Is money tight this month – or has it been for even longer? Are you looking to save up for a big purchase coming up in the next few months but are nowhere near your goal? Extremely frugal living is one of the best ways to kickstart long-term saving habits and get your finances back on track.
From frugal cooking, grocery shopping and spending, there are tons of daily frugal habits you can implement into your life to save money.
Read on to learn about how to practice extremely frugal living.
What Is Extreme Frugal Living?
First and foremost, the lifestyle of extreme frugal living is a more intense version of frugal living. What us frugal living exactly? Simply put, it’s a lifestyle where you practice mindful spending. Frugality means buying things that bring you joy, planning ahead when shopping and indulging in special treats in moderation.
Extremely frugal living, also known as living stingy, takes it one step further. This lifestyle involves completely cutting out any unnecessary purchases and only buying the necessary items at the lowest cost. One forgoes anything not necessary for survival. This includes streaming subscriptions, nail salon treatments and that cute pair of purple heels you don’t need!
Who Is Extremely Frugal Living For?
Extremely frugal living is ideal for those in situations where saving as much money as possible is the goal and sometimes absolutely necessary. Going frugal extreme isn’t the most sustainable lifestyle. Why? When you deprive yourself of occasional rewards, it’s a lot easier to binge on unnecessary purchases and become completely off track. For example, say you typically enjoy buying one or two shirts at the end of the month. You don’t need them, but a colorful new top brings you joy. If you forego any unnecessary purchases long enough, chances are you may go on a shopping binge and purchase way more that you need all at once.
While extremely frugal living isn’t ideal in the long run, it’s still a fantastic strategy for the following types of people:
1. Those Looking to Get Out of Debt
If you are carrying any bad debt like credit card debt, practicing extremely frugal living can help you quickly curb any unnecessary spending. Let’s say you currently have $3000 in credit card debt. In a typical month, you spend around $500 per month on fun purchases like movie tickets and clothing. If you practice extreme frugal living by cutting out any unnecessary purchases and paying off your credit card debt instead of spending on those extra buys, over the course of 6 months, you’ll have paid the debt off!
2. Those Currently Unemployed or Tight on Funds
Are you currently unemployed or is money tight? When you’re counting every dollar, practicing different frugal hacks can help you keep your money as long as possible. When you’re less stressed about money, you’ll have more energy to job-hunt or tend to other responsibilities.
While unemployment or being tight on money is a tough situation that no one wants to get into, every cloud has a silver lining. If you practice extremely frugal living out of necessity, you’ll be used to only spending money on essential purchases. This means that even when you get back into a position where you have the funds to spend on things you don’t really need, you’ll be less inclined to buy stuff that isn’t necessary for survival. In the long run, you’ll have built good habits and will be more likely to save money!
3. Those Who Need to Save for Large Purchases Quickly
Christmas is only two months away. It’s time to think about what gifts you’ll buy for the family. Where did the time go – wasn’t January 2 months ago? The holiday season is when families tend to spend the most out of the entire year. In 2021, the average family spent close to $1000 on Christmas. Of course, you can put anything on credit, but this isn’t an ideal solution. Why? If you don’t pay your credit card on time, you’ll accrue interest. Over time, you’ll spend more money than necessary. The best way to purchase anything is to either pay cash or pay with credit only if you can immediately pay it off – or at least cover it with your next paycheck.
4. Those Interested in Eco-Friendly Living
Protecting the environment is more important than over. While corporations play a huge part in impacting the environment, you and I can also help. How can extreme frugality help? When you forgo unnecessary purchases, you avoid contributing to sweatshop labor from clothing and shoe factories. Additionally, you won’t feed the demand for manufacturing. Essentially, when you forgo things you don’t need, there will be less trucks on the road transporting goods and services to stores.
Like This Article? Pin It!
Extreme Frugality Tips
Let’s go over the essential tips on how to be extremely frugal:
Track Your Expenses and Stick to a Strict Budget
The first and most important tip for extreme frugal living: track your expenses and budget! When you make a plan, you’re a lot more likely to stick with good financial habits. Knowing exactly how much you make per month before and after tax and exactly where your money goes each month is the first step in curbing poor spending habits. Create a budget showing:
- Exactly how much you make per month
- What you spend per month on essentials – rent, utilities, groceries
- Approximately what you spend per month on non-essentials – movie tickets, extra clothing, travel etc.
Over the next month, keep a journal of exactly what you spend your money on and the amount. Completely cut out any non-essential expenses. When you keep a log of what you spend, you’ll be in a lot more control of your finances.
Extremely Frugal Living When Grocery Shopping: Only Buy Essentials
When you go shopping while practicing extreme frugality, you’ll only want to buy the essentials. Yes, even that bag of chips needs to stay in the store! When you practice extreme frugal living, you’re only preparing meals to stay full and meet your nutritional needs. Does this mean you’ll forgo tasty meals? Absolutely not! There are hundreds of delicious dishes you can make while meeting your nutritional needs and keeping your finances on track. Check here for inspiration and tips on making a frugal meal plan.
Always Make a Grocery List and Compare Prices
Before stepping into the grocery store to buy essentials, planning ahead is key. Set aside an hour each week to prepare a list of meals you want to make. To make it easier, why not set aside several hours on the same day to plan, shop for and prepare your meals?
