If you’re new to frugal living, it can seem overwhelming to digest all of the ways you can slash your expenses. Here are 19 easily digestible money saving tips for the newly frugal. Rather than trying them all at once, pick and choose a few of your favorite ideas, or those that would be most helpful in your current situation to try first.
Incorporate additional money saving practices into your lifestyle over time. It’s my personal belief that you’re more likely to stick to this if it isn’t a shock to your current lifestyle (unless a total overhaul is what you’re going for, and that’s great too!).
TIPS AND TRICKS TO START
1. Get cash back for online shopping. Get cash back on your online purchases. If you shop online at all, installing the eBates extension on your browser will let you know if there’s a cash back offer when you visit a website. It’s a totally mindless way to get money back when shopping and I use it all the time.
2. Earn cash-back on groceries. Use money-saving apps in order to earn cash-back on the groceries you’re already buying. There are many apps available for this purpose, and though similar, most work slightly differently. So far, my favorite app for earning cash-back has been Checkout 51.
3. Declutter your home. Many people take the start of the new year as an opportunity to declutter their home. Turn that clutter into cash by selling some of the unneeded items in your home. Use the money made in the selling of your items to jump-start your savings account.
4. Brown bag it. Packing your lunch can save you a considerable amount of money, especially if you’re currently dining out for lunch each weekday. This can be as simple as making a PB&J sandwich every day, packing leftovers for lunch or even making your own $0.24 pasta freezer packs or burritos in a weekly meal prep session.
5. Make a meal plan. Daily stops at the grocery store will quickly lead to a ballooning grocery bill. What’s the first step to getting this under control? Create a budget. Then create a weekly, biweekly, or monthly meal plan so you always know what’s on the menu. I recommend starting with a weekly meal plan if you’re new to meal planning as it requires less upfront effort and organization.
6. Budget for fun. Living frugally doesn’t have to suck the joy out of life! Set a “fun money” budget in order to have your cake and eat it too. It may be a smaller slice of cake, but it’s better than no cake at all or cake on credit (cake analogy is now over, promise). The trick to successfully setting a fun money budget is to stick to it. Budget for fun as an expense, rather than something that lives outside of your day-to-day budget.
7. Make secondhand your first stop. In the market for a new item? Turn to secondhand sources first. You’ll typically save 50% or more when buying secondhand items, because they are gently used. If thrift stores aren’t your cup of tea, hit up Craigslist, garage sales or local for-sale groups on Facebook for items that have only seen one owner.
8. Make your own cleaners. Make your own cleaning products to avoid the high cost and unnatural ingredients found in store-bought cleaners. If you have these staples on hand you can make almost any cleaning recipe: vinegar, rubbing alcohol, essential oils (I use this Lemon essential oil
in literally every cleaning recipe) and baking soda. Making your own homemade all purpose cleaner will definitely save you money at the store.
9. No more paper towels. If you’re making your own homemade cleaners, naturally the next step is to ditch disposable paper towels as well. I highly recommend purchasing a set of microfiber cloths (these are the ones I use
– I like that the pack has 3 different colors so I never end up with a bathroom cleaning cloth in my kitchen pile). They make cleaning a breeze and don’t leave behind any residue. If you’re looking to spend as little as possible, regular cleaning cloths can be found at most stores for under $5 for a pack of 12. If residue is a concern, use scrunched up newspapers to clean windows and mirrors. Here is a more in depth article I wrote on how to ditch paper towels.
10. Take a closer look. When grocery shopping, sometimes we pay more for packaging that looks healthier than its cheaper counterpart. Take a peek at the ingredient list of both items. Do the products contain nearly identical ingredients? If so, go for the lowest price item. They are likely very similar in quality, if not the same exact thing.
11. Keep inventory. Learning how to shop your kitchen is one of the easiest ways to save money on groceries. Use these free printable inventory sheets (bonus: also includes a shopping list and meal planner) to keep stock of the items that are already in your kitchen. Base your weekly meal plan around these items in order to spend less at the grocery store.
12. Calculate unit pricing. Always take note of the price per unit (e.g. price per ounce, sq ft., etc.) before looking at the overall price of an item. Comparing similar items this way will easily show you which one is the best value for your money.
13. Eat beans and rice. Serve beans and rice in some form or another once per week. This is an easy way to lower your grocery budget because beans and rice are very inexpensive and committing to a beans and rice dinner once per week eliminates the cost of meat. If you don’t want to serve beans and rice for dinner, use them to make your own inexpensive breakfast burritos for the week’s breakfast.
14. Use coupons. When planning a date night or a girl’s night out, bring a coupon with you in order to save on the cost of your meal. Coupons can be found online for many restaurants on their websites, by signing up for their email newsletters, or by searching sites like retailmenot.com.
15. Ditch cable. Cutting the cord is not as difficult as it once was. With a variety of streaming services available in addition to streaming devices such as the Roku, you can completely eliminate your cable bill while still watching many of your favorite shows. Your TV, DVD player or gaming system may be a free or cheap option for accessing your favorite streaming services.
