According to our best estimates, the average person moves 12 times over the course of a lifetime. That is a lot of moving. The numbers are going to be much higher for some, as people in the South don’t tend to move as often as those in the West, or go as far when they do. That skews the numbers lower than they really are for most people. That means there is a good chance your next move is coming up in just a few years.
General wisdom is that homeowners are more settled than apartment dwellers. But increasingly, more families are opting to move into apartments. Already a third of Sidney households live in apartments. It is expected that half will live in apartments within a generation.
Moving into less expensive accommodations is perhaps the biggest thing we can do if we are looking for a fresh start that will also save us money at the same time. Here are a few others that can make a difference::
Find a Better Entertainment Deal
If you are paying a traditional content provider for TV programming, you can probably save money by switching to a different provider. There are always deals for new subscribers that simply don’t apply to current customers. So when you move, look around and see what better prices are available.
Even if you have the best prices, you can still save money by bundling services together. DIRECTV bundles include TV and internet. Other bundles you find may include phone and home security monitoring. Typically, the more things you bundle, the more money you save.
Entertainment bundles might include local stations, specialty sports channels, movie channels, and other on-demand programming. If you are going to get packages like HBO, Showtime, and the like, you are often better off getting them bundled in a single entertainment package. You don’t have to get less entertainment when you move. Just spend less money by checking out the new providers and bundling services together.
Take Fewer Things
You can’t have a fresh start if all you do is transport all of your old life from one location to another. A move is a good time to unload the excess that has built up over time. Lots of things you own develop a layer of dust and cruft that needs to be removed on a regular basis. The same is true for the cruft that builds up in our lives.
Any guide on moving to a new place will include the advice to take as few things from the old place to the new place as possible. So many of the things we buy serve a temporary purpose. But there is no good method for recirculating or recycling most of it. One day’s treasure is another day’s buildup.
Not only can you save a ton of money by not moving all that junk, you save money by not having to maintain it. How many shelves have we all purchased to hold items that we never use or look at? We need the bigger space to hold all the things we should have never brought with us in the first place. You can often measure how fresh your start is by the things that don’t make the trip.
Eliminate Aspirational Purchases
Are you the kind of person who has clothes in your closet with the tags still on them because you have never worn them? Do you pay for a timeshare you have yet to visit? Do you buy gym memberships that go unused? You are an aspirational purchaser. And it is costing you a lot of money.
No one sets out to waste money on things they will not use. But they have been sold on a bill of goods that they need to look a certain way or eat a certain way or act a certain way. They reject their actual selves and spend for the aspirational self they hope to become. Perhaps the freshest start of all is embracing who you are and loving that person.
Get a fresh start with entertainment, cruft removal, and embracing who you are. Big savings are just the byproduct of a fresher, happier life.
