Life of an Internet Entrepreneur

If you’ve been paying attention to the media, you know that the long talked about recession is upon us. As gas and food prices rise, many consumers are left wondering how to adjust their budgets accordingly. Self-sufficiency skills, long seen as a thing of the past, are back in vogue.

I recently discussed how to recession-proof your career, and some readers asked what accompanying lifestyle changes they should make. Today, I’d like to recommend a few changes that the average consumer can make to help get through this recession without feeling too much of the strain.

1. Convert to a Cash Economy

Make the switch to cash for your household purchases, or use one credit card for everything and pay it off in full each month. Doing so will help you to be more aware of your spending, and make it easier to cut out unnecessary or expensive luxury purchases. Using cash will also help you with Tip #3, as well.

2. Save an Emergency Fund

Set aside money each month for your savings account, with a goal of amassing three to six months of living expenses. In case of an unforeseen job loss or medical expense, this money will be extremely useful. Living paycheck to paycheck is harder than ever as prices rise - adding a cushion will help you to feel more secure in tight times.

3. Live within Your Means

If you regularly spend more than you make, now is the time to re-evaluate this pattern. Consider switching to a zero based budget, allocating a purpose for every dollar. This will also make it easier to fund the emergency fund mentioned above, while helping decrease the amount you charge on high interest credit cards monthly.

4. Limit Your Media Exposure

The media survives by drawing attention to current events, and sometimes hypes them up to be worse than they really are. Limiting your exposure to recession and depression oriented news stories will also help to keep your stress level low.

5. Learn New Self-Sufficiency Skills

We have all been spoiled over the last decade by the lowest unemployment rates ever, eating at restaurants nightly, and having others do the dirty work. These may be luxuries we can no longer afford.

Learn a new skill that helps you live self-sufficiently, such as installing doorknobs, basic plumbing, changing your own oil, painting, cooking, and canning food. Too busy, you say? Spend time with your kids and turn it into a lesson for them by having them hand you the tools while watching, and you’ll be raising self-sufficient offspring.

If you’ve been afraid to try any of these skills, rest easy - the rise of internet video can give you dummy-proof instructions.

6. Get Gadgets That Offer a Return

Technology has always been a way to improve productivity during hard times. Don’t wait for it to happen, bring the technology into your home with gadgets that lower your costs of living, and also provide healthier ways to live. What kinds of products can do this?

Aerogarden - This little gadget lets you grow vegetables and herbs right in your kitchen. I began looking into this product when vegetable prices were climbing faster than Jack on a beanstalk. It grows your food without soil, so there’s no mess, and apparently grows higher levels nutrients in the vegetables than you’ll find in a supermarket.

The best part is that the vegetables will grow all year round. While the machine isn’t as inexpensive as I would like to see, I do think it is a good deal, and they have several versions ranging from $80-$210.

If you grow 30-40 pounds of vegetables, you’ve already covered the cost of the machine, and you are no longer subject to the rising prices at the supermarket.

Breadmaker - While there are plenty of brands out there, the SunBeam breadmaker I use is very reliable, easy to clean, and was a great price.

Why in the world would I want to make my own bread? Well, for starters, wheat prices have gone up a lot over the last few years, and I love making whole wheat artisan breads for about $1 a loaf. Compare that to your average supermarket offering the bread for 3-4 times that amount, and you’re setting yourself up for savings.

Brita water pitcher - Bottled water is a huge industry, and it often just involves selling municipal water back to us at outrageous prices. The Brita pitcher lets you take water from the sink and purify it, saving you a few hundred dollars a year, and carrying heavy bottles home each week.

7. Drive Less

The costs of car ownership and driving in America are huge. Between maintenance, monthly payments, insurance, gas, parking, depreciation, and many others, you pay thousands of dollars a year.

However, owning a car isn’t the only option to remain mobile. Consider selling your car and taking a train, bus, subway, bike and you can save more than 10% of your salary each year, if you are an average American. If you have two cars in the family, sell one and coordinate use of the car you have left. If you live near friends, sell your car and pay them a bit to drive you short distances as needed.

If you can work from home, even for one day a week, you’ll see significant savings.

For those of you who love crunching numbers, figure out the REAL cost of driving with this calculator.

8. Save on Groceries

Would it surprise you to hear that I rarely buy grocery products at full price, yet don’t clip coupons? I do this by my flexibility in eating seasonal foods which are on sale, and I make a weekly shopping list of all the 50% off items before entering a supermarket. Each week the supermarket circular cycles through various products and categories on sale. This allows me to get the very best prices each time by waiting for the “low tide”.

For example, La Yogurt’s little yogurt cups have a huge fluctuation on price, and it all depends on the week. I’ve seen it at 29 cents each on some weeks, and all the way up around 99 on others. It all depends on when you buy it, so keep your eyes open, and stock up when you find it on the lower side of the range.

Remember to plan ahead and keep track of what you have in your house so that you don’t run out of anything essential while waiting for an item to be on the 50% off sale.

9. Guard Your Health

Staying healthy is probably the most important thing you can do to recession-proof your lifestyle. This is because health care costs are no joke, with America’s total spending averaging out to $7,900 per person in 2008. In fact, spending just one night in a hospital can cost your $1,000-$2,000. This makes it a pretty high priority to guard your health against avoidable accidents, diseases, and stress. Thankfully there are some good steps we can take to improve our health without too much of a hassle.

Manage Your Sleep - Many experts note that your body’s immunity drops off a cliff if you don’t get enough sleep (7-8 hours). This is quite possibly the single best way to keep healthy.

Eat Your Veggies - All sorts of disease risks can be reduced dramatically by eating a colorful selection of vegetables. It’s a lot cheaper to buy an eggplant than to deal with the disease it could have prevented later on.

Reduce Stress - Stress is the silent killer. Look at which situations are causing you stress, and word to reduce or eliminate those situations. Like the saying goes, “it’s not worth getting a heart attack over.”

Exercise Daily - Going out for a walk or run each day can lower your chances of catching a cold, as well as improve your heart’s health. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone, because your stress level will go down as well.

These tips should give you quite a cushion to make ends meet, and hang in there - times will get better!

Do you have any tips you’d like to see added? Let me know in the comments below!