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Going Into Frugality Mode -- What are your Tricks and Tips

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zridling:
I've been doing frugal since I left college... 25 years ago! Something that being $161,000 in debt causes. But here are pieces of my ascetic lifestyle:


* Cultivate cheap hobbies. Hunting, fishing, season tickets to Pro sports, motorcycles, etc. will eat you alive over the years.

* Switch to free, open source software (knowing I won't be paying for the next MS Office or Win7 tickles me)

* Instead of upgrading your entire computer, upgrade only your motherboard, chip, and memory. Save the spare parts just in case.

* Turn out the lights (the old man was right about this one)

* Drive that used car until the gas tank falls off. A car for most of us is a necessity, but a new one isn't.

* Never ever get involved in a lawsuit, and if you do, settle. You'll be pissed, but you'll save money.

* Don't buy expensive furniture. Why do you care what someone thinks. Unless you entertain regularly at you home, forgettttaboutit.

* Cancel as many subscriptions as you can live without, including cable TV (nod to mouser), and stop spending so much money on that damn phone. It's the single most profitable item ever invented.

* Combine trips to the store, to a friend's house, to an appointment, etc.

* If it doesn't come in a box or a can, I can't cook it. (I don't have the patience.)

* If you can manage it, work off the grid, and don't pay taxes. The government will always throw it away on someone/something other than what you want from it. (And no, I don't give a fap about a new runway.)

* If you subscribe to porn sites, cancel the subscription the same day. Most sites offer you a half price discount if you stay signed up. But with broadband you can download all the site's content in a day. Or just wait to find it on Usenet.

Deozaan:
We also use VoIP for all our Phone calls, which reduced our phone bill from hundreds to less than a hundred.-Perry Mowbray (January 26, 2009, 05:47 PM)
--- End quote ---

My wife and I were getting a really good deal on my mother's Family Plan cell phone service. But then my mother decided she wanted to switch carriers and spend $100 a month on a service that was only for one person instead of for 4 people, and she told us to find our own cell plan.

So we looked at our options of having cell phones or a land line, and ultimately decided to get neither of them. We bought a subscription to Skype and also "purchased" a phone number from them. Total cost = $60 for an entire year of phone service. $60 is about 2 months of land-line service here and just over a month of service on the most basic cell phone plan. :Thmbsup:

Not only is it nice to save all that money on phone service, but it's also very nice to never hear the phone ring. Life is so much simpler without a phone interrupting everything.  :-*

Josh:
Life is so much simpler without a phone interrupting everything.  :-*
-Deozaan (January 27, 2009, 12:18 AM)
--- End quote ---

Until you are in an on-call position and don't hear the phone ring and miss a 2 hour recall for your unit.

Djiezes:
I happen to know these circumstances very well, so here are my 2 cents (they're free ;-):

* If you don't need a car, then don't buy one / get rid of it. Especially when you live in a city, you can opt for this & choose public transport. If there is an occasions when you do need one, just ask a friend or family and offer to pay for the gasoline (most of the time they won't accept that offer).
* Do all your groceries in a cheap store (we've got Aldi & Lidl here in Europe) and don't buy other stuff than what you need and buy there.
* Cook yourself, and don't go out eating.
* Recreational activities: do something with your friends without spending (much) money. For example: organize poker nights, those are cheap + you can win something too). If you organize such activities at your home, make a pot & share all costs (drinks, chips, etc...)
* Limit or refrain from doing unnecessary expenses: no theatre, cinema, buying music. Don't be afraid to use the internet as entertainment channel & get rid of your cable tv. Download your music & video from the nets (+ there's a lot of free & legal stuff too on the net).
* Do not buy new stuff if it isn't broken yet. Don't upgrade your computer, etc.
* Stimulate a cheap hobby, for example: digital photography, walking, reading, writing ; put a stop on hobbies that cost you (gym membership, etc.). Go to the library in stead of buying books.
* Turn out lights, close doors, get rid of lightbulbs & choose the less power hungry variants.
* Sell stuff you dont need on ebay.
* Track your expenses & evaluate what costs you too much, get rid of that / replace it with something cheaper but equally valuable.

Stoic Joker:

* Cultivate cheap hobbies. Hunting, fishing, season tickets to Pro sports, motorcycles, etc. will eat you alive over the years.
-zridling (January 26, 2009, 10:24 PM)
--- End quote ---
Oh no, you don't get to pick on my hole-card. When gas here hit $4.25 a gallon I parked my truck which ran $60+ to fill (a week), and got my 1987 Harley FLHTP back on the road (Dress up job be damned). My scoot gets 54mpg and will still go 0-60 in under 3sec ... Try that in a Toyota Prius ;)

Beyond that my job is my hobby (60-70+hr weeks), I have always done all of the general household/vehicle/etc. repairs (altho at 44 it's starting to take longer), and the wife and I haven't "Gone Out" much in years.

*Sigh*

These days my life is to boaring to be expensive. :( ...I did try to quit smoking awhile back, and was then told not to as a public safety issue (guess I was a bit tense that day...) :)

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