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CLEVER SHOPPING: Looking out for sales saves you money.

 Bulk cook meals and freeze the extra portions and leftovers for another day 

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Living frugally will help you to get the most out of your money.

It's not impossible to change the habits of a lifetime and switch to a lower cost way of living and once you get started, you'll wonder why you didn't do this years ago!

It's easy to spend money. Anyone can do it. It doesn't take ingenuity or initiative. That's why the satisfaction that comes from buying new things is often short-lived.

But the satisfaction that you get from living frugally and meeting your needs in a low-cost, sustainable way never fades.

And it's that satisfaction that drives you to hunt down even more ideas on saving.

When you find yourself unwilling to throw out an empty plastic bottle because you could find a good use for it, that's when you know you've got the bug.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that making cost-cutting choices means going without and being miserable.

All you are doing is making sure that you get the best value for your money. After all, you traded your time and worked hard to get that money, so why waste it?

Saving money on everyday expenses means that you won't end up stuck in the misery of credit card debt, struggling to meet the minimum payments every month, while the balance hardly shrinks at all.

Deciding not to spend hours each week shopping, or thinking about shopping, gives you valuable free time.

Ideas for saving

• Shop for produce at a local farm stand.
• Grow your own produce.
• Rear your own chickens for eggs and meat if you can.
• Never buy coffee, cooldrinks, or other drinks or snacks out. Take a small flask of your preferred drink out with you.
• Always grocery shop with a list. Only deviate from your list if you come across a sale.
• Never shop when you are hungry, you will always buy more. Take advantage of sales on items that you would usually buy.
• Only shop once a month. Keep a price book and track prices by unit cost. Take a calculator with you when you go shopping to make this easier.
• Stock up on staples when prices are low. Buy store own-brand items where possible.
• Plan meals according to what is on sale that week. Don't buy if the shop doesn't have a sale item that you need.
• Buy enough of a sale item to last 12 weeks. That's about how long sales take to cycle.
• Eat less meat.
• Eat leftovers. Bulk cook meals and freeze the extra portions and leftovers.
• Scrape out food jars to use the last little bit.
• Cook from scratch.
• Don't eat out. Pack lunches to eat at work/school.
• Eat smaller portions.
• Always have a meal plan.
• Freeze soup stocks.
• Don't drink cooldrinks - drink water.

- self-sufficient-living.com

Comments

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Wed May 22 10:55:07 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 20, 2011

Theeletsang

I'm trying this tips but with meat its so hard,my plate without more meat is incomplete i can die ,however i rely on chicken,fish and turkey only,hope i'l reduce the intake
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Sep 20, 2011

TKay

Those ideas are making me laugh - do you know what it takes to grow your own garden and rear chicken...the only ones that are realistic are eating out; take lunch to work/school; cook from scratch
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Sep 20, 2011

maditaba

@I'm starting my own garden this year. I keep throwing away vegetables.

I live in a complex and I'm not sure if they will agree to me having chickens. Otherwise I would have given it a try.
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Sep 21, 2011

cox$pus

The great one here has a few tips to add:

1. On the vegetable garden, just remember crops are not the same. You can plant between 16 and 24 carrots on an A4 sized piece of land. If, you are a small household of two you may opt for smaller varieties of cabbages. Remember, variety is the spice of life. Don't overcrowd your plot with one crop, eg: 1 tomatoe shrub, 4 Cabbages, 24 carrots, 10 onins3 green pepper shrubs can all be planted on a 1 X 3m garden plot.

2. Vaccum seal and refrigirate extra harvest and left overs, this way you will preserve the freshness for longer.


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