Some Mostly-Pain-Free Cheap Living Tips

Okay…without any further adieu (or adoo or whatever), now for some real-deal cheap living tips, in no particular order:

Cheap Living Tip # 1: Spend Less Than You Earn

I know this may seem like I’m over-stating the obvious, but many people have skipped over this very vital core principle. If you can’t master this one, you might as well forget trying to make sense of anything you’re doing financially. Just think about it…if your kitchen sink was stopped up and you had the faucet running full blast, the water is going to start spilling over the side and onto the floor. You can sit there and mop up water all day long, but if you never turn the faucet off, you have no hope of getting the full mess cleaned up. Just like I’ve heard it said before—“If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING!” This is an imperative step in learning how to live on the cheap.

What this means is that you’re going to need to start tracking where your money is going. Not only should you be tracking where it’s going, but also track how much you’re bringing in—and use realistic figures when you do so…this means your NET income, not your gross. It’s easy to say “I make $40,000 a year”, but that’s just not reality once you factor in your income tax. So make sure you have an accurate picture of how much net income you have coming in every week, or bi-week, or month, or whatever your payment cycle is.

Also, when I said to track where your money is going, that means keeping track of your receipts. I don’t know how many times I pull up at a gas pump and see a receipt hanging out of the little pump dashboard thing…someone just made a credit card purchase and didn’t bother to track that expense. You have to keep receipts and track EVERY expense, down to the penny, so that you can see where your money is actually going, versus where you think it’s going (I’m going to cover this more in another post). This tip alone will save you a world of trouble. I once heard a billionaire say “The secret to wealth is simple—spend less than you earn.” I can’t say it any better than that.

Cheap Living Tip # 2: Wash Your Laundry in Cold Water

Some people are hot water addicts when it comes to washing clothes…not the kid here. I have learned that it really doesn’t make that big of a difference, as far as how clean your clothes get, whether you wash them in hot water or cold water. The difference in clean may not even be noticeable, but the difference in your power and heating bills will definitely be seen. Simply put, it costs you more money if you wash your clothes in hot water, so switch to cold. Nuff said on this one.

Cheap Living Tip # 3: Use the Library

I know that Barnes & Noble and other bookstores are all the rage right now, and you can really meet some amazingly intellectual people there with whom you can share a Grande MochaSloppy Macchiato Frappa-Latte in the café, but you will also find that your expenses for buying books there (as well as the $35.00 specialty coffee drink) may put a drain on the wallet. So I recommend hitting up your local library—they’re a lot better nowadays about stocking their shelves with books that were actually printed in the 21st century, so it won’t be a waste of your time. You can also, with many libraries, check out DVD movies and/or music CD’s for free—beats Blockbuster by a mile, although the selection won’t be as expansive, obviously.

Okay, I just realized that I’m turning this post into a thesis or something, so I’m going to stop here and pick up with more cheap living tips in a coming post. Again, only if my attention span will allow it.