- Spend cash instead of pulling out a credit card. Studies show that it is harder to spend “real” money than “plastic” money.
- Make frugality a game rather than a burden. See how far you can stretch your next $20 bill. How long can you go without spending it or taking out your plastic?
- Make a budget. Tinker with it until it works for you. Teach your kids to do the same.
- If your bank offers free automatic bill paying, sign up. Saves stamps.
- Make friends with your car. Actually read the owner’s manual. Figure out how to check the oil and tire pressure. Advanced degree – learn how to change the oil.
- For short trips, walk instead of taking a car, a cab, or the subway. Its great exercise and you’ll notice more of what’s around you.
- Trade in the cell phone with the expensive plan for a prepaid cell phone (but only if there’s no cancellation fee.) You are likely to be much more careful about your calls that way.
- Better yet, write one or two letters a month. Or send emails rather than calling.
- See if you can go for a month buying nothing but food and bare necessities.
- Many hairdressers will trim your bangs for free, so you can stretch out the time between haircuts.
- Take your lunch to work for one month. The food you make at home is likely to be more nutritious, and it almost certainly costs less than prepared food.
- Have your good shoes re-soled and re-heeled instead of buying new. Have heel plates put on to extend the wear.
- Even if you are hopelessly un-handy, resolve to learn how to do one thing around the house this spring.
- If going out to eat is important to you, how about just going out for dessert or coffee and having the main meal at home?
- Attached to name brands? Try generic for a change. Is your family attached? Put the generics in the name-brand box and see if they notice.
- Try using less laundry detergent than the label calls for. See if your clothes get as clean.
- Try line-drying laundry. You don’t have to have a backyard – a basement or bathtub will do.
- Hand-wash your sweaters instead of dry-cleaning them. Use a detergent made for hand-washing.
- Share magazines with your friends. Each of you subscribe to one magazine you all like, then trade. Or use your library to read your favorite magazines.
- If you have an mp3 player, explore the hundreds of thousands of free podcasts available. There are news shows, public radio and TV programs, instructional videos, language learning.
- Do you really need 700 TV channels? Scale back to basic cable for a month, and see how much you really miss it.
- Even more radical, turn off the TV entirely, and reacquaint yourself and your family with the ancient art of conversation.
- Decide that you will learn to make great coffee at home instead of buying it. Get a thermos and take it to work.
- Join Facebook or another social networking site and get your friends to do it. If you already have an Internet connection, it’s no-cost fun. Just remember, don’t put anything on your Facebook page that you don’t want to see on the front page of the newspaper.
- Eat vegetarian at least once a week.
25 Random Acts of Frugalness
May 18th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Personal Finance
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment