One upside of the current global economic situation is that anyone who has wanted to streamline their lifestyle and incorporate a frugal mindset will find great online help and encouragement to do so.

For those worried about making do with less, worry no further. Frugality doesn’t have to mean cutting things out; it can also mean making wiser decisions with how to spend your money, and redesigning your life to be not only more cost effective, but more effective all-around.

Making Frugal Lifestyle Decisions

This article at Zenhabits, “The Cheapskate Guide: 50 Tips for Frugal Living,” offers solid advice to help readers become more efficient through frugal living. Tip # 4 says that while buying a house is often assumed to be more cost effective than renting, it can actually end up costing the owner more. Tip # 5 encourages readers to buy items second hand when possible – an option that not only saves money, but has ecological benefits as well. Tip # 38 reminds readers that maintaining possessions saves on the cost of repairing or replacing them.

Changing Your Spending Habits

One way of easily racking up bills is through impulse spending – which many of us suffer from to a certain degree. This article at Ririan Project helps readers discover potential problems with impulse spending, and offers advice on how to break the habit.

Another site that encourages a look at how you spend your money is Steve-Olson.com. Here in “Can You Live on 50% of your Income?” Steve offers eight ideas for saving money through frugal living and developing a more frugal lifestyle. One idea is to say no to fashion trends and wear clothes that are durable and will outlast the current season. Another is to avoid upgrading anything until you can pay in cash.

Finding the Value in Frugal Living: A New Lifestyle Design

At Families.com, Mary Ann Romans describes how living frugally by choice can be a satisfying and spiritually uplifting experience, fostering appreciation, enabling you to be of more help to others, and contributing to the wellbeing of the planet.

Along the same lines, this article at The Greenest Dollar, “Frugal Living Tips from America’s Cheapest Family,” discusses Steve and Annette Economides’ book, “America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money.” The Economides, a frugal family of seven, started sharing their wisdom back in 2003 through a newsletter designed to help readers create a debt-free life, in which money becomes the means to an enhanced life, rather than a goal in and of itself. This article offers a glimpse into several of the authors’ tips for frugal living and enjoying life while you do it, such as how to resist marketing tricks compelling you to “buy now” and how to entertain the whole family on a low budget.

Optimists will be glad to discover that despite the many hardships currently inherent, these hardships can also lead to a fuller, more efficient, and even more satisfying way of life.

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