How to Live a Simple And Frugal Lifestyle
Photo Courtesy: Loyal O.A.K.
Living simply and frugally on one hand, and living luxuriously on the other, is all about the borderline difference of having a need and having a want. If you live by what you need, you can live frugally. If you live by what you want, you may end up stretching yourself and living luxuriously. Here are a few ways in which you can live a simple and frugal lifestyle.
1. Get rid of things you don’t need
Leading a simple lifestyle helps you to be spiritually healthy and even saves you more money. Before you start implementing techniques of living a frugal lifestyle, get rid of all the clutter in your house that you may not have been used since long. Start off on a fresh slate with a clean house and you may be able to directly see the benefits of living a frugal, simple, low maintenance life.
2. Make a monthly budget
Making a monthly budget can help you streamline your lifestyle and give you a goal to live simply and frugally. Draw up a practical budget and ensure that you stick to it no matter what. Slash down your needs and wants in the categories where you think you may be making unnecessary expenses. For example, you could do this by using public transport instead of fuelling up your gas guzzling four wheel drive or buying veggies from the farmer’s market instead of the supermarket.
3. Live in a house as per the size of your family
You could be running up a lot of unnecessary costs by living in a house which is much bigger than what your family requires. Expenses like cleaning, upkeep, maintenance and servicing are generally associated with running a house. To reduce these expenses, live in a house which doesn’t make you spend through your nose.
4. Embrace DIY
You can apply the Do-It-Yourself philosophy in almost all aspects of life to be able to live in an economical way. From ironing your clothes yourself to growing your own vegetables in the backyard and from making your own food to doing plumbing jobs, you can start doing a lot of things yourself and reduce the expenses on outsourcing these services.
5. Buy seconds
Thrift shops and garage sales are known to thrive in almost every neighborhood. Using seconds can be an effective idea to help you cut down your costs and live on a budget. Sometimes you may be able to chance upon second hand items that are in great quality and have been discarded by their owners for insignificant reasons. You will become environmentally friendly by recycling and will also learn to live a simple lifestyle simultaneously.
6. Invest a majority of your disposable income to reduce the temptation to spend
People who have a large amount of disposable income may be easily tempted into making unnecessary and impulsive expenditures. Kill the culprit and cut off your source of disposable income by investing it elsewhere. Once you have no other option but to live within limited means, you will automatically start finding ways of living frugally.
7. Shop smartly
Living frugally is all about being a little smart and tweaking your existing shopping behavior. You don’t need to drastically cut down your favorites in your shopping list and live like a pauper. All you need to do is shop smartly by using coupons, checking out deals and making purchases during sale time. Whenever you go to buy groceries, make sure you pick only the things you need, not the things you want. You can also save a lot and live frugally by buying departmental home brands instead of the expensive ones.
