Retirement, on the one hand, is an opportunity for good rest, the implementation of once forgotten plans, and the opportunity to devote more time to yourself and your family.

On the other hand, this is a rather noticeable financial limitation, especially if your stable salary during work was an order of magnitude higher than the pension that you were awarded and which you will receive for a long time.

Today we’ll talk about how to live on your pension without working, as well as how best to distribute and plan your family pension budget for the month, so that the pension you receive is at least enough until the next month, and not sit for several days with an empty wallet.

This will be especially interesting for pensioners who do not expect help from their children or other relatives.

I can’t work anymore, I’m retired

And so, you left work yourself, due to health conditions or general fatigue, or you were politely asked to do this in order to make way for younger, more promising employees. In general, you received your first pension in your life, and gasped: “How can you live on this amount?!”

Do you know what the best answer to this question is? In my opinion, the only answer is: “Modest and economical.”

Well, let's figure out how to live with it.

Let's start by calculating what your pension is or will be spent on. I hope that you have repaid all the loans that you had while working, otherwise, I recommend looking for a job and working until you pay off all your debts. Otherwise, your already small pension will be further reduced by the amount of payments to the bank or micro-financial organization.

Where does the received pension go?

In general, there are five main items that not only most families, but also most retirees spend money on.

1. Utility payments

These are constant and mandatory payments that cannot be avoided. You need to pay for the apartment, otherwise in your old age, if you have huge debts for utilities, you may not only be left without electricity or gas (they can simply be turned off for non-payment), but also lose your home altogether.

For example, by a court decision, a debtor pensioner can be evicted from an apartment, the apartment can be sold for debts, and the pensioner can be sent to a nursing home. God forbid, of course.

I'm not trying to intimidate you, I'm just drawing attention to the fact that you need to pay for the apartment. It is better to limit yourself to any other needs, but pay for the apartment.

In the end, if, based on the results of your calculations, you understand that you do not have enough money for basic needs, including not enough money for utility bills, it is better, while you are still full of strength, to move to another one, with a smaller area and, accordingly, apartment with smaller utility bills.

Or, if you are the owner of a multi-room apartment, let guests into one of the rooms. The money received from this will significantly simplify the current financial situation.

2. Food expenses

While you worked and received a salary greater than your current pension, you could afford not only expensive delicacies, but also the purchase of prepared foods, for example, various kinds of ready-made salads, semi-finished products, etc.

After retirement, you have a lot of free time, so you can spend this time on cooking. Believe me, cooking your own food at home, rather than buying semi-finished products in a store, significantly saves your already meager pension budget.

I recommend reading more about how to save on food at the link: How to save on food.

3. Cost of clothing

It is necessary to allocate a certain amount of money for clothes. This is especially true for underwear and constantly worn items. But, by the way, the clothes that you have in your closet, especially outerwear, will last you at least five years, and if worn carefully, for a longer period.

Yes, I would like to draw your attention to the following feature that can affect any person. When you retire, the intensity of life slows down, we move much less than during the period of work, especially if you do not have garden plots on which you spend your energy.

And the more measured our lives become, the greater the likelihood of gaining excess weight. That is, when we retire, we simply start to get fat! And this applies to most retirees.

In addition to deteriorating health, weight gain will also lead to the need to update your wardrobe. This means that clothing costs will increase.

Will your pension be enough for these expenses? Don't think. Therefore, when retiring, we make sure to monitor our weight. And we don’t allow weight gain.

4. Expenses for other household needs

In addition to food, every person needs normal living conditions. And this also implies monetary expenses, including the basic purchase of toilet paper, shampoos, soap, washing powder, apartment cleaning products, towels, bed linen, etc. and so on.

The existing reserves, of course, may last for a long time. But you can’t save up for your entire life, so we budget for these expenses too.

5. Drug costs

Unfortunately, with age we do not become more energetic and healthier, and by the time we retire, most of us are the “lucky owner” of a bunch of diseases. This means that the cost of medicine will accompany us for the rest of our lives. No matter how cynical it may sound.

Therefore, just as in previous cases, we include the cost of medicines in our pension family budget.

It is quite possible that you have more basic expenses than I have listed. If so, then add your expenses, they also need to be taken into account when planning and distributing your pension. For example, this could be helping children, or, for example, you are paying off a loan, or paying off debts. There can be many options.

So, how to distribute your pension per month?

Immediately after transferring your pension to a bank card or issuing funds in cash, you must immediately set aside the required amount for so-called mandatory expenses.

It is better to purchase products not in stores, but at wholesale centers or markets - prices here are much lower. This saving strategy will allow you to make a month's supply of groceries. This includes canned food, sugar, cereals, pasta, and other food products that can be stored for a long time.

You can also create your menu for the week ahead, and following this, purchase only the necessary products. This will help you avoid unnecessary purchases at this time.

At wholesale markets you can stock up on household chemicals, detergents, and other industrial goods.

Before going to the store, it is better to take a allocated amount of money, which must first be distributed among planned purchases - make a list.

It is important to avoid going to the store or market on an empty stomach. It may sound trivial, but experts even recommend having a special snack to avoid additional costs caused by hunger.

Elderly people who actively use mobile communications should sometimes visit the office of a mobile operator or obtain information on its official website. It is quite possible that the operator has added some new and favorable tariffs for the accessibility and convenience of its customers. Thus, you can significantly reduce your mobile communications costs.

The most important advice for retirees: spend more time on yourself, not money. A retired person can express himself in a completely new way. Think about your hobbies or hobbies that you didn’t even think about before retiring, or simply didn’t have time for.

It could be anything: embroidery, sewing, knitting, drawing and other interests. In addition, embroidered or knitted items, painted pictures, various crafts can be sold (even via the Internet). All this can provide the pensioner with additional income.

