After getting married, taking the bar exam, paying for a wedding, a reception and a honeymoon and also paying a number of humongous living expenses as a newly-married couple, we’ve had to start being more careful with our money.
Especially in light of the financial turmoil the world is suffering from.
Thankfully (and out of necessity) my dreamgirl and I figured out some unorthodox but funny ways to cut costs and be frugal. Hey, you do what you gotta do to survive.
1. Take the freebies. Scrounge if you have to.
and I do mean scrounge. Go for freebies if you can from friends or family, and take whatever they are willing to give you.
Our new apartment is already filled with some stuff from all over. An uncle’s microwave, a tv and cooking stuff from the mother-in –law, a nightstand from my old house, a printer from my brother, the list goes on.
We even have some new stuff which are gifts from relatives and friends. My dreamgirl’s mom in particular, gave us a lot of great stuff for the house (ref, tv, kitchen counter, etc).
I don’t mean to say we don’t buy our own stuff though. We have some furniture which we bought ourselves, like the bed and sofa, but generally, most of the stuff in our apartment were gifts. And that really made a difference in our expenses.
We once tried to add up the money we would have shelled out if we hadn’t received all those gifts, and the amount was astronomical.
In this light, let us say thank you to everyone who gave us wedding gifts or Le Kwan. It really meant a lot and made a big difference in our lives together as a newly-married couple.
2. Know Your Needs and Wants
There are “needs,” and there are “wants.” The key to saving money is to figure out what are needs and what the heck are wants.
Obviously, you only buy stuff you need, and stay as far away from the wants as possible. For example, you need food, so you gotta buy food to eat. But do you need to buy expensive food or eat at places like Friday’s or Bigby’s? Malls have inexpensive foodcourts with great value meals. Or better yet, learn to cook.
Another example would be cellphones. I have been hankering for the iphone for the longest time, even though I still have a fully functional, though woefully outmoded nokia.
To give you an idea how old it is, it was originally owned by my brother, who used it for three years. He later let me use it when my Sony Ericson phone died. I really really want to change that nokia, but its sturdy as heck, still works great, and is cheap.
Whenever I take it out, I lose techie points for having such an outmoded cell, but hey, it still works. So I am holding on to it, since the nokia fulfills my needs, while the iphone would have been just a want.
3. Look for Discounts and Haggle if you have to
There are tons of discounts wherever you shop. We just don’t notice them.
In fact, in some furniture stores and even appliance shops, you can actually slash as much as fifteen percent off the listed price simply by asking. That’s the time when you should start haggling, or begging, or do whatever it is you have to, to get a cheaper rate.
To be honest though, I am usually too embarrassed to ask for discounts or haggle, but my dreamgirl/wife takes care of that for me.
I tend to think that women have this “haggle” gene in them or something. So guys, when you go shop, do bring a girl with you, either your mom, a girlfriend, wife or close personal but female friend
Try to Survive
I am sure there are tons of other ideas out there on how to cut costs and be cheap, but so far, these tips have been the ones keeping me and my wife in the black.
In any case, times are bad. You gotta save money whenever and wherever you can. Which is why you have to: Be cheap. And Survive.
