24 Feb 09 How To Beat The Credit Crunch And Survive
Surviving The Credit Crunch
Being frugal needn’t mean that you have to sacrifice dressing well, eating well or spending time with friends and family. All these things can be accomplished just by changing habits and shopping around for bargain buys.
Make a List of your expenses and shop around
The first thing you need to do is make a detailed list of all your expenses and then group together the expenses you can manage without. If you can live without your annual subscription to Golfing World then cancel it! Other items that require regular payments such as utility bills, credit card debts, insurance etc can be reduced by shopping around for better deals. Check on the Internet for competitors offers available to new clients.
Food
You can reduce your food shopping bill by buying store brand or unknown branded foods, which are often just as good or better in some cases than known brand food. There are also stores, which sell products at much lower prices than the popular supermarket chains, such as Netto, Aldi, Lidl, Wilkinson etc. The quality is just as good, but the price can mean a saving of several pounds! Don’t be too proud to pop in see how much you can save.
Failing this visit your favourite store at the end of the day and take advantage of the late offers they put on display. It has been known for one top supermarket store to sell Gateaux for as little as 50p when it has reached it’s ‘display until date’. Many of these food items can still be frozen if you don’t want to eat them on that same day.
You can also save a lot of money buying in bulk from specialist freezer food shops or from markets at the close of trading. The food has to be sold so good deals are to be had and you can always haggle at the market!
Clothing
Vintage clothing is back in town and the fashion for spring 2009. You can save hundreds by buying designer labels and even new clothes with the tags still on in second hand and charity shops. If you go to charity shops in more affluent areas the quality of the clothing donated is likely to be better than in more run down areas.
More cost cutting tips:
• Walk short journeys and leave the car home or share a ride.
• Quit smoking – a luxury perhaps but can you afford to keep it up?
• Make packed lunches instead of school dinners/work lunches
• Work out at home not the gym.
• Sell old or unwanted items at car boot sales, via free classifieds or on eBay
• Recycle old clothes by personalizing them with add-ons – DIY denim is the seasons fashion, so instead of buying new, just jazz up an old pair of jeans or a denim jacket for an ‘in season’ look.
You can beat the credit crunch with a little bit of innovation and cost cutting. Set yourself the challenge on living well for less.
Tags: credit crunch, survive the credit crunch
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