I cut my hair bald to save soap and shave once a week with an axe.

I survive very simply, I eat once a day, and the rest of the time I drink tea with crackers and dried fruit. I allow meat and fish on holidays. I wish our government to live like this.

Work, work, crawl and work, and there will be good people to bury.

The only way to survive on retirement is to save on food, this is the only way, since you can’t save on anything else, it won’t work.

I buy food at special prices and at a discount. For example, sausages for 27 and 39 rubles, a pack of 12 jokes or 1+1, that is, you get 2 for the price of one. The other day I took 500 grams of minced meat 1+1, it turned out there was only one pack, the director herself chose the second purchase of zrazy for me, and it turned out that I paid 25 rubles for the zrazy, and the minced meat was free. I know that summer residents keep it for themselves and sell it on the market. The old lady was in the hospital with me, and she said that during the season last year she earned 180,000 rubles in the market. If you have the strength to dig around at the dacha, then everything is not so bad. God bless you. I understand and feel sorry for those old people who, due to lack of pension, go to wash floors just to survive.

I have a pension - the cost of living is 8726, and the rent for December is 7700. How can I continue to live? Eating or dressing?

What do I save on? 1. By transport. I'm basically forced to stay at home. To get to another area, I walk, because even though they write that travel is free for pensioners. Although in Moscow transport in the city and suburbs is free. 2. On food. Food is just as expensive as in Moscow, although pensions are much lower than theirs. They are given various additional payments and benefits. 3. Turned off the landline at home. I use my mobile phone extremely rarely, for this reason I put money there only once every 2 months, 100 rubles each. It works out economically. But! But there is practically no connection with friends and family. I call only when necessary. 4. I refused to buy fish, meat, cheese, since it became an expensive pleasure for me. 5. Although it is written in the law that a pensioner has the right to benefit from free treatment once a year, we pensioners in Cherepovets are denied (perhaps, due to cronyism, someone is taking advantage). Muscovites enjoy this right to anyone who wants to. 6. I don’t have the opportunity to help my children and grandchildren, since I live from retirement to retirement. Although, after working for 35 years, they gave me a pension of 5,018 rubles. True, I retired early (1.5 years earlier than 55), since I wasn’t hired anywhere at that age. And I receive pension supplements bit by bit. Now it turns out to be a little more than 11,000 rubles.

72-year-old Alexandra Vitalievna, it seems, time has no power over her. Youthful, elegant, always tastefully dressed, a cheerful pensioner looks 10 years younger. She is a former doctor and is used to always being in shape.

Alexandra Vitalievna, on the pages of one of the online publications, shared her experience of how she manages to look so beautiful, and most importantly, how she manages to live on her pension.

After the last indexation, her pension is just over 13 thousand rubles. This money is enough for her to live comfortably and even for entertainment. A pensioner, she even allows herself to go to the theater or museum twice a month. And all this thanks to the rational use of your budget.

She divides her pension into four parts. The first is mandatory expenses, which include utilities and internet. This costs 5 thousand rubles. Tries to save on electricity and water.

Pensioners should under no circumstances have debts for services to utility companies. If you are late for one month, you will have to pay for two the next month. And this will take your entire pension!

The second part is intended for the purchase of non-perishable products and sanitary and hygiene products. With each pension, he replenishes his supply of cereals, sugar, canned food, vegetable oils, cleaning and detergents. Minus one and a half thousand rubles from the budget.

She leaves four thousand rubles for her current expenses: the purchase of meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, dried fruits for tea.

All that remains, in her words, is money for her own joy. New things and entertainment. True, in order to treat yourself to a new blouse or dress, you have to save money for several months. He buys tickets to the theater through promotions, for 300-400 rubles. And going to museums costs 100 rubles, fortunately the fee for this category of visitors is purely symbolic.

It is probably difficult to imagine how one can get by with four thousand in operating expenses per month, but Alexandra Vitalievna manages to fit into this part of her budget. Thanks to little tricks.

Firstly, he doesn’t go to the store every day, but every other day or two, and less often if possible. Secondly, with a list of necessary products. This insures her against unnecessary and useless purchases. Thirdly, he takes with him a limited amount, no more than 400 rubles. He tries to buy groceries in stores that offer social discounts for pensioners. In addition, retail chains often hold various promotions, which she actively uses.

Alexandra Vitalievna even has her own emergency reserve. She puts aside more than a thousand rubles on her card every month, which the state returns to her as compensation for utilities (if utility bills make up 22% of income, the pensioner is entitled to a subsidy). This is money for unexpected expenses - medicines, gifts for friends or relatives.
She can't afford big purchases. And there is no need for them. Alexandra Vitalievna prepared for the moment when she will not work. I updated all the equipment, made renovations in the apartment, and purchased bedding. He advises future retirees to do the same. People of pre-retirement age need to know that pensions are only enough for the most minimal needs of a person!

Irina S. managed to retire before the retirement age was raised - at 55 years old. She has 34 years of work experience - she was a seamstress in two large companies. True, in the 90s I had to work without official employment. The pension amount turned out to be below the subsistence level - in Novosibirsk it is 8,814 rubles. Irina receives 7,900, but she is not entitled to a social supplement.

A pensioner works at a mass clothing company. Salary depends on production. Previously, Irina regularly worked overtime - overtime on weekdays and on Saturdays. This brought her up to 30,000 rubles a month. Now I no longer have enough strength, my hands begin to hurt from monotonous movements. Therefore, you can earn from 12,000 to 19,000 rubles per month.

Irina’s budget, including her pension, ranges from 24,000 to 27,000 rubles. Now this money is enough, but she thinks about the future with fear. How to live on retirement when it will be impossible to work?

