Life can be chaotic. Before you know it, it’s the end of the month and you’ve spent your entire budget without a dollar leftover to save. What should you do? The answer is simple. By focusing on simple and frugal living, you’ll not only have some funds left to tackle your long-term financial goals, but you’ll feel happier overall. In this article, I’ll go over my top simple and frugal living tips that have not only saved me thousands of dollars, but have made me a happier person living a simpler lifestyle.
Read on to learn about simple and frugal living.
Defining Simple and Frugal Living
Being Frugal
Before I dive into my top tips, what exactly is living simply and frugally? Firstly, frugality means being economical and smart with your money and other resources. Frugal people focus on consuming and using products and services that will allow them to have the most value in the long run.
For example, a frugal person might pay more for a higher-quality pair of work pants that will last them 10 years instead of buying a cheaper pair that will only last two. Overall, they’ll spend less money in the long run. They’ll also spend less time replacing the item, since they’ll only have to go back to the store one time instead of five times. Frugal people value their time.
Being frugal drastically differs from a cheap person, who wants to save money at all costs. A cheap person only looks at the price tag with no regard to quality. The difference between frugal and cheap can be easily confused, but is distinct. While extreme frugal living has its place – for example, if you’re out of a job for a while or need to save money – it’s not sustainable. Cutting down too much can impact your mental health, physical wellbeing and relationships with others.
Living Simple
In addition to being frugal and thrifty, living simple is imperative to happiness and one’s ability to set aside funds for their future, whether they’re used for paying off debts, saving or investing. Simple living means cutting down – or completely cutting out – on experiences not necessary to survival.
Why Practice Simple and Frugal Living?
Why bother taking the time and effort to practice simple and frugal living? After all, it does take some effort to create routines and stick to them. You’ll be glad to know that the effort is well worth it for the following reasons:
1. Tackle Any Debts and Reduce Overall Payments
What you live a frugal lifestyle, you’ll free up more cash for other goals. If you have any debt, consider if you should pay off your obligations. Consult a financial advisor to determine if it’s a good idea for you to make larger payments on your debts.
2. Invest in Future You
Aside from having extra cash in your checking account to pay down any debts, you’ll be able to put it to other uses. Once you’ve stocked an emergency savings account of 3 to 6 months’ worth of living expenses in case you suddenly lose your income source, consider investing the money. You should consider your goals such as saving for continuing education, a vacation, a new car or retirement. These are just a few ideas – goals will vary from person to person depending on your unique situation. Again, consult a financial advisor to come up with a plan that works best for you.
3. Feel a Sense of Satisfaction from Creating and Sticking to a Budget
The benefits of frugal living extend beyond financial implications. Being frugal just feels good! When you adjust your lifestyle and are still able to enjoy it while saving more money, you’ll feel accomplished. Getting creative with frugal grocery shopping and cooking, frugal eating and entertainment options takes some work, but it’s well worth the effort.
4. Focus More on Family and Friends
Frugal and minimalist living means that you can focus on lower-cost activities often done with family or friends. Many frugal activities center around family or friends getting together. Examples include a movie night or board games night, potluck, picnic at the park or a trip to the thrift store for bargain hunting.
Top Tips on Simple and Frugal Living
Alright – I’ve covered the top reasons why you should focus on living simple and frugal. Now, let’s get into the top ways you can live a simpler life!
Get Smart with Grocery Shopping and Meal Prep – The Easiest Way to Get Started with Simple and Frugal Living
Want to become more frugal but don’t know where to begin? The kitchen is a great place to start. The average American spends up to $550 per month on their grocery bill. While groceries are a non-negotiable (you need to eat to survive!), there are different ways you can cut down on your grocery bill while still enjoying nutrituous and delicious meals:
1. Use What You Already Have
Tossing perfectly good food is a huge waste of money. While it may be easier to just throw out last week’s leftovers, resist the urge. Repurpose ingredients and make new dishes. For example, that leftover asparagus can be chopped up and thrown on a green salad.
In addition to using leftovers, be sure to go through your cupboards and use canned and frozen goods before their expiry date. Going forward, organize the items in your freezer, fridge and pantry so the items closest to expiry are in the front and the newest items are in the back.
2. Make a Meal Plan
Once you’ve made a plan to use what you already have in your fridge, cupboard and freezer, you’ll want to plan out your meals. Meal planning is important in saving money. When you know what you’re going to eat every day, you’ll be a lot less likely to order takeout on a busy Tuesday evening when you have had a long day and a million things on the go.
If you’re new to meal planning, make the process easier by:
- Choosing a simple breakfast to consume every day such as cereal with milk and fruit
- Opting for sandwiches for lunch and choosing simple ingredients such as meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato
- Focusing on dinner ideas that are easy to prepare. Meals such as stir-fry, pasta and crock-pot meals are ideal for those with a busy schedule
Make meal prep easier by choosing to eat the same meal several days in a row. When you cook a larger batch of food, you’ll spend less time in the kitchen as you’ll only need to cook one time instead of two times, three times or more per week.
