A SAVVY saver who encourages her followers to live frugally has revealed six tips for living on a strict budget.
Amber Storck, 41, told The U.S. Sun that she was able to retire early in 2020 due to her intense savings techniques.
She also said that living frugally allowed her to become a self-made millionaire.
These days, the financial guru keeps busy by sharing money-saving tips on her YouTube channel Prepper Princess, which has nearly 300,000 subscribers.
She's also written an e-book on the topic titled Living on Almost Nothing, which can be purchased for $7 on Amazon.
These are six practices that Storck says have let her live on less than $11,000 per year.
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BUY IN BULK AND MEAL PREP
Food is a key area where Storck scrimps and saves.
"The fastest way to save money is to learn to cook and stop going to restaurants," she told The U.S. Sun.
Storck saves through bulk purchasing and meticulous meal planning.
Her food budget "comes out to about $25 a week, but it's not all done on a weekly basis," she said.
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The savvy saver spends roughly $200 on a bulk purchase of meat every month or so.
"I Tetris-stack my freezer full and portion out my [servings] of meat," she said.
Storck buys staples like rice, oats, and lentils in bulk as well.
SMALLER PLATES
She also saves by eating smaller portions than most Americans.
"I eat from a nine-inch plate instead of a 12-inch plate, which is what they did all the way until the 1970s," she said.
"If you look at plates from the 1950s and back, they were smaller. Only nine inches."
Storck also tries to stay away from processed frozen foods and pricey name-brand drinks.
"I just prefer my homemade iced coffee and water," she said.
FREE STREAMING SERVICES
"Drop the cable and start streaming," Storck advises those who want to save cash.
But she wasn't referring to services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, which don't fit into her tight budget.
"I'm talking about free stuff like Pluto TV, Freevee, Xumo, Filmrise, and so on," Storck said.
These services can all be accessed with a Roku box, which only costs $25.
"There are literally dozens of free apps on my TV and every app has hundreds or thousands of things to watch and they are continually updating.
"I will never run out of free stuff to watch."
MOVE OUT OF THE CITY
Storck is a native of the Bay Area in California, one of the most expensive places in the country.
Moving out of the San Francisco area before the pandemic made it much easier for her to live frugally.
"I moved to Arizona for three years and bought a fixer-upper for $67,000 and turned it into a rental property that now rents for $1,500 per month," Storck said.
She did most of the renovations herself to avoid paying contractors.
"I moved back to northern California about a year ago and live in an itty bitty little town that is more 'red' than the Bay Area," Storck said.
"[There's] no more traffic and I don't have to trip over homeless people everywhere I go."
FREE HOBBIES
Storck also stressed the importance of finding free outdoor activities.
"I purposefully moved further north than before so I could be closer to the mountains and tons of hiking trails," she said.
The penny-pincher loves to blow off steam by getting outside with her two dogs.
She also spends a lot of time posting on YouTube.
Storck makes money off the videos, but it's not always a lot.
"Sometimes I think I have a subject to talk about that is extremely important that everyone needs to know about finances and almost nobody watches it," she said.
"I get disappointed when the videos I just throw together and upload in 10 minutes get a ton of views.
"But as long as that video helps at least one person to save some money, I have done what I set out to do."
INVEST REGULARLY
Storck also stressed the importance of investing regularly.
"If you want to be able to retire on anything more than Social Security, you have to invest," she said.
That's why the YouTuber deposits money into her brokerage accounts every month.
"If you don't understand the stock market, get a financial advisor and pay someone that does," she advised.
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"If you want to save the cost and do it yourself, the easiest way is just to buy a mutual fund that follows the S&P 500."
Storck has shared more than 500 videos on her channel about how to save cash and retire early since joining YouTube in 2007.
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