The woman tries to save and spends 14,000–16,000 rubles per month. She saves the rest for her summer vacation. The balance accumulates on the card, creating a safety net.

Planned expenses for the year:

• Treatment in a sanatorium + travel - 75,000 rubles
• Gifts for relatives for the holidays - 10,000 rubles

Housing and communal services

Irina lives alone in a two-room Khrushchev apartment in a five-story panel house. She pays more than 3,000 rubles a month for housing and communal services.

From this amount:

• Cold water - 100 rubles (according to the meter)
• Hot water - 300 rubles (according to the meter)
• Heating - 920 rubles
• Garbage - 190 rubles
• Rent - 900 rubles
• Electricity - 300 rubles

Cloth

Irina plans large purchases in advance and saves money for them for several months. She recently bought a coat for 10,000 rubles.

The pensioner says that she can pamper herself with an unplanned inexpensive purchase - for example, buy a new blouse for 500 rubles. On average, she spends 1,500 rubles a month on clothes and shoes.

“I’m not too flashy, I make a profit on everything, but I still want to buy clothes. Although my relative, an 80-year-old pensioner, has still not lost interest in outfits. You look, and she has something new, but she also has a larger pension,” explains Irina.

Nutrition

Irina spends about 2,000 rubles a week on groceries if she receives guests. Without them, over the same period, she spends about 1,500 rubles. Makes purchases during promotions and sales. There are several stores in her area, they compete with each other, attracting customers with discounts.

The pensioner buys meat and fish only when the price is reduced. She recently bought pink salmon for 140 rubles per kilogram, the price before the promotion was 230 rubles. Irina cannot afford pork and beef tenderloin - it’s expensive. Chicken fillet is purchased only for guests.

“It’s convenient to buy chicken,” notes Irina, “you can cut it up and get legs, wings and breast much cheaper than these parts are sold separately in the store. I make soup from the ridge.”

Irina often buys semi-finished products. He buys cereals, noodles and other products on special offers. Fruits are also only those that are cheaper at this moment. When there are no discounts, Irina buys fruits individually: 2-3 tangerines or apples.

In total, 6,000–8,000 rubles per month are spent on groceries.

“I spoil myself. When I really want smoked meat or fish, I buy some after payday. Of course, not trout, but I take pink salmon. I probably won’t be able to afford this on my pension alone. And while I’m working, I buy a little,” says the pensioner.

On weekends, Irina does not have a specific time for meals and does not have a clear menu. Last weekend we ate: 2-3 cutlets (20-30 rubles), buckwheat (800 g - 50 rubles), leftover cookies, sweets (300 g - 80 rubles), fruit on sale, there was a sale of oranges (1 kg - 52 ruble).

Almost every Sunday my daughter and her husband come to visit Irina. For them, Irina bakes a whole chicken with mayonnaise and onions (chicken - 280 rubles, mayonnaise - 30 rubles, onions - 35 rubles) and buys something for tea (150 rubles). On the last weekend, she was expecting children and made chicken chops, but her daughter and her husband could not come, Irina took chops for lunch for three days.

Medicines

Irina spends money on paid medical services only as a last resort. For this reason, I postponed dental prosthetics until next year, when I earned my veteran’s experience. Pensioners with this status receive dentures free of charge, but will have to wait their turn. The pensioner’s sister, also a labor veteran, waited about a year for free prosthetics.

Recently, Irina’s chondrosis worsened; she needed an X-ray of her back and neck so that doctors could make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment. The clinic offered to take an x-ray only after a month and a half. Irina first decided to do the examination faster - in paid institutions, but upon learning that she would have to pay more than a thousand rubles for it, she abandoned this idea.

A pensioner spends an average of 1,000 rubles a month on medicines. She buys medicine for her joints, tablets for headaches, and takes courses of medications for her heart function.

Transport

Transport travel for pensioners is free.

Pensioners are entitled to benefits: free travel on public transport (limited to 360 trips per year) and 50% compensation for housing and communal services. Working pensioners, in addition to annual paid leave, can take a 30-day unpaid leave at their own expense at any convenient time, legal adviser Svetlana Svetlyakova told Pravmir.

Internet, telephone

Irina hardly uses the home Internet. She plans to change the tariff with high traffic to a cheaper one, but she will not refuse the service - she likes network television.

For her phone, the pensioner chose a per-minute tariff and spends 260 rubles a month on mobile communications.

Vacation

Irina plans her summer vacation in advance. This year she wants to go for treatment to Belokurikha in the Altai Territory. She has been saving up for a trip to the sanatorium since the fall.

Treatment in Siberian health resorts is not inferior in price to a vacation in the south: about 5,000 rubles per day. The course will last 14 days; along with travel expenses, the woman will need about 75,000 rubles.

Children's help

Irina’s adult daughter lives separately from her mother. For now, the pensioner manages without her help. The daughter gives money for the maintenance of a purebred dog, which she previously got herself.

Leisure

The pensioner's only hobby is reading. While Irina does not have enough time for her favorite activity, she puts off interesting books for the future. A couple of times a month she manages to go to a concert or a play. Sometimes a pensioner goes to a cafe with her friends. She spends an average of 1,000 rubles a month on entertainment.

About future

Irina looks to the future without much optimism and does not see the possibility of surviving on a pension alone, without work:

“With such a pension, what is the future? Naturally, I will work as long as I have the strength. If I had a decent pension, I would live differently. And if, God forbid, something happens and you can’t earn a living, then how to live? I think every retiree would like to leave work to help their children, take care of their grandchildren, take care of themselves and their own affairs.”

