Frugal living requires a positive outlook and a willingness to develop new skills, such as haggling and bartering.

Blacksburg resident Emily Stuart, 89, learned as a girl in her father's hardware store in Douglas, Ga.

"The farmers were always coming in trying to bargain," Stuart said.

From them she learned that negotiation requires a kind of confidence her husband Bob, 90, describes as "definitely an art."

Emily Stuart loves to tell the story of a great bargain she negotiated decades ago in a shoe store in her hometown. The pair of shoes she wanted was priced at $5.

"But I said: 'Well, I can't pay $5 for these shoes. But I could pay you $3.50,' " Stuart said.

The merchant said no, he couldn't cut the price that much. He countered at $4.

Stuart told him she couldn't pay that much, either.

Eventually, they settled on $3.75.

Successful haggling requires persistence and politeness, but most importantly, the resolve to walk away without the item. That resolve won't always get you what you want. But many times it will get you a better price, Stuart said.

After mental preparation, the most important step is to find the person with the power to negotiate. Often that isn't the clerk at the cash register.

"Find the manager. Deal with them," Stuart said.

Then there is the art of bartering, or trading goods or services for other goods or services.

Stuart once worked a deal with an up-and-coming Blacksburg artist whose work she admired, but for which she couldn't pay cash. Always looking for a deal, Stuart found a different kind of currency.

The artist happened to have a weakness for fresh-picked raspberries. And Stuart just happened to grow raspberries in her back yard.

That painting still hangs in the Stuart's living room and is now likely worth $1,000 or more.

Another skill frugal folk, such as JoAnn Underwood, 79, practice is smarter shopping. Besides shopping in dollar stores, there is the "thrift store swoop" practiced often by bargain hunters.

Pick your favorite stores and monitor them on a regular schedule, daily if you can, these smart shoppers advise.

After Christmas is a good time to shop second-hand stores. That's where many people dump unwanted gifts of clothes, housewares and other goodies. It's commonplace to find items still in their original packages for a fraction of their original cost.

In Blacksburg and Radford, thrift stores fill up twice a year when Virginia Tech and Radford University classes end. College students often donate furniture and other housewares they may not want to lug back home.

Some brave Dumpster divers find even better deals at student apartment complexes.