Cost cutting measures

The prices of essential commodities are increasing day by day. So what do we do? Our salaries have not increased over the years and even if it did, inflation is at an all time high now. So that really leaves a huge hole in our pockets. There are a few steps that we can take to buffer the effect of rising cost of living. I have drawn out a list that can be used as a guideline:
1. Stop eating outside unless it is necessary. Fancy restaurant cost you fancy money.
2. Cook extra food so that you can refrigerate it for later use in the week (saves on gas, oil, time and labour).
3. Eat more raw vegetables (saves on cooking oil) and limit your intake of meat.
4. Switch to cheaper brand of rice/cooking oil.
5. Stay away from the bottled drinks and drink more water.
6. Switch off all unnecessary electrical appliances and lights.
7. Don’t buy extra clothes, more than required just because it is on sale.
8. If you need to shop, make a list and stick to it. Don’t be distracted by special offers.
9. Switch to a cheaper beer/drink.
10. If you need to drink, call your friends over and have your drink at home rather than sitting in a pub.
11. Rent a DVD instead of going for movies. It would be cheaper to rent VCD (if you really want to cut cost) or watch HBO.
12. Cut down on your unnecessary phone calls or SMS and keep your talk time to a minimum.
13. Use emails to communicate instead of long distance calls.
14. If you need to send a fax, scan the document as a Pdf file and sent it by email.
15. Read newspapers online.
16. Download free eBooks so that you can read them on your computer.
17. Instead of buying music CD’s, download them from the internet with Limewire or other p2p providers.
18. Make a list for yourself on what you can cut down and work on it.
The list above may not be comprehensive but it is a start towards your cost cutting measures. They may be simple but remember “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.
©sukku2008