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People are constantly looking to save money without reducing their quality of life. The trick to saving money is to make frugality a habit; so you don’t even have to think about it. Here are 4 money saving tips you maybe overlooked that could save you substantial amounts of money over time:

1. Maintain Your “Things”: Everything has a limited lifespan, however, most items will have a longer useful lifespan if they are maintained properly. Maintaining your car is a prime example – keeping the oil changed, tires properly inflated, and brakes replaced regularly will help extend your car’s lifespan. Maintaining household appliances and clothing are other areas that you can extend the use and save money over having to replace them more frequently.

2. Shop Around: When you do have to buy something, take the extra time to bargain hunt. With the invention of such websites as pricegrabber.com and bizrate.com you can take a look at what many different retailers are selling the item you need for. Don’t forget to check the Consumer Reports guide (also online, consumerreports.org) before making a large purchase, as they offer unbiased reviews and advice for many products.

3. Discount Clothing: There are many ways to reduce the amount of money you spend on clothes that it seems a little ridiculous to spend $70 on a pair of jeans when you can get a similar pair for $20. Try shopping at outlet stores, or Cosco for reduced prices on clothing. If you’re up for it, you can buy used clothing on eBay, at yard sales or consignment shops, or the Goodwill Store (as a bonus, you’ll know the profits Goodwill earns from the sale of items in their retail shops goes towards charity). Many times you can find clothing in perfectly good condition for a fraction of what it would cost new – and sometimes there are items with the tags still on them!

4. Grocery Shopping: Unfortunately, we can’t completely eliminate paying for food but there are many tricks to paying less for our food. First, shop with a list and use cash. This way, you can only get what you have cash on hand to buy and you won’t be tempted to throw a few extra items into the cart. You might be surprised at how much extra you spend on each shopping trip with those little “extra” items that make their way into the cart! Clip and use coupons on items you ALREADY buy, but don’t clip or use a coupon just because you have one. That defeats the purpose and doesn’t help you save money.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 8:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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