Whoever said living frugally doesn’t pay? Warren Buffet, for long one of the richest men in the world, still lives in the $31,500 house he bought way back in 1958. As noted by Business Insider, the house comprises less than 0.001% of Buffet’s net worth. He is scarcely alone among the super rich who have modest ways when it comes to spending. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is famous for driving a cheap Honda Accord back when Amazon was already a billion dollar company. As you can see, living frugally is desirable for so many reasons. Far from being just restrictive about how you spend your money, it should open up more opportunities for other things. Below are some of the best frugal living tips and advice on how to fight frugal fatigue.
Frugal Living Tips and Fighting Frugal Fatigue
Knowing that you need to save money and be frugal is one thing, but doing it can be so much harder. If you’ve set goals for saving money only to abandon them quickly again, you know that living frugally is not easy.
Aside from a firm commitment to seeing your goals through, you need frugal living knowledge on your side as well.
Books, blogs, and even courses, can help you gain battle-tested knowledge for living frugally. This post will highlight some of my best frugal living tips and how you can avoid frugal fatigue.
The Discipline Of Managing Your Money
The money that goes through your accounts and pocketbooks is an asset. Just like any other asset, it can do you immense good if you exert the discipline to put it to good use.
If you neglect it, however, you can find yourself in financial difficulties and unable to meet important financial obligations.
Implementing these best frugal living tips will challenge you to exercise financial discipline, but the rewards will be so worth it.
Cancel Subscriptions And Services
One of the best frugal living tips also happens to be one of the most brutal. As much as you love your Netflix and Hulu subscriptions, amongst others, consider putting them on the chopping block.
Cutting Your Subscriptions
Subscription services are alright if you have exceeded your income or savings goals, but the rest of the time, they can set you back.
To see why a small monthly subscription is really a big purchase, consider the cost over the whole year. Just a few subscriptions that look small on their own can quickly add up.
That means most of your subscription services should go flying out the window. Try living without it for a few months and see if you can’t replace it with other, cheaper, solutions.
You Are Not Using What You Are Paying For
Here’s a tip you might not know about your subscriptions: you are probably not using everything you get billed for.
It doesn’t mean the cable company, or the maid service or gym that’s charging you is evil. It just means your use is so occasional that you’d be better of paying per use.
Press “Cancel” on all those subscriptions, right across the board, and enjoy the peace of mind a clean slate gives you.
Apps That Can Help:
- AskTrim.com – Trims your bills by scanning and canceling subscriptions for you.
- BillBargain – Negotiates your bills lower, automatically.
Avoid Eating Out
Eating out can be such fun, but it can also put a serious dent in your personal finances. The more unbudgeted food outings you find yourself engaging in each month, the harder it is to stick to budget.
You can take the frugal approach by eating at home instead. Not only can you prepare food that’s tastier, but you can take into account your healthy eating preferences. In addition, the cooking experience can be tremendous fun.
Save Money On Home Cooking
When cooking at home, you can save money by buying your ingredients and groceries in bulk. Buying in bulk at wholesale outlets can save you money on things like rice, flour, beans, grains, and other pantry staples.
You can also grow your own produce in a back garden. This way you no longer have to spend money on vegetables and other produce.
Enjoy Fine Cooking On A Budget
Cooking at home doesn’t mean going without fine cooking. On the contrary, if you know how to bake, for example, you can have the best of desserts by baking them yourself at home. If you have kids, they will love eating at home because you have not compromised on quality.
Apps That Can Help:
- Farmdrop – Connects consumers directly with local farmers.
- Checkout51 – Earn cashback on grocery shopping.
Shop Secondhand For Clothes
Like it or not, a love for fashion and designer brands can be one of your most expensive habits. It’s understandable why. We all want to look good and feel confident going out.
However, living frugally requires taking a second look at your clothing and fashion shopping habits.
You might just discover that you can save a ton of money by going with less flashy looks. Indeed, you might find that shopping used clothing does not mean sacrificing on style.
Develop A Taste For Cheap Clothing
A no brainer way to start spending significantly less on clothing is to develop a taste for cheap wears. This could mean casual wear by throwaway brands rather than shopping designer labels. Over the course of a year, you could end up cutting your apparel bill in half.
Buy Used For Even More Savings
To stretch your clothing dollars even more, consider going with strictly used clothing. Thanks to dollar stores and charity shops, it’s become easier to find used clothing at good quality levels. You might even luck out on high end designer looks at bargain prices every now and then.
Apps That Can Help:
Plan Family Entertainment At Home
As you will discover when living frugally, staying at home and not going out on the town is one of the best frugal living tips.
It might seem constraining that you have to stay home and not join your friends on nights out. However, think about all the savings you will gain by not going to the movies or to the local bars.
Date Ideas That Don’t Require Big Spending
Planning dates doesn’t have to come with a huge price tag. You and your loved one can do a cookout or barbeque at home. You save on fuel costs and food service costs.
Instead of going to the cinema, stream an online movie on the cheap or play your favorite music.
