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From Frugal Family to Rich Family In a Few Simple Steps

From Frugal Family to Rich Family In a Few Simple Steps

Have you ever wondered if you are a frugal family? Have you given serious thought to what you would do if you were forced to be frugal? Luckily living frugally as a family doesn’t have to be all deprivation and denial – especially if you start to practice these living frugally tips now – before you have to. You can use these strategies now to start saving money and lowering your cost of living. Following these steps you will be on your way to being a rich family.

Check out these tips and get started as a frugal family.

1. Grow Your Own Food

While inexpensive is good, free is better – and nothing beats free vegetables. Growing your own garden will be a tremendous savings. And it can be something the whole family – including the kids – can get involved in. You don’t need a lot of space to do. And some communities, especially in cities, even have community gardens where you can take over a plot in a reclaimed vacant lot. You can also grow vegetables in large containers or buckets on a small deck or balcony.

If you don’t know much about gardening, take out some books from the library or check out Internet sources. And don’t forget your friends – you are bound to have one with a green thumb.

Gardening is not only easy, it’s fun. Your kids will love eating your veggies especially if they’ve help to grow them. You can have them help out not just the planting, but with the maintenance as well – weeding and watering.

2. Preserving

Another way to build your frugal family skills is to can or freeze the excess of your garden’s bounty. Not only will you save money in the summer, your frugality will extend into the winter. Don’t forget that you can even can and freeze soups, stews and meals. You can cook in bulk on one day and freeze the rest for meals throughout the month. This is a great way to save money as it ensures you always have something in the freezer to feed the family. This will help you avoid the temptation to order in or eat out when pressed for time.

If you really want to get into canning, again check out resources from your local library for how to do it right.

3. Back to the Land

Are you ready to be a farmer? If possible, consider getting chickens and raising your own eggs. Again this is a great things to do with children and just a few birds can provide your family with plenty of eggs — saving you the cost of buying them. And you can also turn your chickens into a small business – selling the excess eggs..

4. The Forgotten Art of Bartering.

Before money existed Jill Cavegirl traded Amy Cavegirl for things. Maybe it was a hunk of well cooked meat for a nice new strapless skin, but you get the idea. Today the barter economy is alive and well. Inventory your skills and see what you could trade for. If you can cut hair, you might want to offer your mechanic free haircuts in exchange for car repairs. If you’re a great baker, perhaps you can trade a batch of cookies a week for eggs from your neighbor with chickens.

You can also barter extra things you have. If you have unused furniture, fabric or clothes lying around, you could start swapping them instead of just donating them. If you’re looking to get a new piece of exercise equipment, instead of heading to the store, check out a site like Craigslist or a barter site. You may be able to trade something you don’t need – like grandma’s old bureau for that slightly used treadmill.

Places like eBay and Craigslist are also great places to sell items you don’t want or need. Instead of just throwing things out or donating them, check out these sites and see if you can make some extra cash – just be sure this goes into the savings account – not into buying more “junk”.

Being a frugal family doesn’t have to be hard. And the best part – the money you save will help your family build a strong foundation for wealth.