花岗岩的强度一般是:省钱有理、节俭持家

Post written by Sherri 

作者: Sherri

Yesterday I wrote about our journey going from relatively wasteful to being relatively frugal. To me frugal means being conscious of where your money is going, spending it wisely and recycling or reusing goods where it makes sense. After reading this you may think we are more cheapskates than frugal but it’s not that we don’t spend money because we do! Only now it’s in a more restrained manner and like I said earlier the money is spent where it counts. Eliminating “financial barnacles”, as my husband likes to call them, is letting us realize our financial goals a lot quicker. Financial barnacles are those little hangers-on expenses that you pay each month, they chew through your cash, are typically services that don’t add value to your life and well you really don’t need them.

昨天我写下了我们是如何从相对浪费的生活方式过渡到相对节俭的生活方式。对于我来说，节俭意味你清楚自己的钱用到什么地方了，精明地花钱，能把东西重复使用或循环利用。看了这些，你可能认为我们不是节俭而是吝啬，但我们不是不花钱，我们有花。只是现在用的是一种更节制的方式，如我之前所说，钱要用在到该用的地方。消灭“财务扒手”让我们更快地知道到我们的财务目标，我丈夫喜欢这样称呼那些无形中消耗了我们钱的家伙。“财务扒手”是依附在你的每月支出上的小额消费， 它们吞噬着你的现金，是那些典型的没有为你生活增加价值的服务，所以你真的不需要它们。

Here are some ways that we have adopted frugality into our lives. You may wish to take a few on board if you too are looking to become a little more frugal and realize your financial goals quicker (say, get out of debt? Or maybe put money in a saving account found through Mozo? (http://mozo.com.au/savings-accounts)).

以下是一些我们已经采用的节约之道。如果你也渴望变得节俭一点，快一点实现你的财务目标，也许有些你用得上。（比如：摆脱债务、或者将钱存到Mozo网上的一个储蓄存款帐户上？（(http://mozo.com.au/savings-accounts)

1. Haircuts.

In our home it’s haircuts a-la-mom. I don’t have any formal training but cutting kids hair is really straight forward. It doesn’t cost anything, apart from the cost of a pair of shears. Best of all you can do it when it suits you, there’s no piling into the car to go to the barber and no fighting in public to get the kids to stay put in the chair.

1．自己动手理发

在我们家是妈咪剪发。我没有受过任何正规培训，但是给孩子剪发其实很简单。除了花钱买把大剪刀外，没有任何其他费用。如果你能自己剪发的话最好就自己剪了，不用挤车去理发店，也不用大庭广众之下和孩子斗争把他按在理发椅上。

2. Pay with cash.

Paying with cash has made us a lot more conscious about where we’re spending money and just how much. It’s easy to buy things and throw it on a credit card but when you have $50 in your wallet and you have to pay $30 for an item you may just think twice about what you’re buying. Do I really need this? Do I really want to spend over half of what I have on this item? I know all about the rewards argument for using credit cards but we’ve found that we save more actual money by using cash than we ever make in rewards using credit cards.

2．买东西用现金付款

用现金付款时，我们更能意识到钱花在了什么地方。 如果你用信用卡付款，就很容易买了又扔了都不可惜，但是如果你钱包里有50美金却需要花30美金买一样东西，你就会多考虑一下你买的是什么东西了。问问自己， 我是不是真的需要这样东西？我是不是真的要把我大半的钱用来买这个东西？我知道所有关于用信用卡的奖励制度，发现实际上用现金省下的钱多过用信用卡得到的的奖励返还。

3. Generic brand.

When shopping we buy generic brand as much as we can. Generally, we don’t notice much of a difference between generic and name brand food items. However, where we do notice a difference in either quality or taste we do buy brand name.

3．选择大众品牌

买东西时我们尽可能买大众品牌。一般，我们不会觉得大众品牌的食品和知名品牌的有多大区别。但是，如果我们发现某知名品牌的质量或者味道确实好一些的话，我们会选知名的。

4. Buy second hand.

There are some great deals on second hand items and it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality. For any major purchases we now plan well ahead and keep an eye out online and in newspapers for what we’re looking for. Planning ahead does two things. It allows you to get a really great price (new or used) as you have time on your side and it also takes away the impulsiveness of most purchases. If you still want an item 2-3 months later then it’s likely a good purchase for you. Some examples of items we have bought second hand are: washer and drier, stove, microwave, dining room table, and dishwasher and they are all still in great working order a year later.

4．买二手货

有些二手交易非常合算，而且质量还很好。如果我们能提前计划好要买什么大件，可以常常到网上或报纸上看看有没有需要的东西。提前计划有两个好处：首先，因为有时间慢慢选，你可以用一个非常好的价钱买到想要的东西（全新或者二手）;其次，你会放弃很多因为一时冲动才想买的东西。如果有样东西2-3月之后你仍然想买，那么可能那真是你需要的东西。看看我们买的二手宝贝有什么吧，洗衣机和烘干机、炉子、微波炉、餐桌和洗碗机，用了一年这些东西还都能正常工作。

5. Eat at home.

We rarely go out to eat. If we eat out once a month on average that’s a lot. Let’s face it eating out is expensive! Where we live it’s not uncommon for a dinner for two to cost upwards of $70-$80 and that’s not at a real high end restaurant either. I also find that the meals we eat at home are generally healthier and, in my opinion, my cooking tastes a bit better than what we get at most restaurants.