The second story. Go to the village and start a farm

Svetlana I. lived in a one-room apartment in Novosibirsk. After retirement she continued to work until she was 60 years old. After her salary was cut in half, she quit and moved to live in a small village in the Maslyaninsky district.

Now Svetlana receives a pension of 9,800 rubles. She admits that she would not have survived without farming. The pensioner grows vegetables and berries, raises chickens and rabbits.

Svetlana's two adult sons remained in the city. They visit their mother once a month along with their families.

Planned expenses for the year:

• Repair - 15,000 rubles
• Buying chickens and rabbits - 1,500 rubles, food for them - 3,740 rubles
• Winter preparations: lids, vinegar, sugar, salt, bell pepper - 950 rubles

“In the village there are no specific expenses per month; expenses are planned for the season and for the year,” explains Svetlana.

The most stressful time in terms of expenses is spring: you need to buy animals, food, seeds for planting, fertilizers. In the fall, it’s easier for a pensioner: crops ripen in the garden and animals grow. No need to worry about buying firewood and coal.

Housing and communal services

Svetlana pays about 800 rubles every month for electricity and water. With the transfer of the right to remove garbage from a private company to a state company, the cost of cleaning it decreased: from 250 to 100 rubles.

Every spring, the pensioner prepares fuel. Firewood and coal, together with hired labor for sawing and transporting it to the barn, cost her 18,000 rubles. The woman saves this amount for several months, putting aside 2,000–3,000 rubles.

There will be big expenses in the near future: a gas pipeline will soon be connected to the house and a large contribution will need to be made. The sons promise to help.

Nutrition

The first year was not easy for the city dweller. Svetlana did not have time to grow her own vegetables, and it was difficult to meet the pension amount, which then amounted to 8,260 rubles. Relatives living in Maslyanino fed us - they treated us to homemade preparations and jam.

Once a month Svetlana ate fruits and meat when her sons and their families arrived and brought food. In the first winter, I ate mainly cereals and ate so much buckwheat that I couldn’t look at it for a long time. I remember the promotion for meat ribs - in one store they reduced the price to 35 rubles per kilogram, and Svetlana bought more for soup. When the guests arrived, I cooked jellied meat: it was inexpensive, satisfying, and had something to surprise the townspeople.

Having gone hungry, the next year Svetlana planted all the vegetables, berry bushes, strawberries and got chickens. This is how she provided herself with food. In the first summer, the woman packed 200 cans of canned vegetables. Her diet was supplemented with a variety of salads, pickled cucumbers and tomatoes.

Only the third year became fruitful and satisfying for Svetlana. The planted strawberries gained strength, and the berries were collected in basins.

“I froze strawberries, made compotes, and made jam. Children and grandchildren come and there is something to treat them to,” the woman rejoices.

Svetlana buys food in stores selectively. She loves fish. She salts the herring herself - it’s cheaper. He takes crucian carp for frying for 80 rubles a kilo a couple of times a month. The pensioner rarely eats cottage cheese and cheese. He cannot afford purchased fruits even in the summer-autumn season.

“The children bring fruit with them when they arrive, and then I eat,” she explains. - It’s easier now. Either I’m used to inventing dishes out of nothing, or the preparations have become more diverse.”

For groceries, like her fellow villagers, Svetlana goes to Maslyanino - in the regional center, groceries are a little cheaper. But even there she doesn’t buy everything in one place, she compares prices.

“For example, in one store the price of a package of mayonnaise is 10 rubles lower, in another it is cheaper than cereal. Ten rubles, yes ten, yes ten - you can save 100 rubles. Here people value every penny,” continues Svetlana.

Of the 9,800 rubles in pension, Svetlana spends 4,000 rubles a month on food. She immediately withdraws the entire amount from the card and tries to meet it.

On weekends, Svetlana’s menu is the same as weekdays, with the only difference being that her sons or friends come once or twice a month. Guests bring food, Svetlana prepares vegetables and homemade meat, without spending additional money on food.

Treatment and medications

Svetlana does not buy medicine. The only health expense: glasses. The pensioner understands that the moment will come when she will have to get dentures, and hopes to save money by then.

Cloth

There is absolutely no money left to buy clothes. Svetlana has an abundance of dresses, blouses, and blouses - she bought them while she was working in the city. Household clothes wear out faster, and a pensioner thinks about buying shoes in advance.

“There is a need for T-shirts, bathrobes, underwear, but I hold on until the last minute and don’t spend it - I save money for repairs. I save 2,000–3,000 rubles all winter. I can’t enjoy going to the store and pampering myself,” says Svetlana.

Internet, telephone

For Svetlana, the Internet is a connection with family and friends who remain in the city, as well as information necessary for running a household. In a small village there is not a wide choice of tariffs. A pensioner pays 550 rubles a month for the Internet. He spends up to 200 rubles on cell phone calls, but expenses decreased only after all paid services were turned off, and not everyone knows that they can refuse them.

Leisure

Once every three months, Svetlana travels to Novosibirsk to visit friends and acquaintances. The bus leaves at 6 o'clock in the morning, a ticket with a pension certificate costs 215 rubles one way, but you have to hire a taxi to catch the morning flight - 100 rubles per trip.

Home repairs

Svetlana saves six months for this expense item, about 3,000 rubles every month. The house is about 25 years old, and is constantly in need of repairs: either the water heating boiler needs to be replaced, or the pipe on the roof is burnt out.

Subsidiary farm

• Rabbit farm

Svetlana's net profit is 16-17 rabbits per year. But she does not take into account the labor invested and the vegetables grown in her garden - only cash expenses.

The baby rabbits eat compound feed (380 rubles per bag), Svetlana feeds the adults oats (450 rubles per bag). In addition to purchased food, the animals eat vegetables and grass grown in the garden, which are abundant in the village. Gray giant rabbits grow quickly; a pensioner keeps them for up to four months. At this age, each weighs about two kilograms. Now Svetlana has two rabbits, she plans that over the summer there will be three litters of 11-13 rabbits.

