Is living a frugal lifestyle un-American? The economists would have you believe that it is, as the consumer is expected to live a life in debt to drive the US economy and keep it strong. We have just found out that the US economy does not stay strong forever on borrowed money. The borrow and spend prosperity theory goes way back to the LBJ administration and it has gotten progressively worse ever since.

Starting to live a frugal lifestyle today is going to be very hard thing to do, if you are now a slave to the credit card industry. You can still have dreams for living a frugal lifestyle and freedom after you get your credit card debt paid off. You know what your income is, without planning to include a lottery win or a rich uncle leaving you a bundle. You have to sit down with a pencil and paper and start planning a budget. Plan to live as frugally as possible until you get you credit debt cleaned up. The state of the economy is going to help us all realize what frugal living is all about. Starting to lower our standard of living is going to be a shock and awe experience but we have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we have really been living way above were we should have been.

1. When you go to buy a home "understand all the fine print in the contract" do not let the real-estate agent sell you a house that you cannot afford the payments on. If you a renting don't move into a place if the rent payment is going to take too big a bite out of your income. Try to find a place to live that is close to your place of employment. How much are taxes and utilities? How much living space do you really need if you are thinking about a frugal life style?

2. When you go out to trade vehicles do not let the car salesman put you in a vehicle with a payment that you can not afford. The big SUV or Hummer makes you look impressive on the road but you are the one putting the gas in.

3. Pay off you credit card balance every month. Gas credit cards are handy too but if you pay the minimum payment each month stop and figure out what that gas is really costing you. Use cash to pay for your gas for awhile, the real cost comes right out were you could see it.

4. Try to carry health insurance that will protect you from losing everything in the event of sickness or accident. You may have to elect to have a high deductible but you will still have protection. The medical costs and the cost of insurance coverage in the United States have taught our family to do a lot of praying

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