A Beginners Guide To Living Frugal

Disclaimer: We are not qualified legal or tax professionals and are not giving advice. Always speak with a qualified professional before making any legal or financial decisions.



Welcome to the journey of frugal living ,a path that's not just about saving pennies but about enriching your life in ways you never imagined.

Frugality isn't merely a financial choice; it's a lifestyle that embraces simplicity, mindfulness, and a profound appreciation for what truly matters.

Whether you're looking to overhaul your spending habits, simplify your life, or make sustainable choices that benefit our planet, you've come to the right place.

In this guide, we'll explore practical, real-world strategies to live more with less, proving that being frugal doesn't mean sacrificing joy and abundance. Join us as we debunk myths, uncover the true essence of frugality, and learn how to make every dollar (and every moment) count.

Don't want to read through? Speak to a debt specialist right now.

Learn how to live a more frugal lifestyle

It's not always easy to save money while you spend wisely, especially in this increasingly expensive year. Everything from clothing to housing to fun is just getting more and more expensive while wages are not growing.

How do you live a frugal life and still manage to live life to the fullest?

In this blog post, we will discuss ten ways that you can cut down on your spending and start saving money now!

A Frugal Living Guide

Step 1: Track your spending for a month

Your first step to living a frugal life is to figure out where you are spending your money. During this phase, you write down where every single penny is going.

Find an app, carry a notebook, ask for receipts for everything - how you track spending is not important. Just do it and do it honestly! Don't forget your subscriptions.

By tracking where every penny goes is a good idea for two reasons. First, it gives you enough time to objectively see your spending habits. Second, it's much easier to cut back on expenses when you know what they are.

Many people spend money like water and it is hard to track all the drips and drops. Knowing where your money is going can help make the transition to a frugal lifestyle smoother.

Step 2: Writing It Down

Now that you have all that data, you need to analyze it. I am going to pick on coffee and coffee shops because it is lowing hanging fruit.

Write down (better yet, use a spreadsheet) where you spent the money. You might want something like:

• Joe's Coffee - coffee - $4.00
• Joe's Coffee - tip - $1.00

Once you have it all written down, sort and sum where you are spending money. You might end up with something like:

• Joe's Coffee - coffee- $80.00
• Joe's Coffee - tip - $20.00

Now that you have a perspective on how much money is being spent on all your purchases.

Step 3: Prioritize Spending Money

In this section, you pick out what you want to eliminate and what your want to keep. You can also make a plan for what to do with the savings. Let's say you decide to cut back on Joe's Coffee and save for a trip.

First Month

• Joe's Coffee (2 times a week for 1 month) - coffee - $32.00
• Joe's Coffee - tip - $3.20
• Savings for the month - $67.80
• Coffee maker - appliance - $34.99
• Savings for trip - trip - $32.81

Second Month

• Joe's Coffee (2 times a week for 1 month) - coffee - $32.00
• Joe's Coffee - tip - $3.20
• Savings for the month - $67.80
• Savings for trip - trip - $100.61 ($32.81 + $67.80)

Put that money into a savings account before you spend it on something else.

By picking and choosing what you spend money on, what you cut back, and what you eliminate altogether can help you to live a frugal lifestyle.

Ask yourself what your goals are - to build up enough retirement savings to retire early? Go on a killer vacation? Pay cash for everything? Buy a house? Write down your goals and how simple frugal living can help you reach them.

Step 4: Make a Budget

Now that you know what you are keeping and cutting, make a budget and live by it. We have a lot of budgeting tips on this site, so check them out. At least once a year, check your expenditures to see where your pennies are going!

Will you suddenly be able to afford a house or a BMW by using these tips. Probably not. But by being frugal, you should be able to reach at least some of your financial goals and find some measure of financial freedom.

Learn more by reading Cut These 8 Things From Your Budget For Significant Savings

Frugal Living Tips to Cut Spending

The tips below are suggestions by most experts on how to save money.

Cooking at home to save on eating out costs

Try cooking at home in order to save money. Groceries and your time are far less expensive than eating out and is far healthier. In addition to saving money, home-cooked meals can help you stay healthy and let you cut back on doctor visits.

Here is how to plan ahead:

• Make a meal plan by the week or month and write it down on a calendar (you can even make meal planning a way to help kids learn better nutrition and how to cook)
• Purchase what you need to make the recipes once a month
• Build up a pantry of staples or easy-to-cook meals
• Buy fresh ingredients the day before or day of
• Cook dinner and set aside some for leftover
• Take your own food to work instead of eating out for lunch

If time is really an issue for some people, there are online meal planners out there where they put in their dietary needs and restrictions, and the system matches up you up with recipes that fit your needs.

How much money can cooking save you?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average household spends $386.92 on groceries a month with an average of about $5,500 per year.

Costs for eating out is harder to gauge so we will use fast food as an example. Let's say you order a double quarter pounder with cheese meal for $6.69 for lunch every day at work. That adds up to $33.45 per week or $1, 672.50 a year or roughly 1/3 of your annual grocery budget.

A home-cooked meal averages $4.50 per serving. That is $22.50 per week or $1,125 per year with a savings of $547 each year. What could you do with that extra $547?

If you look for a program like Centsible Nutrition or Cooking Matters, you can learn to save money and spend about $90 per month for an individual grocery bill--that's only $1.44 per person for one day of eating!

Eating out once or twice a week can quickly become expensive and difficult to keep up with unless you're making plenty of extra money every paycheck--no wonder so many people are struggling financially these days!

Evaluate your subscription services

In addition to cable TV, take a close look at all your monthly subscription services like music/video streaming, meal kits, magazines, etc. Make a list of all your subscriptions and critically evaluate if you are really using and getting value from each one. Consider cutting back on any subscriptions you rarely use. Streaming services in particular are easy to add and forget about.