5.在家吃饭，少下馆子

我们很少出去吃饭。平均一个月出去吃一次饭已经算是多了。到外面吃饭实在是太贵了！在我们住的地方，两个人一起吃个饭平平常常就要花掉70-80美金以上，这还不是在高档饭店吃呢。我还发现通常我们自己在家用餐吃得更健康，而且个人认为，我自己做的饭比外面多数饭馆做的味道更好:-p

6. Pack a lunch.

Everyday my husband goes to work he takes a lunch with him. Again, he opts for healthier food choices and it’s a lot less expensive. If he takes leftovers from the night before there is even less waste.

6. 带便当上班

每天我丈夫都带一个午餐便当去上班。此外，他只选择较健康又较便宜的食物。如果他带的是前一晚没吃完的菜那就更省钱了。

7. Shop for gifts throughout the year.

The benefits of this are twofold. 1) You can take advantage of sales when they pop up throughout the year and 2) You eliminate those mad dashes to the mall to get the perfect gift an hour before the party, thus eliminating stress! We have gotten most of our families to use wishlist.com to list their Birthday, Anniversary and Christmas wishes. This is an awesome site and when kept up to date it’s easy to keep an eye out for a good deal.

7.买礼物挑平时

这么做的好处有两方面。一、每年你可以利用打折的机会用低价买好礼物。二、不用在节日前才匆匆地去买礼物，和人家在商场挤得头破血流，这样能消除压力！ 我家多数家庭成员都去wishlist.com列下他们的生日愿望、周年纪念愿望和圣诞愿望。这个网站棒极了，而且不停地去更新也很容易发现到好的二手交易信息哦。

8. Drink water.

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Not only is it great for your body it’s good for your pocket book too. We drink a lot of water in our house (yes, good old fashioned unfiltered tap water) and it is a lot less expensive than pops and juices – this is one of my frugal favorites!

8.喝自来水

喝自来水不只是对身体好，还能省钱。我们在家喝很多水（是的，最有益身体最古老的自来水），而且比汽水和果汁要便宜得多少- 这是我省钱攻略中的最爱之一！

9. Car services.

If you’re a bit of a handy person, don’t mind getting a bit dirty and can find your way around under the hood, servicing your own car can save you a lot of money in labor costs. My husband recently got set up to do regular car services (car jack, axle stands, creeper etc…). He’s pretty handy and has some experience with oil changes, filter changes, and tire rotations etc…so this will save us a fair bit of money in the coming years.

9.自己做汽车维修

如果你动手能力不错，不介意手会弄脏，你就会发现打开汽车发动机盖，给自己的车子做维修能给你省下很多的人工费。我丈夫最近开始做些基本汽车维修。他非常心灵手巧，还会换油、过滤器和轮胎等等……在接下来的几年里这给我们省下了一笔相当可观的费用。

10. Walk.

Where we can, we walk. Going to get the mail, corner store for milk or to the library – if it’s nice out, and it’s not too far, walk. This saves money on gas, wear and tear on the car, is better for the environment, and is better for you as well! It gets you moving which makes you feel great and can lift your mood!

10．多走路少坐车

能够走路到的地方，我们都走路去。取邮件包裹、到附近便利店买牛奶、或者去图书馆- 如果外面天气好，地方又不远，那么就走路去。省下汽油钱、减少汽车损耗，既环保又有益健康！走路向前令你心情舒畅！

11. No TV.

In an attempt to take back some of our free time we decided to cancel the cable and avoid satellite TV. This is one of the barnacles that wasn’t adding any value to our lives and yet kept taking money month after month. It’s truly been one of the best things we’ve done for our family. We still have farmer vision (4 free to air stations) that when we’re desperate for contact with the outside world we can at least tune in to something (although it’s rare).

11.远离电视

为了让我们有更多的休闲时间去做点别的事情，我们决定取消有线电视和卫星电视服务。这是没有给我们的生活带来价值却每月扣钱的“扒手”之一。说真的，这是为我们这个家庭做的最好决定之一。 我们还有农场频道可以看（有四个是对加油站免费的）， 当我们想要知道外面的世界发生了什么时，至少我们还可以调到一些频道看看（虽然这种情况很少发生）。

12. Cell phones.

We do have cell phones but have gotten rid of all the peripheral services that we initially “needed”. We no longer have voice mail, caller i.d., call forwarding, internet access etc… and you know what? We don’t miss it. We were charged monthly for these services and we rarely used them. In our next round of barnacle detachments the cell phones will likely be cut.

