Every so often I run across some great ideas on how to save money that I have to share them with my readers. This week I found some great articles on saving money while grocery shopping, personal finance for college grads, and how to find bargains at a garage sale.
Frugal Living Doesn’t Have to be Difficult
So how can Frugal Living be easy? A lot of it depends on your personality and lifestyle choices. Are you organized and do you plan or do you live for the moment? Frugal Living doesn’t have to be time consuming but it does require some planning. A budget is a must if you are not generating enough income to fund the kind of lifestyle you desire. There are many apps to help with budgeting that can help make managing your finances easy. Once you determine where your money is going the next step is deciding where to cut back on spending. This is where most individuals struggle either because they 1) dont’ have clear personal and financial goals or 2) fail to control impulse spending. The answer is quite simple: live within your means.
Best Money Saving Tips
April Dykman shares some great ideas on how to make your grocery budget go farther with Want to Save on Groceries? Cook Like a Peasant
Jeff Brown who writes for Mainstreet, has some great money management advice for new college grads: Saving Tips for new College Grads
SB at One Cent at a Time tells us his secret to finding bargains: A Guide to Garage Sale Shopping
Hank Coleman at Money Q & A loves to eat out and has some great money saving advice for diners: 10 Ways to Save Money Eating Out at Restaurants
Marissa at Thirty Six Months shares some frugal advice from her Mom: Shopping the Frugal Way
We often assume that bundling is synonymous with saving money. Odd Cents reminds us to do your homework before signing that contract: To Bundle or Not to Bundle
And last but not least, our friends over at DQYDJ suggests that credit cards can be useful in managing liquidity: All About Credit Cards and the Perfect Credit Card Spending Strategy
Carnivals Mentioning Frugal Toad
Carnival of Money Pros hosted by misswallstreet.com
Yakezie Carnival Will Smith Slap Edition hosted by Financial Success for Young Adults
Festival of Frugality #337: Personal Finance from 30,000 Feet Edition hosted by Money Wise Pastor
ThaNks for the mention. These are some great money saving tips. I appreciate being included.
Anytime Hank!
Ahh, grabbed one from the archives! Thanks for the mention!
Fits the theme and it was a great post!
I have a good friend who used to quip, “Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance”. I think this applies well to the idea of being frugal. It comes easier for those of us who love to plan ahead.
I couldn’t agree with you more Josh, preparation is the key to success in most endeavors!
Frugal gets a bad rap. It’s like dieting. It’s not a good word. Frugality if done right is budgeting for a healthier lifestyle. We need a new word to get that across because people misunderstand what it is more than not.
I agree with the diet comparison. Being frugal does get a bad rap, but only because it’s what you should have been doing in the first place.
Jai, that’s so true. People think frugality means denying yourself all of this stuff you enjoy. It’s not that at all. It’s just being a savvy consumer, budgeting, and not being wasteful with your money. Plus, the dividends you reap in terms of money saved, debt paid down, etc, are gratifying in and of themselves.
Paul, thanks for including me in your round up.
Being frugal can be fun. It’s too bad such a great thing gets a bad rap, but maybe more folks will start to realize that it’s an undeserved reputation
Just like most things there are degrees of frugality. I agree with the bad rap, hence the article. I just try to be deliberate about my spending and not be wasteful.