Frugal Living Tips With the Biggest Impact
Have you tried frugal living and decided it wasn’t for you? Perhaps you weren’t using frugal living tips with the biggest impact.
Are you ready to learn about frugal living tips with the biggest impact? If you want to start living frugally, these are the tips I recommend to help you save money and live within your means.
If you want to live on the cheap, it only makes sense to do what will work, first and then use your money extra money to start building your bank account.
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What is Frugal Living?
Frugal Living is a state of mind about spending. Frugal people often buy quality over quantity and care about spending less, so they can save money for the things they love such as vacations or things that will enhance their lives.
Frugal people often care about the following:
Reducing Waste
Living frugally and buying less can help reduce waste and make the planet a better place. If you are only buying what you need, you will have less waste and less packaging. Plus you will not have to donate a bunch of items a few years down the road.
Minimalist
Learning to live with less so as to avoid clutter and waste. Buying a bunch of stuff you don’t necessarily need, creates clutter in your home. If you want your home to be organized, try cutting expenses and living with less so you don’t have clutter and disorganization in your life.
Simple Living
Frugal living is often synonymous with simple living. Many frugal people hold values that align with not overspending on wasteful items. It is okay to buy things for yourself, but really evaluate if it is a purchase that will bring joy to your life and leave you with contentment. If so, it is probably worth it. Yet, if you have thought about your purchase and you can’t seem to find a place for it or won’t use it often, it is best left on the shelf.
Intentional Spending
Frugal living often involves being intentional with your money.. Keeping a budget and tracking one’s spending, so you can buy the things that are important to you and pay your bills on time. It is time you tell your money where to go. Even if you are good about paying bills, if you feel you don’t have enough right now, you are left in a place of scarcity. Yet, if you are intentional with spending, you can move into abundance by covering bills and saving money.
Keep reading to find the best frugal living tips with the biggest impact:
#1 Make a Budget
Creating a budget can help you with your financial goals. A Budget will help keep your spending in check and give you a good sense of where your finances are.
One complaint I hear about budgeting is it is too confining. But something else that its confining is the feeling of being in debt and having constant stress surrounding you. So you must outway the good with the bad. Would you rather feel confined for a while when it comes to spending, or would you rather feel a scarcity mindset because you don’t have enough to cover bills?
A simple budget will help you keep track of your input versus your output, monetarily speaking.
First, jot down your spending for the next few weeks. This should include bills, transportation, food, entertainment, clothing, subscriptions, morning coffee, and any other thing you buy. Once you have a good idea of how much you spend, subtract that from what you make. If you are negative, now is the time to look at where you can cut back. Next, make a list of things that are extremely important to you. These are items you will keep in your budget. Yet, after taking inventory, cut that gym membership you have only used twice in the last year or the magazines that are piling up in your house. You get the idea.
The point is, find things you can cut so you can live below your means, and as time goes by you will be able to pay down debt and start building a surplus of money for an emergency fund, vacation fund, car fund, and anything else that should be included in your savings or sinking funds.
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#2 Avoid Debt
Use your budget to figure out how you can save up for purchases. It also helps to build up an emergency fund. I suggest saving at least six months, but preferably nine months of your living expenses in case of job loss.
If you are used to using credit cards to pay, know that you will often spend more. According to a study done by Drazen Prelec and Duncan Simester, professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you are likely to spend more when using a credit card. Research shows, unless you are immediately paying your credit card bill upon purchase, you avoid the feeling of negativity associated with spending money. You often spend more when using a credit card. So it is best to leave the plastic at home.
Credit card bills quickly add up, and people often get into debt without realizing it. As your debt grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to pay it down.
If you are in debt, consider using the debt snowball method to pay it off. With the debt snowball, start by paying the smallest debt down first including more than the minimum payment. After the first dent is gone, start with your next biggest debt adding the money you were using the pay down the first debt into that payment so you can make an impact quicker Finally, continue paying down your debts until you are debt-free.
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#3 Live Below Your Means
Learning to live below your means will benefit you greatly if you are trying to save money. If you learn to live below your means, you can begin to build up your savings and pay off debt.
Living below your means simply means spending less than you bring in. People often get into the habit of using credit cards and spending way more than they earn. Yet, if you create a simple budget as mentioned above, you can determine how much you need to spend each month and cut unnecessary spending.
100 Frugal Living Tips to Live on Less
#4 Meal Plan
Meal planning will save you so much money on food. If you know what you are going to make, you can make a list when going to the store and stick to it. Then when you are tempted to order takeout, you will be able to fall back on your meal plan and know you have all of your ingredients to make your meals.
