Have you seen this CNN article on ways to save $20,000 in a year? My husband sent me this link, and at first I was quite excited to get some more money-saving tips. But then when I read the article I found that we already do (or plan to do) nearly all the things suggested. The one tip we don't follow is getting rid of our cell phones, but we get a great deal on them through Tom's employer.
It's a good article, though, and was encouraging for me to realize that we really are saving a lot of money by doing simple things like only having one car, and only eating out very occasionally.
I thought of two other things our family does that net some significant savings:
1. We live in a small home. Not only is it a smaller space to heat and cool, but there's also no need to buy furniture and things to simply fill the rooms. If anything, living in a small space helps us to limit how much we own and think twice about buying additional stuff.
2. We skip the expensive vacations. Growing up, my family never went on big vacations, so now I just don't see them as a necessity. I know that memories are made while on vacation, but you really don't have to go far away or spend a lot of money.
As I've said before, frugality looks different for every household. But I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with one of the main points of the CNN article, the secret is being content with less.
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