Eighteen Frugal Living Tips for Saving Money
Some of you may know what this means, and some may not. What exactly is frugal living?
Frugal living means that you are resourceful and don’t waste more than necessary! It does NOT mean you are pinching pennies and are miserable. You may spend a lot less money and are happy living with less.
It doesn’t mean you are a cheapskate at all. It means you are a careful spender and a good steward!
This is a list of some frugal living tips for cutting back on some of the lesser important things in life. These are not the only frugal living tips by any means, nor is this list even the best. Nevertheless, these tips are essential, and some of them are quite invaluable for getting out of debt.
Whatever your financial goals are, at least some of these frugal living tips will help you in that quest!
1. Budget Your Finances
Have you heard this before? It is imperative to have an effective budget if you want financial freedom! A budget helps with knowing WHERE your money goes, and at the same time, it limits where your money goes.
Further, you cannot reduce your expenses if you don’t know your income and outgo! Creating a budget will tell you everything you need to know to cut as much as possible from your expenses!
2. Cut the Cable
Is cable television unavoidable in the internet age? We don’t think so!
We live without it just fine. We have internet and use streaming such as Netflix and Hulu. Also, most networks have a website that has their shows on it.
I can watch all of my shows that I like on the internet or off air, and, it is ordinarily online the day after it airs!
3. Ditch the Hipster Coffee
Do you drink Starbucks every day? I know it is very delicious and I used to drink it every day and sometimes two times a day! Do you realize how much money that costs?
4. Drink More Water
How much money do you spend on soft drinks and bottled water?
Bottled water is a multi-billion business per year, and each of us is contributing over 100 dollars per year to that number.
Buy a good water filter for your home and drink filtered tap water and cut down on soft drinks.
5. Use a Pre-paid phone.
Do you know going with prepaid is substantially cheaper than having regular cell service? I need to implement this frugal living tip as soon as possible; however, being under a contract prevents that!
I now use Straight Talk after decades of being with one of the big originals.
6. Meal Planning
Meal planning may not seem like a money saver, but it is. Planning your meals in advance saves money in numerous ways. Meal planning is one of my favorite frugal living tips that we do all of the time now and I swear by it.
It allows you to organize your meals so there is no guesswork. I save hundreds each month by meal planning!
7. Make a Grocery List
In the same fashion as meal planning, making a grocery list is very important. If you go into the grocery store without a list, and you’re wandering around the aisles shopping for food, how often do you grab stuff that you don’t usually grab or impulse buy?
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Oh, by the way, if you planned all of your meals, making your grocery list just got easier!
Making a grocery list prevents the majority of those impulse buys. Do you realize some brilliant people set up those stores in such a way to force more impulse buys on you! Make a list and shop for the items on that list!!
8. Buy in Bulk
Go to the big box stores and buy certain products in bulk. You can save a fair amount of money by doing this.
9. Pack your Lunch!
If you eat out every day at lunch, it can cost a lot of money! When you meal plan and prep, make sure you make extra or bigger meals to take with you to work!
Always make enough to have leftovers.
10. Grow Your Own Food
Do you have a garden? Do you enjoy a fresh tomatoes picked out of your garden? Tasty!
I must say I don’t garden as much as I used to, but we still save some serious cash!
11. Do it Yourself
I have wasted money in my life hiring people to do things that many of us can do ourselves!
Pull up that youtube video on repairs you need to make! At a minimum look into the job and how difficult it is going to be before you immediately hire someone! Sometimes we will still have to. However, other times, we can save that cash!
12. Combine Errands
I think most of us do this. We leave the house numerous times during the week to go to the grocery store, gas station, and other errands.
However, just put a little bit of thought into those errands before you jump in the car and go! If it is something that can wait until a later rime, then wait! Then, when you’re day off work, combine all those errands you put off into one trip!
13. Ride-share to work if poss
Speaking of combining errands, do you have any co-workers you can ride with to work?
How much gas can you save if you carpool with a co-worker one or two weeks per month, and they carpool with you for a couple of weeks per month?
14. Visit Your Local Library
Do you enjoy reading? Visit your local library!
Check those books out for free and read them! However, don’t forget the last frugal living tip! Make sure you visit the library when combining your other errands!
15. Amazon kindle books – free reader, free kindles
You can get a free reader app from Amazon for your computer and there are always various kindle books on free promo.
16. Save on Your Electric Bill
Do you have a smart thermostat? Do you have LED light bulbs?
A smart thermostats can save upwards of $100 dollars per year!
LED light bulbs can save you four dollars per year per bulb! Now, I realize that it is NOT a huge amount of money. However, LED bulbs are much cheaper now than when they first came out, so if your old bulb burns out, replace it with LED.
17. Use a Clothesline, Drying rack
This frugal living tip isn’t a huge money saver as some of the others. You will save a small amount per SMALL load of laundry. You are covered in summer and winter. You need a clothes line and a drying rack. (More info here.)
18. Save for an Emergency Fund
Expressing the importance of having an emergency fund may or may not be a frugal living tip, but this is the MOST IMPORTANT tip you can get!
Please save up an emergency fund! Having an emergency fund is of utmost importance to get out debt!
For example, when you can’t DIY your vehicle repair, having an emergency fund will save putting more money on your credit card.
Start it small, but start it now! It will bring you comfort.
To conclude.
No one of these frugal tips is a giant money saver! However, if you do several of them, they add up!
To become debt-free, and to gain financial freedom, we need to cut spending where we can! Paying off all of debt is not easy, but it is achievable!
Above all, remember these frugal living tips are only opinions and may or may not work for you in your situation!
What frugal living tips do you have? What are some ways you save money? What are some ways you have been researching or thinking about doing to save more money? Let us know in the comments, please!
And please read my articles on your Emergency Fund here and your Sinking Fund here!
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