Think About MPG
The biggest aspect to consider probably is the MPG the car can do. If you choose a car than can achieve 50mpg then your petrol bill is going to be half that of one that can only do 25mpg. The easiest way of getting a car with high mpg is to buy a diesel engined car. However as diesel is more expensive than petrol be sure there is a significant difference. Buying a car that will get high mpg doesn’t have to mean you buy a boring and dull car. Many of the top brands offer a diesel version of some of there more performance orientated models. For example the VW Golf offers a very quick diesel powered model. The other advantage of buying a car that will do more miles per gallon is that it will usually mean emissions are reduced. This is not only good for the environment but in the UK it will also mean your road tax is lowered. You can cut your road tax in half by choosing a car that falls in to a lower emissions band.

Don’t Forget Maintenance
When you are buying a car you should also consider how much it will cost to keep it maintained. Makes such as Toyota, Honda, VW etc are notorious for being more reliable than some of the others. However when things go wrong it can be more expensive to get them right again. Makes such as Ford which haven’t always had the best reputation for reliability have improved greatly and the cost of fixing problems can be much lower.

Smaller Engine
If you have already picked a car without considering the cost of ownership then you can consider choosing the same model with a smaller engine. You should get increased MPG and lower tax if you do this whichever car you have picked. It is nice to have a quick powerful car but you can save money by giving up a bit of that performance. Plus you hardly ever get to feel the benefits of a fast car using it on the road anyway.

Where To Buy Your Frugal Car
The biggest expense with cars is obviously buying them in the first place. It is always wise to buy as new a car as you can afford as they are likely to be more reliable and should cost you less to run. You also need to consider whether you are going to buy privately or from a car dealer. Buying privately is usually cheaper, about 5-10% in most cases but you are taking more risks. If you buy from a dealer that is trusted locally you will pay a little bit more but you can usually be fairly sure the car is going to be ok. Car supermarkets are very popular and some of them have a bad name and over value their cars but the good ones are one of the best places to buy a car. They will often come with a small warranty included in the price. Be sure to have a good idea of how much you should be paying before you go car shopping so you don’t end up paying too much. There are a number of websites that will show you car prices but I use Auto Trader as it gives you a real feel for the market.

Our car is usually our second biggest expense after our house so buying a frugal car can give you some of the biggest savings.

Image Source – Lazy_Lightning

One of the best ways to save on your shopping is to use one of the smaller trolleys or even a hand basket. The reason for this is that it makes you think about everything you buy, rather than just piling it into the trolley. Obviously for big families this is no good but otherwise you should try it. If you have limited space you only buy what you really need and you end up wasting less. Try to think about the meals you will use the food for rather than just picking anything up. Most people waste up to a third of all the shopping they buy.

On a similar note to using a smaller trolley is paying for the goods with cash rather than a credit card. If you only take money with you, and know that you definitely can’t spend more than you have in your pocket you will also be vary careful with what you buy. You may think these type of ideas wont work but everyone who tries it changes their mind. You will be amazed what a difference having to give some thought to what you buy can make.

Supermarkets are always full of all sorts of offers, as long as you are careful you can take advantage of them. Make sure that you don’t buy stuff that will sit in the fridge or freezer for ages before ending up in the bin. Throwing food away is the biggest waste of money possible. When you do see an offer that is right for you, make sure you read the details carefully. It could be that it only applies to certain products within a range or certain sizes. It also might not always be under the correct product. Once you have made sure you are buying the right item you should make sure you check your receipt at the checkout. In the worst cases up to 50% of offers don’t appear on your bill, and you are missing out. This can be down to your own mistake or because of an error on the part of the supermarket.

Most supermarkets have certain times of the day or week when they heavily reduce items that haven’t been selling. You used to be able to go before closing to pick up these deals, but 24hr opening made it more difficult. Sunday afternoon is a good time for these type of bargains as all the big shops will be shut until Monday morning. The best deals will be on fresh items that will have to be binned if they aren’t sold. You can get loaves of bread that started off at over a pound for less than 20p on many occasions. So learn when your local store sells stuff off and grab lots of great savings.

Finally you should consider shopping online. This isn’t always a good idea as there is usually a delivery charge to pay. However the good thing is that you tend to buy exactly what you need and you can easily compare all the different options to see which is best value. Buying non perishable items in bulk is a good way to save if you have the space to store them. Shopping online makes it a lot easier to spot the best value products. If you follow all this simple advice you can easily save up to a third off your bill.

If you are looking for something like a computer peripheral try places like supermarkets and the big stationary stores like Staples. That happened to be where I picked up my bargain. Most people know you can buy computer peripherals in Staples but people don’t often make a special trip to the store to hunt one out. There is something else working in our favour too in this instance. If you are out shopping in Staples for stationary you are unlikely to pay any attention to computer peripherals. This means it isn’t a big seller for them and once they have realised that something has been sitting on the shelf for a while they start to reduce it until it does sell.

This works for all kinds of items, obviously it doesn’t work in every instance and you can’t really hunt round lots of different stores if you want something in particular. What you should do though is be one of the few people that does pay attention to these items when you are in the shop for another reason. Just make sure you don’t fall into the trap of buying something you don’t really need just because it is cheap. That isn’t saving you anything.

I hope this helps you get a great deal at some point, and remember to keep an eye out for bargain sausages next time you are in the hardware store!

Image Source – Spigoo

The reason for my dislike for sales is that you will only ever find reductions on stuff that isn’t selling. Why isn’t it selling? Usually because it is rubbish. The sales are only good for the retailers. It lets them get rid of stuff they have no chance of selling normally, and they are always still making a profit on the item.

Secondly if you go to the sales you always end up buying stuff you don’t need or really want. This is just a waste of money. You can usually get items cheaper by spending a bit of time searching on the net anyway. A lot of retailers bring stuff in just for the sales and then show a huge reduction on an item that wasn’t widely available pre-sale. Even clothes are rubbish in the sales, you will end up buying stuff and probably never wearing it. Remember it is always the stuff they can’t sell at full price. I usually can’t even find anything I genuinely like when it is sale time.

Remember – Just because something is cheap doesn’t make it good value.