These days, everyone is interested in frugal living. For most of us, due to the rising prices of just about everything, we don’t have a choice! From high gas prices to high food prices, it is hard to above water these days! Lately, we have been hearing about people having to foreclose their homes, sell their cars, skip the yearly family vacation, eat at food banks or downsize their lives completely. It is unfortunate and anyone can fall victim to these things if they do not watch their spending and plan ahead. Fortunately, there are simple ways you can live frugal starting today and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year on the products and services that you use and here are some of those ways:
1) Coupon cutting. This is one of the most common ways people use to save money. Traditionally coupons were found in weekly flyers, magazines or near grocery store shelves. Today, there is the internet! By just typing in “coupons” in a search engine, you will get results for hundreds of websites that let you pick and choose coupons that you would like and you can either print them off or have them mailed or emailed to you. Just make sure to only use coupons for products you buy. Don’t get caught in just using coupons because you have them or you will be buying things you do not need or use and you’ll spending the same amount of money or more than you usually do!
2) Sign up for newsletters from your favorite companies and have special offers, coupons and deals emailed to you.
3) Sign up for group buying sites like Groupon that allow you to get steep deals on everything from restaurant meals to amusement park excursions.
4) Enter contests. Every time you come across an opportunity to enter, take the chance because you will not win if you don’t try and winning means getting something for free!
5) Shop at thrift stores. You can find designer clothing, accessories and shoes that sometimes still have the original price tag on them except you do not pay that price, you pay much less. Bonus: no one else will have the same items! Garage sales are also a great way to find great stuff for cheap and is fun too!
6) When shopping for a vacation, do a lot of research! Book flights for mid-week, travel in the off-season and make use of travel discount sites such as Hotwire.