Frugality Magazine - Frugal Living Tips for Financial Freedom

14 Proven Ways To Pay Less Rent

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Did you know that the average American spends 27.8% of their monthly income on housing?.

Whilst this is an average, individual cases can be far worse.

For example according to MSN Money, over a quarter of those living in rented properties in the USA spend over half of their income on housing.

In the UK the figure is even worse – with Brits spending on average 43% of their income on rent.

Many of us spend ridiculous amounts of money on renting our homes - but it needn't be that way! If you're looking to live more frugally, and reduce your spending, this article explains a whole host of ways you can reduce your rent payments legally. One property professional even commented on it, supporting all the tips and advice given, so it must be solid! Click here to learn more...In other words, renting a property is expensive.

For many of us living in rented accommodation, our rent makes up a sizeable proportion of our monthly outgoings.

By effectively reducing the amount of rent you pay you’ll have plenty of money left over each month for other purposes – such as getting out of debt or starting to build up your savings.

Fortunately there are a whole raft of ways to save money on your rent – if only you’re willing to put in some effort and be a little creative.

The extent to which you can actually reduce your rent will depend on both you as an individual (how far you’re willing to go to save money) and on your existing rental agreement (what you are and are not legally allowed to do).

In other words not all solutions will be suitable for all situations. You’ll need to carefully consider each available option to see which one(s) are likely to be the best bets for you.

However with that warning out of the way imagine what halving your rent – or eliminating it altogether – could do for your monthly budget.

Impossible?

Read on to uncover our fourteen proven tips for reducing your rent…

How To Save Money On Rent By Moving

The easiest way of all to sve money on rent is to actually move out of your current home and into a cheaper option. Of course this will depend on how long you have left on your lease agreement, on how much hassle you’re willing to deal with and how cheaply you can move home. But it’s a fact that this is where the greatest savings can be made.

Move To A Cheaper Location

Some areas of the country are simply cheaper than others – typically based on supply and demand. And this doesn’t necessarily have to mean moving half way across the country. Even within a small area you’ll often find that rents vary considerably.

So try using one of the various online property search tools and investigate nearby towns, cities and neighborhoods, looking for those that offer better value.

And remember that in many areas, there can be a significant price differential between living in the countryside and living in the city so this is a further point worth considering.

Downgrade To A Smaller Property

Don’t want to move too far from where you are now? How about finding a smaller property in your current area instead then. Typically smaller properties are cheaper to rent – but they also offer a range of other budget-friendly benefits.

For example a smaller property may have lower property taxes, may be cheaper to insure and will require less spending on utilities to heat. Moving to a smaller property can therefore create additional opportunities to save money on your housing costs.

Move Closer To Your Work

Moving to a new home closer to where you work may not save you any money on your rent per se. You might spend just as much or even more. But where you will save on money is in the cost of commuting to your place of work.

Try doing the calculations, figuring out how much you spend on driving to work or using public transport and see if moving to a similar property close enough to walk or cycle to work could save you significant money each month.

Move Into A House Share

Years ago I split up with my former girlfriend – with whom I was living. And while I loved our house I really couldn’t validate spending so much money on renting a house that was far bigger than I needed – and more expensive than I could afford on my own.

The simplest option at the time was moving into a houseshare – a home in which I lived with two other professionals, sharing all the costs. In doing so I saved almost 60% off the money I was paying in rent. Just 12 months there quickly got me back on my feet, allowing me to regain control of my finances and build up some impressive savings with minimal effort.

Clearly living with others isn’t everyone’s idea of fun and probably isn’t very well suited to those with partners and/or children. That said, if you’re in a situation where you can consider this option, it can be far cheaper than renting a property by yourself – and also a great way to meet new people along the way.

Move Back In With Your Family

To some people, living with their family again as an adult is a horrific thought. For others, it just makes sense. You may well have to give up some of your freedom but in exchange you’ll likely pay far lower rent than you would on the open market – or if you’re lucky no rent at all in exchange for helping out around the house.

House Sit

House sitting is gaining in popularity all the time. People work away from home for extended periods of time, go travelling for months or even years etc and need someone to ensure their house is safe and secure. Sometimes they even need their pets looking after too.

Thanks to sites like Trusted Housesitters it’s easier than ever to find house sitting gigs where you’ll typically live rent-free in exchange for some basic maintenance duties.

The only downsides here are that these opportunities may only exist for weeks or months at a time so they’re only a short term solution. You’ll need to be willing to move frequently, and there’s always a risk that the next house sitting job you find isn’t close enough to your work to be practical.

Skillshare

There are people all round the world with more space than they need but not enough time. In exchange for some light work each week you can receive free rent and often even food as well.

This work can involve all manner of things – from feeding and cleaning out farm animals to helping a business owner with their admin to looking after children and cooking meals. And the time requirements can also vary widly from a few hours a day to virtually full-time help.

But if you have some free time each day to exchange for free rent – or a job that you can do from anywhere – this can be a great way to completely eliminate the money you currently spend on rent. For opportunities around the world check out Help Exchange.

