Six Tips to Living Frugally

 Living a frugal life can be a cornerstone to building wealth, reducing stress, and a challenging hobby that, unlike a number of hobbies, actually pay for itself in a rather short period of time. History has shown us the challenges previous generations have faced during similar economic slowdowns and yet they were able to thrive. Yes, despite what we hear from the talking heads that constantly blare out from our televisions, the situation we are now experiencing, is actually only a slow down and not a crash. This slow down, like the ones before it, can be survived by living a frugal lifestyle, yet many of us have forgotten how to live frugally. For this reason, I have outlined six tips to surviving the current economic trials and tribulations through living frugally.

Make a budget

Budgets are a time-honored method of controlling our household expenses, yet many of us have no idea on what a budget is or how to create and use a budget. Whether you credit this lack of knowledge to a poor education system or our own general laziness, it is critical that each of us have not only to have a family budget, but also to actually use and honor that budget. There are a number of excellent programs and tutorials on budgets located on the web, but all of them will boil down to the following basic idea.

Income – expenses = savings (if negative, you are in debt, just like the government)

So take the time to write down all of your income, all of your expenses, (I mean everything) and see how your equation balances out. If you are like most people in this country, you will find a negative number at the bottom of the page. Just knowing where your money goes each month, will go a long way to improving your overall economic standing. For as all things in life, if you pay enough attention, it will improve. So create your budget and begin the process of seeing what your money does when you aren’t around to ride herd on it. Just remember, the goal here is to identify where you spend your money and control that spending, through a budget.

Skip the Fast Food

You would be amazed at how much a person can spend on fast food each and every month. For example, a simple trip each day to buy a happy meal for lunch, will cost no less that $3 each and every day. With a five-day workweek and no splurging on the weekends, you are looking at $60 each month on just lunch and how many of us spend just $3 on lunch. If you were to add the extra trips for a quick dinner, and a few breakfasts when we were running late, you are beginning to talk real money as well as a larger waistline.

Pay Cash

Paying cash for everything sounds like such a simple thing, but for those of us who do it, paying cash, at times, can be difficult. Have you ever tried to rent a car with cash only? It just doesn’t work. If you are not able to pay cash, use a debit card, either way, people who pay cash, generally spend less than those who use credit cards and spending less is the goal of living more frugally.

Buy in bulk

What does buying in bulk actually mean? Do I need to buy a truckload of onions each time I need an onion? Well, yes and no. When you look to buy in bulk, you are looking at buying in quantities that would allow you save money, while minimizing waste. An example of using the power of buying in bulk to save money would be popcorn. A standard package of microwave popcorn runs about $1 for 4 ounces. If you were to travel to your local Costco or SAMS, you could buy 20 pounds of popcorn for $17. Your savings, when compared to the same amount of microwave popcorn, would be $63, $43 if you need to buy a popcorn popper. The excess popcorn is easily saved in empty 2 liter bottles and if you like your daily popcorn, would last no longer than 3-4 months. If you were to review all of the products you use, I am sure you will find a number of examples of how buying in bulk can save you money.

Cooking from Scratch

Cooking at home is always a good idea, when you are looking to save money. Unfortunately, what many people now consider cooking at home is when they open a can of soup. Though this is definitely a step up from constantly eating out, it is not doing all that you can do to save money. Try cooking your foods from scratch. There are a number of television shows that demonstrate how to make good quality foods in a short period of time. In my family’s case, we enjoy pizza at least once a week and the cost of making it ourselves runs less than $5 for two large pizzas. Find something you like and learn to make it from scratch, it will take time and patience to learn to cook well, but it well worth it in the end.

Start a Garden

Gardening can be a fun and beneficial hobby. You are able to grow the foods you love, at a lower cost and better quality than what can be found in the store. Most people who start a garden will begin with tomatoes an easy to grow vegetable. This gives you the benefit of a quick result with minimal inputs. If gardening is not your cup of tea, then try planting a few fruit trees. Fruit trees, once mature, will provide an abundance of fruits for you and the local fauna with very little input. Either way you go, with a garden or fruit trees, growing your own food can be a good money saving technique.

No matter what tip works for you, living a frugal lifestyle is an effective method of living better with less daily stress and build wealth.

Enjoy!