22 Tips to Live Frugally

Most predictions have the recession lasting through 2009 and unemployment peaking at 11% in the USA. Here are 22 tips to help you closet that cash so you arrive in 2010 in decent financial condition.

1. Switch to a credit card with a lower interest rate. There's no sense collecting air miles or other such points if you can't even pay off your monthly bills. Equally, there's not much point in paying 20 per cent interest when you don't have to. You might try shopping around then ask your credit card provider to lower your rate, especially if you've received a better offer from a different provider.
2. Go retro and clip coupons. A 50% off coupon for a sandwich at your local restaurant is the next best thing to a food stamp.
3. Be sure to pick up the sales flyer at your local grocer whenever you shop. You never know what savings you might find tucked in the corner of the meats or frozen foods sections. On that note, you might want to reacquaint yourself with the age-old tradition of marinating stewing beef and turning it into filet mignon.
4. Do your food shopping at discount stores. The discount stores might be more crowded and offer less selection than your local large chain and higher end grocery stores and you may have to bag your own groceries, but you'll see a payoff at the cash register.
5. Give the office cafeteria a wide berth and get into the habit of packing your own lunch. You'll save money and calories. 
6. Throw away your bank card and leave your credit card at home. ATM charges can add up and it's hard to live on a budget if you keep paying for things on credit. Or, try only using your bank card once between pay cheques. That will help you budget your money accordingly.
7. Join your local Freecycle network, where people pass on baby gear, furniture, electronics, clothing and craft supplies, and more for free.
8. Cancel your gym membership. Go for a walk or run around your neighbourhood instead. If it's muscle you're trying to amass then start doing push ups in your bedroom, invest in a chin-up bar and start walking up and down multiple flights of stairs. You don't need to spend $50-$150 a month to stay active. Or make the outdoors your gym.
9. Having a baby? Ask around for hand-me-downs. Most parents are eager to get rid of the mounds of kids' gear cluttering up their basements.
10. Got kids? Forget shopping at Baby Gap. Buy children's clothes at discount retailers or department stores. Your two-year-old won't know the difference, and if they do they won't remember it for too long anyway as their brains are still developing. Better yet, phone up everyone you know with young kids, bring them all together and swap anything from shoes to strollers to clothes and toys.
11. Find free or low-cost activities for your kids. Many cities or counties have recreation programs and are good places to start.
12. Switch to Skype for long-distance calls. After the initial hardware investment, it's free or practically free to call friends around the world.
13. Itemize your monthly expenses and allocate money for each by placing it in marked envelopes. If you only want to spend $50 this month on entertainment, then put $50 in an envelope marked "Entertainment" and use it to entertain yourself. Once the money's spent, that's it. No more fun. It's shrewd and effective.
14. Don't ignore inflation. Many economists predict that, with so much money being pumped into the global financial system in bailouts and stimulus packages, inflation is destined to rise. So make sure the interest on your savings keeps up with the level of inflation from here on in. If, for example, inflation hits 5% and you're still only getting 3% in your savings account you're going to come out the loser.
15. Instead of an expensive vacation to the Bahamas this year, why not try a "staycation", ”going local is infinitely less expensive than a sunburn and you'll be infinitely less depressed when you return to work the next day. Try local museums, the seashore, or drivable places you've never been to before.
16. Make an appointment with your financial adviser to review your portfolio. It's too late to protect yourself from recent carnage in the markets, but you can at least position yourself for the recovery if and when it comes.
17. If you and your friends have young kids, consider setting up a babysitting co-operative with another family. You look after their kids for an evening in exchange for a night out at a later date.
18. Bring a coffee maker or kettle to work. With coffee ranging anywhere from $1 to $5 a cup (depending on size of cup, exoticness of brew and franchise from which it is purchased) some people are dropping anywhere from $20 to $200 a month just to stay caffeinated. Don't believe it? Try this: bring your own coffee to work, make it yourself and put the money you would have spent in a jar on your desk. At the end of the month, empty the jar and see how much you saved.
19. Skip Micky D's. Fast food restaurants have long been regarded as recession-proof the benefactors to the demise of high cost dining in times of economic turmoil. It's one thing to take the family to McDonald's instead of Red Lobster just to save a few pennies, but there are some of us out there who should really cut the fast food bit out altogether. The constant inhalation of cheeseburgers, pizza and other processed foods isn't just ripping through your lower intestine; it's blowing a hole through your wallet as well.
20. Review your monthly plans for phone, wireless, Internet and cable services. Often households are paying significant sums for features that aren't even being used. That includes everything from digital TV channel packages to wireless voice and data plans. See if you can get by with fewer text messages, reduce that cell phone plane. Also, don't be afraid to ask for a better deal from your current provider if they want to keep you as a customer particularly if you subscribe to multiple services and have done some comparison shopping. Think about changing your cell phone calls to one of those $5 a month zero-cent per minute long distance plans, especially if you're currently paying 25 cents a minute on your cell phone.
21. When purchasing household items that are only used occasionally - gardening equipment, ladders, snowblowers, for example - consider sharing with a neighbor. Store the stuff in a mutually accessible shed or garage, and split the cost.
22. Start an entertainment-sharing club with like-minded friends. Meet monthly to pass around books, magazines, movies and music.

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