You will not be tempted to run out to the store, where you will most likely spend more money than you anticipated.
Also, you can avoid spending additional money on take-out or restaurants. If you want to save money, use meal planning to keep your food bill low.
Don’t forget to use Cashback apps such as Ibotta and Fetch to help you earn back money on your groceries.
Related Meal Planning Posts to help you cut food costs:
- Budget Meal Plan: Two Weeks Worth of Dinners for $75
- Cheap Meal Plan for Two
- Fall Budget Meal Plan
- Summer Budget Meal Plan
- $40 Dinner Meal Plan
- How to Save On Organic Food
#5 Buy Used
Thinking of making a big purchase? Why not check second-hand items?
Buying used is a frugal tip that has a huge impact. You can literally save thousands each year, by buying second-hand. You can often find name-brand items that are close to new or gently used for a low price.
It pays to go thrifting once in a while.
Related Frugal Living Posts:
- 75 Frugal Living Tips That Are Surprisingly Easy
- 55 Cheap Meals for When You Are On a Tight Budget
- How to be Frugal Without Being Cheap
- What is Frugal Living
- How to Make Money Using Rakuten
- Ibotta: Best Cashback Site-Review
- 46 Frugal Hacks to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
- Ibotta vs. Rakuten: Which is Better?
- Tips for Living Poor and Saving More
#6 Learn to Wait
If you have the desire to impulse buy, learning to wait can help you save money. Patience is a frugal hack that will save you money.
If you see something you want, wait a few days to see if the desire is still there. Then it may be a purchase worth making. Yet, if that desire is gone, obviously you don’t need it.
If it is a big purchase, try saving up for it, and make sure to plan your purchase in your budget so you don’t overspend.
#7 No-Spend Weeks
During a “no spend” week, you don’t spend anything. To prepare for a “no spend” week or weekend if you want to try it, is to make sure you have your meals ready and bills paid prior. Then find free or frugal activities. During your no-spend week, you will:
- make your food at home
- find free activities
- no online shopping
- no pricey rides
- make plans to hang with friends at home
Some allow for a small budget during the “no spend” week if there is something absolutely necessary such as transportation to work. So you can choose which will work better for you.
Trying a “no spend” week will help you get a grasp on how many miscellaneous purchases you make, and allow you to be more accountable. You can then decide what is really important and how much more you can save every month.
#8 Downsize to One Car
Are you a two-car family? Think of all you will save by downsizing to one car. Let’s face it, owning a car is expensive. If you own a car you have probably paid for some of the following:
- car insurance
- car repair
- gas
- oil changes
If you are carpooling with friends and getting rid of one of your cars, this will make a big impact.
However, if you simply must have two cars, try to choose a car that has low-gas milage and batch errands with work so you save on fuel.
#9 Ditch Your Cable
Cable prices have skyrocketed over the years. At one time, our bill went up to almost $200 per month. That is INSANE! We decided to ditch our cable, and now opt for cheaper options such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus.
If you are ready to ditch cable you can save so much money over the course of the year. If you are only paying $10 compared to $200, that is a huge difference and could be life-changing if you are trying to pay down debt or start an emergency fund.
Sing up for Netflix here
#10 Brown Bag It To Work
Taking your lunch to work instead of buying a pricey $10 salad, can save you a ton! If you often buy food from your work cafeteria or go out/order out with co-workers you probably already know how expensive this food can be. By packing a lunch, you can drop your lunch bill down to $3/4 by buying snacks and drinks in bulk and making a sandwich. Trust me, your wallet will thank you. You can still plan a lunch date with a co-worker a few times per month if it is something you enjoy, but still save money by packing a lunch every other day.
One great way to save on lunches is to take your leftovers. This seems obvious and maybe not that tasty, but after a while, you will see that while hungry at work, yo will pretty much eat whatever you brought. Give it a try for a few weeks and see how much you save.
How to Budget and Still Buy What you Want
Frugal Living Tips With the Biggest Impact
Have you tried frugal living and decided it wasn’t for you?
If you aren’t ready to live a frugal life, try using frugal living tips with the biggest impact to save money. If they save you a few hundred dollars per month, it is well worth it. Think about what you can do with your newly found moeny. Perhaps you can build a savings account, start an emergency fund, or maybe take that vacation you have had on your mind. Whatever you do with your savings, enjoy and consider using more frugal living tips to live below your means and pay down debt, and build wealth.
