Frugal

Frugal – By definition it means “characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources” per Webster dictionary.
The Morning Coffee:
Average base price at a coffee shop is $2.65 per cup or approximately $967.00 dollars per year. You can buy high quality paper cups with cap and heat sleeve for about 27 cents each on Amazon. A “K” cup averages 58 cents. Add milk and sugar around 20 cents and you have for the most part a better tasting cup of coffee for around $1.05 per cup saving $584.00 per year. If you use refillable “K” cups you save even more! If you drink more than one cup of coffee per day well do the math! You save even more!
Cable TV:
The typical cable TV bill averages around $150.00 per month. I hear from neighbors with bills in excess of $200.00 dollars. That is usually a bundle with CATV and an Internet connection. Did you know that around 2016 all TV stations went digital! Your TV has the option to pull in a cable signal or an “over the air” signal by way of a simple indoor or outdoor antenna. A recent scan in the Pepperell, MA area brought in 8 strong OTA channels. Thoughts are keep the Internet connection and drop the CATV portion. You can cherry pick from numerous streaming options AND pull in the local Boston stations for the news and entertainment. You could easily save $600.00 dollars per year. See – https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps
The Local Grocery Market:
Your weekly grocery bill may seem like an indisputable expense with no room to improve. But there is a significant difference in some if not all demographics. The cost of going to a store that is convenient on the way home may vary as much as 30%. Consider a weekly grocery bill is at least $100 dollars per week. Making the effort to find a store that has overall lower pricing could easily equate to an annual savings of $1500 dollars!
Automobiles:
Cars are really a utilitarian device. Why spend for a big car that for the most part transports one person the majority of the times? A typical car racks up 20,000 miles per year. Average gas mileage is 24 mpg. Just getting 10 more miles per gallon (say 34 mpg) equates to a savings of about $600 dollars per year. There are a ton of costs affiliated with a car. Expensive luxury cars have expensive maintenance as well as higher insurance rates not to mention excise taxes charged in Massachusetts and other states. That can easily add a couple of thousand dollars per year in expenses! Extrapolate your expenses out over five years to see the overall impact.
Trash Disposal:
The Town of Pepperell Transfer Station has a base price of $90.00 dollars for the main pass then $3.00 per bag (39 gallon) and affords numerous re-cycling bins (free) to minimize what is waste. Your annual cost would be around $246.00 dollars per year assuming one 39 gallon bag per week. Your “waste” may be less if you re-cycle! Compare that to a commercial trash collector that comes in around $45.00 per month which would equate to around $540.00 dollars per year. Using the Pepperell Transfer Station would offer a considerable savings. It is a great value.