Frugal Lifestyle

Save Money on Your Bills

* Enroll on automatic payment deduction

* This is where the company will pull money from your credit card, checking account every month without you getting involved with it. Your job is to make sure money is there to avoid overdraft 

* Pay online for free: Most banks offer online bill pay for free for personal accounts 

* Pay online directly on company websites 

* Don’t have a computer, send your money 10 days early to ensure enough time for posting

* Pay with credit card/debit card but don’t pay a fee, use the free system (IVR) that most companies offer

* Don’t be late on your bills, this will save you $200-$500 dollars a year depending on your bills

* Avoid over draft fees, this is the killer, most of these fees are $25-35 per  transaction

* Try to get money from your own  ATM bank instead of another bank's ATM, they charge hefty fees now days from $1:75-$2:50 per  transaction, this adds up real quick if you're not careful. An option is to get money from grocery store

* Never by all meets use cash advance option. This is sure to take all your money before you even know how much your paycheck will be.

Save Money While Staying 

* Believe me when I tell you this, the gyms are good place to exercise, but it’s a money pit. Think about $25 for membership, $10 for aerobic class, and $10 for boxing, $5 for dancing lessons. Before you know it you have spend $600 a year.

* Better option is to walk. It is free and good for you. You are outside where you can breath fresh air

* Also, you can buy the equipment for your home e.g, treadmill, bicycle and use it at the comfort of your home anytime or day 24/7

* Even without a machine you can still  do the following exercises: sit ups, pushup, stretching, jumping rope, using a chair

Saving Money On Bulk:

• People  don’t want to spend the on membership fees for $50-$60, yet they will go out and spend more than that on dinner. Buying things in bulk saves us money and also keeps us from running back and forth to the store every week and spending more.

• Buying in store like Cosco, Sams, BJ’s is economical for a lot of items.

• Paper goods: Paper towels, Toilet Paper, bathing soap, laundry detergent, paper plates, napkins

• Food: Eggs, Cereal, bread Jams, fish, chicken, and other items you might need in big quantities.

To save money and not go over budget, you would need to buy what you need and not what you “want”. Once you pickup all the things you need, head out as quickly as possible to avoid adding anything else to your list. When you arrive at the counter, weed out unnecessary items in your the cart.

If the cashier is looking at you funny, just ignore her/him. They are not paying for your groceries.  It’s the store’s responsibility to return back all the items to where it belongs. Remember your mission here is not to overspend.

Having a list will guide to what you went to the store to purchase. If you don't you will get home only to find out that some of the things you really needed are not in the items you just brought home. That is because you were picking things you thought you might need later. Watch out impulse buying will drain all your money.