During the season, rabbits eat three bags of feed and two bags of oats. Together with hay (700 rubles), 2,740 rubles are spent on them. Almost all the food costs were covered by the sale of three rabbits. The sons offered the meat to their colleagues for 400 rubles per kilogram.

• Poultry farm

Svetlana keeps chickens only in the summer. He takes six birds from the factory at the beginning of May for 200–250 rubles. During the season (from May to September-October) they eat about two bags of grain (450 rubles) and a vitamin and mineral supplement - 100 rubles per bag, which is enough for the whole summer. In addition, chickens need sand and ash, but they can be found for nothing. In total, 2,500 rubles are spent on birds per season. The pensioner feeds all the animals with potatoes.

This year, the pensioner wants to expand her poultry farm: take 10 chickens and sell eggs for 70 rubles per dozen.

She is also thinking about selling Victoria seedlings and currant berries. But so far Svetlana does not know how to deliver the harvest to the market in Maslyanino without having a car.

Children's help

The pensioner's children do not support her financially. The youngest son's family helps with heavy physical work and sometimes brings food. The eldest son sometimes gives money to feed the rabbits, but takes meat in return.

“Rural children understand what it is to live in a village, what hard physical work it is. They will bring firewood to the parents and cut it. Mine don't understand this. After moving, I dug potatoes for five days alone. One lowered 70 buckets into the cellar. It was hard, but I don’t know how to ask or demand. It seems to me that they themselves should understand where help is needed. But I am grateful to them. When I moved, my sons helped a lot, without them I don’t know what I would have done. After all, they have enough problems in their lives,” says Svetlana.

About future

“I’m in austerity mode, I can’t afford anything. But I'm trying to be happy with what I have. I’m not dying of hunger: I have something, the children will bring something. I can’t imagine how to live on this pension in the city. Here the vegetables are healthier and the air is cleaner. It's difficult to live in the village. I am alone, and all the physical work is on me. But I don’t want to change anything. As long as I have the strength, I will live as I live,” says Svetlana.

Story three. Save

Elena V. lives alone in a two-room apartment. The former medical worker receives 12,800 rubles. The entire pension goes towards food, communications and housing and communal services. Elena earns extra money from time to time, providing services to friends.

The pensioner has no relatives, only friends, so she has to survive without the support of loved ones. The woman can’t even let guests in - the apartment has adjoining rooms.

“Relatives will still not let you go, they will help, and when a person is alone, hope is only in God,” says Elena.

Elena is the owner of a two-room apartment. The pensioner pays 3,840 rubles a month for utilities.

From this amount:

• Cold water - 170 rubles
• Hot water - 300 rubles
• Heating - 1180 rubles
• Gas - 80 rubles
• Rent - 1400 rubles
• Electricity - 300 rubles
• Garbage - 90 rubles
• Major repairs - 320 rubles

Nutrition

Previously, Elena spent 50 rubles a day on food, but now she doesn’t fit into 100. She is trying to save money, saving 3,000 rubles from her pension for food, but she spends all her free money on food, according to rough estimates - 6,200 rubles.

“I'm not starving. I have several types of fish, including red and meat. I can afford both fruits and sweets. I don’t deny myself food—I take what I want,” explains Elena.

To the question: “Is there enough money for everything you want?” she replies: “Sometimes it happens that a purchase that you had planned is postponed until the next month.”

The pensioner buys chocolates on special offers, fish at sales, meat cannot always be found at a discount and has to be purchased at full price. He buys real butter and pays 400 rubles per kilogram. He drinks milk on tap, prefers sour cream by weight. Elena doesn’t eat cheese or cottage cheese.

“There is no quality cheese at almost any price. The cheese that is sold in stores is not cheese, but, to put it mildly, a cheese product. Why waste money on something unknown?” - says the pensioner.

During the summer season, Elena's friends help her - they bring vegetables from their summer cottages. The pensioner allocates money in advance for canned vegetables so that she can eat more varied food in winter. She often cooks soups: meat and fish, eats a lot of vegetables, and allows herself fruit.

Menu for the week

Elena does not consider herself a gourmet and prefers a monotonous menu in order to spend less time in the kitchen. One or two dishes are prepared for several days. For example, for noodle soup, a pensioner cooks the broth separately, and the pasta separately, so that it can be stored better. In sealed containers, food stays fresh for several days.

It’s difficult for Elena to create an exact menu. She does not follow a diet and eats an unequal number of times a day. A woman can move lunch to dinner or skip lunch altogether. Then in the evening she eats soup. A Pravmir correspondent compiled a sample menu based on the story of a pensioner.

On weekends, Elena finishes the food she cooked on weekdays, or prepares a new dish, for example, stewed vegetables or milk porridge with butter. A woman spends part of her time outside the home. She goes to visit friends, buying a modest treat for tea.

Treatment and medications

The pensioner spends almost no money on medicine - her health allows it.

“I sometimes buy something to gargle, the same calendula, nothing more,” says Elena.

Cloth

Elena buys clothes and shoes if she can earn extra money. Or receives it as a gift.

“Clothes are often given directly with labels. I also take things [from friends] that they don’t need, but that suit me,” says the pensioner. “It used to be possible to save money for clothes and shoes, but now it’s not possible.”

Internet, telephone

Elena has two phones - a cell phone and a landline. Communication expenses are twice as much, but the pensioner does not give up her home phone for the sake of security. It is needed in case your mobile phone is dead or blocked.

