"Frugal Living is Easier than You Think.And if you keep doing it, it just becomes a way of living"
What is frugal living? Frugal living is a way of thinking that leads to a better sense of financial responsibility. We all want to save more and spend less, but many of us don’t know where to begin to make a change in our lifestyle.
Let’s begin by talking about what frugal living is not. It is not a way to get everything for free. I watched an episode of Oprah once where people went around finding free deals on everything. They stayed at hotels that had free breakfast and sent away for every free thing offered in ads in magazines.
This is a way to save a little cash but it is not frugal living. Frugal living involves a budget. After all, we should all have some sort of budgeting plan so that we don’t spend too much money. Even if you make enough to splurge each month, isn’t your extra money better suited for investments where it can make you more money?
Frugal living is not as hard as one might think. It doesn’t involve us going cold turkey with our spending. In fact, the best way to begin a frugal lifestyle is to take one area at a time and make small changes. These small changes will lead to more substantial things down the road.
The first thing that someone interested in living more frugally has to do is determine where the money is going now. If you make $2,500 a month, but at the end of the month you are scraping by, there is a problem. Track where the money is going by creating a budget.
The budget allows you to keep a paper or electronic trail of your transactions. Most of us lose hundreds of dollars through the ATM. Since it is cash in hand, we forget where it goes. Keep all of your receipts.
Once you know where it goes, you can find ways to divert it to the places where you need it to go. That’s a big part of frugal living ó sending your money in specific directions. Money can be saved for a summer trip or a new deck on your home. Finding the money for the job is possible when you make frugal choices on a daily basis.
Enlist the aid of your family. It is hard to turn a ship unless you have the help of the entire crew. Let them know the game plan and work together to come up with ways to achieve your goal. Saving for a college education or a family trip means less eating out, more meals cooked together in the kitchen, less expensive entertainment ideas, and conserving energy.
Before you know it, you will be living the frugal way and actually enjoying more perks. With more money in the bank, there is a cushion for emergencies and money for at least one major ‘want’ a year. Give it a shot and see how it goes. The only thing you have to lose is excess spending.