7.5: Economizing
Economizing is a term that describes the practice of minimizing the economic cost of living. An example of this would be reducing waste and expenditures. Economizing is used most often when the cost of living is too high compared the individual's, or family's, income. This practice used by people everyday all around the world. Culture influences what people purchase and thus economizing changes between cultures because different cultures see different expenditures as mandatory.
A way to make sure that you economize effectively is to set a budget. Everyone that economizes has a budget, whether they have specifically made it or whether it is imposed by their income determines how necessary it is to economize. By setting a budget correctly you will avoid overspending completely if you stay under budget. However, the difficulty in having a budget is remaining under it. Economizing as a practice helps with this because it minimizes the cost of daily and necessary expenditures. Some common and effective ways to economize in the United States are to grow your own vegetables in your backyard, buy generic household brands, avoid deviating from grocery list, use public transportation as much as possible, cut costs on air conditioning by adding blinds to windows and buy non-perishable items in bulk. However, many of this strategies do not work for other cultures. A common example of a strategy to economize is to eat less. If you eat less you have to buy less food and because of how simple this strategy is it is used widely. This can lead to widespread hunger if many people do not have enough money to purchase items essential to living.