“In a large family, someone will help out and call. I don't have such an opportunity. Mobile phones are unreliable, and I won’t even be able to call an ambulance if something happens to my phone,” she explains.

The woman has unlimited cellular communications with a monthly fee of 420 rubles. A home telephone with an antenna costs 500 rubles per month. Elena uses the Internet little, and the social tariff of 60 rubles per month is enough for her.

Transport

The pensioner does not spend money on travel.

Leisure

Elena has no money left for entertainment. She was once an avid theatergoer. Today she can't afford to go to the theater.

Despite her modest pension, every month Elena allocates more than a thousand rubles to charity.

About future

For Elena, an example of optimism was her mother, who lived to almost 90 years old and retained her cheerfulness. Elena learned from her mother to protect herself from negative thoughts.

“I look at things realistically. There is no particular hope for help; I don’t see any concern for pensioners. But this is not a reason for despondency. If you start feeling sorry for yourself, you will start crying, and nothing good will happen. The main thing is not to feel sorry for yourself, and everything will be fine. Pensioners have only one hope for help - from their loved ones. But I have no one. I rely only on God,” says Elena.

There are 835,000 pensioners living in the Novosibirsk region. 87,000 of them receive a social supplement to their pension, leveling it to the subsistence level. This means that the pension earned is too small. But this payment is only available to non-working pensioners. According to the press center of the regional Pension Fund, on average, Novosibirsk pensioners receive 15,050 rubles per month.

The number of citizens of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Russian Federation) receiving social benefits has reached 42 million. Not all of them, due to health reasons, can do something in retirement that will generate additional income. They have to look for ways to live without working and using government funds.

The average amount of old-age pension payments in the Russian Federation in 2019 is 14,100 rubles. It is very difficult for a Russian pensioner to survive on such an amount. The amount of payment depends on a number of factors:

• professions;
• qualifications;
• the salary level accrued by the last employer;
• duration of insurance period;
• length of service;
• region of residence.

Social benefits are assigned by the state not only to elderly citizens, but also to other persons belonging to vulnerable categories: disabled people, orphans, war veterans, dependents who were left without a breadwinner, victims of man-made disasters.

The average pension size depends on the region of residence of the citizen receiving it. For example, the pension for Muscovites who have lived in Moscow and have been officially registered for at least ten years is 17,500 rubles and is called the city social standard.

The level of wages in the capital is higher than in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Persons receiving old-age benefits are entitled to additional payments up to the federal or regional level of the pensioner's subsistence level. Average pension in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in rubles:

• St. Petersburg - 13,500;
• Voronezh – 10,000;
• Primorsky Territory - 11,500;
• Tatarstan – 11,600;
• Tambov region – 10,300;
• Kaliningrad – 9500;
• Komi Republic – 15,000;
• Samara – 11,300;
• Orenburg – 10,200;
• Rostov – 10,600.

How to live economically and practically as a pensioner

It is difficult for a Russian pensioner to survive only on pension payments, which are often not enough for the basic necessities. We have to resort to rational planning and serious savings. Tips for retirees:

• Don't take a hard part-time job. Age-related changes in the body cannot be cured, but they can be slowed down by reducing physical activity and the amount of stress. You should also increase your rest time. Continuing professional activities that involve full-fledged physical activity can cause irreparable damage to health and result in even greater costs for expensive rehabilitation and medications.
• Do not take bank loans unless absolutely necessary. Financial organizations provide loans to pensioners willingly, quickly, and without guarantors. To complete the transaction, the client needs to submit a minimum of documents if he receives old-age benefits on a card issued by the bank issuing the loan to him. This situation can drag an elderly person into a debt trap.
• Find something to do in retirement. Your hobby can become a source of additional income. If you are good at sewing, knitting, or creating beautiful souvenirs or handmade items, try selling these products. The proceeds will be a worthy addition to your pension.
• Keep your own home accounting. This method gives clarity to the distribution of budget funds: primary payments, necessary but not urgent expenses, expenses that will have to be abandoned.
• Use the possibilities of a vegetable garden or personal plot if you have a summer house. Life in retirement will allow you to spend the summer season growing vegetables, fruits, picking berries, herbs, and mushrooms. It makes sense to make preparations for the winter: jams, pickles, dressings. If there are more than your family needs, the excess can be sold.
• Rent out a larger property by moving to an apartment or house with smaller square footage. This step will help reduce costs for housing and communal services (hereinafter referred to as housing and communal services), and receive additional passive income. As a last resort, you can resort to exchanging your previous home for a new one with a more modest square footage.
• Take advantage of the subsidies and benefits available to pensioners:
  1. tax preferences;
  2. free medical care in budgetary public clinics;
  3. a set of social services: free medicines, annual health resort treatment, the right to free travel on public transport.
• File any additional payments due - for example, the so-called northern supplement, etc.

How to distribute your pension per month

In order to properly manage pension funds, you should set priorities, plan a monthly budget, and determine the main expense items:

1. Payment of utility services.
2. Buying food.
3. Household goods.
4. Medicines, medicines.
5. Clothes, shoes.
6. Unforeseen expenses (put aside a fixed amount of money in an envelope or save it on a time deposit with a partner bank).

Payment of utility services

The priority and inevitable expenses are utility bills. First of all, set aside a certain fixed amount of money in order to promptly pay off the receipt with the price tag for housing and communal services. As a rule, pensioners enjoy benefits (significant discounts of 50%) when paying off the cost of housing and communal services. Persons over 80 years of age living alone are completely exempt from paying for major repairs. You can reduce costs in the following ways:

• install water and electricity meters;
• change the tariff when using a city landline phone to a cheaper one or abandon it altogether;
• use household appliances that consume large amounts of energy after 11 pm or before 7 am - at this time electricity is cheaper.