Use coupons when shopping

Couponing can be quite the art form and some people dedicate hours to the hunt for coupons. If you can clip (and remember to use) coupons, you can save a fair amount of money.

Shopping with coupons can help you save anywhere from 15% to 50%. There are grocery store apps that let you into their "special shopper club" in exchange for personal data. If you don't mind giving up data, these apps can save you on groceries.

There are also apps that give cash back for purchases if you scan in the list. For the dedicated shopped, these can be very useful but oftentimes, the scanning and uploading is frustrating and only a few items will be counted.

Before you shop, make a few phone calls or check store websites for coupons or rebates. Chances are there's a store nearby with items on your list of must-haves. 

If you decide to start couponing, select coupons for brands you already buy. Look online or in weeklies or inserts to find coupons. Keep them somewhere you won't forget them!

Also, avoid buying stuff you will not use just because you have a coupon. That violates all the definitions for being frugal including, trying to avoid waste.

And here is a small secret - the store brands are pretty much exactly like the labeled brands. They are often made in the same factory. They just lack the advertising costs.

Some things like paper towels are cheaper at big box stores.

How much money can coupons save on groceries?

The average discount you get with coupons is between 5-25% with the usual discount about 5%. That is not much, but when you are trying for frugal living, 5% adds up.

Let's say you are spending the $5,500 a year on groceries. Couponing 5% results in a savings of $275 a year. That is roughly a week's worth of groceries.

Possibly the most highest value for coupon use is when purchasing dairy products or produce, when shoppers can save an average of 9%.

Learn more by reading How To Create The Perfect Grocery Budget

Make use of freebies like Groupon deals to get discounts 

Freebie websites like Groupon offer deals that are typically limited in supply, but they have discounts up to 70% off restaurants, spas, hotels, household items, and event tickets.

Groupon is a trusted platform that offers discounts for both brands and customers without ruining either part of the equation. There are plenty of Groupons to choose from so check out their website if you want more information about each offer before buying one. 

Get rid of cable TV - it's too expensive! 

Cutting the cable is becoming more and more popular. After all, who needs 250 channels of nothing or not much? There are ways around cable including, streaming services and even your local library.

If you do use streaming services, remember to cancel them when you are finished or rotate through them on a yearly or semi-yearly basis.

Look for Other Entertainment Options

Your taxes support your public library, so use their resources from free programs to free movies to free books. You are already paying for them! Plus the library is fun for the whole family and many libraries are expanding from traditional books into maker spaces, computer labs and more.

Local museums and family board game night can be great options as well.

Remember being frugal is not about not having fun, but to reduce spending and sometimes that takes thinking outside the box. There are cheaper ways to have fun and most cities have a lot of free entertainment if you look for it.

Use cash-back apps and browser extensions

Cash-back apps and browser extensions give you money back on purchases you make online and at stores. For example, Rakuten provides cash back for purchases made through their links. Browser extensions like CouponCabin automatically apply discounts at checkout. Using these when you shop online is an easy way to save a little extra.

Consider downsizing your home

If you have more space than you truly need, downsizing to a smaller living space can significantly reduce your housing costs. 

Options include:

• Moving to a smaller apartment/house
• Getting a roommate to split costs
• Renting out extra rooms for additional income
• Moving to a less expensive neighborhood or city

Even modest downsizing like going from a 2 bedroom to 1 bedroom place can add up to thousands in savings each year.

Sell unwanted items online via eBay, Craigslist, etc.

All of us have junk and some even have a storage shed or two of stuff. With Grandma and Grandpa aging out of their homes, we have even more stuff. Unload it on someone else and save the storage fees.

Try online places like eBay or Mercari - a peer-to-peer mobile marketplace that enables anyone with an iPhone or Android to quickly buy and sell fashion apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home goods, and more.

Host a garage sale. Find a second hand store and consign your items.

If you still have stuff left over, donate it to thrift stores and take a tax deduction. In this case, it is not about making money, it is about getting out from under your stuff and saving on your storage shed costs.

Once you have less stuff, don't go out and buy more because you can.

While you are consigning your stuff, remember that you can save money at the very same thrift shops or upscale resale stores.

Your Cell Phone

No one is recommending you get rid of your phone! Instead, look for the best plan for your usage and see if you can eliminate costs that way.

When your preferred brand rolls out a new phone, ask if you really need it or if you are buying into the hype and excitement that the marketing department is trying to build. You can then look for the best deals without being influenced by advertising.

Look at your Bank account

Banks make money off their fees. Check out where the money in your checking account is going, because a good portion may be going to the bank. Many will waive the fees if you meet certain conditions, but 1) do you? and 2) are the fees worth their services?

If you have an average monthly fee on your interest-bearing checking account, you are losing $10.56 a month or $126.72 a year.

Check out other options, including credit unions and online banks for a better fee structure.

Mindful Buying

Mindful buying a is way to think about spending money and eliminating impulse purchases. In mindful buying, you consider all the reasons for buying something and then making an informed decision.

For instance, you are looking at buying a house. Consider not only the address and the home but things like property taxes, the living space and how much more furniture you will need to fill the spaces. Your electric bill and other utilities should be considered as well. IS that house (or apartment rental) worth the fancy address or amenities?

The same goes for buying a car. What is your auto insurance going to be? What about repair costs and maintenance requirements. You might find a cheap high-end car, but you will pay for it in insurance and maintenance costs.

By following these frugal living tips and understanding the financial implications of your choices, you can make informed decisions to secure your financial future. Remember that every penny saved counts, especially if you're dealing with student loans. To learn more about managing your student loans, check out what happens if you don't pay your student loans.

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