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How to live frugally

Just buy the house you need. If you are content in a 1-bedroom apartment then buy a 2-bedroom condo. If you are content in a 2-bedroom condo then buy a 3-bedroom townhouse. Only buy a house when you need it. When you just buy what you need you save enormously on mortgage interest, property taxes, utilities and maintenance every year. Too many people jump from living in small quarters to buying a house. They buy more than they need and end up paying a large price for that unneccessary space. Contrary to what real estate agents may tell you, a home is a liability , not an asset. You can minmize the size of the liability buy buying small .

Pay off your mortgage and other loans as soon as possible. Always aim for a 10-year or 15-year loan and overpay your monthly payments. Basically you are paying yourself a guranteed rate of return equivalent to your loan interest rate. Which bank or stock market can guarantee the same rate of return as your loan rate? The answer is none! So that is why it is best to pay off your mortgage first before trying to invest too much in other investments. Some diversification is good, but the best investments are those with zero risk and high returns, which is the same as paying off your mortgage.

Make your food from scratch . You are probably thinking that takes a lot of work and is not worth your time. Actually you can automate and mass produce your favourite recipes . I like to eat a lot of lentils and beans . These I cook in bulk and freeze in small containers to eat when I need . I also have a bread maker and yogurt maker which saves quite a bit of money. Food made from near scratch tastes noticeably better and is much healthier for you. Typically food like wheat flour, sugar and beans offer very high calories per dollar of cost. The more processed the food, the lower the calories you get per dollar spent.

Bike to work and take advantage of public transportation. I am able to multiply the value of my time by accomplishing all the following by biking to work:

A bike is a much simpler machine than a car so is cheaper to mantain. While it costs 20-50 cents a mile to drive a car, it only costs 1-5 cents a mile to ride a bike. Of course your appetite will increase with bike commuting, but read my previous advice on making food from scratch and buying high calorie per dollar natural ingredients. I also use public transportation with my bike commuting on days when I am tired to ride the way back home. I put my bike on the bus on its rack.

Shop at thrift stores. While 99.9% of stuff at thrift stores is junk, it is that 0.1% you are after. I have picked up many fantastic unused items for next to nothing. As the saying goes, " one man's junk is another man's treasure ". I make it a habit to visit my favourite local thrift store every few weeks. I rarely come back disappointed.

Lower your thermostat to 55 in winter and never use the AC in summer. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on your heating bill, I just put on a few extra layers of wool and don a cap ! I also use a simple space heater in my computer room. Rather than heat the whole house, you just heat the area you need. Some fingerless gloves are also useful if your hands are prone to getting numb. Believe it or not, I get the deepest and soundest sleep when my room is at 55 F. Your dreams are very vivid. Within 10-20 minutes the bed warms up to your body temperature and you find yourself snug in a warm cacoon that you never want to get out of!

Also the low temperature prevents me from taking naps in the late afternoon/evening. So I am forced to stay up till midnight, at which time I can look forward to a solid night's rest. I would lower my thermostat even lower were it not for the risk of pipes freezing.

Similarly I never use the AC in the summer. I keep the house dark during the day to prevent the home from heating up. And at night I use window fans to blow the cool air from outside in.

Dont't get cable, just watch PBS and local channels . Cable TV wastes money and your time. There is too much programming trying to grab your attention. The shows are over-hyped, exagerated and give you a distorted view of reality. PBS has many great programs you can rely on for unbiased education. For your comedy needs, the local channels, of CBS, NBC and FOX provide plenty to satisfy.

Take advantage of credit card and bank promotions. See my article on this here.

Freecycle. Freecycle is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Freecycles mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills .

Basically you can sign up for a local freecycle list through yahoo groups and post ads to get rid of stuff do not need. You can also browse posts to find things others are giving away. Everything is given away free with no strings attached. You can also use craigslist 'Free Stuff' category for the same purpose. For bigger cities, craigslist is better. In smaller cities Freecyle is probably all there is.

Take advantage of your library and used books

I buy almost all my books used from Amazon for 1 cent plus whatever shipping is. I have bought over 100 books and only once did I receive a defective book. And even that defective book which was an audiocassette, I was able to hear. The trick is to invest in a walkman which you can get from ebay or walmart for cheap. Then you will find a huge selection of audiobooks on tape for cheap since nobody listens to tapes anymore.

Slowly become vegetarian Meats are expensive and a nuisance to cook. Plus they stink in your garbage . Vegetables are healthier and tastier. In vegetables you can find many flavors and tastes. Consequently food is much more interesting to eat. Vegetable have been on the earth a lot longer than animals. They are much simpler in the evolution of life so are time-tested. They serve as the building blocks of more complex organisms. So you can be assured that by eating them you are not doing your body any harm.

Meats on the other hand, are bland and one-dimensional. There are also ethical considerations about eating meat. Does an animal really have to die to feed us? If we are ok with killing animals for selfish reasons, then what prevents us from killing each other?

My suggestion is to slowly but steadily reduce red meat first from your diet. Then move on to chicken. I do not have a problem with eating these once in a while depending on circuumstance. Just make incremental steps towards a more vegitarian diet.

Cut your own hair.

A decent quality electric clippers is all you need to give yourself a short haircut. It does not look like a crew cut or buzzcut but it is a length that is typicly considered a men's cut. If you don't want really short hair you might want to find another option.

These can be bought for $30-50 from amazon.com