Next, make a grocery list of all the essential items you’ll need to buy to make delicious, frugal meals. There are many cheap foods you can buy, including beans, lentils, rice and pasta. Get creative and have fun with it!
Before you choose where to grocery shop, you’ll need to take part in the next essential step: price comparing at different stores. Use an app like Flipp to see the price of an item at multiple grocery stores. If you have a car and the stores aren’t too far away, it’s worth buying the cheapest item at each grocery store. For example, if milk is cheaper at store A but bread is cheaper at store B, go to both stores and purchase each item at the lowest price. While doing this might be annoying, shopping frugal is worth it. Over the course of a year, you can save hundreds of dollars!
Cut Out the Meat and Go Vegetarian
Guess what? Compared to plant-based proteins such as beans, lentils or tofu, meat is expensive. If you truly want to practice extreme frugal living, cutting out meat is an excellent way to do this. Feeling a bit overwhelmed or lost with the prospect of cutting out beef from your weekly chilli? You can compromise by cutting down on the meat you use in a recipe by 50% and substituting it for beans. You’ll still save money and won’t miss the taste.
Another alternative: do a Meatless Monday challenge where you go completely vegetarian. Once you successfully implement this challenge, add another day. Do a Frugal Friday vegetarian challenge or pick any other day of the week. Just be consistent with the day you choose. Humans are creatures of habit, so when you stick to a routine, you’re a lot more likely to keep going with it!
Freeze Your Credit Cards and Only Pay Cash
If you really want to to control your spending while living stingy, you’ll want to go on a cash diet. Freeze every credit card you have. Next, withdraw enough cash for the month. Buy some glass jars and label them with each category such as groceries and utility bill payments. Place enough money in each jar to last you the month.
Don’t know how much you’ll spend on each category? Take a look at your credit card statements for the last 3 months. Take a highlighter and highlight what you spent in each category. To make it easier, use a different color for each category. Next, write down the amount in a notebook. Then add up what you spent on each category and divide it by 3. For example, if you spent $200 on groceries in month 1, $275 in month 3 and $250 in month 3, the average of this is approximately $242. Round it up and put $250 in your jar labelled ‘Groceries.’
Why pay in cash instead of credit cards? When you use cash, you’ll physically handle the money and feel it leaving your hands. It’s a lot easier to understand how much you’re spending when you see the money leaving your hands as opposed to swiping plastic.
Unexpected Benefits of Extremely Frugal Living
Besides helping you kickstart smart savings habits for life, there are several unexpected benefits of undergoing the frugal extreme challenge:
1. Helping You Save More Money in the Long Run
When you successfully implement different frugal hacks, you’ll set aside large amounts of cash in the short-term. Even after your challenge is complete, when you’re used to spending absolutely nothing on non-essentials, you’ll be used to frugality. When you practice shopping frugal for months, you’ll think twice about spending $40 on that white t-shirt you really don’t need since you already own 2 others!
Tip: after you’ve finished the extreme frugal living challenge, commit to saving a specific amount of money for retirement and one or two other categories: for example, travel or a child’s education fund. Create separate bank accounts or investing accounts if you don’t have them already. Be sure to contact a financial advisor first to help you with your needs.
At the end of the month and once you’ve successfully saved your desired amount in each category, reward yourself with a small treat such as an ice cream or trip to the movies. Frugal living doesn’t mean you’re missing out – it means you’re finding balance between spending and saving for both the short-term and long-term!
2. Extremely Frugal Living Reduces Stress and Decision Fatigue
Another unexpected benefit of the extreme frugal living challenge and frugal living in general: reduced stress and fatigue! When you own more stuff and go shopping more, you’ll be subject to decision fatigue: exhaustion with the sheer amount of choices available. Ever thought “I have nothing to wear!” even though you have a closet full of clothes? Think about it: when you own 15 pairs of shoes, you’ll spend a lot more time deciding what to wear – especially if you have 4 pairs of black shoes that are pretty much the same!
When you avoid going to the mall and spending money on stuff you don’t need, you won’t be exposed to or bombarded with ads all the time. You’ll feel less tired and more relaxed.
3. Allowing You to Appreciate the Simple Things in Life
When you forgo buying non-essential items and live as cheaply as possible, you’ll notice the good things that you have in life. For example, when you can’t go out to the movies or don’t have a streaming subscription, you’ll have to find alternative activities. Dust off that old Monopoly game that’s been sitting in the basement for 6 months and arrange a Friday family games night! A games night or other family activity is a great way to bond with your loved ones, all while saving money.
When you have less choices, you’ll appreciate what you do have. Additionally, you’ll be able to slow down and appreciate the simple pleasures in life – for example, the birds chirping or a fresh cup of coffee on the porch in the morning.
Conclusion – Extremely Frugal Living
There are many ways to save money in the short-term through extremely frugal living. While this method isn’t sustainable long-term, it’s an ideal way to kickstart good habits for life. Try out one or two practices and slowly integrate more good habits into your life!
Like This Article? Pin It!
Janita is a frugal living expert and owner of Frugal Fun Finance. With over five years of personal experience finding and trying out the best ways to make and save more money, she's eager to share her knowledge. Janita's strategies have helped her save thousands of dollars for funding investments and traveling to over 20 countries.
Janita completed training in personal finance at The University of Western Ontario and McGill University, two prestigious Canadian universities. Her expertise has been shared on GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, and NASDAQ.com.
