Creating a Frugal Budget

Almost all of us now, are looking for ways on how to save money in any manner. A financial problem arises in every part the world. Why not give frugal lifestyle a shot?

Achieving a frugal living goal should start with a frugal budget.

Here’s how to create a frugal budget:

Sum up your total earnings

Total all the money that you make monthly, including your part time, proceeds from business and other forms of residual income.

Sum up your total expenses

Gather all your monthly bills, and list down all the expenses that you make monthly including those eat out, movie watching and hobbies that you spend money.

Subtract your expense from the earnings

This will help you find out whether you are spending way more than what you are earning. This will also determine if how much is left at the end of each month.

Budget restructuring

If you find out that you are spending more than enough, restructure your budget. Go over your expenses and see where you can

cut spending.

Make money for debt payments

Now, if you have debts, find other sources of income like a part time or selling stuff online to make money and pay off your debts.

Start saving

It’s time to build a reserve for the future. If you have established a good budget and paid off your debts. Start saving money.

A frugal budget never ends; always continue to look over the budget every month to catch areas of overspending.

Nowadays, earning money is not that easy and a lot of people are thinking or looking for ways to save money. Some try to stretch their money and some look for

ways to increase their income.
As for me I tried practicing the frugal way of living. First you have to know the difference of what is needed and what is wanted. Some of us focus on
spending money on what they want without thinking if they can still afford of getting what they need.

Here are some tips to save your hard earned money:

Buy quality things. Instead of buying those things that are of quantity and less cost, get the one with high quality that will surely last for a longer time.

Sell used stuffs, make a garage sale, and sell things that are still useful for others that you do not need. You can make profit and save up money at the same time.

For your cable subscriptions if you can lower your monthly fee by choosing and paying only for the channels that you want much better. It is important that you evaluate every bill that you pay a make sure if you really need it.

Take advantage of public parks and amenities. Instead of watching movies, you can take your family out for a picnic in your park. By this way you can have a family bonding without a cost.

Cook your own food. Stop the habit of dinning out. We all know that cooking at home is a lot cheaper than eating out. You can serve more nutritious food to your family and you can also make cooking fun by letting your kids help you with some small stuff.

Frugal living is one of the best ways to save money.
Some think that practicing this way of life is depriving you of something. For me it’s the best way of living life to the fullest without worrying of about debts.

Re-living your life to the fullest

Majority were shocked because of the sudden turmoil that the global economy had faced. Stock markets went down, businesses closed and a lot of people were laid off from their once promising jobs and to make matters worse prices of basic commodities were shooting up uncontrollably resulting to

debts, bad credits and even bankruptcy. Experts say that this will continue for the next 2 years or so, many of us are looking for financial freedom in any way possible.

Here are some points that can help you grab your financial freedom.

Tighten up your belt
First thing that we need to do is to adapt to this Global crisis and we should minimize our expenses as possible. If you are used to luxuries better think twice and cut the habit of over spending.

Be Versatile
Part of adapting is learning. Given all the recession and laying-off in different companies we can’t get enough security and stability in our work. The best thing to do is to explore different avenues and fields to improve our capabilities and scope of work. Let us not be confined in our borders and live curious.

Utilize your resources
Many of us loses our creativity as we have come on age which is really not a good thing, we should re-live our childhood days when we can virtually make anything possible from scraps that we have. Take that kind of creativity together with what you have to earn and save more money.

Invest WISELY
Ultimately you need a business or other sources of income to cope up with your pending expenses especially if you have a family, but will all the economic crisis is it still possible to open a new business? Of course it is, since the demand is still present and it’s growing parallel to our population. Be one step ahead of the game with these points.

Know your interest
Many businesses were unsuccessful because they lack passion and devotion to it. If you want a food business then go for it and just make the necessary changes as you progress and adapt during the set up.

Study the market
At first it is better to do your business locally because you know the trending and market. Before finalizing your plan conduct surveys and analysis on what the market would need and what would they patronage and not and Why?

Strategic Location
Location is one of the most important keys in a successful business. You have to be noticeable and reachable ( If you are planning to start a business that involves personal contact) If possible try to get the history of the building and what were the previous establishments and what were the problems they faced so you can plan ahead.

Marketing
Another key element is how you market your product or services from your company name to your plastic bags it should create an impact to the consumer and later create your brand.

This New Year can be a good start for a more frugal lifestyle. This will allow you to spend less than you earn, and use the difference to pay off debt,

save or invest.
It is important to know how much money you have in the bank and how much is your monthly expenses, so you can begin to make your decision on how to spend your money wisely
Let’s try to give it a shot living a frugal lifestyle.

