The Frugal Beagle

It is often referred to as the best day of our life and unfortunately it is also an expensive one. Many people spend massive amounts of money because it is the day they want to remember. The wedding day goes by so fast that is easy to overlook the Herculean efforts that went into making it happen.

It’s the dream of most brides to have a ‘perfect wedding’, with all things planned to the smallest detail. Weddings in a country may differ with in each country, but ways to keep the cost down should be nearly the same. You can save money in a few areas and spend it on others. It is important, however, that you spend as much as you can afford without jeopardizing your financial life.

Clothes
Wedding ceremony is a perfect time to dress up. Brides may spend months choosing the dress that will awe the guests and it can cost thousands of dollars, or just a few hundreds. No matter how much the price is, for a dress that is worn only once, it still costs an arm and a leg. You have an option to rent and although you wouldn’t have the luxury of showing your daughters your wedding dress, it could save you a lot of money. One benefit of renting a dress is that you can hire the most beautiful dress for cheaper than buying a standard wedding dress.

The Venue
The church usually makes a charge for a wedding ceremony and a choir may cost you even more. Even a very simple wedding in registry office costs you some money. Obviously, choosing a venue should be a balance between cost, luxury and size.

Invitations
Making a guest list involves spending days wondering who you should and shouldn’t invite, and it may cause friction. When your list is completed, the invitations must be printed. It may save you a lot of money if you can design and print them at home. You may not need gold embossed invitations, it would be better to choose a good quality paper and be creative instead.

Transport
Rather than going to the church in a common car, most people want something a little more special. The selection is usually something like a classic car or a large luxury like a Bentley. It is a good idea to borrow a classic car from a friend who might be willing to drive you to the venue for free! Another option is to contact a classic car club so you may get a good deal from one of its members.

There seems to be an unending array of innovative, new kitchen gadgets that are introduced to the market. Although they are fun and save you plenty of time, there is an added issue of how to store all these equipments and many of them need electricity. Therefore only use or buy appliances that are both essential and affordable.

Dishwasher
Many people would find it difficult to do without dishwasher once they have one, but it is possible that you’re also tempted to over-use it. Don’t use the dishwasher more than once or twice a day, stack dirty plates and use the dishwasher in the evening or when you reach the full capacity. If you’re really trying to tighten your expenses, you might even consider washing the dishes manually.

Tumble dryer
It is one innovation that is exceptionally useful for wet countries. Washing clothes is always a chore, especially when rain never stops. As the result, some people choose to buy tumble dryer and just forget about the weather. Having a tumble dryer can be a poor decision because it needs plenty of electricity to run, but you can buy it if you have no other choices. There are a few dryer models that can sense the clothes humidity and switch themselves off automatically. Don’t overfill the tumble dryer as it won’t dry the clothes as quickly.

Another consideration is that tumble dryer can deposit a large amount of fluff or cloth fibers. It indicates that clothes tend to wear out quicker with the dryer due to the friction. It means not only your dryer is a poor choice in terms of energy usage, it also means your clothes will need replacing sooner.

Freezers and fridges
• Always site your freezer and fridge in the coolest place with no direct sunlight. If your freezer or fridge is placed near warm appliances such as cooker, it may need to consume more electricity to keep the temperature down.
• Always place your appliances at least one inch from the wall for better air circulation and to let hot air escapes.
• Don’t leave the door open too long, and avoid placing hot food in your fridge as it needs more power to cool down.
• Occasionally check the seals for deposits and clean them.
• Defrost your freezer and fridge regularly, as they don’t run efficiently if they accumulate too much ice.

When buying a new appliance you should also consider its running costs. An appliance that is $20 more expensive than other models can be more efficient and requires $20 less to operate each year. If your appliance can last for ten years, then you can save $200 throughout its lifetime. The long term saving could essentially repay the original price.

Owning a car represents one of the biggest investments a person makes. Next to a house, owning a car is probably the next biggest investment. Not unlike maintaining a house, car maintenance can be quite costly. However, there are ways and means to help you reduce on your expenses in maintaining a car.

• Treat your passengers and your car delicately. Accelerate softly and don’t act like you’re in a Grand Prix start line at each traffic light. Gently accelerating, cornering and braking will lower fuel consumption and stretch the life of tires, engine and brakes components.

• Be sure that you use the most efficient gear. Keeping the RPMs low will reduce the fuel consumption. Don’t cruise in fourth gear on the highway if your car has fifth gear.

• Unload heavy items if you don’t need to carry them around. The heavier the vehicle the more fuel will be required to overcome its inertia during an acceleration

• If you’re stuck at a railway crossing or in a traffic jam for more than two or three minutes, turn off the car.

• Keeping the car well maintained may make it more efficient and generating fewer harmful emissions.

• If the car doesn’t run on unleaded gas you should have it converted. It’s worthwhile to do the conversion because unleaded gas is considerably cheaper than leaded gas, you’ll save money and reducing harmful emissions as well.

• Drive at the most efficient speed especially on highways. You use 25% less fuel driving at 55mph than when you drive at 75mph.

• Keep the tires at the perfect pressure: if your tires are under-inflated by 6psi, you could be wasting 5% of your fuel.

• Remove the roofrack, if you don’t need it, as it makes your car less aerodynamic and you’ll use more fuel.

• An improperly adjusted carburetor contributes to huge fuel inefficiency. Another reason for keeping the car well maintained is that it would be less likely to fail and leave you stranded. Though you’ll never know when the car will break down, it might cost you a good deal of time and money.

• Call the nearest garages before choosing which one to use. Big dealer garages frequently charge much more than smaller local garages

• Make sure to ask the garage to contact you before performing any serious and expensive repair works that you haven’t instructed them to do. It’s easier to negotiate the price before the task is started than after it is finished.

• If you believe that the garage hasn’t fixed a few things, take the car back and if necessary watch your car being repaired even if you don’t actually understand it.

• If, you think the bill is too high, ask them for more details. It is always a great idea to get an estimate before starting the work, even for trivial jobs.

Car servicing costs mostly consist of parts and labor. The labor charge is usually fixed, whilst the parts may vary in price depend on whether they’re ‘genuine’ (made by your car manufacturer), or made by third-party companies.