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The FIRST Step In Living Frugally

post #1 of 14
1/4/12 at 5:25pm
Thread Starter 

The FIRST Step In Living Frugally is ________________________.

 

How would YOU fill in the blank?  What advice do you have for anyone wishing to live frugally, but not sure how to go about it?

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post #2 of 14
1/4/12 at 5:28pm

Deciding WHY. Defining your motivation for living frugally will make it easier to turn into a lifestyle.

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post #3 of 14
1/4/12 at 5:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by swishina View Post

Deciding WHY. Defining your motivation for living frugally will make it easier to turn into a lifestyle.



I completely agree with swishina. The WHY can play a major role when it comes to living frugally.

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post #4 of 14
1/4/12 at 6:13pm

making a budget and sticking to it.

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post #5 of 14
1/4/12 at 7:14pm

Live within your means. 

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post #6 of 14
1/4/12 at 8:43pm

Budget and LIVE by it.  Cash only.

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post #7 of 14
1/5/12 at 6:57am

The FIRST Step In Living Frugally is ...

 

... know your assets and current spending - to the penny - currently. You can't figure out how to get where you want to go until you know your starting point.

 

Then decide on your values and priorities. How do you want to live your life? How do you want to spend your time? How are your spending your hours now and what do you have to do to get to the point where your lifestyle matches your ideal?

 

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post #8 of 14
1/5/12 at 8:11am

Start Tracking your spending. You can't start changing your spending habits unless you know who is getting your money.

 

A good software program really does the work for you. I now have 8 years tracker you can see where you are making headway and where you are not.

 

This year I fully expect to save on Healthcare. We had a rough 3 years. But I at least know what a normal year for us should look like

Dining out we have a 4 year trend of spending less lets try to keep that going Still seeing that big annual dining out figure. I can think of a lot of other things I wanted more with $2700

Sadly gifts have been cut we go cheep on them cause we have to.

 

It also lets you see what areas you spend the most in last year it was

Housing loan interest 27 percents

Groceries 13 percent

&Gas  8 percent

 

Can't do too much on the Housing but Groceries and Gas are both things that can be reduced. Try to drive less, Try to eat well for less. Now those are workable goals.

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post #9 of 14
1/5/12 at 9:20am

Give up all credit cards.

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post #10 of 14
1/6/12 at 6:09am

shop for groceries and essentials with cash and coupons.  Check out resale shops and garage sales to see if you can repurpose something and learn that you don't have to have everything everyone else has. 

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