Simple Life: Frugal Living

Frugal Living
What exactly is frugal living? Well, to be frugal is to be thrifty or sparing. To me, frugal living is simple living. A huge factor in frugal living is debt and spending. As a child, I was taught that if you owe money to someone, you are their slave. Think this sounds radical? Well, it is true. Debt makes you a slave to your debtor. Your choices in life are closely connected to your debt. Just ask anyone in a dead-end job that can't afford to leave it. There isn't much freedom or joy in knowing you owe so much, you can't afford to live the life you want. Frugal living is the embodiment of sound country wisdom.

Home/Vehicle Ownership
 My grandmother always told me that the best thing anyone could do was to own their own home. Home ownership means no rent payments, no house payments=less month to month worry. What about vehicles? Well, ownership, again is the way to go. My family has two older model, PAID FOR vehicles. When I say 'paid for', I mean paid, in cash, at the time of purchase. Many people try to tell us a small payment is just as good but I don't believe it. The money that would go to a payment (even a small one) does my family far more good sitting in the bank-rather than a car dealer's pocket. This way, if our 'paid for' vehicle dies or needs costly repair, we just simply purchase another one.

Budget
Yep-It really is a must for anyone wanting to live a frugal, simple life. It's amazing how much money you find you actually have when you sit down and write down the amount brought in AND how much goes out. It's shocking, even! When my husband and I, first started creating a budget, we were completely blown away at how much money we wasted from paycheck to paycheck. We learned that priorities need to be made. Therefore, the key to any good budget is including all real debts (no, I'll skip this payment so I can get my hair done) and reasonable expenses. It is not reasonable to count on spending only 50 dollars on groceries with a house full of teenagers--unless of course, you grow a far bigger garden than I do-even then it's not advisable. Another big thing to remember in a budget is to allow room for the unexpected. Don't have every penny allocated for something. Always have an 'Extra' fund-in addition to your savings. As far a credit cards, charge cards, store cards, and the like are concerned...PAY THEM OFF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Never make the minimal payments: even if you can only afford to pay, say $5 extra-pay it! The goal of good budget is to get you out of debt, as soon as possible and ensure you can afford the things you need and want. So, with that in mind, I'll say one last thing about a budget. A budget will never help you if you don't stick with it or if you are constantly adding more debt.

Spending Habits
Anyone living a frugal life will tell you that it changes the way you shop. To begin with, a frugal person always asks themselves these key questions: Do I really need it? Can I make it? Can I reuse or remake something I already have? Can I find it on sale? Can I purchase it used? These simple questions can prevent costly mistakes and waste. Another habit of frugal spenders is the use of advertised sales, store mark-downs,  coupons. My own personal frugal favorite is frequenting Habitat for Humanity stores, salvage warehouses, flea markets, Goodwill stores, and local farmer's markets. Savings abound in such places!

Food
I am always shocked at the amount of our income spent on food. Food! I have personally known people that spent 40-50% of their salaries on eating; most often on just eating out. This is,clearly, not a frugal life. So, how to eat according to a frugal life? One answer is eating seasonally. Just by eating what is abundant locally, in season, can save money...with the added bonus of being fresh and full of flavor. Another answer is to eat what is on sale. When I was growing up, I could always count on eating what was on sale at our local supermarket. A great tool to help with a food budget is to create a meal planner. A meal planner is simply a calender with 3 sections on each day for you to write down your daily meals.  When I write out my meal planner for the week, I always take stock of what I currently have, what is in my garden, what is on sale, & yes, what I can purchase at the farmer's market. Then, I write down meals using these ingredients. It sure does make for hassle free meal times and a lot less stress on myself!

The above are just a few bits of advice on frugal living. I, by no means, have 'it all-together' and I most certainly don't know it all :-)  I welcome your tips, frugal hints, and money saving advice. I look forward to hearing from you!