Live for free

It's possible to live a rich life and spend little or no money in the process. When you do not need material things to make you happy, you can literally live for free.

I have a friend who is a multi-millionaire and some people think he is a tightwad as he is always trying to save money, yet it's funny because when I think of my friends who are not wealthy at all, they are the ones who are always trying to steal from each other, and are stingy and greedy. They are the ones who spend money on the most ridiculous, overpriced things until they are in debt up to their eyeballs. I know people who routinely spend £50 every day in the pub, yet they have heavy debts. That kind of spending would financially cripple most people eventually, and severely hinder any wealth plan.

My friend does what he can to get things free of charge, and sometimes succeeds. Of course nothing is ever completely free in life, and my friend pays the price of researching where to find such goods, and takes the time and effort to collect such items. I decided to learn from this and looked at my own expenditure, and barring necessary stuff like food and bills, I discovered that for entertainment and many other things, it is perfectly possible to live on far less money than I did previously, and sometimes you can literally “live for free” by engaging in pursuits that do not cost you money. This is a great opportunity to save even more money, and if its good enough for a millionaire it's definitely good enough for me.

Things you can do for free:

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  Books at Project Gutenberg




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  Games online at Pogo or Yahoo.




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  Random stuff at Freecycle




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  Videos on YouTube




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  Borrow books from your local library




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  You can borrow things from friends, but remember to give them back.

If you can't live for free, you can live cheaply. Check around for the best deal before buying anything.

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  MoneySavingExpert




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  Ebay




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  Pricerunner




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  Buy supermarket own brands in order to save money.

I used to think that if I had enough money to buy something I should just buy it, but after observing the actions of people who are very successful with money, I am wary about spending any money at all. This does not mean that you should become stingy, or miserly. It just means that you should think about evaluating each purchase before you make it, and always ask yourself if you could get a better deal elsewhere. Shop around for the best deal.

Create a monthly budget using a word processor, or a simple spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel, and look at ways to lower the price on each expense. Becoming wealthy is also about saving money, so seek to save money wherever you can.