Living the Frugal Life: 5 Tips That Might Help You Get There

Having seen how alot of Pinoys suffer financially through old age, I am determined to save and plan for my own retirement.  As a single mother, this is really more challenging,  I have actually made a spreadsheet with age forecast against future school expenditures per child.  The cost did not shock me at all.  What struck me is this.  By the time my youngest child is in college, I will be 52.  Freaking 52!

If I do not start saving or setting something aside for myself today, how will my financial health be when I am 52?  So if you have learned the power of writing things down, then you must begin today.  I have learned that to get clarity and purpose, it is imperative to write things down.  It helps me gain perspective.  It also make planning for the steps necessary to reach those goals.  Whatever those are.

So if you are like me, a separated woman with several children to raise, then you might be scared shit like me, but hey, never allow fear to hinder you from making and implementing your plans for financial independence and stability!   There are simply alot of places where you can cut corners.  Some purchases are not necessary… remember that silly bag you bought last month?  Where is it now?  At the back of your closet, I bet!

Anyway, before I digress on useless purchases, here are some tips that I have learned to live by:

1. Buy Used.

Knowing what kind of daily comforts you can and cannot live without.  This reminds me of a purchase that my parents made years ago.  They bought this heavy-duty microwave oven that cost more than the usual ovens.  They hardly use it and the thing ended up useless on the cabinet.

You will definitely save more by buying used.  I like buying my books from places like Book Sale and although I buy books from Amazon, I like buying those used ones.  I also save cash by buying used DVDs from ebay.

I have a huge stance on buying used clothing.  I tend to buy high quality clothing for myself and the children.  We seldom shop now, but I noticed that it is still best to buy high quality clothing on sale than those cheap ones that break after a few months.

2. Always Pay in Cash.

This reminds me of several relatives who kept on telling me that I should buy a car.  I told them, I do not have enough to buy one in cash and they said, who told you you need cash?  Just put a downpayment and pay the rest for 3 years!  This is one of the reasons why alot of us are in debt.  If you cannot buy anything in cash, then it means you cannot AFFORD it.

Two months ago, my Macbook died.  I took  it to the Mac Center and I was informed that I fried my hard drive.  A replacement cost more than P4,500.  Not only that, my RAM needed an upgrade if I wanted the latest Mac OS– another P1,500.  And it did not end there, my battery needed replacement as well.  How much is a battery?  P6,590.  Not cheap.

So what did I do?  I have only budgeted P3,500 for the repair.  So, I PRIORITIZED the repair and had the RAM upgrade first.  The Mac technician told me, “Maám if you have a credit card, you can charge the rest there so I can fix everything in one go.”  Although I have one CC, I told him, that I dare not charge anything.  I will be back next week or so for the rest of the repairs.  Know what??? It took me a month and 2 weeks to save for the HDD and the battery.  Did I regret the delay?  No!  Just think of the worry free nights and the no-freaking out-during the 1st of the month when the credit card bill is delivered on your doorstep.  It was definitely worth the wait…

Unless you have a good credit standing and you are like my friend Bing, then you can always use credit cards for emergencies.  But you need to be careful with credit cards.

3. When Making a Budget ALWAYS Include Contingencies.

Make a budget and stick to it should have been the first tip, aye?  But sometimes, we forget to include contingencies when making a budget.  More often, you ended up finishing most of your pay every month.  Not good.  Cut corners and allocate some cash for emergencies.  After a year of setting aside for contingencies, you will thank me, I swear!  It does not matter how small, but you have to start somewhere.  It could be as little as P1,000 per payday.  That’s already P12,000 in a year!  Think about it!

4. You Don’t Have to be Rich.

One of the things I am proud of today is that I am debt free.  Although I do not have alot of savings, I realized that that is better than living a life in debt.  Ofcourse some of you might have the knack of using credit wisely but some are not that lucky.  Think of snowball effect.  Once you are in debt and you fail to pay off your monthlies, these would snowball and the next thing you know, you’d be in debt neck deep.  Not good.

You do not have to be rich to live comfortably.  The rule of thumb is this.  Be happy with what you can afford and ALWAYS live within your means.

5. Be Willing to Make Do.

Living a frugal life is a lifestyle change.  You needed to be able to learn to make do of what you have.  I believe that frugal living is not a life of depravity. This lifestyle is obviously not for everyone.  Let’s face it, there are lots of things that are completely out of your control, but what you spend on is something you CAN control. Learn to say no and make do!

What Now?

Everyone has different ideas of what frugality is.  But to me, being frugal has kept me out of debt.  It has helped me teach my children that saving for things they wanted is a good thing.  Not only are you teaching your children how to handle their cash flow, but to me, this would also help my children to harness their creativity.

Nothing beats planning, budget and saving for your future.  If cashflow has always been a problem for you, then you needed to change your attitude and mind frame in order to live and stick to it to be able to live a life free of worries and debt.

Related posts:

1. 10 Tips to Save on Clothing Expenditure This guest post is contributed by Omar Adams, he writes...
2. 10 Tips to Save on Medical Expenses The key to good financial health is to know when...
3. How to Save on Back to School Shopping Having 3 children all in grade school, the month of...
4. How to Save on Grocery Shopping Grocery shopping is actually one of the easiest way to...
5. Credit Card Guidelines and How to Avoid Falling into Debt Lots of people detest credit cards, however in actuality, if...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.