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Frugal living is not something new. Generations before you have practiced it when things were not that great economically. I mean there are many frugal living tips from the great depression. Hence, it is not surprising that frugal living has become so popular now because the world is going through a lot of economic crises. Everyone is trying to find a way to save money, live below or within their means, start a business and still be happy (like not go crazy).
Therefore you are making the best decision for yourself and your finances by adopting a frugal lifestyle. Be it temporary till when things become better for you or permanently so you can learn how to manage your finances better. You are on the right lane.
The good thing about living frugally is this. it is independent of your location. I don’t know what part of the world you are reading this from but if you want frugality to be a part of your life you can do it. Shortly you will be seeing some of the best frugal living tips and all you have to do is pick the ones you can practice and roll with them.
what is Frugal Living?
To be frugal means to be careful when spending money or being careful with money. Frugality doesn’t stop at money alone as you can be frugal with food, clothes, and other basic needs. However, it is still money centered to a large extent.
Then we say “what does frugal living mean?” Frugal living simply means adopting a lifestyle where you are mindful and careful with your expenditure in every necessary area of your life. It doesn’t mean to mice or be a cheapskate as it is generally misinterpreted. It means you become conscious of how much goes out of your pocket, what it was for, if it was worth it and if you can cut it off. All of these are geared towards helping you become better at managing your finances and growing them.
Frugal living comes with some unique benefits which we will look into next.
5 Simple Benefits of Frugal Living
- You become better at managing your finances.
- Frugal living makes it possible for you to save money.
- When you adopt frugality you can live a debt-free life.
- You can kiss many bad spending habits goodbye.
- It allows you grow your income and eventually become financially stable.
25 of the Best Frugal Living Tips to try
Here are 25 frugal living tips with a big impact. These are not frugal living tips from the great depression but tips that will work perfectly well in the times we are in.
1. Plan your meals
Planing your meals helps prevent wastage and helps you see what you can cut cost on. It will also help you stay on track n what to buy and what not to buy when you go grocery shopping.
Buying food stuff we end up not using which eventually gets spoiled and wasted is a common bad spending habit. But you can avoid it when you plan your meals.
2. Eat in
Eating in is the opposite of eating out and to be frugal you might want to cut it down or stop for a while till you reach your saving goals.
Having not to prepare your meals can be fun and relaxing. but if you really want to be careful with your spending eating in will get you there faster. You know better how much grocery that $50 can get you over a one night dinner.
3. Grow your own vegetables
While growing up my mum always planted the veggies we often eat. Not only was it good that we had enough veggies to eat but it saved some cost.
The good thing about growing vegetables is this, they are easy to grow and they don’t take forever to grow. So grow that veggie you love and save some grocery cost.
4. Learn to Budget
Budgeting is one of the frugal living tips with a big impact. Budgeting is all about you writing down your incomes and and what you will spend it on or how you will spend it. Hence, when you budget you become conscious of your income and what you can or cannot afford.
When you start making a budget managing your finances becomes easy and frugal living becomes easy too.
5. Make a shopping list and stick to it
When you go shopping stick to your list this is simple a frugal living tip even a baby can practice. Yeah you might be tempted to pick one or two extra things because you have extra cash or worse you are using a credit card.
But remember if it wasn’t on the list then it wasn’t important in the first place. So stick to your list.
6. Couponing
Using coupons is not a thing for cheapskates and you don’t have to be extreme about it. If you can gather up some coupons please do and don’t hesitate to use when next you go grocery shopping. Remember one of the major benefits of frugal living is that you get to save money. Using coupons will help you save money on grocery.
7. Have a garage sales
I hate keeping junks or old things that are no longer in use because if fills up space and makes the store room jam packed. I know you can relate to this.
I understand some of this old stuff might still be very valuable. So why don’t you sell it if you can’t come to terms with just giving it out.
8. If you don’t need it, return it
Maybe during one of your shopping spree you ended up buying some items you no longer have use for. It is a wish thing to return it rather than keeping it in hopes that you will have need for it in the future. The earlier you return it, the better your chances of getting back what you spent on it.
9. Buy used things
Buying used things or popularly known as thrift shopping is definitely one of the best frugal living tips. You find amazing things at good prices when you go thrift shopping.
Buying used things is not only applicable to clothes. It can be for household appliances and gadgets. It is a frugal habit you should consider.
10. Buy what’s on sale
The year is fast spent and before you know it’s going to be black Friday sales and cyber Mondays. Those are good times to get amazing offers and deals. Be it for personal use or your business.
Within the year lots of sales go on keep an eye open for that product you’ve been wanting to have. A good deal might be at the corner to help you save and still get that thing you love.
11. Buy before season
Buying a jacket before winter is less expensive than buying it during winter. The prices of things used in a particular season goes up during that season. It’s just simple market psychology Hence, buying out of season or before season is a good frugal move.
12. Try a no spend challenge
A no spend challenge have become so popular starting since last year or even earlier through personal finance influencers, bloggers and writers. Its soul purpose is not for frugal living but managing finances and saving money. But we’ve seen what frugal means and it is no surprise it fits in perfectly as a frugal living tip.