Become A Property Manager

Matthew Peters is a guy who has figured out how to live rent-free by acting as the maintenance agent for apartment buildings.

In exchange for rent-free living he ensures that the other properties in his block are rented out, maintained properly and any minor repairs are made in a timely manner meaning that maintaining the property is virtually hands-off for the landlord or property owner.

You can learn all about how he does it in his popular book entitled Don’t Own, Don’t Rent, Live Well.

Find A Job That Offers Free/Discounted Accommodation

There are a surprising number of jobs around that offer either subsidised or even free accommodation. From vet nurses to security roles, from pub employees to heritage property managers, all sorts of employers want the benefits of having staff on site at all times.

Whether that’s so they can pay lower wages, provide security for their properties or offer unusual shift patterns the fact remains that if you’re flexible there is every chance you could land a job with free rent. So even if the wages are lower you could still be a lot better off than staying at your high-paying job and paying through the nose for your rent.

Get A Mortgage

Surprisingly with interest rates low it can sometimes be cheaper to actually take out a mortgage than to actually rent a property. Now certainly you’ll likely need some capital to get started in the form of a deposit, solicitors fees and so on but too many renters dismiss the possibility of becoming a property owner.

If you have decent credit and regular employment it’s well worth at least asking some questions to see if you can reduce your monthly expenses by actually getting a mortgage – and building up equity in your home alongside.

How To Save Money On Rent Without Moving

But what if you really don’t want to move from your current home? Maybe you love the property you’re in. Maybe the location is perfect. Maybe you’ve just signed a lease and have a year or more left – what now?

Fortunately there are still some options available to you – depending on the fine print of your rental agreement. That said, there are far fewer of them. So if you’re truly stuck as present they may well be worth considering, though we’d strongly advise you to consider moving to a cheaper property as soon as you get a chance in the future.

Sublet Your Property

Does your lease agreement let you take on room mates? Comb over it in detail – or ask your landlord for clarification. It may well be that you can actually rent out a room in your home, instantly offsetting the rent you pay thanks to the additional source of income you’re experiencing.

Negotiate On Rent

It seems odd that a landlord may be willing to accept less rent than they initially asked for. But finding tenants, interviewing them, arranging deposits and so on can be a challenge – not to mention finding reliable tenants who pay on time every time and cause minimal fuss. If you’re one of those people then you’re in a strong position.

On more than one occasion I’ve spoken to a landlord or letting agent and mentioned that the rent is higher than I’d like to pay, and that as a result I’m seriously considering moving out.

And while you won’t always get what you want, you’d be surprised by the discounts you can sometimes get on your rent if only you’ve got the confidence to ask.

Rent Out Your Storage

Have you got a garage you’re not using? Or how about a spare room, attic or shed? Commercial storage units are expensive so there’s a growing community of “peer-to-peer” lenders who are renting storage space privately from other property owners and/or tenants.

Rent Out Your Parking

If you live in a town or city with minimal or very expensive parking, it should come as no surprise that your parking space has value. Value, infact, that other people are willing to pay for.

Sites like Park At My House make it easy to advertise your parking space so that others working near your home can save money and effort by using the allocated parking outside your home.

Question: what tips have you used to save money on rent? Which strategies have worked the best for you? Please leave a comment below with your experiences…

Want to stop spending so much money and actually make your budget a success? Here are 14 proven ways to save money by spending less on rent.

Richard

Sun-worshipper and obsessive frugality blogger. For loads more money-saving advice come and join us on Facebook.

11 comments

  • Great, great article!

    I’m actually considering an RV that I can pay cash for. It could be kinda nomadic, but I could do that for a few years and really stash the cash.

  • Some great tips. In the UK it’s true that we mostly spend a shed load on our rent. Financially it’s always worthwhile finding cheaper options but standards of living comes into play (wouldn’t want to live in a shabby place!)

    • Alex I agree – it’s a very fine line! I’m keeping my rent down living in an “acceptable but not exciting” property that we got a good deal on. But I do have plans to move into a nicer/more expensive property next year – just want to hit a savings milestone before then 😉

      But for me, it’s really the only “luxury” I spend on so I feel we all need some kind of vice, right?! 😉

  • I’d also be interested to learn what tarantulas you have?

    • Currently a Salmon Pink (Lasiodora parahybana) and a Mexican Flame Leg (Brachypelma boehmei). Plus snakes. And a treefrog. For now….

  • I had to say that, as a real estate investor, your headline had me worried! Great ideas for saving money on rent but I wanted to add two.

    Pay your rent on time (avoids late fees) and take really good care of the place. The biggest expense that most landlord face is turnover. If you’re an excellent tenant that pays on time and maintains the property really well it’s likely that your landlord won’t raise the rent when it comes time to renew your lease. Or, if he/she does raise the rent, it’s likely less than market.

    I know an investor that has multiple units that are rented 20% under market because the long terms tenants have been so good over the years. It’s a win-win in the end.

    Great article, keep them coming!

    • Straight from the horse’s mouth – thanks for the feedback Brent 🙂