Better Living > Frugal Living > TipsDecember 28, 2009

Simple Tips For Frugal Living

I just read that when we buy bottled water, we throw away 2.5 million bottles each hour! And the water isn't even better for us than tap. I am convinced that this is why the original bottled water was named Evian, which is Naive spelled backwards!

Also, pay your bills electronically. It saves 18.5 million trees and 15.5 billion (yes with a "B") gallons of water to process it.

When you want to buy something extravagant, do this first. Take your yearly gross income, take off 25% for taxes. Take the net you make and divide by 2000 hours, the average a person works per year. When you get your hourly net wage, divide that into the cost of the item and see how many hours you will have to work for that item.

That $100.00 pair of shoes might not seem so cool when you make $10.00 per hour net and have to work 10 hours to buy it.

Sage advice!

Source: Woman's World this year.

By Poor But Proud from Yorktown, VA

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By
12/30/2009

Very Good Advice! Well thought out too.

I caution readers to keep a balanced point of view though.

Some regions have unsafe tap water and/or questionable pipes bringing water into their homes.
In these cases other sources of water are needed and a blessing.

Also, paying bills on-line is a time saver, paper saver, even a headache saver to many computer savvy people.

However, it is also the activity that identity thieves count on when they hack into personal home computers. There is such software that allows criminals to read what you are keying into your computer.
Unless you have good internet security protocols in place, I think the good old fashioned way of paying bills is the safest and most beneficial to the average person in the long run.

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Simple Tips For Frugal Living

Here are a few mini-tips, which you all may already practice:

  • After pouring the last cup of coffee, I put in a little water, top off my cup with that coffee water, then finish rinsing the pot.
  • If we eat a sandwich and don't dirty up a plate, it's placed in the refrigerator and re-used at the next meal.
  • We don't have city water and must use a cistern, so we do stop-and-go showers, turning on and off as needed.
  • We have some lamps and radios we leave unplugged until we need one on. We also unplug the phone charger every morning for the day.
  • The final tip is to turn off the computer screen when away from the desk for a few minutes, but especially when turning off the computer for the night. I read somewhere that doing that could save $40-$50 annually.

Source: I'm sorry, I don't remember where I read the electricity-saving tips on unplugging items when not in use.

By Vicky from Central KY

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Shared on: 06/23/2011

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When I asked my DH if he had any frugal tips he said "Marry a frugal wife" :)

By Melanie


RE: Frugal Living Tip

Wouldn't a "frugal wife" already be married? ;-) (11/29/2004)

By Scott

RE: Frugal Living Tip

LOL! (06/06/2006)

By Debbie52


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