3. Wait.
Waiting to make a purchase is a good idea. If you see something you want but walk away from it, chances are pretty good you won't think about it again and
won't return to purchase it. An alternate -- I do this with clothes fairly often -- buy it, but keep it in the bag for two weeks. Try it on again, and if you still love it, pull off the tags and keep it. Otherwise, return it (I don't mind doing this at all; some people, like my brother, find it humiliating).
We buy our frozen pizzas at Costco in multi-packs and they come out to around $3 each. I can't tell you how many restaurant meals we've avoided that would have cost much, much more.
Another alternative: When you make a casserole, spaghetti sauce, or similar, make 2-3 batches and freeze 1-2. It's not really all that much more effort, and then you can eat nearly effort-free later.
Speaking of the Frugalwoods, the best tip I've heard from them is to embrace the imperfect. Too often people spend a lot of money fixing little things. For example, if your car makes a benign noise, the best thing you can do is learn to live with it.
Yeah, I've realized that my delayed gratification muscle is set significantly higher than most people's. For example, I like to watch home improvement shows on TV. Those people tend to say things like, "The renovation has to be done in 4-5 weeks. We just can't wait longer to get into our new house." Huh? For a nicely renovated house in which you could live the rest of your life
you can't wait a couple months to get it right?
The symptom is that you spend more with a credit card. The problem is that you appear not to realize that credit is your money, just like debit or cash. If someone doesn't share your problem, your advice doesn't make any sense at all.
Hamlet said, Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
While saying
nothing may be a bit of a stretch, the concept is correct.
okay stay out of Mcdonallds, burger king and Taco Bell eat food from home? That better than starbucks?
Since you can never list all the specific places where money could be wasted, how about getting to the bottom of the problem:
Don't fritter money away mindlessly on small pleasures that disappear quickly. This covers coffee, fast food, magazines, pedicures and so many other things.
No because I never eat out. This advice is like kindergarten math to me or something, which is why I am tired of hearing it. haha
You're being too literal. Generalize the thought.