Saving Money and Living Frugally This Summer

The economy may be heading towards an upswing (although this is debatable), but there’s still nothing more important for many people than finding ways to save money on a daily basis. Living frugally can be difficult, especially if you’re not used to watching your finances. This being said, there are plenty of ways to live a more frugal lifestyle without having to resort to any type of discomfort. In other words, you don’t need to make huge sacrifices to embrace this style of living. Living frugally will help you to:

• Build up a savings.
• Practice self-restraint.
• Avoid the “guilt factor” associated with over-spending.

So don’t just sit around worrying about your finances – do something about them!

“Green Up” Your Home A lot of people look at the concept of doing home renovations as being more of a way to spend money frivolously than anything else, but this does not have to be the case. There are plenty of ways that you can renovate your home to make it more energy efficient, which can help to save you a great deal of money in the long run and also improve the health of the environment. Installing fluorescent light bulbs is one of the easiest ways to start, with solar panels perhaps being the next step towards energy independence. If you aren’t at this point yet, however, you might simply with to start by switching to a utilities company that offers “green,” energy-efficient services. One of the best things you can do if you have an expensive heating system that utilizes oil is to switch to natural gas. Natural gas is not only more efficient, but it’s less harmful to the environment and is a cleaner source of energy. When looking for a provider, be sure to view site(s) for a financial breakdown of how much you could be saving by switching to natural gas.

Avoid Going Out to Eat Dining out can be a very enjoyable experience, but it can also be extremely costly. Even a simple meal at a family restaurant can cost over $100, money which could easily be reserved for buying groceries. Instead of dining out frequently, try to save restaurant meals for special occasions and consider putting more effort on cooking at home. Cooking for your family (or even just for yourself) can be a rewarding, meditative experience. Even if you’ve never learned how to cook, it’s easy to pick up on certain techniques, some of which can be applied to a variety of different styles of food. By taking the money that you would spend on a restaurant meal and putting it towards groceries, you’ll be able to get a lot more bang for your buck.

Stick to Generics Everyone needs basic necessities for the home like toilet paper, cleaning supplies etc. It’s easy to overlook just how costly these things can get as they add up, however. This is especially true if you purchase name-brand products, which can sometimes be $1 more expensive (or even higher than that) than generic equivalents. There’s really no reason to use anything other than generics in this case, as they tend to be practically the same as their brand-name counterparts. You’ll be amazed to find out how much money you’ll save on your next shopping trip if you purchase all generic items vs. name-brand goods, especially if you go through a lot of these types of necessities on a weekly basis. Take a step back and ask yourself if you could be doing more to save money. Chances are that you can, and there’s no better time than now to start.

Saving Money and Living Frugally This Summer The economy may be heading towards an upswing (although this is debatable), but there’s still nothing more important for many people than finding ways to save money on a daily basis. Living frugally can be difficult, especially if you’re not used to watching your finances. This being said, there are plenty of ways to live a more frugal lifestyle without having to resort to any type of discomfort.

Guest Author This author of this article is Katherine Smith, a freelance writer, who most often writers about personal finance, education, and when she can, health. Katherine has been reading and writing only for a few years now and when she isn’t in front of a screen you can find her running or biking! You can read more writing by Kat at paidtwice.com

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