If being frugal with your pennies rather than frittering them away on whatever tickles your fancy was fun, then surely Dame Shirley Bassey would have been singing ‘Hey Big Saver’ wouldn’t she? But she’s not; she’s singing and celebrating the fact that spending money is just plain fun. In the name of research lets pretend that the great Dame has fallen shy of the rent for a couple of months, and needs to find a fun way to curb her spending tendencies for a while.
Image courtesy of Jeff Belmonte from Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/72236935@N00/8228640/
1) Dining at Home
Instead of taking to the a la carte menu at the Raffles every night (or in more common cases the occasional buy one get one free Italian) Dame Shirley could try getting creative in the kitchen at home. Make cooking a social activity, get friends over, cook for a partner and test those culinary skills to the limits by riffling through recipe sites. For really cash-strapped times making a trip to the green grocers may be more economical than the average supermarket.
2) On Your Bike
Ethical travel is all the rage right now, so even a megastar can look hot on two wheels instead of behind the blacked-out windows of her chauffer-driven limo (expensive!) It’s surprising how much can be saved from avoiding the car whenever possible, take the money saved in petrol from short trips and pop it in a jar, the pounds will soon mount up and you can spend them on something even more fabulous.
3) Home Screenings
Instead of attending that movie premier, or paying out an extortionate amount for cinema tickets with friends, try hosting a home movie night; pop your own corn, grab a bowl of chips and snuggle around a classic film. You could even pay out for a monthly download package and split the cost with friends, it’s likely to be less than the cost of one trip to the flicks. Make even more money sense by transforming your lounge into a screening room for the night, ask guests to bring a bottle of wine or some nibbles (cutting costs for you) and be the hostess with the moistest for the night.
4) Swap Shop
Clothes swapping is one of the biggest sustainable trends around, and it’s seriously cost effective way of revamping the wardrobe. Bassey would only need to perform a quick Google search for clothes swapping events in her area (likely to yield some serious fashion potential, or she could play host and invite round all her most fabulous friends, just make sure people attending bring clothes of equal value or quality or there could be fisticuffs.
What Now?
So saving Vs. spending might not be the ideal, but in times of need even large-lunged megastars might need to cut costs a bit in order to get by. By planning ahead, getting creative and involving friends in frugal activities it means you don’t always have to miss out on fun times.
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- License: Creative Commons image source
Author Bio | Geoffery is a finance guru who specialises in instant access savings deals (http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/instant_access_savings_accounts.aspx) and high interest savings accounts (http://www.fairinvestment.co.uk/savings_accounts.aspx)
