A Frugal Lifestyle

The word “frugality” has left a more negative connotation for most people than simply being a saver, a cheapskate or tightwad. There is a thin line difference to saving and too much frugality to the point of being awkward and ridiculous. This is where the negative connotation comes from.

But if you are guided with the right principles and reasons in deciding to live a frugal life, you would never go wrong.

If you have decided to live frugally, no need to be worried of insults. Keep your head up high.  And keep your focus through these tips.

1. Eating Out - Having gimmicks with friends on a Friday night is fine if you do it once in a while. But this can be expensive if you add them up at the end of the month.

2. Clothing - Naturally, if you are the kind of person who adores signature and designer clothes, do not expect that there will be something left of your take home pay. Instead of being trendy, wear clothes that can easily be matched with your other clothes.

3. Own Home - If you are planning to move out and find a place to settle, do not be overwhelmed by the excitement, instead be practical. As a start, buy a smaller house or try other ways like rent-to-own, do-it-yourself arrangements, and owner financing.

4. Buying Your Own Car - Shy away from sports cars or SUVs. Just stick to your purpose of buying a car which is to transport you anywhere you need to go. Check out also program cars like a new car warranty. Maybe this is not just the best time to replace your car with a new one.

5. Shopping for Groceries - As much as possible do not go with items that are branded. Choose non-brands and try looking for items on the highest or lowest shelves for best prices. Grab the opportunity and shop during sales or use coupons.

6. Family Out - There are inexpensive ways to bond with your family and be entertained like going to libraries, local parks, malling, picnics, visit friends and local church.

7. Buying School Supplies - Stock school supplies at home and do not buy anything fancy.

8. Be contented with what you have and try to live within what you earn.

9. Plan your Child’s College Education - Teach them the ways to be independent and self-supporting by encouraging them to apply for scholarships and “on campus jobs”.

10. Be Aware of your Financial Limitations

11. Anticipate your Failures by Planning - Have always a budget plan so you would avoid impulsive buying.
 

Ways to Make Cents at Home

In the midst of all these skyrocketing prices, come the how’s, ways and means to save money and earn extra.

There are creative but practical ways you can engage in to help the family save and at the same time earn extra. The things that have been sitting in your attic for sometime and those that become all too familiar and useless might mean extra bucks. This way, it saves you space, cleaning materials and containers. This reduces maintenance expenses.

Garage sale at home is a save-and-earn endeavor for starters. Look at the success of flea markets where people can buy almost anything at a lower price but large amount of income for vendors.

How to maximize the potential of flea markets and bargain sales to help you save? Primarily, a flea market is a place where almost all who have something to sell can sell for tremendously lower costs but good quality items. If you have the right tools and enough preparation for a day’s trip to a flea market, then you are ready to go with some handy tips:

1. Ready your tools, maps, measurements and cash:

• easy-to-carry tool kit with screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, pencil, ropes, set of swatches, paper and plastic bags and boxes;

• floorplan measurements;

• maps, directions and phone numbers;

• bring enough cash and checks for high-priced items;

• dress yourself appropriately for bargain hunting.

2. Early birds usually get the best selections.

3. Keep a critical eye during shopping.

• Be ready to negotiate and haggle on the prices of items.

• Items sold here have greater possibilities, either you can redecorate or repaint them to make it look unique and attractive.

How to make this activity an earning endeavor? After your hands-on training in an established flea market, hope you took note of your observations and ideas; it is time to try out on your own.

Bear in mind five things crucial to garage sale success: location, date and time, variety of goods, organization/presentation, advertisements and prices.

• Spot a strategic location where people can access and drop by easily. Your house is the perfect venue for this. Weekends are the best to schedule your sale.

• During your cleaning session, take note of candidate items for the sale, label them (keep, for repair, must go) and give them a brand new look.

• Organize them well according to prices, use arrangement styles, decide on the tables, baskets and boxes for the items and decorate your venue with fabrics and other helpful materials.

• Lower your prices. The idea here is to dispose of the things but earn from them reasonably.

We are Family: Budget Tips for Today’s Familial Ties

If you are in charge of creating the family budget, chances are, you’ve had the unfortunate experience of having a brilliant budget plan that isn’t executed well. This happens to many families and couples, and with a little attitude tweaking, you can solicit the help of your family in making your budget work.

Create a family budget vision. Talk to your spouse and children about whatever budgetary constraints you are facing, or whatever financial goals you intend to set. By being completely honest about the bills and loans you have to pay, or your intention to save a certain amount of money for a family emergency fund (or a college fund, for that matter), you can help your family understand better your collective financial situation. This will allow them to change their perspective on purchases they make, and will help you make sure that whatever money crunching strategies you utilize won’t be counteracted by a subsequent spree by your teen.

Another good technique is to create a list of usual expenditures per member of your family. Together, identify which items you can do away with in order to save up some extra money from your monthly income. By doing this altogether, you are making your family participate better and see the contributions they can make into making your family’s finances better.

Should your child have the habit of continuously asking for money for minor and oftentimes unnecessary purchases, you can let your children learn to manage their own week’s allowance. With their limited money to budget, they will realize the value of money.

Put a cap on the amount of expenditures you make in a week. The best way to do this is set aside a fixed amount of cash that you will spend for a week. By putting this limitation on your spending, you are forced to prioritize spending on the most essential over other things.

Make it easy for your family to save more. How often do you eat out? Most family budgets are blown over because of the frequency of dining out and the accompanying exorbitant expense of that activity. Eating at home will reduce your expenses, not to mention allow for your family to bond over cooking at home. Do you spend on routine purchases like coffee and newspapers? Cut back on the latte and the paper, and put aside the amount you would otherwise spend. Your family’s collective saving will surprise you.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to create a most efficient driving route, as well as grouping together activities into one car trip. This way, you can save a lot on time and even on gasoline and car expenses.