How to Live With Less

As we get nearer to a total credit card economy, getting ahead has become more important than staying out of debt. As people become overwhelmed by working ever harder to pay for more stuff, frugal living is a hot topic. Proponents of voluntary simplicity or living below your means (LBYM) make conscious spending decisions to live a full and rich life.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Set Up a Budget and audit your own spending habits. Compare your expenses (including debt) with your income. If you're consistently spending more than you earn, it'll be no surprise that you're carrying a larger and larger debt load.

2. Make a list of short-, medium- and long-term financial goals. List in detail what you'll have to give up in order to meet each. Give yourself a reasonable period of time to practice your new spending habits in order to see progress.

3. Go through your belongings and cull as much as you can.

4. Favor quality over quantity, and buy the best you can afford. You'll save money in the long run since high-quality items last longer and require less maintenance. This applies to adult clothing, furniture, electronics and cars. On the other hand, buy used quality kids' clothing and toys every chance you get.

5. Use cash as much as possible, and debit cards for household bills and purchases so the money is immediately deducted from a checking account at no interest.

6. Put a small percentage of each paycheck into a savings account.

7. Refinance your mortgage at lower interest rates after paying off high-interest loans first.

8. Consolidate credit card debt in a low-equity line of credit or low-interest credit card.

9. Cancel needless subscriptions. Get rid of magazines you don't read, cut off your cable and pick up a book from the library instead.

Tips & Warnings

• Charges made using your debit card are automatically deducted from your checking account--and therefore are interest-free.
• Barter everything--babysitting to sewing to carpentry and plumbing--with family and friends. Type "barter groups" into a search engine for a wide range of bartering sites, groups and links.
• Buy pre-owned quality items.
• Cruise secondhand and thrift stores for quality and designer clothes at a fraction of their original price.

[talia203]

on 3/15/2009 I recently statred a blog about how to stretch your buck! You should check it out...it is about healthy

[Vipdaddy415]

on 1/8/2009 Liked the advice, simular to Dave Ramsey ideas, good talk show, i listened to it for years.

[offgrid]

on 12/23/2008 I'm trying to live with less. Thanks for the suggestions. We all need to reduce, reuse and recycle our way out of this mess.

on 3/24/2006 The Internet is a valuable resource. You can live without a great many media sources by using this one tool. If you need to stay caught up on the latest television shows it is very easy to watch them on a computer. The computer is an item many individuals cannot live without so include what you can into a single source.