Purchases

Stretching Your Materials

When you’re short on cash, one of the best ideas to conserve is to make the things (both goods and services) you have previously purchased last longer.  For example, instead of buying new clothes, try preserving the ones you currently have and wearing them for a longer amount of time.  Also, instead of getting a new haircut every month, try growing out your hair and going for that look.  This can go even bigger.  Do you really need to get a new car?  Does your old auto still function?  Why not try getting even more use out of your existing auto instead of buying a new one?  If you wait one year, you’ll get a later model anyways.  This method of saving money is highly effective and you’ll start noticing the differences in your budget while stretching out what you currently have and becoming more efficient in a difficult economic terrain.

Be Frugal

We’re in tougher economic times and if you think that will change because of a Congressional bailout then you are mistaken. Because nobody is going to bail you out, you must independently become smarter about your money and how you accumulate wealth. You don’t have to be rich or old to start thinking about money. If you’re old enough to spend money, you’re old enough to start thinking about it.

One way to put more money into your pocket is to not spend/burn the money you have. This idea is so fundamentally simple, yet millions of Americans throw it to the garbage. In fact, if more Americans were smarter with their money, you wouldn’t even be hearing the word “bailout” over and over again.

Frugality is a quality many Americans need a lesson in. I’m not advocating never purchasing any luxury item again, but I am suggesting that you research and use diligence when buying.

More detail to come in later blog entries.