So when you are done buying your grocery and other basic things for the week. Why don’t you give yourself a no spend challenge challenge and see how well or how far you go.
13. Avoid credit cards
Whenever I get to right about saving money or living debt-free. Avoiding credit cards is top of my list.
You cannot be frugal if you keep taking one credit card after another. The whole aim and benefits of frugality becomes defeated. So you might want to kiss goodbye to applying for another credit card.
14. Bulk buying
When it comes to frugal living bulk buying has a big impact but you must get it right or it might end up a waste. which makes the aim of being frugal defeated.
Hence, my simple bulk buying advice is to buy in bulk only what you or your household consumes a lot like on daily bases. Don’t buy other things in bulk just because it was on sales. It will waste. Before bulk buying you might want to know the best way to go about it.
15. No wastage
Food wastage is one of the most common wastage globally. Hence, you have to make sure you are not throwing your money in the garbage by wasting food
There are many other wastage but I’m using food as the one we all can easily relate to. As long as you make a meal plan and stick to your list when shopping. You would solve the problem of wastage.
16. Walk or bike to keep fit
Walking or biking are very effective fitness activity. If you are looking for a cheap way to stay healthy, talk a walk or ride a bike everyday.
17. Fitness at home
You don’t need a gym before you can workout or get the body you want. YouTube and the internet have so many resources for you. All you need is your phone, the internet and 30 minutes to 1 hour of your time daily for at least three times a week.
There are so many home workout that are super effective and will definitely keep you in shape.
18. Cancel that membership or subscription
You can’t want to live frugally without getting rid of some unnecessary luxury. Like a golf membership or an expensive online membership. If they are not adding more money in your pocket then you can do without them.
I know that entertainment is important but if that Netflix subscription is taking too much money. you might want to put it on a hold until you reach your money goals.
19. Automate saving money
Maybe we should leave frugal out of this and talk about saving money on it’s own.
Saving money is the best thing you can do for your finances. There is no disadvantage to saving money as far as I’m concerned except if you end up not putting the money you saved to good use.
If you’ve been wanting to start saving and for some reasons you find it really hard. You should try automating the process.
20. Buy what you can afford
Listen on of the bases of frugal living is living below or within your means. Hence, buy what your income can afford not what your credit card can afford.
Buy clothes you can afford, buy a car you can afford, rent or buy a house you can afford. Eat out where you can afford, throw the party you can afford and go for the vacation you can afford. Learn to leave within or if possible below your means.
21. Make gifts if you can
Let your creative side out by making your gifts. There are so many celebrations as the year unfolds and giving gifts are traditions of showing love, care and appreciation. Making the gifts you plan on giving out will go a long way saving you cost.
22. Save on energy bills
Energy bills are high and it can be frustrating because you can’t do without energy. But what you can do is find a way of lowing the bills.
A simple effective way is turning off the lights when you are not in a room or using it. Instead of constantly using the electric stove alternate with the gas stove.
23. Quit bad spending habit
Some spending habits you have are draining your fiances and if you want to be frugal first consider dealing with them.
I’m an emotional spender and I try to watch it. When I’m happy I just want to spend money. So Imagine a situation where I’m happy everyday, I really can’t afford to spend everyday.
24. Learn to D.I.Y
Learn to do to a lot of things yourself. Learn to do your pedicure, manicure and some basic hair treatment yourself.
You can also learn to sew, so you can patch that dress yourself without going to a seamstress for it.
25. Make extra money
Nothing else says frugal to me than making more money and spending less. Even without a global economic crises having many sources of income will give you the life you want.
When you save that money start a business. when you get that bonus make an investment with it. Put your eggs in many baskets making sure it’s a calculated risk and watch your money grow.
Any Advice to Living a Frugal Lifestyle?
First of all frugality is your choice. what may work for me might not work for you. However, listed above are the best frugality tips for anyone trying to adopt a frugal lifestyle.
Hence, start with baby steps, don’t just rush into trying to do all of it. Start with easy ones like no spend challenges to see how much less money you can go without spending in a week.
Also, do more research. For instance, buying in bulk might be a great frugal tip and it does help to save money. However, you can still go wrong with it. Therefore, research and know how to go about bulk buying for living frugal.
Some Extreme Frugality Tips to Avoid
What might be extreme to me might not be extreme to another person. However, there are some extreme frugality tips you might want to watch out for and avoid.
Self medication, self treatment, or self diagnostic is an absolute NO. I know there are good contents all over the internet and suggested treatments. But without adequate testing to know exactly what’s wrong you are only assuming. Hence to save money never be frugal about your health. It will cost you more in the long wrong.
There are a lot other things you shouldn’t be frugal about but rather find a way around it with best practice that might save you cost.
What is Your Best frugal Living tips?
You have just seen some of the best frugal living tips, carefully selected for anyone who wants to be frugal.
We would love to know what’s your best frugal living tips and which new one have you discovered and can’t wait to give it a try.
Drop a comment we would love to learn your best frugal tips. Especially the one that have helped you save money and do other valuable things with money.