12．精简手机服务

我们有手机，不过我们取消了所有早期我们曾有用到过的服务。我们已不再需要语音信箱、来电显示、来电转移、网络服务等等。结果你知道吗？我们一点损失也没有。尽管每月扣费，其实我们根本很少用到那些服务。下一轮再精简时，可能连手机也会被精简掉。

13. Holidays. We don’t go on winter vacations to “escape the cold” and summer vacations are spent either at my folks cottage or camping. We did a lot of travelling before we had kids and before our frugal ways really set in. By the time we were ready to leave Australia the travel bug had official died in both of us. A good thing I guess as travel can be expensive! (Airfare, hotel, transport, food, activities, souvenirs etc. it all adds up!)

13．减省度假费用

寒假我们留在家里，没有继续“远离寒冷”的旅行，暑假我们就在亲戚家的村舍过或者去野餐。 在没有小孩也没有开始我们的节俭计划之前，我们经常去很多地方旅游。到我们准备好离开澳大利亚时， 我们俩就已经都没有旅游瘾了。这是件好事，旅游花销太大了。（ 机票、酒店、交通、吃、活动、旅游纪念品等等，样样都要花钱啊！）

14. Meal planning.

Doing our bi-weekly meal plan has saved us big time. We have almost no wastage and our pantry is no longer over stuffed with food items that we never use and only bought out of habit (onions and tins of soup, as examples).

14．做用餐计划

做一个两周的用餐计划给我们省了很多时间。我们几乎都没什么浪费，而且我们的储藏室再也没塞满我们从来用不上只是出于一种习惯而买来的食品了。（比如：洋葱头啊，或者罐装汤什么的）。

15. Pick and choose financial institutions.

This one has likely made the biggest impact on our family financially. Don’t be afraid to use different financial institutions for their strengths. We have forgone simplicity in this case in order to save a significant amount of money. Think about your mortgage, savings, checking and investments and don’t be afraid to shop around.

15. 挑选财务管理机构

这是给我家财务带来最大冲击的一项。勇敢地让不同的财务管理机构发挥各自的长处。为了能够存下一笔可观的钱，这一点上我们没有草率简单。想想你的抵押贷款、账单、存款和投资，然后货比三家。

16. Buy older model cars.

Cars that we buy are not brand new, they are older models with relatively few kilometers on them. For example, we bought a 2001 Toyota Corolla, which at the time was 5 years old. Where we live on average there’s about 20,000kms put on a car each year so after 5 years this Corolla should have in the vicinity of 100,000kms. The one we bought had 60,000kms basically a 3 year old car with a 5 year old price tag. Pretty good deal, right?

16.买旧款车

我们买的车都不是全新的，都是旧款式，只是相对来说跑得少点的车。比如，我们买了一辆丰田2001年出的克罗拉，买时已经用过五年了。在我们住的地方，平均一辆车每年要跑20，000公里，那么这辆用了五年的克罗拉应当已经跑了100，000公里了。但是我们买的这辆车其实只跑了60，000公里，相当于是一辆三年车龄的车，可价格同五年车龄的车是一样的。很划算，是吧？

17. Buy in bulk.

Last year was the first year we bought meat direct from the farmer. This saved us a lot of money as we avoided the supermarkets and bought a lot of it at one go. Through meal planning this is lasting a long time and we’re not falling into the buy in bulk, eat in bulk, waste in bulk trap.

17. 批发购买

去年是首年我们开始直接向农夫买肉类。因为不用去超市，而且一次买的量比较大，这省了我们很多钱。从开始做用餐计划开始，这持续了很长时间，我们也没有掉到买得多、吃得多就浪费多的陷阱。

18. General purpose cleaner.

For cleaning our house we reduced our products down to one general purpose cleaner eliminating the more costly specialty cleaners. This saves us money from month to month and takes up a lot less room under the sink!

18.多功能洗洁用品

为了清洁家里，我们选用了多功能洗洁用品，而没有用昂贵的专业洗洁用品。每个月省了钱还腾出了水槽下的空间在这里输入译文

19. Work from home.

My husband used to work from home before he started at his most recent position. When he worked from home we were able to reduce the insurance on our car, we paid far less on gas, there were no parking fees and there was less wear and tear on the car.

19.在家工作

做现在的工作之前，我丈夫过去都是在家工作的。当他在家工作时，我们可以减少车险，汽油钱也用得少多了，根本没有停车费，车的损耗也少了。

20. Plant a veggie garden.

Not only is this a great relaxing hobby it’s a great way to be frugal. Growing your own vegetables is rewarding as they often taste better and can cost as little as a packet of seeds. Get your kids involved and teach them where their food comes from.

20.种蔬菜

这不仅是一种很好的休闲乐趣，还可以省钱。自己种菜值得一试，通常自己种的菜味道更好，而且成本就几袋种子。让孩子们也参与进来告诉他们食物是从哪里来的。

So there you have it, a few ways in which we have brought frugality into our lives. We’re always looking for new ideas on how we can be even more frugal!  If you have other suggestions or tips please feel free to post them in the comments.

就是这么多了，一些方法让我们把节俭带入了我们的生活。我们时常在探寻更多新的点子让我们可以更加节俭！如果你有其它建议和点子，请都写在评论栏里吧！