ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Frugal Living Expenses

Updated on October 29, 2020
Pamela99 profile image

I'm interested in social issues, relationships, problems of daily living, jobs, exercise, poems and fiction, plus safer living conditions.

Source

What if I Want to Save My Money?

We live in a time when people want to save money but often barely make ends meet, and they are certainly more reluctant to spend. Small businesses are hurting, restaurants and various types of entertainment industries are complaining of less income. Many people are laid off. We are being told we need $250,000 when we retire just to cover medical expenses and bad news seems to crop up daily that makes you think twice about how you manage your money. So, what are some good saving money tips?

Money tips

There are many saving money ideas that you can utilize. First, I would recommend a software program like Quicken or Money to keep track of your expenditures, plus you can keep track of several accounts. I keep the checking, savings and retirement accounts in Quicken. Reconcile you accounts monthly. Try to save a little money monthly, even if it is only 5% in your 401K or savings account.

I also play a few little tricks since we are on a fixed income to make life run a little smoother. For instance, you can set up any deposit or bill to be automatically deposited or deducted on any account at a date of your choosing. I have all my regular monthly deposits set up, and my bills that are the same amount each month are entered automatically.

I transfer to my money market account $100 each mouth for car insurance. We pay car insurance semi-annually when the insurance is it due, I write the check after transferring the money back into my checking. I also deposit money for house taxes and insurance into savings each month, so we have enough to pay at the end of the year.

Buy a Little Red Car

source picasaweb.google
source picasaweb.google

Buy a Car Online

Another thing I have read more about lately is to buying a car on line. I despise walking into car dealerships as you know you are there for hours, playing games, talking to the salesman’s’ boss and so forth. Many dealerships have 2 sales teams, the ones in the showrooms and ones that negotiate over the internet. Since the traditional sales staff is paid mostly by commission they have an incentive to get as much money as possible out of your wallet.

Internet salespeople get paid by salary, plus a bonus for the number of cars they sell which motivates them to move more cars quickly. They will send you quotes, help with financing if necessary and will set up a test drive. You are not feeling that pressure that happens in the showrooms.

Source

Best Banking

Some bank and credit unions still have free checking. Many banks are tacking on fees to make up for lost revenue after a rule that went into effect July 1st requiring banks to have customers opt in to get overdraft protection. That doesn’t always take away your free checking but you need to watch carefully that you are not paying extra fees. Find a free checking account at community banks or credit unions. Some even pay 3% - 4% interest as long as you make 10-15 debit card purchases.

Formal Dress

source promgowndresses
source promgowndresses

Need to Rent a Formal Dress?

How about a formal or prom dress? You can easily spend hundreds of dollars for bridesmaid dresses or prom dresses. Try Rent the Runaway, a web site started by two Harvard grads that rents designer dresses from more than 40 big name designers.

For instance, a $1250 Herve Leger rents for $125, and a $440 Badgley Mischka rents for $50. They ship two sized automatically and they tack on a $5 insurance fee. They clean them after each wearing and retire them after they are worn 10-15 times. The site just added 5000 items to satisfy demand.

Frugal Decisions

  • Decline collision insurance for cars more than 10 years old.
  • Purchase a policy with a higher deductible (e. g. $500-$1000)
  • Eliminate rental reimbursement and towing coverage if you already have roadside assistance through AAA or another company.
  • Lower the payment for the uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage
  • Eliminate medical payments coverage if you are covered under personal health care insurance and PIP if you don't live in one of the 12 states requiring that coverage
  • Keep you driving record spotless if possible. Safe drivers pay less for insurance.

Insurance - Life, Auto, Home

Paying insurance premiums annually saves money. Monthly payments usually have some fee tacked on. Paying monthly, quarterly or semiannually results is what is called “fractional premiums. The annual interest charge maybe 9.5% to 29.7% according to insurance broker AccuQuote (which is a life insruance company), but the fractional premiums apply to all types of insurance. Typically insurances don’t disclose these fractional payments but you can figure in out yourself with the right calculator.

There are some generally promoted discounts by most auto insurance companies particularly for safety features. Ask your agent about:

  • New cars less than 3 years old
  • Cars with low theft statistics
  • Cars with safety features such as airbags, anti-theft devices and anti-lock breaks
  • Covering the care under the same insurance homeowners or other insurance from the same company


Medical Cost

Frequently health care is a problem financially, and we sure have to no way to know where we are headed with Obamacare. Your doctor is aware that your current insurance won’t pay for some services or portions of services. You have nothing to lose by asking your doctor for a discount on those services. You can offer to pay for some services up front or maybe set up a payment plan. You can always talk with the office manager instead of the doctor if that makes you uncomfortable. You have nothing to lose by asking.

How To Save Money By Eliminating 10 Things You Don't Need

More Ways to Save Money

We all love to go on vacations and sometimes you can work out a swap of homes with someone at a destination you would like to visit. You might have an old college friend, an army buddy or a family member that would swap houses briefly, so you each could visit anther city at a more affordable price.

Pet bills can be another problem as they tend to be very expensive. As a responsible pet owner check your pet for lumps each week as it only takes a few minutes. If you do this regularly you will immediately notice something out of the ordinary. You may pick up small growths, tumors, lumps or bumps that are easily treated when found early. Check you pet’s teeth periodically as well.

Do you want to start a college fund while your child is young? Check out upromise.com and sign up for rebates on everyday purchases. The money will accumulate in an account until you invest it in a 529 college savings plan or high-yield savings account. It will accumulate through the years without a lot of financial sacrifice on your part.

Save Money On Groceries

Save More Money

There are ways to save money on groceries. Try to go to the grocery store no more than once a week to avoid buying those extras that you may not need. Don’t go to the store when you are hungry. If you don’t mind cutting out coupons and checking ads, stock up when things are on sales, and use those coupons. You can save a lot of money monthly even though this takes a little effort. It is worth it as maybe that saving will buy you a night out on the town.

Saving money makes you feel more secure in a world that feels anything but secure at this time. You can build a little nest egg in case you get laid off. You can also plan for big purchases by managing your money more carefully. If you have any unexpected repair it feels good to know the money is in the bank. If you are able to save, the peace of mind is worth the effort.

How have you tried to save money?

What changes have you made this year to save money?

See results

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)