So Frugalicious!

I was reading the Giddy Tigress’ tips for being frugal and found myself agreeing whole heartedly with her tips. Well, except for the cloth menstrual pads bit. I’m unfortunately going to have to continue spending hardearned money on that bit of luxury in my life!

So what do you reckon Paris B’s frugal tips are? Let me set down 5 lifestyle tips for saving money, which I have been putting in practice for some time, not just with the recent fuel hike.

1) Don’t have a maid

Why have the stress of letting someone else intrude into your home life? If all you are keeping a maid for is to clean the house, then you can do it yourself. Besides ending up with a clean house, you end up with muscles in your arms from wringing out the mop; strong thigh muscles from squatting down to scrub the bathroom floor and a trim tummy from bending up and down to clean your shelves.

I complain a lot about cleaning house and I do toy with the idea of getting in someone part time just to clean and iron but at the end of the day, I’d rather just keep the money and get my little bit of exercise. Besides if you split up the tasks so you do a little a day it doesn’t add up to very much in the end.

2) Cancel your gym membership

#1 above takes care of the exercise and if you leave the fan off, you even have a free sauna too on a hot day! If you live in a condominium, why are you joining a gym anyway?! Just pop down to the condo pool and do 20 laps a day. Guaranteed you’ll feel better. Besides you are already paying all those maintenance fees - might as well use the facilities!

3) Dine in when possible

Cooking isn’t hard. If you ask me, people who say they can’t cook are just lazy. With a little bit of effort, anyone can cook. It might not be as delicious as what you will get in a restaurant, but it will be healthier without all the excess oil and MSG and its a lot cheaper too! Along the way, you’ll polish up some domestic skills which may stand you in good stead. Cleaning up? Now that’s another matter altogether. We Malaysians take eating out so much for granted, that I think many of us have stopped appreciating it. Aim to dine out less and when you do, you can afford to eat nicer stuff in a nicer place and enjoy yourself better too.

For myself, I’m picking up baking too to. Having a new kitchen and oven helps! Then again, I do enjoy cooking and baking. I find it therapeutic. My sis says I’m a Martha Stewert wanna be. If only!

4) Have a discount card? Use it!

Hands up who finds their wallet bursting with all sorts of plastic cards from the many retailers and stores. I’m not even getting to credit cards yet! Look through your loyalty and discount cards terms and promotions and see where you can use them to get discounts. I don’t like the idea of points because points just encourage you to spend more. But getting a discount is different. Even 10% is better than nothing. So, either plan your purchases from certain stores in advance and use the cards, or ask at the cashier counter which credit cards or loyalty cards offer discounts. Its your money so spend it wisely!

Sometimes, I come across newspapers or magazines with discount coupons in them. You may notice that TM is sending out some coupons with their telephone bills too. See which are suitable and clip them out.

5) Cut down on Electricity

Ditch the electrical items you don’t need or can live without. Do you have an electric kettle or those electrical keep warm pump flask things? They suck electricity like crazy so ditch them.

Still using normal filament bulbs? Time to change to a twirly swirly energy saving bulb.

Limit the number of lights you have on. Not only does lower lighting create a cosier more romantic mood at home, it saves you electricity too. But not at the cost of your sight of course so have proper reading lights.

Use the home computer less - blog from work. LOL….

Ok some of the tips are made in jest but not without an element of truth in them. I’ve made these lifestyle changes for a while now and honestly, although I’m paying about RM110 for a full tank of petrol now, I’m not quite feeling the pinch as severely so I still do have my other little luxuries and the rest of my lifestyle that I’ve gotten accustomed to doesn’t need to suffer quite as much.

Did you feel the need to make a drastic lifestyle change after the fuel hike?

Have a happy weekend everyone!

Some other Related posts: