The best-known strategy for saving a ton of money, whether as a business owner or a working-class individual, is by implementing some effective frugal living tips.
You must understand how your income is meant to be managed, preserved, and sometimes multiplied. But sadly, you can’t achieve this if you are unable to adapt to an extreme frugal living.
Sometime in 2019, I was engaged in a 9-5 job that brought in a significant amount of money for me every month. At the time, this job seemed to be the ultimate thing in my life, mainly because it enabled me to pay my bills, avoid debts, and live comfortably.
However, there was something not right about my lifestyle, and I was utterly oblivious to it until my appointment with my then employer was terminated.
Even though I was earning a nice paycheck, I had not been saving money. Sadly, by the time I lost my job about a year later, I realized I made a terrible mistake by not living on an extreme budget. I lavished my income without securing any savings. I had to learn the hard way eventually.
You are probably not in this situation, yet, you must ensure it never happens to you. Living on an extreme budget is a safe way to protect your income and build a sustainable financial life, especially when you are not a high-income earner.
To live on an extreme budget, you must learn to practice some of the best frugal living tips that millions of people are currently using to save a ton of money.
The essence of this post is to give you clarity and insight on how to implement some unusual frugal tips that would secure your finance and help you save a large chunk of money.
Benefits Of Frugal Living
You would enjoy a couple of benefits when you know how to live frugally. Even though you have only one source of income, you won’t find yourself struggling financially because you’ve learned to implement some crucial daily frugal living tips.
Here are the main benefits of frugal living:
- It enables you to save money
- It enables you to plan for the future
- It enables you to live a debt-free life
- It subconsciously teaches you how to manage your income, even though it’s not much
- It helps you to be prepared for the unexpected financial crisis; losing your job or having a failed business
- It enables you to set and achieve financial goals
Reasons You Can’t Probably Save Money Right Now
Millions of people across the world keep trying hard to save money by implementing several frugal living tips. But sadly, only a fraction of this set of people can successfully adapt to extreme frugal living and save money.
There are some significant factors that prevent people from saving money. If you sincerely know that you are currently struggling to save money, you should try to identify and combat the things stopping you from sustaining your finance.
Below are some of the most common reasons you probably can’t save money right now:
- Living above your means
- Having only one source of income
- Having a very low source of income
- Having debts
- Laziness
Now, there could be more reasons why you are unable to save money, but the factors mentioned above are common and evident in the everyday life of many people.
You must never live above your means, incur too many debts, or have a very low source of income. These factors would prevent you significantly from saving even a cent.
Also, it would help if you never were too lazy to cut down on your expenses. Even if you don’t have multiple sources of income, you can learn feasible strategies on how to live frugally on one income.
25 Frugal Living Tips To Save A Ton Of Money
If you are determined to know how to live frugally and save money, you must start by learning some basic tips that will impede you from overspending and living above your means. Spending less and avoiding unnecessary expenses shows you are willing to live frugally and secure your finances.
Here are 25 tips that can facilitate frugal living for beginners:
1. Avoid Impulse Buying
Impulse buying is one of the quickest ways to shrink your income. Even if you are a billionaire, you can’t save money when you keep buying anything that appeals to you. It would be best to caution your spending habit, so you don’t get entangled in debts later on.
When you walk into a store, create a specific list of the items you intend to buy. Ensure you don’t buy items outside your proposed list. This is a great way to save money and avoid overspending.
2. Cut Down Your Bills
As long as you are an adult, there are certain bills you allocate some of your money to. This could include the phone bill and data subscription. Make sure you don’t overspend by cutting down unnecessary bills. Find a way to reduce the money spent on data and phone bills.
3. Avoid Racking Up Credit Cards Bills
Many people are fond of using credit cards to pay for expensive items. This is a common way to mess with your finances, especially when you are not a high-income earner.
Don’t rack up too many credit card bills because they would eat up your income. This is one of the top frugal living tips and ideas many people are oblivious to.
4. Use Coupons
Although using coupons is not as common as it used to be, it is still one of the best frugal living tips at the moment. Provided you have the patience and energy to keep gathering the coupon codes for as long as possible; you could save hundreds of dollars at the end of the day.
5. Clear Your Debt (If You Have Any)
Debt will always remain one of the roadblocks to saving money. The reason for this is that instead of saving money, you’d be directing that income to the debt you owe. That’s unhealthy for your finances. It would be best if you find a feasible way to clear your debts, so you can be free to save money. Also, don’t incur any debt except it’s essential.
6. Prioritize Spending Freezes
If you want to learn how to be frugal but not cheap, you must make spending freezes a part of your lifestyle.
A spending freeze is a predetermined amount of time you intend not to spend money unnecessarily. During this period, the only things you spend money on would be your regular bills, medical expenses, and food. This is an effective way to be frugal.
7. Participate In Reward Programs
Almost every large store has a reward program for loyal customers. Participating in these reward programs is a great way to save money, and this is one of the main frugal living tips used by millions of people worldwide.
8. Don’t Buy Premade
Some people are fond of buying premade beverages like coffee and milkshakes. By the time you make this a habit, spending money on premade coffee and milkshakes every day, you would be spending a lot of money without even knowing.
The best thing to do in this situation is to learn how to prepare your beverage and stop buying premade. This will save you money for sure.
9. Have A Support Group
This might seem ridiculous, but it’s advisable. It would be best to associate yourself with other individuals who are already getting used to extreme frugal living. This will encourage and inspire you to keep living frugally and saving lots of money.
10. Use Reusable Items
Learn to use reusable items rather than repurchasing them repeatedly. There are several items that can be reused. For instance, reusable diapers can be used more than once. As a nursing mother who needs to save money by any means, this is something you can adopt.
11. Fund Your Savings Account Regularly
If you have a savings account, ensure you fund it regularly. You don’t have to earn much to be able to do this. No matter how little, transfer some money to your savings account as soon as you receive your paycheck.
12. Don’t Eat Out
This is one of the best-known frugal living tips for singles. Most singles are used to eating out, and this is because they often live alone and are reluctant to cook for only themselves.
Eating out seems like an easy way to fill the stomach without much hassle. However, it’s a bad habit that affects your finances significantly. If you want to live frugally, you must learn to prepare your food and avoid eating out.
13. Shop Foods In Their Season
Another great way to save money is by shopping for foods in their season because they are usually cheap before they go out of season. This means that whenever certain fruits and groceries are in season, you should buy them in bulk rather than buy them bit by bit. This will enable you to save money.
14. Avoid Eating Junk Food
If you are used to eating junk food, it would be difficult to be frugal with your spending.
By the time you keep spending a couple of bucks every day on junk food, you have subconsciously spent a significant amount of money by the end of the month. You should avoid junk food if you want to adapt to frugal living.
15. Preserve Foods With Your Freezer
Wasting food indirectly means you are wasting money. The best way to preserve your food is by refrigerating it. Once you can preserve your food, you would prevent spoilage and avoid spending money unnecessarily replacing the spoiled food.
16. Avoid Too Many Carbonated Drinks
When consuming carbonated drinks becomes a habit, it becomes hard to save a little bit of money. Each time you go out, you would always want to grab a couple of carbonated drinks.
Avoiding too many carbonated drinks may not seem like one of the frugal living tips you’ve heard of, but that does not alter the fact that it would help you save some money.
17. Have A Meal Plan
This is one of the most effective frugal living tips for seniors. Having a meal plan is a wise decision for an older adult who wants to manage money and live frugally. This would help you control the amount of money you spend on food and prevent you from eating out.
18. Buying Groceries In Bulk
If you are fond of visiting the grocery store frequently, you would be spending more money than necessary without even knowing. Learn to buy groceries in bulk. You tend to save some cents when you buy in bulk, unlike someone who regularly buys groceries in bits.
19. Have A Spending Budget
A spending budget will always remain one of the most feasible frugal living tips. Creating a weekly or monthly budget will help you control your spending habit.
Without a budget, you wouldn’t mind spending more money than you intend to. But with a budget in sight, it would be difficult to go against your own will and spend outside your budget.
20. Examine Your Housing Expenses
Housing is one of the biggest things that consume people’s income. If you do your maths right, you’d realize that your housing expenses claim about 20 – 30 percent of your earnings.
So if you want to live frugally, you must examine your housing expenses and decide if you have to relocate to a less expensive apartment; so you can save some money.
21. Examine Your Subscription-Based Services
The subscription-based services you use can affect your income. You need to review your subscriptions and identify what you need and what you have to kick out.
If you use cable TV, you could subscribe to a cheaper package that wouldn’t impact your income. This is one of the frugal simple living tips that can help you secure your finance, especially as someone who doesn’t have a lucrative source of income.
22. Avoid Clubbing
If you club a lot, it means you don’t care about finances. Clubbing entails spending a lot of money on drinks and otherwise. There’s no way you can be frugal and keep clubbing. You have to quit clubbing and focus on living frugally, so you don’t regret it later.
23. Avoid Drinking Too Much
It’s nearly impossible for an alcoholic to live frugally. Once a person becomes a drunk, they are ready to spend their last dollar on a bottle of alcohol.
Based on what you’ve learned so far in this post, you should know by now that being an alcoholic will shrink up your finance. If you are used to drinking, you should see a therapist or get any form of professional help that would help you overcome the habit of drinking.
24. Have Multiple Streams Of Income
Creating multiple sources of income is a great way to save more money and build a decent financial life. If you have multiple income streams, you don’t need to implement a million frugal living tips because you are generating more money than usual. There are numerous side hustles that you can take up to increase your in-flow of income.
25. Don’t Incur Unnecessary Debts
Sometimes, people incur debts because they desire to live above their means. Some people buy cars and other possessions in debt, which means they would have to spend months or even years repaying the debts.
A situation like this can prevent you from being frugal because you’d be unable to save money due to the debts you have to pay. This is why you must try as much as you can never to incur unnecessary debts.
Final Note On Frugal Living Tips
There are numerous frugal living tips that can help you save a ton of money, and the best part is that some of these tips can be implemented without even breaking a sweat. However, before you start pondering on tips to help you live frugally, you must set an important financial goal.
Having a financial goal will keep fueling your interest to live frugally and save money. Even if you know a thousand frugal living tips, you might not be able to save any money if you fail to envision a feasible financial goal.
Pin this for later!
