With the economy kicking all of us in the rear end, we have to remember that a lot of our conveniences aren’t needed. We have all forgotten that heck, we didn’t have cell phones about 10 years ago, we didn’t have access to computers 15-20 years ago, not like we do today. How about the convenience of all the fast food restaurants that many of us are always in, what is the point. Okay, you probably answered, well, its on my way to work, its cheap.
When you think about it, there is a way to keep your spending down in many ways. Here are a few simple ways to help you cut your costs and get you back to frugal living.
1) Instead of stopping at a local fast food restaurant, get up a bit earlier and eat some breakfast. Not only will you save money eating at home, but you can get a few things done before you leave to head to the office, think of some of the things you could get accomplished.
2) Do you like that really expensive coffee that you get at a major coffee shop, well, try either a less expensive coffee shop if you can’t do with out it, or find a way to make your own at home. Many are quite simple to make and you can find easy recipes over the internet.
3) Do you enjoy the movies? Well, instead of going out to the movies, renting or doing a pay-per-view, see what you can find on the internet or borrow from a friend. There are a lot of great sites that offer free movies and programming. You can check out one free site it is http://www.hulu.com
4) Nothing on television, why not do away with cable, satellite, etc. Most of the shows that you love to see, can be found over the internet, instead of paying $100 for television another 50 or 60 for internet, get rid of the television service and only have internet.
5) Cell phones, okay, if you have a phone in your office, a phone at home, why have a cell as well. If it is very important, if you remember you got a call at the office, no problems there. Some of the rates on cell phones are quite ridiculous. If you feel you really need one, look into the pay as you go option, typically you can get about 300 minutes for about 30.00. You will be amazed at how far 300 minutes can go. Basic telephone service can be as low as $15.00 a month if you don’t make long distant calls, why have call waiting, phone message service, etc. You can get a little answering machine for about $20. See how low you can go for your home phone. Or better yet, look into internet phone service. There are several that only cost $30 a year and all you need is a small unit to hook up to your computer, then plug your telephone in.
6) Electricity, unplug things that you don’t use often. If you are like many, you have lamps plugged all over your home, then you rarely use them. If you aren’t using them, unplug them. When they are plugged in, they still draw electricty even when the switch is off, this will help save you a few dollars a month.
7) Make quick economical dinners. If you have a crock pot, put it to use, make soups, pot roasts, etc. These meals can be extended to more than one evening. If you have a picky family, after dinner, create frozen dinners out of them, they can be grabbed and re-heated quickly in a microwave. Some picky families will go for this rather than taking it out of the fridge to re-heat the next day or so. With freezing you gain a little more time out of the meal, a week or longer in most cases.
8) Need a drink? If its warm out and you know you are going to get thirsty, plan ahead, before leaving your house, take a bottle of water with you. If you are like many, you have a lot of mugs and things in your home that can be used for this.
9) Grab those coupons, where ever possible, get coupons that work for you and your family. If you like certain name brands, check out the manufacturer website, you will surprised at how many actually offer coupons. They are better sometimes, than what you get in the local news paper.
10) Need to get away from home for a while, find out what free events and things are going on in your local area. During the summer months there are a lot of communities that have movies in the park. They are usually older films but hey, they are free, you can take a blanket, some popcorn and enjoy a night under the stars. How about going to a local art gallery. You can walk through to see what local artist may have to offer. There are a lot of wonderful artists right under your nose just waiting to be discovered.
See how many ways you can come up with to get back to the basics of frugal living, you may be amazed at what you can come up with.
