Frugal Living Advice

What Is A Frugal Lifestyle?

The frugal living advice we are hearing from many sources is a challenge to return to simplicity. A frugal lifestyle is new to many of us but there is much we can learn from others.

Learning to live more frugally is a discipline that has been learned, and relearned, time and time again. When times are difficult, and money is tight, we circle back to time tested strategies for living on less and enjoying it more.

I bought my first copy of The Complete Tightwad Gazette when my 5 kids were all still at home. I'm a grandma now and still find it to be one of the best sources of frugal living advice I've ever read.

Frugal living advice from history: Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift? ~Cicero

The years known as "The Great Depression" were an extended time when people learned to live with hardships, simple home-cooked meals, uncertainties, and doing without.

Today's fast paced lifestyle has addicted us to convenience and fast foods, designer clothing, high-powered cars, lavish homes and other extravagances and indulgences! We have, in large part, funded this lifestyle with credit and debt.

In our world's present economic situation we need to take another look at the old-fashioned merits of gratitude for what we do have and valuing what is really meaningful in life. It is about achieving financial independence through better life choices.

Advice about frugal living is to take a look at all parts of our lives and find where we can make changes. Consider how we spend our money in every area of life.

We also need to know where we stand with debt repayment, savings goals, and investments—a key step to taking charge of your money and making it work for us and for others.

Frugal living advice includes making smarter spending decisions.

• It's taking the money that you have and s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g it as far as it will go.
• It's learning how to get the best deal on everything that you buy—shopping thrift stores, yard sales, clearance racks and barter boards until you find what you need at a price that you can afford.
• It includes using coupons and rebates in combination with sales to get the very best price on your groceries and other household items.

It's also knowing when not to shop--holding off on a purchase that doesn’t fit into your budget, or realizing the item is simply a "want" and not a "need." There is great freedom in being in full control of your spending.

By sowing frugality we reap liberty, a golden harvest. ~Agesilaus

Frugal living requires creativity. It's about finding ways to make do with what you have, and learning how to do more with less. It's about recognizing opportunities to reuse, repurpose and create.

Frugal living includes advice about better money management, bargain shopping and creativity, but what does all of that add up to? Can these three things really result in a better life? Absolutely.

Frugal living unlocks a world of possibilities:

• Paying off all of your debts
• Funding your child’s education
• Freedom from stress about money
• The ability to share with others

A couple of dollars saved here, and a few dollars invested there doesn’t translate into a life of deprivation; it translates into possibilities.

We are not to judge thrift solely by the test of saving or spending. If one spends what he should prudently save, that certainly is to be deplored. But if one saves what he should prudently spend, that is not necessarily to be commended. A wise balance between the two is the desired end. ~Owen Young

Some Links to Help You Get Started!

Frugal Homemaking

Living a Frugal Life

Frugal Meals

Frugal Meal Planning

Frugal Money Saving Tips



Frugal Living Advice About Money and Budgeting

Self-Sufficient Farm Living



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