written 7/14/22 Updated 2/15/23!
Living frugally, with my suggestions.
Everyone is writing about, talking about living frugally, but what does that actually entail? It is not something that is easy to do, it is like an acquired taste and takes time to perfect.!
Can you define frugal? One of the definitions of frugal is economical, thrifty. Right from Webster’s New American Dictionary. Being economical, thrifty means having budget. Budget planning, takes thought, planning and implementing.
Do you even have a working budget? Can you account for all the income coming into your home and going out? Are you prepared for a pandemic , such as what we just went through . What have you learned from going thru this pandemic? What has your family learned? Learning to live frugally means you need a budget. Just a starting budget that you can begin to adjust to living with a budget.
What I am doing is coming up with ideas of what being frugal means . Your ideas and mine may be totally different. We all should know the basic idea is learning to live on less. Which is good as we in the United States sometimes waste more than we should.
Below are my suggestions to help you learn to live frugally.
- Shopping – do not buy non essential items when shopping. Things to wear or things for the home. Take a good look at your closet and determine what you can get rid of That means it leaves the home and is given to family member, thrift store or sold at a garage sale. You however can not buy new to replace what you getting rid of value. FRUGAL
- List – take a list to the grocery store. Key word here, groceries. Trick is only buy what is on your list and retreat swiftly but gracefully. Like maybe a ballerina! Guys could pretend they are going for a touchdown. Just a little humor here.
- What about a garden? Really think about that. Gardens can be good and provide lots of things to help with budgeting and also extra good food. However, they can be a lot of work and at the end of the summer, there can be waste because no one has the time to can or freeze. If you missed this year, think about it for next year.
- Income versus expenses. Takes some real soul searching to get this right. There are lots of experts out on the internet who are good with budget areas. You want one who has really done their home work to make a difference in their budget-income versus budget payments.
- Start with a simple budget, one you understand and will use. If you are thinking about the trips, vacations, be thinking about a budget also.
- Utilities- Get on the budget plan! You must however pay routinely on the budget plan. Miss payments and utility companies are not happy.
- Car- maintain your car! How do you do that!! You have a place in your practice for car repairs. You will not help your ability to live frugally with a new car payment.
- Smoking, what a perfect time to consider stopping. Not the right time you say, but honestly when is the right time. Little story- I was a heavy smoker and needed to stop. Stopped cold turkey and a few days later, I found out I was pregnant with #6 child and promptly began gaining a lot of weight. Talk about not the right time. Let me say I was very difficult to live with. Good that came of that-A boy after 5 girls and I am so glad I stopped smoking.
- Charity – don’t forget that part of frugal. Share what you can, it will make you feel better.
- No job! Take a job, any job, to help you through these trying times. No one should be sitting around waiting for the perfect job to come to them.
- Start an old fashioned, what I call a Christmas club and do not touch it. Savings is so important.
- How can you purchase what you need if you don’t understand budgeting and spending?
Ok the above suggestions are just a start. I am sure you can add tons to this list. What a perfect time to begin, while you try to get your life back to normal. Take one day at a time. Don’t say it once say it as many times as you need. One day at a time.
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