How to spend money wisely

Living frugally – *yawn* you might say.

When we hear the word “frugal”, we tend to think of having to turn your friends down when they invite you out on the town, sitting at home in the dark with old clothes, teeth chattering because you’ve got the heater off and your sweater’s full of holes. 

In fact, it might surprise you how easy it is to cut down your expenses with a planning and patience.

Putting in some effort upfront to plan and systemize your spending can really take the stress out of frugal living in the years to come.

Is it worth it? Absolutely! The more you recollect for every pound spent, the more savings you will have for future plans. To get started, here are some tips to spend money wisely.

Spend on quality where it counts

“Frugal” People tend to think that buying cheap, cheap, cheap all the time will save them money.

But no. Enter the world of “False Economics“.

The best way to explain False Economics is this: imagine you buy a cheap pair of boots, thinking you’d save money. After a couple of months, the shoes wear out. You do save money upfront, but you end up paying more over the long run.

Now compare that to buying a pair of shoes that may cost.. 2x more. If the shoes end up lasting you years (like 5x longer) then don’t you think that’d be worth it? 

Opt for generic label items

You might be surprised to know that generic labelled items and branded items are not very different, especially in the realm of groceries. 

The next time you head to the shopping mall, try this: If you need two of one kind of products (e.g. two types of baked beans). Then buy one can of each – a generic one, and a branded one. You’d be surprised to find that the difference is practically negligible. 

You could even swap out the branded stuff with the generic and give it to your family at meal time. If they don’t notice the difference, then you’re in the clear to keep buying the cheaper version!

You can do this trial on the most used items like canned food, pasta, medicine and cleaning products.

Actually, when you are buying a branded product, you are paying for the brand name instead of the product. Just something to keep in mind!

Online activities

If you are into online activities like gaming or shopping, there are even more ways to cut costs.

For instance, when it comes to online shopping, you can use coupons or special codes when buying expensive items. Or you could as well find the best price on different sites before buying the products. All it takes to get deals like these is to do a quick and simple Google search before you hit the checkout button.

Coupons and alternatives are usually plentiful.

When it comes to online gaming, you’ll want to go with a site that gives you the most bang for your buck. That means you should settle only for the site with various games and facilities. 

As I’ve waned time and again – you should only game in moderation. Some gaming sites even offer facilities that help you control your spending. That’s why I really like Lucky Pants Bingo, the bingo bonus site.

The site provides deposit limit facilities which will allow you to deposit only a limited amount of money on either a daily, weekly or monthly basis.For something like online slots, many of the best slot machines at Lucky Pants Bingo come with options like “Stop game when x amount has been won or lost”. You can apply these rules to monitor your gaming, without losing the fun!

Shopping Therapy: The Conclusion

Retail therapy is a good way to pamper yourself, however it is wiser to be patient. Learn to wait for the prices of outstanding outfits to fall, when the next collection comes out… else you will regret spending so much money on clothes, when you see the reduced-price tag. Or you could as well shop from the thrift shop. If you never tried thrift shopping, then you should give it a go as many items are new and might suit you.