Living a FRUGAL life

My husband and I have decided we really need to start living frugally. We aren’t big spenders, and aside from my husband’s truck loan, we have NO debt, so we are doing pretty well. However, we need to try to SAVE more money and build up on our savings.

We plan to buy a house soon, it will be our first. Not only do we need to save up for a down payment and closing costs, but I still want to have money left over. Emergency funds are so important! We also need to get used to having less money each month because we’ll have a mortgage to pay.

We are currently living in a home owned by my parents, so we only pay utilities. And yes, even the utilities seem to be too much sometimes – especially when winter is around the corner and the rush to stock up on heating fuel feels like a race to the mall on Christmas Eve! I was thinking of considering the alternative of going green with more alternative fuel options like Bioheat (you could read up on Bioheat fuel FAQs here for better information) as it is something that can substantially reduce our utility bills and improve the life cycle for the HVAC unit as well. It is still a coin-toss right now, so we will see when the time comes!

But honestly, we can call ourselves really lucky because my parents’ home has proven to be a boon for us! It has given us a lot but now that we have decided to move out and get something of our own, it all feels like a big responsibility. The house we buy will be an investment property, which we can give it out for rent. That being said, we may need to do a bit of research to find out a suitable investment property (probably with the help of a real estate agent Lynchburg) that can cost us low and give better returns through rent. But in order to get the rates for first-time home buyers, we need to live in it for a minimum of 1 year before we can rent it out. We may need to move to this house as soon as possible once the buying process is completed, so a local moving company nyc could be of assistance in making the process as smooth and seamless as possible. It could help us reduce the time gap required to rent out the property.

Here are some ways we are currently living “frugally”

• Shopping at Yard / Garage Sales for clothes, toys and other things we may need

  We just started a monthly food budget. We’ll try to do it for $300/month and see how that goes. We plan to put the $300 in a “grocery” envelope, and try to make it last the whole month. (In the past we never had a food budget and never kept track of how much we spent. we just always bought what we needed trying to buy the cheapest version of the item we needed.)

  Dinner Meal Planning I just started meal planning last week and it worked well. I think it will help us to use the foods we already have in our home rather then buying more. I look through our freezer and pantry and plan our weekly dinners according to the foods we have. We buy the few items we may need to complete a meal)

  Canceled Netflix (although it didn’t cost much, It does add up. We realized we really weren’t using it often enough to justify paying for it)

  Stopped buying paper plates I do NOT enjoy washing the dishes at all. So, I was always sure to have paper plates available to lessen the amount of dishes in the sink! Well, paper plates aren’t a necessity, so that’s one of the things we decided we didn’t need. So yes, unfortunately I DO have more dishes to wash, BUT at least we’re SAVING some money.

  Save money on energy bills The cost of electricity is a common problem for every household, including mine. Due to the availability of specific appliances for nearly every household chore, it is common for families to incur high energy bills. In my opinion, it can be prevented by choosing appliances that are both energy-efficient and serve the purpose efficiently. In most cases, I consider examining different types of furnaces (or any other appliances that I’m looking for) based on their power rating, which can help me control energy costs. Along with that, I think regular maintenance and repairs of these appliances can reduce energy consumption too.

  RECYCLE Here in Hawaii we get $0.05 back for each aluminum can or bottle you recycle, It isn’t much but it does add up.

  Use Coupons I must admit I’m not the greatest at shopping with coupons, but I do try to use them as much as possible. I don’t seem to find many coupons for the products I need to buy. I used to use a site called A Full Cup where you can trade coupons, or find others who are giving away coupons for products you might need, but it’s been a while since I went on, I just need to make the time. I did just save $3.00 off a box of diapers yesterday, so I was happy about that!

  Eat at Home Whenever we eat out, we end up spending so much money. So, we rarely do it.

  Living off the Land We get some of our food for free. We have fruit trees such as bananas and tangerines and my family farms taro which is a starch similar to a potato. It’s leaves, when cooked are like spinach. My husband dives for fish and tako (octopus) and wants to start hunting for wild pigs. By getting these foods for free, it definetely helps with our food budget.

  So, do you live a FRUGAL life? What are some of the ways you live frugally?