Food

The main monthly expenses are made when purchasing food. Tips for retirees on how to reduce food costs:

• Do not buy semi-finished products - they are not very healthy and are expensive.
• Diversify your diet: make homemade cakes, salads and combination dishes with side dishes, such as pilaf. You'll spend more time in the kitchen, but save a lot when purchasing groceries.
• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables from wholesale markets.
• Follow promotions, visit supermarkets during them - this way you can save up to 15% of the full cost of your grocery receipt.

Household goods

Household needs are understood as monthly needs for household goods. Sample list (for one month):

• cleaning products: washing powder – 50 rub. per package, dishwashing detergent - 50 rubles. per bottle;
• personal hygiene items: soap, 2 pcs. – 50 rubles, five rolls of toilet paper – 50 rubles, toothpaste and razor – 150 rubles.

When choosing and purchasing household goods, you can save in the following ways:

• Buy domestically produced products. They are cheaper than imported ones, and their composition is usually more natural.
• Pour the dishwashing gel into a bottle with a dispenser to control its consumption.
• Use cheap natural remedies:

1. You can wash window glass until it shines using an aqueous solution of vinegar;
2. Citric acid will help descale the kettle;
3. Baking soda can easily remove grease and carbon stains.

• Closely monitor promotions in grocery supermarkets - try to purchase goods that have discounts.

Health expenses

Your own health is the most important thing you should do in retirement. Citizens receiving old-age benefits have the right to receive free medications from the list approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation in state pharmacies. They are provided with free medical care in any budgetary medical organizations.

According to Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated February 3, 2015 No. 36, pensioners, like all citizens of Russia, are entitled to free medical examination, which is carried out once every three years. This opportunity should not be neglected in order to prevent complications of diseases and avoid expensive treatment. The following categories of pensioners with benefits have the right to undergo a free annual medical examination:

• disabled people of the Great Patriotic War (hereinafter referred to as WWII) and other military operations;
• residents of besieged Leningrad;
• disabled people recognized as permanently unable to work due to a work injury or chronic disease;
• former minor prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos;
• former repressed and rehabilitated citizens.

Clothes and shoes

Necessary expenses include purchasing clothes and shoes. On average, about one thousand rubles per month are budgeted for such expenses. How to buy cheap clothes and shoes - tips for retirees:

• Do not give in to emotions caused by bright advertising - you should not make impulsive spending. Buy only seasonal items that you physically cannot do without, for example, a warm jacket, winter boots, etc.
• Buy clothes in your size. Things that are too small for you will wear out faster or tear at the seams. If a piece of clothing is too big, there is a risk of it being damaged or torn by getting caught on something in transport or a public place.
• Don’t be afraid to shop online on the websites of megamalls or electronic supermarkets. Many of these stores allow you to save significantly on purchasing clothes and shoes. Most Popular:

1. aliexpress.com is a famous Chinese megamarket, sellers send goods to buyers by mail;
2. jd.com is another Beijing-based e-commerce company;
3. lamoda.com, wildberries.com - Russian aggregators selling inexpensive clothing and shoes of various brands;

• Buy items on sales. Trading platforms hold them from mid-summer until the end of August and after the New Year. Each store will use its own schedule - keep an eye on the official websites for updates. If you start saving a thousand rubles every month, by the beginning of the sale period you will be able to accumulate an amount that will be enough to pay for one or two high-quality new things.
• Stockists and discount centers sell collections from previous years with discounts reaching up to 90% of the original cost of the goods. Follow their announcements and purchase promotional items.

Unseen circumstances

A Russian pensioner will be able to survive on a modest amount per month if he adheres to a pre-drawn plan for distributing monthly expenses. It must include an emergency reserve, replenished within the range of 500–1,000 rubles. monthly, created in case of unexpected expenses:

• a sharp deterioration in health or exacerbation of a chronic disease, the treatment of which requires additional costs;
• the need for urgent repairs of housing or household appliances: refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, etc.

Menu for a pensioner with a small pension

An approximate list of products that can be bought for a month for a pensioner living only on old-age benefits:

• Baked goods, related products, dough products:

1. ten loaves of bread - 210 rubles;
2. flour – 2 kg, 70 rubles;
3. pasta – 4 kg, 150 rub.

• Meat fish:

1. chicken – 2 kg, 300 rub.;
2. Frozen pollock – 2 kg, 230 rub.

• Cereals:

1. oatmeal – 5 kg, 150 rubles;
2. pearl barley – 3 kg, 90 rubles;
3. semolina – 1 kg, 45 rubles;
4. buckwheat – 3 kg, 200 rubles;
5. millet – 2 kg, 50 rubles;
6. rice – 3 kg, 50 rubles;
7. dry peas – 3 kg, 150 g.

• Dairy products:

1. cottage cheese – 1 kg, 300 rubles;
2. milk – 5 l, 250 rub.

• Sunflower oil – 2 l, 200 rub.
• Chicken eggs, three dozen – 210 rub.
• Granulated sugar – 2 kg, 100 rub.
• Black tea “May” – 25 sachets of 2 g, 50 rub.
• Vegetables and fruits:

1. potatoes – 10 kg, 300 rubles;
2. cabbage – 3 kg, 50 rubles;
3. carrots – 3 kg, 50 rubles;
4. onion – 3 kg, 50 rub.;
5. three heads of garlic – 50 rub.
6. apples – 5 kg, 400 rub.

• Seasonings:

1. iodized salt – 250 g, 35 rubles;
2. spices – 250 g, 150 rub.

