Mention 'frugal living' to someone and they may well automatically think of misery and deprivation. How wrong they are! Frugal living is a choice many people make for a number of unique reasons but ultimately leads to a way of 'living better for less'. This article will guide you through those first steps to start spending less!

We are bombarded daily with media images of how we should be buying this, wearing that and driving the other to fit into a category that most people think is 'normal'. There is an awful lot of pressure, especially for parents with children, to conform to this 'norm' and buy those expensive trainers or feed our children with the latest brightly packaged 'c-rap'. Before long you'll be getting by with 'a little help from your friends' (the little plastic friend that fits conveniently in your pocket and lets you borrow as much as you want as long as you pay it back with interest!) on a regular basis just to fund your 'normal' life. But this is just one of the reasons why we may decide to live more frugally.

Below you will find some of the main reasons that people will try and live more 'better for less'…

Financial crisis…you maybe finding it hard to make ends meet or your income has suddenly been reduced.

Saving for something special…perhaps you would like to visit your brother in Australia or want to take the family on holiday without having to pay for it with credit cards.

You are annoyed with force fed media rubbish telling us to spend…without realising it, we are constantly bombarded with media hype to buy the latest clothes, gadgets, cars and processed foods for our kids and ourselves. You are fed up with it!

You are trying to get rid of credit card/ loan debt and start to put money by…you want to improve your financial situation as you hate being being held accountable to finance companies.

Health & Diet…you start introducing good, healthy nutritious food into the families diet and dispense with expensive, unhealthy, processed foods. You'll begin to feel better, loose weight and find more money in your pocket!

Work…you may work long hours and want to spend more time with your family. Perhaps you are in the situation where both parents have to work long hours, have to rely on a lot of childcare and desperately wish you weren't working everyday to be with them more. This can be achieved !

Start off by making small changes

So you want to make some fundamental changes but where do you start? You will find that as you journey along the 'Frugal Super Highway' that it will be the lots of little and seemingly insignificant changes you make that will add up and save you £ 's and $'s. There are so many ways of saving money that may, to others, be 'no great shakes' but by the end of the year you will be astounded what you have saved. Some of these suggestions may seem silly or even ludicrous but just give them a go and you won't think them so daft at the end of the year when you've saved a whole lot of dosh!

Here is an example...

Get rid of quick meals and processed foods and cook from scratch…..save £100 + every month!...Where do I start! Take an average family of two adults and two children. The kids start the day with brand name breakfast cereals, have school lunches, have sweets after school, have a burger when they get home and then some biscuits at bed time. The adults eat the cereals too, mum takes a ready meal to work that you can pop in the micro-wave and Dad buys his sandwiches and drinks from the machine.

Make these simple changes and you'll save £'s and be healthier!

Get rid of brand name breakfast cereals. Buy larger packs of shops own and try and go for healthier options such as porridge, wheatabix or branflakes…..£10 saved per month!

Send the children to school with packed lunches instead of having school meals. A healthy lunch box can be put together for less than 50p per child. A wholemeal bread sandwich, drink of squash and a piece of fruit will do fine……£40 saved per month!

Same for the adults. Whats wrong with bringing sandwiches to work or a homemade pasta salad? Mr X's lunch and drinks cost him £3 daily and Mrs X's micro-wave meal is £2. Homemade sandwiches will only cost about 50p and a pasta salad or some leftovers to heat up even less!!…….£80 saved per month!

Why not cut down on sweets, crisps and biscuits for the children. Better still why not cut them out all together during the week and just allow some at weekends? May sound harsh but its not really…..you are doing them a favour! Kids are always starving when they come in from school so why not have a plateful of healthy snacks they can nibble on to stop them moaning!!!! That will keep them quiet while you prepare a frugal meal from scratch or you pull a frugal meal out of the freezer that you made in bulk last week……£40 saved per month

This example is just the 'tip of the iceberg'. There are so many things that can be changed and literally £1000,s of pounds which can be saved every year.

Good Luck!

More ways to save in part 2!