Many people have tried to emulate Warren Buffett�s investment style. More may attempt it as they search for the best investing ideas for 2012. But here�s a more attainable goal: Pinch pennies like the Oracle of Omaha. This might turn out to be a New Year�s resolution you can actually keep. And you�ll be richer for it.
When his first child was born, the famously frugal Buffett turned a dresser drawer into a bassinet. For the second one, he borrowed a crib. While in New York signing up clients to invest six-figure sums with him during the 1960s, he reportedly phoned a friend from New York�s Plaza Hotel to bring over a six-pack of Pepsi so he wouldn�t have to pay for room service. He drove a Volkswagen until his wife decided it was bad for his image and upgraded him to a Cadillac.
Roger Lowenstein recounts these and other examples of Buffett�s personal spending habits in his biography Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist. Buffett, he writes, once said about himself that he was �working [his] way up to cheap.�
Whether investing in companies or buying everyday necessities, the Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO (currently #3 on the Forbes Billionaires list) has been driven by the notion that small sums compound. He runs the calculations to prove it. If that�s more math than you�d like to do, look at it this way: every penny that you don�t spend unnecessarily leaves more money to invest for the future or allocate to something you might enjoy more�like your next vacation.
By example, Buffett has demonstrated that being thrifty isn�t just for poor folks. So in the spirit of Warren Buffett, look for ways to cut your spending this year. Here are 40 relatively painless (or even pleasurable) ways to be fabulously frugal.
Food
1. Brown bag breakfast and lunch at work. Make your own muffins instead of buying one on the way to work. (For an easy, versatile recipe, check out �Muffin Madness� in Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home.) An easy way to prepare lunch is to simply cook extra for dinner and take the leftovers to work the next day.
2. Purchase seasonal foods and shop for supermarket specials.
3. Buy in bulk and freeze.
4. Don�t go food shopping when you�re hungry.
5. Cook meals instead of relying on takeout and ordering in. Eat at restaurants only on special occasions.
6. When ordering from a restaurant menu, choose something that you can�t prepare as well as home.
7. Scoop your own ice cream. The markup for ice cream cones and cups bought at those cute little joints is enormous. You�re much better off buying your favorite flavors on sale at the supermarket by the quart or the gallon. If you�re watching your waistline, confine yourself to half-cup servings and resist the temptation to eat directly from the container.
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