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Are you like a lot of people that spent too much money for Christmas and now are wondering how you’re going to make ends meet, just to pay for Christmas spending? Here’s some help.
First, there’s no sense in beating yourself up over what’s done. Just try to do better next Christmas and don’t spend what you don’t have.
Now let’s get down to work. You spent money that you couldn’t afford to spend and now you’re going to have to make some adjustments to meet your financial obligations. Depending on your personal situation, you may need to make anywhere from tiny changes to some drastic changes, and fast.
First off – it makes sense to first stop spending money. If you don’t need it, don’t get it. If you can do without it, leave it. Stop the money flow that’s going out unless it’s something you need – like medicine or food (not eating out food, but food as in you cook it). The more immediate changes to money going out is your eating habits and going places habits. Cook and eat at home, don’t go out partying and spending, etc.
Next, turn off or cut back on anything and everything that you can. This means changes the $150 a month cable or Dish TV to the bare minimum, or ask if it can be put on hold, meaning no bill. Take a lower cell phone plan out, or turn off what you can. Trust me when I say that the kids do NOT need their cell phones and you don’t need a $400 a month cell phone bill. Cut the kids’ allowance to half, or less.
If you’re in the habit of going out all the time, eating out all the time, etc., you CAN do without all that. Imagine how much money you will save that you can put to the bills and get out of debt after all that Christmas spending!
With the price of gas per gallon, not going when it’s not necessary will save you a lot of money. Not eating out will save a lot also. When shopping for groceries, buy foods that you actually have to cook, not premade or ready to eat. Cooking meals will save you a lot of money. Sure it takes more time, but the savings are worth it!
For even further savings, you can go into drastic frugal living mode. Believe me when I say that people have, can, and do live quite well practicing frugal living. Of course if you’re accustomed to spending a lot of money on frivelous things, then the change to frugal living might be a bit of a shock to you (and the rest of the family) but you’ll make it just fine.
Reuse and make do with what you have, rather than spending on things. You can improvise on a lot of things. Reuse zipper freezer bags by washing them and letting them dry. Wash and reuse heavy duty foil. Turn the central air and heat so that it doesn’t run as much. Don’t run the dryer as much. Turn the hot water heater to a lower setting. Wash dishes by hand and don’t run the dishwasher as often. Groom the dogs yourself instead of paying a dog groomer to do it. Switch out babysitting by bartering with a friend or neighbor instead of paying for it.
There’s a lot of ways to immediately save money and a lot of long term ways to save money. Depending on your particular needs and spending habits, you can make changes and get out of debt. But you’ve got to want to do this and be commited to making it work!
Sit down and make a list of everything that you can either do without (at least until you’re caught up on the bills) and everything that you can either turn off or put on hold. Then write the approximate amount that you’ll save on each of these things, and make a total. Some of the savings will be immediate, some won’t be noticed until the following month.
Take the money you’re saving and pay towards the Christmas debts you made. Do this as soon as you have the funds, not later. If you wait, you’ll be tempted to spend as usual and you won’t get out of debt from your Christmas spending.
Nothing screams frugal living like saving money with coupons. Using coupons can drastically lower your grocery bill – and let’s face it – with today’s economy, most of us need all the help we can get when it comes to frugal living and saving money. One of the things we must have is food, but we don’t have to spend a lot on it. Using coupons coupled with your local grocery store sales will cut a chunk out of the food bill. If your store offers double of triple coupons, shop on those days to help save even more money on groceries.
Frugal living isn’t a difficult thing to achieve, but it does take commitment on your part to want to save money and be frugal. Couponing is just one way to live frugal. Use these coupons to help you towards that goal.
There are a lot of ways to be frugal and practice frugal living in your everyday life. The short version is this – if you want to save money and live on less, you simply have to stop spending money. There are lots of things that we can be do to be frugal that can make for instant savings.
Of course, we can make a budget and stick with it. We can cut the credit cards up and stop maxing them out. We can pay more than the minimum payment on some of our bills. These are great money saving tips. But the frugal living methods I am talking about today are more basic and something most (if not all) of us can do everyday (or at least often) to live frugally – saving money by not spending it to begin with.
