Frugal living allows you to live within your means.
If you want to live within your means and spend less than you earn, taking a few steps to plan your purchases and live frugally will help you reach your goals. Tracking your spending habits will help you discover the drains on your income and areas that you can tighten up to gain control over your money. Once you know where your money goes, you can budget to determine the places you want it to go.
Transportation and Fuel Costs
Families need a means of transportation to get to work, school, activities and run errands in most areas. While one vehicle is a necessity for many families, multiple vehicles may be an area to make cuts. One vehicle will reduce the household budget for car payments, insurance and repair bills. A smaller efficient vehicle can decrease fuel spending as well. All members of the family can use alternative means of transportation such as bicycling, walking and riding public transit. Planning shopping trips can also help save on gas costs. For example, planning to run errands that are close together at the same time can reduce the fuel costs of traveling outside of the normal route to work, school and other activities. If you have the ability to telecommute on your job, this can save considerably on gas expenses.
Saving on Food
Plan to eat home-cooked meals more often. For those who eat out for lunch or dinner a few times a week, preparing meals at home can lower expenses in the household budget. Bring a lunch to work, eat dinners at home and buy a travel mug to carry your coffee to work with you in the morning.
Entertainment
Include entertainment in your budget when you are planning expenses. If you set a specific amount of money each month for entertainment, you will become more aware of your spending. Include movies, dinners out, magazine subscriptions, books and evenings out for drinks in your entertainment spending. The library is a good source of free entertainment such as books, periodicals, movies and music.
Credit Cards
Stop using credit cards for every day purchases. Unless you pay off the bill every month, you are adding to the price of every item you buy in interest charges. Save the amount that you would normally pay on your credit card bills to save up for the items you want.
Utilities and Household Bills
The household bills such as electricity, cable and telephone are additional places to save money. For example, if cable television is your family's form of entertainment, include it in your entertainment expenses or eliminate it from your budget. Take steps to reduce the amount of energy you use to lower your electricity bills such as hanging your clothes instead of using the dryer. Consider choosing one phone for the family instead of a cell phone for every member. For single people, choose either a landline or a cell phone and cut your phone costs.
Homemade and Recycled
When planning a major purchase for your home, search for a used item first to keep the cost low. Thrift stores are a great resource for finding second hand items for a low price. If you are handy or crafty, make your own items instead of purchasing new.
Planning and Budgeting
Planning and budgeting are essential to living a frugal lifestyle. Try to plan for the events in your life such as holidays and birthdays to save money on gifts. For example, if a birthday is coming up, beginning your search for a gift months in advance allows you to search for the best price and take advantage of sales.
Tags: bills such, cell phone, household budget, live within, live within your, means transportation