart. The saving is so great on a bottle of Louis XIII on a cruise that the cruise is effectively free.
  
  
• Bring your own items to any event where you might have to pay for those. I’m always smuggling food and drink into movies (they really rip you off on that and that’s where their profit is). For cigar night with the boys, I arrive with my own cigars I bought online.
  
  
• Antique watches on Ebay are great deals, are interesting, look rare and expensive but don’t have the perceived price tag to match.
  
  
• Get all cars aged between 6 and 24 months old. If you want the best millionaire prestige for your buck, get a Maserati; they depreciate like a stud horse with a STD.
  
  
• Don’t just wander into the grocery store; have a pre-prepared LIST and STICK TO IT. The store is hoping you WON’T and have arranged things to ensure you won’t! And NEVER go food shopping on an empty stomach.
  
  
• Most people go to the mall with absolutely no purpose at all. Cut it out!
  
  
• Always get the store brand. It’s the same, trust me.
  
  
• On Amazon marketplace you can buy books for a penny each and if you have the Amazon reader gadget, millions of books are free.
  
  
• 90% of furniture is manufactured in North Carolina and by the time it gets to your store, it is grossly overpriced. Go to your local store, find the tag and model number, then get a North Carolina factory outlet broker to get it for you and save THOUSANDS.
  
  
• A fax machine is obsolete. Throw it out.
  
  
• Instead of printing out stuff from the Internet, copy and paste it into a Word document.
  
  
• Lawns are a complete nonsense. Either pave it over or convert it into a vegetable garden. Grow your own indigenous food.
  
  
• Don’t hire pest control people- all they do is wander around with a can of exterminator. A monkey could do that.
  
  
• Pools; cover with solar-heaters and switch off pool heat. Salt is cheaper than chlorine. Don’t hire a pool guy- your kids could do it for some pocket money and you’ll teach them some responsibility in the process, a quality young people today (and governments) definitely lack.
  
  
• In certain states, insurance companies are allowed to quote on a case by case basis, rather than lumping you in with everyone in the bad neighborhoods or whatever. If so, the savings are MASSIVE. Find out by finding an independent broker and asking. Florida is one such state.
  
  
• Get a basic catastrophic coverage healthcare plan. Most of the regular plan cost is paying for morons who run to the doctor every time they get a runny nose and the stacks of poisonous drugs they don’t need. And make friends with a doctor!
  
  
• Become a travel agent. Google: “Travel Agent Discount Card” and apply. Anyone can become a subsidiary agent for a travel agency just like that and you’ll get an IATA card so you can get cheap vacations with the red carpet quite often too!
  
  
• Consider not owning a car. I don’t need this but worth checking out www.ZipCar.com . It’s like a flexible rental club.
  
  
• Last word: Any time your wallet comes out, try to think of a way to put it back!

Many thanks to "The Shoestring Millionaire"…!