Frugality – Some Rules of Thumb

The article tells you about how to become frugal and save considerably.

Everyone should be frugal to survive in today’s topsy-turvy economic situation. If you can’t save enough, you’re very likely to borrow money for meeting your financial obligations; and frugality is the best way of saving significant amount of money to meet up all financial requirements of your life. Some people believe that frugality means a life of scarcity; a life of deprivation. However, this is not true. Frugality is the way of living within your means. It ensures having enough bank balance with which you can manage the cash crunches of life.

Tips to frugality

Frugality helps a person to become financially smart and careful about spending hard-earned dollars. Here are some tips that can help you become frugal and go debt-free for rest of your life.

• Creating a budget – First of all, you need to create a strict financial plan and stick to the plan. Compare your expenses to your income. Keep and organize all the bills category-wise like gas bills, utility bills, grocery bills, hotel bills etc. for at least 2-3 months. Now evaluate where you could reduce your expenses. Write down your monthly expenses by categories on a paper and keep cash in separate envelopes for separate purposes. Once the cash from an envelope is gone, you should avoid spending on that particular purpose in that particular month by taking out cash from another envelope. Initially, you may feel uncomfortable with the system, but subsequently you will be accustomed to it.
• Finding coupons – Unless you collect coupons and use them properly, you can hardly save money. Try to collect coupons wherever possible. Collecting coupons, cutting the coupons out and using them accordingly are undoubtedly daunting and difficult. However, once you get used to it, you will rather find it interesting. You can visit online stores that offer printable coupons for free. Such websites also maintain database of current coupons and deals. You can compare the deals for more savings.
• Shopping at thrift stores – Shop at local thrift stores for better bargains. You can also visit the local consignment stores for the same reason. Consignments stores often offer good quality items at competitive rates. If you’re looking for any particular item that you don’t find in a consignment store, you may ask them to get it for you. Once they find the item, they will contact you.
• Learning to cook – Instead of eating out, you should learn to cook at home. By doing this, you can save several hundred dollars per month on your hotel expenses. Moreover, foods made at home are always healthier than foods bought from outside. You must start cooking at home, especially if you have small children. Preserved foods as well as outside foods are not good for the children. Not only regular foods, you can also try out cooking delicate dishes at your home. Internet is full of recipes; be it a Mexican dish, Italian dish, Thai dish or Indian dish, you will find the recipes of literally all cuisines on the Internet. Just write down the recipe and cook it at your home.

Always remember that money saved is money earned. Initiate following the frugality rules and you will start seeing the result within a month. After a couple of months, you’re much likely to see a considerable amount saved in your account.

Author’s Bio – Jonny Pean is a senior advisor at easyfinance.com. His writings help people save money and live a debt-free life.