Buy used things – if you need something try to look for a used stuff in some garage sale, this could give you a lot of savings.

Eat out less – stop eating or dining out, you can always prepare something nutritious in your kitchen.

Buy used books or borrow from the library – you can buy used books from the campus if your kids needed it, there’s nothing wrong in using old books. Or if you can borrow some at the library much better.

Don’t use credit card – it will always put you in debt if not used with discipline.

Stop impulse buying – most of us buy things that are not really important, they just wanted it, Stop that habit.

Go with one Car – if not necessary use only one car to save up in gas. Or do not use the car if you can just walk down the streets to buy something.

Get a Small House – go with a small house if you have small family, this will help in saving up in household expenses. Live in as small a house as you can and still be comfortable.

Bring your own lunch – if you can brown bag your lunch at the office do it, instead of eating out.

Use coupons - most magazines offer some discount coupons which you may use in the grocery, but remember to buy only what you need.

Quit or lessen your vices -   try quitting your evil habit of smoking, drinking or gambling. This will make a big savings.

Cancel subscriptions – cancel some magazine subscriptions, you don’t need it anyway, you can always use the internet to search on anything you need.

Get rid of debts - start paying all your debts and avoid making another mistake.

Reduce convenient store foods - stop eating microwaveable foods and packed junk foods, this cost you more than preparing your own snack.
 
Frugal lifestyle could save you from a ton of debt later down the road. With the current state of the economy, it is more important to plan for your financial future. Learning how to get the best deal on everything that you buy is important.

Want to get rid of those tons of bills you are receiving monthly?

A lot of people spend more than what they earn and end up in debt. Why become one of them if you can do something to reduce your expenses. I know it’s a big challenge for people who love to go shopping and outspend their income monthly, but have you ever thought how much you could an save if you trimmed down some unnecessary expenses?
Here, let me give you some ways that can help you

cut down some of your expenses while still having fun:

Internet Provider.
Try to look for a much cheaper provider, if you are using the internet just for research and documentation you don’t need a super-fast connection, get an internet speed that is appropriate for your needs. It may not be a lot, but it can really help you reduce your bills.

Energy & Water.
This kind of bills are carved in stone, the only way we can reduce this is by using less, it’s something hard at first but if you just pay attention to the basics you can save a lot.
Let me give you some pointers here, take a look at those lights left on, appliances that are not plugged off, say a television that is turned off but not plugged off still consumes a little bit of electricity, so make it a habit to plugged it off after using any of those appliances that you have.
Watch out for that water left running, this can really cut cost and help you revive your budget. Just observe and make a record of your previous bills and compare, try to experiment and look for better ways to revive your budget. You will see a drastic improvement and I’m pretty sure of that.

Food
Give this a try, see how long you can go just by eating the food in your house, I’ve tried this one for myself and I lasted for a month or so. It is also wise to lessen eating out of the restaurant, you will be surprise how much money you can save just by lessening your cravings for your favorite restaurants. Coupons and discounts are also valuable ways to save money on food.

Miscellaneous.
Haircuts, manicures, clothes shopping, groceries etc… These are the first thing you should take consideration when cutting your cost, cause these are the most typical source of overspending.
A newspaper or magazine subscription is not a necessity so you can cut it off easily. Switching brands can be a good cost cutting measure, make a switch on a much cheaper brand, but do not compromise quality, if you will just look harder there are lots you can find on.

I’m not saying that the road to cut cost is easy, actually it’s going to be a rough road to get into, but it’s worth all your effort.

Comparing savings accounts can be time consuming. First of all you need to do some extensive reasearch to find the right information, then you need to learn what are the most important factors in making your decision.
To make this task easier, we have compiled a list of 5 tips, which should help maximising your savings.

1: Make sure you check the end date of the interest rate as a high interest rate could be just a promotional rate, which expires in a few months time, or an introductory rate for the first few months of a new account.

2: Compare any conditions attached to the interest rate. As you may be required to make a minimum deposit to be rewarded with the interest rate offered.

3: Make sure there are no minimum or maximum account balance fees.

4: Make sure the financial institution does not charge you to open an online-based high interest savings account.
You should also look to avoid any transaction fees for deposits,withdrawals and any fees when you go to withdraw your final savings amount.

5: Insure optimum access to your savings account. Make sure you can open, activate and access all of your account details online? If not online, does your savings account have an all-hours customer service centre on hand to help when you need them?

Hopefully these tips should help you save time and money!

For more information, check our

savings accounts comparison table