Save money by being careful

I have been doing this blog for nearly two years and have written about lots of money saving ideas. I also have a new site a zillion ideas with more ideas on saving money and being frugal. Today on a zillion ideas I looked at planning journey’s to save on petrol. That blog is worth reading. If you’re careful, you can also save and then become debt free and instead of paying interest to the bank; they pay you interest. You can save on many things from food shopping to motoring costs. The key to saving money though is to cut waste and to get value for money.

My picture today is of a Tudor manor house, now a museum. It’s a good place to take the kids for an afternoon because entrance is free. There are also benches in the grounds where you can eat your picnic. Taking a picnic makes it an extra special day out for the kids that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Do you remember special days out from your childhood? Me neither!

Value for money means not getting caught up in the latest fashions and trends. Occasions like the Olympics and European football tends to bring out that instinct in people to become part of the group, to follow the latest trend. But following all the latest trends can be expensive. Having the latest smart phone, an expensive car, an expensive overseas holiday, designer clothes, tickets to sporting events, meals out, days out, nights out in clubs and pubs, entertaining friends and the latest technology. Can you afford all these and invest for the future? You can live for today and not worry about the future, but when the future is today and you have mounting debts and you’re not so young. Will there be regrets about your frivolous and perhaps thoughtless, spendthrift  younger days? 

Maybe, if you keep a record of spending and income and try to get value for money, it might help you save for the future? That will reduce or eliminate the need for borrowing in the future and make for a better future. We all like to integrate into society, but that it can be expensive to follow the crowd. If you can afford to buy all your friends a round of drinks in the pub and invite them all you a barbecue in the garden, that will be appreciated; but are you getting value for money?

Some things we can’t avoid, we have to eat but we can shop around and not follow the latest fashions. Sending out for a pizza might be fashionable, but is it really value for money or more enjoyable than a home cooked meal? We are encouraged to follow trends. The trend for young people to have ‘prom’ nights came over to England from the USA. The kids dress up and have a limousine for what is perceived to be a special occasion; paid for by their parents. I have even seen prom nights for junior school kids.  The social pressure on parents to buy smart phones and designer clothes for their children is enormous and then when they think school is over they have to pay for a prom night. This is often followed by university leading to a graduation, that has to be an expensive ceremony. This instils a feeling of being special and superior in many university graduates. Does the same thing apply to today’s high school students. Do they think they are superior to their parents? Many seem to think so.

You can’t ignore social pressure and trends, but you can resist them. The easiest way to resist social trends is to be a trend setter, rather than a trend follower. Teach your kids to understand street fashion, the use of colours and accessories to look good, rather than following the crowd. You have the freedom and the right to be different, not exercising that right is to allow those who set the trends to enslave you.

You can also read about saving money on a zillion ideas. Please comment if you have views on today’s topic.

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