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3. Create a Grocery List
Once you’ve made a meal plan, write down what you need to buy at the grocery store. Make the list easier to read and use by categorizing grocery items by where they are in the supermarket. For example, write down all produce on one section of the list, all condiments on another section and dairy in another section. This way, when you’re at the grocery store, you’ll spend less time reading your list.
4. Compare Supermarkets’ Prices
Before you go to the store, maximize savings by comparing supermarkets’ prices. Use an app such as Flipp to compare the prices of specific grocery items. If you have access to a car or live in a city with a solid public transportation system with several grocery stores near each other, it’s worth finding the cheapest item at each store. If you think that’s too time-consuming to do for your entire grocery list, just stick with comparing prices for staples such as milk, bread and eggs.
5. Set Aside a Day to Meal Prep
Once you’ve gathered your groceries, it’s time to prepare your meals. Block out a couple hours on the same day every week to do this task. When you choose the same schedule and stick to it, you’ll be a lot more likely to maintain this good habit.
Cut Your Cable and Subscription Bills
Take a minute or two and reflect on:
- How many streaming services you subscribe to
- The amount of time you spent using each service this week
Be honest with yourself. Do you really need a subscription to HBO, Netflix AND Amazon Prime? Cut out all but the one streaming service you use the most. If you’re serious about frugal living, get rid of all your services. Did you know that many local libraries offer a streaming service included with your library card membership? My local library offers a subscription to Hoopla where I can borrow up to twelve movie titles per month. This subscription has saved me over $150 per year as I no longer need to pay for Netflix or anothe service! Hoopla also offers access to music, TV shows and podcasts – I’m never bored!
Having a finite amount of access to movies makes me more intentional about what I watch as well. When I take out a movie, I either must watch it or waste my subscription credit. I take time to research a movie and determine whether or not it’s worth my time. Check with your local library to see what they have on offer.
Switch to a Simpler Phone Plan
In this day and age, having a phone with data is crucial for most. However, many of us have data plans which offer 10GB of data per month or more. Do you really need that much? Take some time to seriously consider if you can switch to a data plan with only 1 or 2 GB per month. Some ways to cut down on data usage include downloading music and movies for offline usage and committing to avoid using Instagram, TikTok and other data-heavy apps when not on Wi-Fi.
Negotiate Your Bills
If you’ve been a loyal customer of your internet or other service provider for a while, call the company and ask for a discount. No luck? Wait a few weeks and try calling again. Explain that you’re switching internet or phone providers. The representative will most likely offer you a discount then. Personally, this practice has saved me hundreds of dollars per month on my internet bill.
While a discount isn’t 100% guaranteed, it’s a worthwhile effort to save on your monthly bills. When I was living in Canada, I called up my internet provider and asked for a discount. They were able to offer me 20% off my bill. Over the course of two years, I saved nearly $500. While that isn’t a life-changing amount for most, the extra funds went straight into my retirement investment account. Remember: small frugal living practices add up!
Intentionally Focus on Life’s Simple Pleasures
When you practice frugal and simple living, you’ll have the opportunity to focus on the simple pleasures life has to offer for a low or completely free cost. Sit down for a few minutes, close your eyes and take a moment to think about your morning routine. How do you feel when you get up in the morning? What small things can you do to slow down and appreciate your life? Anything from waking up an extra 15 minutes early in the morning to do some yoga to sitting outside on the porch and enjoy the afternoon sunlight are completely free experiences.
Instead of filling your life with the latest and greatest gadget, try focusing on one simple pleasure every week. Before you know it, you’ll become more appreciative of what you already have!
An Important Note on Balance
While I’ve covered the top tips on how to live a frugal and simple life and have explained why this practice is important, it’s important to not take things too far. Just because you’re committing to a simple lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to completely deprive yourself of experiences. By all means, treat yourself to a weekly takeout dinner or occasional weekend getaway! Get better at balancing simple living with the occasional indulgence by:
- Creating a budget and allocating funds towards treats
- Dedicating a specific day once a week to pamper yourself with something – personally, my weekly treat is a face mask, chocolate and takeout pizza
- Choosing one weekend day a month to go to the mall and treat yourself to a new item of clothing
These are just a few suggestions to get you inspired. Frugal living for one person may look different when compared to another as everyone has their own interests. Choose one or two indulgences you enjoy to reward yourself with after a month of successful frugal simple living!
A Final Word on Simple and Frugal Living
Learning how to live a frugal life takes work, but it’s well worth the effort. Start with one or two tips. Each week or month, try integrating a new tip into your life. Browse Pinterest to get inspired on frugal ideas for living. Don’t beat yourself up if you go off your budget a little bit or slip up in another way. Get your family and friends involved in being frugal and thrifty. Most of all, have fun doing it and enjoy the feeling of satisfaction after seeing the money you’ve saved!
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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.