Family Fun At Home
If you have kids, you can plan family activities that cost next to no money. Board games are an easy way to have a fun family night at home.
You can also take a hike together in the outdoors.
Bring along your phone or camera to take advantage of the fun photo opportunities.
Apps That Can Help:
- Family Feud 8, Friends – Quiz game for families.
- Draw Something – Drawing game for family and friends.
Start A Savings Fund
So far we’ve set up essential frugal living habits that are going to powerfully change your financial outlook. Rather than throwing away hundreds or thousands each month on pointless spending, you will be saving all that money, automatically.
To make sure you do not waste the fruit of your hard earned fiscal discipline, you need to now set up a proper savings fund. This is one of the best frugal living tips for growing your own nest egg that can become significant wealth in the future.
Your Savings Plan
Now that you have some financial breathing room, you should separate your normal bank account and your savings account. Your current bank can create a new account for you just fine.
This savings account will be strictly for savings, not to be touched, but there to serve for the very long run.
You should sit down with pen and paper and figure out how much you should put away each month. Ideally, begin with a comfortable figure that won’t stress your monthly budget, and bump up the figure over time.
Automate Your Monthly Saving Deposits
To get even better results, you should automate deposits into your savings account.
There are different types of deposit accounts available, including FDIC-insured individual retirement accounts and certificates of deposits.
Set up automated deposits so that a portion of your paycheck goes straight into savings.
Apps That Can Help:
- Acorns – Helps you microinvest, with amounts as low as $5.
- Mint – Helps you track your saving and spending habits.
Fight Frugal Fatigue To Stay On The Right Path
One of the best frugal living tips that will impact your ability to save involves a crippling problem: frugal fatigue. Just like athletes on a workout plan sometimes get burnout if they work too hard, living frugally can result in frugal fatigue.
What Is Frugal Fatigue?
Frugal fatigue is when your mind gets tired of all the discipline imposed by your saving-focused lifestyle.
This often happens on a subconscious level. Here and there, you let discipline slip and you start spending money on little pleasures that are not budget friendly.
Left unchecked, you could find yourself going on uncontrollable spending sprees, buying big ticket items completely out of line with your goals.
Beating Frugal Fatigue
Getting control back over your mind is the best way to combat frugal fatigue.
Remind yourself why you decided to live frugally in the first place. Remind yourself of the better future that’s ahead when you continue living on the frugal path.
In addition, plan some rewards for yourself and for your family for sticking to the disciplined path of frugal living.
Apps That Can Help:
- Stash – Lets you invest in stocks and plan your financial future even if you have small amounts saved.
- Long Game – Gives you rewards for saving money and makes saving fun again.
Delay Big Ticket Purchases
As your savings pile up and you start having more room in your budget, the temptations are going to get bigger.
Since you have more discretionary income and cash, you will be tempted to spend on big ticket items based on in the moment impulses.
Make Use Of The 24 Hour Rule
There’s a technique that can help you avoid making impulse purchases that you will regret in the future. It’s called the “24 Hour Rule.”
When you see a big ticket item on sale or get an impulse to buy a big ticket item, take a step back. Give it a full 24 hours to carefully make a thoughtful decision on what the costs and benefits to your finances will be.
A lot of the time, careful thought will show you that you are better off delaying the gratification, and saving your money.
Plan Big Purchases Well Ahead Of Time
Rather than buying big items at a moment’s notice, plan these purchases well ahead of time. The same way you would not rush to just buy a brand new car for full price, plan other big ticket purchases smartly.
Give yourself enough time to save up and also to compare prices across different suppliers.
Apps That Can Help:
- Coupon Sherpa – Find coupons to save money on your purchases.
- Perpay – Set a strict spending limit for your purchases.
Pay Off Your Debts And Avoid New Debt
To get all the benefits of frugal living, you should aim to improve your credit rating and gradually get yourself out of debt. Improving your credit rating will open up new financial opportunities and help your plans for long term wealth building.
Pay Off Your Credit Cards First
Your first step to better credit is to pay off your debts. The rule of thumb is to pay off the debt with the highest interest rates first. Typically, this is personal credit card debt and other high interest loans.
To make rapid progress, you should make more than the minimum monthly payment each month. In addition, you can negotiate a lower interest rate with the credit card company.
Get Financial Counseling
Most of us can benefit from getting expert financial counseling. This is because a financial advisor with the right training can spot easy opportunities that vastly improve your finances.
A good place to begin is to talk with your bank and see if you can afford their financial counseling services.
If you can’t afford these services, you can turn to non-profit organizations like Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS). CCCS will help you manage your debt and negotiate with your creditors.
Best Frugal Living Tips For A Better Future
As we saw, frugal living improves your finances now and opens new opportunities. By making these optimizations to your financial life, you can live frugally and set yourself up for a better financial future. The road may not always be easy, but the rewards it brings will be worth the sacrifices. You and your family will live richer lives free of debt. By living frugally, you will have full control over your own financial destiny. Hope you enjoyed these best frugal living tips and let us know in the comments if you have anything to add!
