Lower your phone and internet costs

Phones (including mobiles) and internet are so widely used these days, they have become part of our lives. With plenty of competition among the service providers, the phone (landline as well as mobile) and internet plans are getting cheaper. However, you can always find ways to lower your phone and internet costs. You gotta think carefully before choosing a plan by finding out your weekly or monthly usage.

Mobile phone plans are usually pre-paid or post-paid. The best plan for you depends on your usage. If you already have a pre-paid or post-paid mobile plan and would like to move to a better plan, first find out your usage before looking for a new plan. Go through your usage history as far back as it is relevant and determine your usage pattern. Your service provider usually sends you your monthly usage with your invoice. Don't throw away your usage data as it comes handy when you want to change your provider. If you don't have your usage history, you may still get all your usage history by logging into your service provider's website and going to your account information section.

A few frugal habits to get rid of debt

Guest post by Anya Bennett

The post recession U.S has seen a lot of debt burdened people striving to meet their daily needs. If you are among those unfortunate folks, you can certainly shed off you debts by living a frugal life. If you have acquired a loan on credit card, student loan or other loan, you can easily get out of it by living more frugally. By undertaking a good debt management plan, you can easily make significant changes in your debt levels. To avoid debt, make sure you never spend more than you earn.

Learn to take care of your stuff

Saving money does not always mean hunting for big bargains and discount offers. You should also learn to take care of your stuff so that they last longer. Then you won't have to purchase a similar item again for years.

Usually, the better the quality, the more expensive the products are. But don't be deterred by the expensive price tag. Sometimes it's better to spend a bit more on expensive products that last longer than something that breaks down after being used for a few times. Read my article on buying pricey products to maintain frugality.

I will briefly cover the following important points:

• Carefully handling of your stuff
• Keeping the receipt of purchase
• Being tech-savvy
• Knowing your consumer rights

Buying pricey products to maintain frugality

Being a true frugal means you should think about saving in the long run. People try to buy cheap products to save money instantly and regret later that they have wasted their savings on something that was poorly built. Generally cheap products have poor quality. You may buy something cheap and may have to replace it in the next few months. Then you are wasting your time and money. If you spend on something a bit pricey but solidly built, then obviously it will last longer and you will be able to use it for years without any hassle.

Don't Get Fooled by Coupons

There are plenty of coupons that are supposed to save you some money on your shopping. I personally haven't used many of these coupons but I've still managed to save a significant amount of money on my shopping even without using coupons. I've noticed coupons do not always give you the best deal. The only effective way to get a cheaper deal is to know the market well. Coupons are just like advertisements. The shops and companies distribute coupons through their advertisement brochures, newspapers, websites and magazines solely to promote their businesses. They certainly sell products on a reduced price during the promotion period but theirs aren't necessarily the cheapest available products in the market. Here are some of the things I've noticed that I'd like to share with you:

New gadgets: nothing but a rip-off?

Most people are so fond of gadgets, they queue up to buy the latest released gadgets. They don't seem to have patience to wait even for a day. I found it weird when I saw people queuing up for hours to grab the new iPhone. Well people are different, everyone doesn't have to be like you and me... so if that makes them happy, good for them.

What I am trying to write today is about the gadgets and cute little innovations that have taken the world by storm but in fact, from a frugal perspective, you can easily live without them. In other words, you just don't need them. I will be giving examples of popular devices in this article. I am not trying to promote the products. I wish I could live without some of the gadgets.

Take iPhone for instance (it's fun to grill the popular stuff :). You can either buy it at once and spend 500 bucks or more, or you lock yourself in for a 24-month (that's 2 years right?) contract and pay a ridiculous amount of money every month on phone usage. All they've done is crammed up a collection of redundant applications in one tiny un-ergonomical device and made the world follow them. I'd rather add some more money and buy a decent desktop or a laptop which is more useful than those cute-looking devices with touch-screens and midget buttons.

Knowing your needs and wants

In order to live a frugal life, it is necessary to draw a line between your needs and wants. Lets start with what they really are.

Needs are the basic necessities of life without which we cannot live. Food, shelter and clothes are the most basic needs of human beings. Apart from that, health care, transportation and education  have also become an integral part of our lives. Needs are pretty much standard for every human being. We all have the same needs.

Wants are those extra things that "may" improve the quality of life but without which life does not come to a halt. They are the tools of indulgence. Going on a vacation, wearing expensive clothes, eating out, collecting new gadgets, etc are things that are beyond the needs. They vary from person to person. I may like to buy new gadgets but to you, it may seem totally wasteful. You may like to go on expensive vacations while your friends may think you are crazy.