photo by amazing podgirl
Frugalitarians are disciplined consumers. While they might be tempted by savvy marketing, they don’t fall prey to it. I’ve discovered that I’m happy to admire merchandise without having to own it. I’m not anti-consumer, but I do believe in spending my money wisely. Today, my readers share their own frugal rules. If you’re interested in saving a few bucks, try to apply a rule or two to your life.
LIMIT FOOD BUDGET: I try to spend only $5 a day on meat. That’s meat for the whole day and for four really big meat-eating people. — Andrea, Texas
CONSERVE: We turn off the gas to the furnace on May 1 every year, rain or shine. I don’t believe in having credit cards at all and use cash only. — Tango, e-mail
MEND: If a sock gets a hole in it, we do not throw it away! You would not believe the money that we have saved by sewing up holes in socks. All electrical appliances must be unplugged when not in use. All leftovers must be eaten up. Food waste has never been tolerated here. I make all of my own cleaning products. They’re safe and just as effective as the toxic store-purchased ones. I almost never purchase new clothing, unless it’s out of season and marked down by at least 60 percent. We’re avid Goodwill and garage-sale shoppers. No carwashes. We do it ourselves and get a good workout by doing so. The same goes with carwash vacuums. We haul our shop vac out and use it. Just think of how that 75 cents to $1 adds up every week, 52 weeks a year. — Lynne, Michigan
DELAY: If I can make it cheaper, I don’t buy it. If I can fix it cheaper, I fix it. I never buy anything until I think about it for a week. — Lisa, e-mail
PROTECT: I wear aprons to protect my clothes. I never cook, do housework or garden in my nice clothes. — Margery, British Columbia
ORGANIZE: I keep an envelope with my free-after-rebate money from pharmacy purchases. This is all I have been using to purchase more free-after-rebate items. That way, whatever I buy free after rebate, it doesn’t cost any “extra” cash out of my own pocket. — Marie, New York
PRIORITIZE: My biggest rule is to never forget why I live frugally: To remain 100 percent debt-free, my husband and I have always been tightwads. What we have isn’t fancy, but every last speck is completely paid for. Some of my rules: All purchases must be paid in full. All purchases other than basic groceries, pet supplies and cleaning supplies must be discussed in advance. The bigger the cost, the longer the discussions and mulling. Can we find it cheaper? Can we substitute? Do we really, truly need it? Impulse buying is for yard sales only. We each get a yard-sale “allowance” of $20 every two weeks (payday) to spend however we choose, but when the money is gone, there is no more fun money until payday. — F.W., Alabama
COMPARE: My biggest rule is that I have to comparison shop. It doesn’t matter if it’s a used vehicle or per-ounce price on cereal. I need to know the price is the best price, or very close to the best price, I can get. — G.G., e-mail
译文:
生活节俭原则
令人惊异的豆荚女孩拍摄
朴素追从者是规规矩矩的消费者。虽然他们尝试着理性消费，但是他们都做不到。我发现我乐于赞美我没有得到的商品。我不是反消费者，但是我信仰明智地花自己的钱。今天，我的读者们分享了他们各自的朴素规则。如果你有兴趣剩一些钱，那么就试着把一个或者两个规则应用到你的生活中吧。
限制事物的预算：我每天试着只花5美元在买肉上面。这些是给4个吃肉的大人们一天吃的肉了。—安德里亚，德克萨斯州
保存：无论晴雨，每年五月一日的时候我们都会把煤气关掉，用火炉。我一点都不信仰信用卡和只用现金。—探戈，电子邮件
修补：如果一只袜子漏了个洞，我们不要扔掉它！你绝对不会相信我们缝好袜子的洞剩下的钱。所以的剩菜都必须吃光。这里从来不能忍受浪费食物的事情。所有洁净的物品都是我清洁的。他们安全得就像是在商店里买的一样。我几乎从不买新的衣服，除非过季的时候标价至少打6折的时候才买。我们是渴望友好和购旧物者。拒绝洗车场。我们自己动手也会得到一个好的效果。洗车的真空吸尘器也是一样。我们利用挤出来的假期。想想一个星期就有75美分到一美元，一年有52个星期呢。—林恩，密歇根州
推迟：如果我让它更便宜，我就不会买它。如果我可以把它处理得更便宜，我会处理它。除非我考虑了一个星期，不然我不会买任何东西。—丽萨，电子邮件
保护：我穿围裙来保护我的衣服。我从不穿着我的衣服做饭，做家务或者种花。—玛格丽，英国 哥伦比亚
组织：我把我买药打折剩下的钱放进一个信封里。这是我用来买更多打折的商品的规则。用那种方法，无论我买什么打折的商品都不会从我的口袋里花额外的钱。—玛丽，纽约
排序：我最大的规则就是从不忘记为什么我生活节俭：为了保留百分之百的自由债务，我丈夫和我经常做吝啬鬼。我们不是喜欢这么做，但是每一点都是完全支付的。一些我们的规则：所有的购物都必须支付完钱。除了基本的食品，宠物用品和清洁用品，所有的购物都必须预先讨论过。较大的花销需要较长时间的讨论和研磨。我们能发现更便宜的方法吗？我们能找东西替代吗？我们实在真的需要它吗？我们只对促销的商品会即兴购买。每两个星期我们每个人都会有20美元购买促销商品的“津贴”来购买虽然选择了但是钱已经用光时的商品，知道发工资日我们才会有用来娱乐的钱。—F.W.，阿拉巴马州
比较:我最大的原则就是我不得不比较商店。就算这是一个过时的手段或者对只值一点点钱的谷类食品不起什么作用，那也没关系。我需要知道这个价钱是最好的价钱，或者非常接近最好的价钱，那么我就可以接受它。——G.G.,电子邮件
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用节俭的原则生活
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