Don’t use those evil credit cards

OK, this is the boring one. We all have busy lives and how can we possibly find time to write down every time we buy a magazine, a beer, or a bar of chocolate? But it is an extremely useful way to look objectively at where the money goes. And the thing is, you’d only need to do it for a couple of weeks to be able to see your patterns of spending immerging.

Also, once again, being frugal can result in being healthier. Cut out that mid-mornmg coffee and Danish pastry and knock Ł15 ($30) off your weekly food bill, and 5 pounds off your hips or belly!

Also if you drive to work or take some form of public transport, you might be quite surprised by how much money you’d save by walking, and, again, how many pounds you’d lose after getting your obsenely under-used feet back on the road again. Also, instead of arriving at the office feeling just as groggy as you did when you climbed out of bed, you’ll be all fired-up by the mini cardivascular workout you’ve just undergone during your brisk, invigorating walk. Meanwhile your car-adicted collegues will have to waste their lunch hour, or an hour of their evening, going to a gym to achieve the same results.

You see, wherever you look in this game of frugality, there are double benefits. Every example where money is saved, mental or physical health is saved too. So how can you go wrong? The fact is you can’t. For example, if you want to stop spending altogether in certain areas of your life, try LETS. LETS stands for Local Exchange Trading Schemes and they exist all over the world. People exchange services or goods for other services or goods on a non-profit basis. This system is particulary useful if you have any useful or unusual skills to offer, and they additional bonus is that you get to meet lots of similarly open-minded and progressive souls who have become sick of simply operating in a cut-throat capitalist society. Tell us your own daily money-saving strategy!

By the time you’ve put all the ideas above into action, there will already be cobwebs on your credit cards. Your new lifestyle simply has no need for them. This is good news because, let’s face it – credit cards are evil! OK, so I’m exaggerating for effect. After all, an inanimate object can hardly be evil, can it? Well. Hitler’s now an inanimate object, so I don’t see why not. But of course it’s the banks behind those innocent-looking pieces of plastic that are the really problem. Many of you will no doubt have fallen for their seducive advertising which somehow manages to convince millions of punters that they can have what they can’t afford and that they can put off paying for it until the 12th of Never. But you know all of that’s not true, don’t you? It’s just that you want to believe in with your little magic cards. You want to believe that when you deftly place it in the slot at the shop counter, you’re not really spending money in the same way you’d be spending money if you handed over some bank notes and shiny coins.

But of course you’re actually spending more money, and you know it. I’m not telling you anything new here, but for some reason you still want all this stuff before you can afford to have it. Or perhaps, at a later date, you’ll find out that you could never really afford to have it - but now you’ve got it - so you’re going to have to pay for it!

So what’s this all about then - this in-denial spending mess we all get ourselves into? It’s about envy. It’s about you feeling you are entitled to have what your neighbour or work collegue has. But, firstly, no one in this world is entitled to anything. And secondly – what kind of value system is that?! Are you really so shallow that what you desire has no relation to you as a person, but every relation to your neighbour or work collegue as a person, then what does that say about you? You need to start working on you as a person – you may end up finding out that the only ‘luxuries’ you really want are a battered old detective thriller from Oxfam, a bedside lamp to read it by, and your cat. Oh, and, four mugs of coffee a day.

Part of the advice given here, is about asking yourself questions like this. Because the end result you should be looking for is personal enlightenment as well as a healthier bank account! You’ll be in a win-win situation if you take everything suggested here, to heart.