It used to be that people on
fixed incomes, retirees, the "working poor" and born
penny-pinchers were the only people who put much ongoing
effort into living frugally. Now things have changed and
everyone, regardless of assets or income, should be thinking
about saving money, wasting less, making every penny go
farther and generally "wising up" about how to control
living costs.The
Internet is full of websites and subscription e-newsletters
to help you save money, but if you are getting too much
information you are less likely to use any of it. Get
yourself hooked up with the money-saver sites (meaning two,
perhaps three at the max) that best reflect your lifestyle,
regional living needs and other personal characteristics.
Then make sure to read the
info you get on a regular basis, at least a few times a week
if not daily. Make computerized or handwritten notes of the
ideas that you can integrate into your household plan - then
take action. Remember, it takes from 20 to 30 days to
establish a new habit, so do this deliberately until it
becomes second nature.
Starting out
For starters, here are some
good general and customizable approaches you can take to
reducing your living expenses. Again, the details may work
out differently for you, depending on where you live, how
you live, what is important to you and what you can give up
(if necessary). Nothing here is carved in stone, and the
suggestions are in no particular order.
It may help to save tips
and ideas in the following categories, although you can
organize them any way that works best for you. Review your
tips regularly and always be on the lookout, and keep your
ears open as well, for new ways to save, stretch and buy
more with your money.
Food tips
- Don't buy convenience
foods, but try to make all meals from scratch.
- Try to buy bulk items on
sale, and plan meals around them.
- When you cook a chicken
or turkey, use everything. Boil the carcass afterwards for
soup after carving off all the remaining meat for "a la
king" meals and poultry salads.
- Add cooked macaroni to
your chicken or turkey salad to "stretch" it.
- Stock up on dried beans,
which are quite economical, healthy and delicious, too.
- Learn some basic baking
skills, for homemade cookies, pies, cakes and breads.
General buying tips
- Get coupons from
newspapers, or online at various coupon-clipping sites (such
as thecouponclippers.com) and start a file for the ones you
will really use.
- Always, always do
comparison-shopping before buying anything. If you buy from
the Internet, remember to add tax and shipping every time to
keep the actual out of pocket cost clear and measurable.
- Watch out for every
special offer, money-saving coupon, discount code and other
deal, all the time, on TV, in print publications and on the
Internet. Resist the desire to stock up on savings offers
you will not use.
Technology tips
- Consider dropping your
cable TV service if you don't really use it much. For TV
fans, it won't be long before you can get most everything
you want over the Internet. Hulu.com and other similar sites
offer free TV shows, even new ones, while low-cost Netflix
accounts get you DVDs in the mail and online movies, too.
- Cancel your newspaper
subscription and read your news online.
- Unless you are doing
state-of-the-art digital video or audio production, you
probably do not need the latest, greatest computer. If all
you want to do is write letters, do word processing, use
e-mail services and surf the Internet, a used $100 computer
can do that for you.
- If you don't really need
a cellphone, don't have one. If you can get a good enough
cell plan, on the other hand, you may not need your
landline. Check the offers carefully when you are making
this decision.
Household and personal
tips
- Have the steadiest hands
in the house do the haircutting. It is not that hard,
especially if you take a little time to study and have an
agreeable guinea pig.
- Take your old cotton
underwear, socks and t-shirts and cut them up for use in
place of paper towels, even napkins. You can make hankies
out of t-shirt sleeves to use instead of tissues, as well.
- You can easily get the
formulas for making your own cleaning products. Vinegar,
ammonia and a few other basics, added to hot water, go a
long way. Steam cleaners will disinfect and clean with no
added chemicals of any kind.
- If someone in the house
simply must have soda pop, learn how to carbonate your own
water and make your own flavors. It's easy, and it's cheap.
- Arrange to run errands on
the same day, and in "geographic order" so you can save
fuel. If you are doing this in a gas guzzler, trade it in
for a four-cylinder sedan, as long as you don't have kids to
cart around.
- Keep the winter
thermostat at 65 degrees in the day and 55 at night. Use a
down comforter and, before bedtime, wear sweats and warm
socks.
