Reducing Expenses

Controlling expenses to maintain the standard of living is the chief challenge faced by those trying to exit the rate race. A few life choices aimed at reducing monthly expenses can make the overall task of attaining financial independence less onerous:

a) Choosing To Own As Opposed To Rent:

Any item used on a daily basis is a candidate for owning as opposed to renting. Examples include the house one occupies and automobiles. Normally regarded as the major outlays of money one might ever make, home ownership is a special case that merits special attention. We will explore the issues associated with home ownership through a series of articles.

A variation on the same theme is to reduce/eliminate subscription style expenses. Cable TV, DSL, Movie Rentals, Cellular Phones, Club Memberships (always choose life time membership without monthly charges if such a choice exists), etc fall in this category.

b) Frugal Living:

Frugal living is a life choice that allows people to spend less money for the same standard of living that they are used to. In exchange of spending less money, the practitioner spends a little bit of extra time and energy looking for “better deals”. We will look at our experience practicing frugal living through a series of articles.

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2. Frugal Living – Skiing Story - 11/08.
3. Frugal Choice On Gifts - Giving Stock Certificates - 09/08.
4. Frugal vs Cheap – A definition to go by - 07/08.
5. Frugal Living - Top ten frugal living tips for families - 07/08.
6. Reducing Expenses - 06/08.