Jeff Yeager calls himself the “ultimate cheapskate.” He drives a 15-year-old pickup truck with 200,000 miles on it. He’s never had a cell phone. He cooks goats’ heads for dinner. And he makes a living at it.
Yeager, a former executive in the nonprofit sector, is the author of four books about living on the cheap – his latest is “How to Retire the Cheapskate Way.” He’s also an expert for AARP, and the host of a weekly web show.
“Live within your means always, live below your means whenever you can. It sounds simple, it's very rare for Americans to do that. We tend to live beyond our means,” he said. “If you were simply, for most Americans, to reduce or eliminate waste from your life, and stop buying stuff that ultimately is going to disappoint you, most people's financial ships would be righted. “
Yeager recommends going on a “fiscal fast” twice a year, a week during which you spend no money at all. Seven days of canned beans from the pantry and library books will teach you what you spend, what you save and how you waste your money, he claims.
He said he believes you should buy a modest “starter home,” pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible, and ideally, never move again.
Yeager, an environmentalist, has written an entire book on what not to throw away, and how to re-purpose almost everything. “I write, for some reason, a tremendous amount about pantyhose. Somebody said that one of my books wouldn't even exist if it hadn't been for pantyhose,” he laughed.
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