Retirement is the time of your life when you can start to truly relax and start enjoying life without the daily stresses and routine of going to work. Although there is no certainty that your life will become stress-free of course, it means that you now have different stresses such as those from having a reduced income. Here are 3 tips to help you get by on your reduced income:
Update your home
Just because you are living on a reduced budget does not mean you need to let your standards slide, besides, you spend more time at home, so why not make it just how you want it? It needn’t cost a fortune to spruce up your home, you just have to shop smart. Keep an eye out for bargains in stores that you regularly go to, or look online. Update your bathroom with a lick of fresh paint, new towels and bath sheets, and a change in faucets. If you are struggling to change the faucets yourself, or if they are leaking after you have changed them, you must find a plumber to come and solve the issue: the last thing you want is to cause expensive structural damage to your home when you were hoping to save money! Taking care of your home is important, it is a reflection of who and how you are. Therefore, if you feel fabulous, why not have a fabulous home too?
Do your own external house maintenance
Whereas in previous years you may have hired a local teen to sweep your leaves in fall or clear your drive of snow, you now have the time to do these jobs yourself. Not only will you save money doing your own household maintenance, but it will keep you fit and provide you with regular aerobic exercise. Here are 5 jobs that you can do:
- snow removal
- leaf sweeping
- paint the fences
- reseal the deck
- clean gutters
**You must remember though that accident and emergency rooms are regularly full of people who have not paid full attention to their safety while completing tasks. Typically, if the ladder required for the job is over 6ft, it is best left to a professional contractor.
Move home
You are no longer restricted by a need to stay in an area that is good for your commute to work, and the chances are high that you no longer have children living with you, so you are in the prime position to downsize. Downsizing will mean that your living costs are significantly reduced: your heating costs are reduced, there will be fewer maintenance costs, and the cost of insuring your home will also significantly drop too.
You will also free up any capital that you have in your property. You may have an emotional connection to the area that you currently live and family that you will want to stay near, but your retirement is the ideal time to go travelling and see the places that you have only dreamt of. Make sure that if you are following your travel dreams that you make provision for a home to return to; after all, a retirement can be tricky to budget for with reduced income, but add housing costs to your expenditure and your future will look very different.
