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The Reality of Frugality
While it’s important to get the most bang for your buck, some costlier items of higher quality make more financial sense.
We all like to save money, but there are times when frugality winds up costing you more. Follow these rules to make sure your crave-to-save doesn’t wind up draining your bank account.
Don’t skip maintenance or preventive care
Skip your routine mileage check-up, your dental cleanings, or your annual physical, and it could end up costing you much more than you’d spend on the maintenance itself.
For example, dental cleanings cost around $100. Skip them, and you could be setting yourself up for fillings and root canals that cost upwards of $1,000.
50 percent off is still 50 percent on
Taking advantage of discount items can be addictive and usually leads to buying items you don’t need. While you’re patting yourself on the back for scoring a good deal, you may not think about the purchase from a quality perspective. Will it hold up? What purpose does it serve?
Walk away for 24 hours, and see if you’re still thinking about it. Often, the urge will have passed.
Don’t cut corners on insurance
It’s easy to skimp on insurance – renters, life, even health – because you’re hoping never to use it anyway.
Anything of value such as your home, car, and most importantly, your self should be adequately covered. Accidents and disasters are inevitable and unpredictable. There is little room to skimp on making sure you can cover the expense. It’s money well spent.
Learn the difference between value and low price
Sometimes low priced items don’t hold together well, and sometimes high priced items don’t either. Do your research to make sure you know which brands and products will give you the best quality for your budget. After all, if you’re replacing a cheap item often, it would have been better to buy a good quality item from the start.
Budget for your happiness
It is possible to cut too many corners where your happiness is concerned. Whatever it is you enjoy doing – going out with friends, traveling, or buying shoes – budget for it. Don’t get so caught up in frugality that you don’t get to enjoy life.
The same principle applies to determine your budget for flexible expenses such as groceries. If you already know how much you’ll need for monthly grocery costs, don’t pare it down so much that you can’t stick to the budget. That’s more stressful and unrealistic than helpful.
We all like to save money, but there are times when frugality winds up costing you more. Follow these rules to make sure your crave-to-save doesn’t wind up draining your bank account.
Don’t skip maintenance or preventive care
Skip your routine mileage check-up, your dental cleanings, or your annual physical, and it could end up costing you much more than you’d spend on the maintenance itself.
For example, dental cleanings cost around $100. Skip them, and you could be setting yourself up for fillings and root canals that cost upwards of $1,000.
50 percent off is still 50 percent on
Taking advantage of discount items can be addictive and usually leads to buying items you don’t need. While you’re patting yourself on the back for scoring a good deal, you may not think about the purchase from a quality perspective. Will it hold up? What purpose does it serve?
Walk away for 24 hours, and see if you’re still thinking about it. Often, the urge will have passed.
Don’t cut corners on insurance
It’s easy to skimp on insurance – renters, life, even health – because you’re hoping never to use it anyway.
Anything of value such as your home, car, and most importantly, your self should be adequately covered. Accidents and disasters are inevitable and unpredictable. There is little room to skimp on making sure you can cover the expense. It’s money well spent.
Learn the difference between value and low price
Sometimes low priced items don’t hold together well, and sometimes high priced items don’t either. Do your research to make sure you know which brands and products will give you the best quality for your budget. After all, if you’re replacing a cheap item often, it would have been better to buy a good quality item from the start.
Budget for your happiness
It is possible to cut too many corners where your happiness is concerned. Whatever it is you enjoy doing – going out with friends, traveling, or buying shoes – budget for it. Don’t get so caught up in frugality that you don’t get to enjoy life.
The same principle applies to determine your budget for flexible expenses such as groceries. If you already know how much you’ll need for monthly grocery costs, don’t pare it down so much that you can’t stick to the budget. That’s more stressful and unrealistic than helpful.
Debt consolidation can offer you the breathing room to get out of debt and organize your finances:
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Source: Money Talks News