Happy
Woman's Guide to Frugal Living
With tax season breathing hotly down our necks, it's a good time to review smart money management principles. After all, a happy woman is a wealthy woman, and even the average girl can amass a fortune with some simple money-saving ideas and practices.
First, learn to save money from your regular household budget.
- Fire
your live-in personal chef and start eating out at every meal. Projected
savings: $14,000 a year.
- Reduce
ATM fees by simply withdrawing all the cash from your husband's checking
account once a month. Projected savings: $400 a month.
- Downgrade
from the "Endowed Member" level of Fine Arts Center membership to the
"Sustaining Member" level. Projected savings: $5,000 a year.
- Sell
your theatre season tickets for the shows you don't want to attend,
like that tiresome "Pirates of Penzance" they insist on staging every
year. Projected savings: $545 per season.
- Eliminate
expensive dental bills by pulling all your teeth out and getting fitted
for dentures. Projected savings: $3,800 over your lifetime.
- Have
your cars professionally detailed only once a month, instead of once
a week. Projected savings: $1,500 a month.
- Eliminate
the custom scenting feature from your dog grooming service. Projected
savings: $48 a month.
- Stop
dry cleaning your clothes! A far better strategy is to wear your dry-cleanables
once, donate them to charity, deduct the value from your taxes, and
buy new clothes. Projected savings: varies, depending on your clothing
budget, but at least $10,000 per year.
- Take
up chinchilla ranching and make your own furs. Not only money-saving,
but a fun hobby! Projected savings: $6,500 a year.
- Negotiate with your vendors to add value to their services without increasing your cost, thereby getting you more "bang for the buck." For example, inform your pool boy, Garibaldi, that he'll need to service you, or rather the pool, twice as often if he wishes to maintain his staff position.
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