An approximate economical and nutritious menu for one week for an elderly person with a small pension:

• Monday:
• breakfast - oatmeal with milk, grated apple with sugar;
• lunch - cabbage salad with carrots, onions and garlic, seasoned with spices and sunflower oil, fish cutlet, mashed potatoes;
• dinner - pancakes with cottage cheese.
• Tuesday:
• breakfast – boiled eggs;
• lunch - pea soup, boiled chicken with buckwheat porridge;
• dinner – baked potatoes with onions and spices.
• Wednesday:
• breakfast – bread with milk and egg, fried in sunflower oil;
• lunch – solyanka with chicken, cheesecakes;
• dinner – rice porridge with apple.
• Thursday:
• breakfast – semolina porridge in milk with baked apple and cinnamon;
• lunch - onion soup, stewed fish with carrots, boiled pasta as a side dish;
• dinner – carrot pancakes.
• Friday:
• breakfast - cheesecakes;
• lunch - chicken noodle soup, cabbage salad with carrots, onions and garlic, seasoned with spices and sunflower oil;
• dinner – charlotte with cottage cheese.
• Saturday:
• breakfast - omelet;
• lunch - cabbage soup, fried bread with egg and onion;
• dinner - vinaigrette.
• Sunday:
• breakfast – oatmeal with grated apple;
• lunch - cabbage soup, pies with cabbage, egg and onion;
• dinner - mashed potatoes, cinnamon roll and vanilla.

Video

Retirement is an inevitability that awaits everyone in their life at some point. It is like a combination of black and white: on the one hand, long-awaited freedom, on the other, strict financial restrictions. In a word, it is joy with tears in the eyes.

This is the second year now and I, Anna Vladimirovna, am in the status of a pensioner.

I live in the small Siberian town of Sayansk, Irkutsk region, and I don’t deny myself anything with the 17,310 rubles I’ve earned over 40 years of experience.

Preparing for retirement

It is generally accepted that you need to prepare for retirement in advance so that it does not take you by surprise. Therefore, for a smoother transition to a new status, I prepared both morally and financially. I tried to renovate the apartment, replaced outdated equipment, slightly updated my wardrobe, and most importantly, paid off all existing loans.

In general, I went to this event light and in combat readiness.

True, I didn’t have time to make any savings, because a reorganization unexpectedly happened at work and I had to quit.

The first months of my free retirement life showed that I was not at all ready to live on this money. Stress, tears, despair and slight panic. There was a catastrophic lack of money for anything. It was impossible to make it from retirement to retirement. I had to borrow and live with a constant “sense of duty.”

There was a need to change the usual way of life, learn to count and conduct a detailed analysis of expenses.

How do I distribute funds?

I remembered the well-known thesis “the economy should be economical” and came to the conclusion that others have even smaller pensions and somehow live on. Gradually I began to plan expenses, dividing them into major and minor. I learned to save on everything. Of course, I had to give up a lot. It was no longer possible to go on a trip, go to the fitness center, buy new clothes, please loved ones with good gifts, choose your favorite delicacies, etc.

The pension was distributed as follows:

• basic payments (utilities, communications, internet) on average 4500 rubles per month;
• food approximately 6500 rubles:
  • meat 360 rub. x 3 kg = 1080;
  • chicken 180 rub. x 3 kg = 540;
  • fish 230 rub. x 3 kg = 690;
  • vegetable oil 80 rub. x 2 = 160;
  • butter 360 x 1 kg = 360;
  • egg 75 rub. x 3 des. = 225 rubles;
  • milk 58 rub. x 10 pcs. = 580 rub;
  • cottage cheese, sour cream 500 rub;
  • cheese 400 rub;
  • bread 31 rub. x 10 = 310;
  • flour, cereals, pasta = 700 rubles;
  • fruits 500 rub;
  • tea and confectionery 300 rubles;
• necessary medications 1500 rubles;
• household goods and cleaning supplies 1000 rubles (soap, toothpaste, washing powder, hygiene items, etc.);
• trip to Irkutsk to visit children, gifts and gifts for grandchildren 2000 rubles
• Unexpected expenses 1800 rub.

I began to approach the situation positively and with optimism. I learned to cook many simple and affordable dishes. I loved porridge. Tasty and healthy. Vegetables grown at the dacha, various pickles and preserves are very helpful.

By the way, unexpected expenses are almost always immediately put to use; then the lock is broken, then the faucet needs to be replaced, then the kettle is burnt out, or some other problem.

How I save and get extra income

Unfortunately, our city is small, so finding part-time work for retirees is problematic. But I try to at least occasionally find opportunities to receive additional funds.

I am interested in floriculture. In the spring I grow flower seedlings for myself and partly for sale. In the fall I sell the surplus vegetables I grow. A good help is a stable harvest of berries (currants, raspberries). For a season it turns out on average ten thousand. I try to spend them on my own promotion: buy new clothes or go on vacation to Lake Baikal for a few days.

In winter I knit and take orders. But it also doesn’t happen often and isn’t expensive. Now I’m trying to master the type of freelance activity, learning to write texts.

I try to go to the store no more than 1-2 times a week. Moreover, I take with me a small amount of money specifically for planned purchases, so as not to succumb to the temptation to buy something not on the list. In stores I monitor the sale of goods at a discount, and it also turns out to be at least a little saving.

I learned to organize my leisure time for free. In winter I enjoy skiing and in summer I enjoy Nordic walking. There are health benefits and socializing here.

Sometimes I allow myself a cultural program: going to see a movie or meeting with my friends. Usually we spend 200 - 500 rubles per evening.

The city is compact, convenient and small. Everything is within walking distance, eliminating transportation costs. Travel to the dacha for pensioners is also discounted, without payment.

In general, it is possible to live on a pension, but it is difficult. It is necessary to constantly monitor your modest budget. You need to learn to be content with little. The main thing is to continue to enjoy life and maintain a positive attitude.