If you want to have a frugal life and save money, then you have to make up your mind to stop spending money. Until you do that, your life will not change. You control you! If you want to make a change, BE that change. Frugal living is something that all of us can do – we just have to want to.
It’s this simple – if you’re not willing to stop spending, then don’t complain about your money problems. Yes, that sounds harsh. But I say it because of this – I have heard all too many times from people who ask how to save money, how can they make it on less money, how do they do frugal living, what can they do, etc. – and as soon as I tell them, they start: Oh no, I can’t live like that, I can’t do without this or that, I can’t not go shopping, I can’t not eat out every night… I can’t, I can’t. But in reality, they are saying… I won’t, I won’t. So again, I say: If you’re not willing to stop spending, then don’t complain about your money problems.
That said, for those that want help, here are some frugal living tips that will help you to save money by not spending money:
1. Save scrap paper for notes. If you’re always buying notepads and sticky notes for your home, consider saving scrap paper to write on. If you print coupons, you might have paper left after clipping them if they didn’t take up the entire page. Plus we all get junk mail. Cut it up and use the backs for jotting down notes.
2. Reuse plastic zipper bags. If you use a lot of plastic food zipper bags, you can wash and reuse them (if they didn’t have meat in them). Lots of times, I will open a bag of this or that and it doesn’t have a way to seal it, so I will put them entire bag into a plastic food zipper bag, just to be able to close it and seal it. Once the food is gone, the bag is fine and reusuable. I just wash it out and let it dry, and use it again.
3. Save plastic food tubs. You can save a lot of money and practice frugal living by saving and using the plastic food tubs that items such as margarine, sour cream, or cottage cheese come in. These are great for storing leftovers in or putting stuff into the freezer – meat, pasta, rice, veggies, etc. Once they get worn out, you can toss them – and you haven’t lost a penny.
4. Pay your bills online. Frugal living wouldn’t be complete today without adding this frugal tip. Granted, there are still a few companies that haven’t caught up with today’s technology and made it possible for their customers to make payments online – but more and more companies are getting there. Not only do you save money on the cost of postage, but the payment is usually instant, and even when it’s not, it’s still much faster than the week it takes for the payment to arrive in the mail. If you’re not sure if a company you do business with accepts online payments, do a search online or call and ask.
5. Cook at home and eat at home. Yes, we all like the idea of eating out and having someone else cook for us, but that can be expensive, especially if you do it often. Save it for special occasions or every once in a while – not all the time.
6. Make do with what you have. Unless you truly need something, make do with what you’ve got. Nothing screams frugal living more than this! So many people think they just have to have this or that – yet they have no need for it, no use for it, and all too often spend money just to be spending it. Do you really need another pair of shoes? Do you really need another dress? Do you really need another car? Learn the difference between want and need.
7. Look for free samples online. Companies are always giving out free samples. Granted, a lot of the samples are trial size, but you can also find full size free samples. Getting free samples is good because obviously it’s a freebie, but it also allow you to try something before you buy it. So if it turns out you didn’t care for the product, you don’t lose any money because you never spent the money on it to begin with. Free samples are also cool for gift baskets.
8. Do it yourself. You can save loads of money if you simply do something yourself rather than pay someone to do it for you. Of course, this only works if you know how to DIY or have access to DIY tutorials, such as online. If you have something that needs done and you don’t have a clue as to how to accomplish whatever it is, simply do a search for DIY so and so.
9. Barter with family and friends. Trading things or services will save you money, along with whoever you barter with. If you need sewing done and are clueless, consider bartering with someone who sews for something you have or know how to do. If you know how to fix a leaky faucet, you could barter that service with someone who knows how to do something you need done.
Frugal living doesn’t just happen for most people – they have to want to live a frugal life. So many people today live such fast lives – buying, spending, going – and they wonder why they are in such debt, whey they never seem to have any money. If you want a frugal life, you’ve got to be willing to let go of the spending habits.
Big List of Printable Coupons – Just in Time for Christmas!
Christmas is almost here, and that means (for lots of us) some last minute shopping for the Christmas meal. It’s also another perfect time to make use of coupons to help save money on groceries and cut the food bill. Be frugal and look for sales before going shopping and match your coupons with sales for deeper savings.