16. Plan ahead. Opt for the crockpot instead of the takeout menu. With a bit of planning ahead, you can avoid cooking on those busy nights while still serving a home cooked meal. Crockpot recipes are plentiful on Pinterest. But consider taking crockpot cooking a step further by making your own crockpot freezer meals. Do the work once, and dinner is taken care of for several nights!
17. Marked down meat. The cost of meat eats up a significant portion of most of our grocery budgets. Consider purchasing marked down meats in order to lower this expense. This tip doesn’t only apply for poor quality meats – even grass fed beef gets marked down 50% or more at certain retailers.
18. Keep snacks in the car. Keep healthy snacks in the car in order to fend off hunger-induced unplanned drive-thru runs. Pack your own DIY portioned snack bags filled with nonperishable snacks like granola, pretzels or dried fruit. I actually just made some trail mix tonight and packed a few snack bags for the car and I’m sure it’ll save us money in the coming weeks!
19. Lose brand loyalty. Finally, it’s worth encouraging you to be loyal to the lowest price available, rather than to certain brands. This doesn’t necessarily mean that store brand will always be cheaper (it often is, but not always). It’s worth going into the grocery store with an open mind in terms of which brands you intend on purchasing in order to open yourself to the most savings.
There are more free tools ready for you to print out and start tracking your financial goals! Check them out!
Do you have any money saving tips you’d like to share with those that are new to living frugally? If so, please share them in the comments below!
These were good tips and a lot of them I have already done years ago. But I need to do algo little more like get apps to save on groceries.
Here is a tip that was not on there is shop sales and go to those stores with that in mind only get the sale items.
All good and helpful tips. Reading post like this helps keep us motivated. Paying tithes a must. While you are budgeting. Read God’s word. Pray for everything. And invite Jesus in your heart. Will for sure change your life. Going to church meeting new encouraging friends. Also help others homeless shelters, food banks, all need help and we give you something to do while living frugal life. Does not cost to help and you are helping others along their way. Nursing homes taking time to encourage them who sit and wait for someone to care. If you sew or knit or crochet use your talent to bless someone having a harder time than you. Alot of church’s have special events you can attend for free. Singings, car shows , etc. The cities have hidden treasures like museums, trails to take a hike, beautiful parks, special events that are all free. Pack lunch and snacks and enjoy outdoors. If you have fireplace. Being frugal does not mean not enjoying the life God gave us. But to be a good steward of all he gave us. And not be wasteful. Love the post. Love the comments too.
Make your own coffee, for Pete’s sake. Paying Starbucks prices for what you can brew at home for 75 cents (tops) is ridiculous.
You will have buy something eventually. I get gift cards at up to a 39% savings at cash card! When I need to shop I go there first and then shop with the card! The have printable and actual cards they mail for free.
An insanely simple way to save money is to simply stay at home. Whenever I go out I always spend money (grocery store, dollar store, fast food, the list goes on FOREVER.) If I stay home, those dollars stay in my pocket. I limit my trips to a couple a week, go to multiple stops if necessary. By limiting the number of trips, I save gas, wear and tear on my vehicle, opportunities to be tempted into buying that thing ‘I just had to have’, which I didn’t really need. Also, the dishes stay done…lol
I hadn’t been to our local dollar store in a couple of years but my daughter wanted to check it out a month or so ago. To my surprise, they’ve expanded their grocery department so we’ve been buying a number of things there – things we’d pay twice as much (or more) for at other stores.
Also, before giving up wheat (which gives me some breathing problems), I used cream of chicken soup for all casseroles, only using strained cream of mushroom soup for swiss steak (the texture of mushrooms kind of makes me gag). Unfortunately, all condensed cream soups I’ve found contain wheat, so I just did without for quite some time. Then a while ago, I thought … hmm. What about really thick chicken broth? For the first time in what felt like forever, my stroganoff tasted right again. Next time I’m going to double the batch and try freezing half.
My mom saves money on ziplock freezer bags in a couple of different ways:
1. We use gallon ziplocks for a lot of things, not just freezing things. I’m sure that’s pretty common. She buys the cheapest no-frills storage bags and then the extra protective freezer bags. Then we remind ourselves to use the cheaper ones if there isn’t any freezing involved. Our average cost is lower this way.
2. (I actually tease her for this) If a bag hasn’t been use for moist, perishable food or something very germy and dirty, my mom will give it a bath in warm soapy water and mark it to show second use. Then we throw it away after round 2 to avoid degradation of the plastic.
As far as cleaning goes, I recommend Norwex. It’s only $17-$20 for one enviro cloth that cleans virtually everywhere with no cross contamination. And it lasts forever!! The CEO of the company has had her cloth for over 15 years! It’s a remarkable brand and company!
I love all your tips, these really could jump start someone into living frugally. It’s nice to see someone else suggest not using papertowels. That is one of my favorite money savings tips!
I just wrote a post about beginners frugal tips if your interested in checking it out!
http://chefchocolateface.blogspot.com/2015/05/going-frugal-9-tips-to-get-you-started.html?m=1
Thanks!
Use your dryer as little as possible! I hate paying for heat when there is free heat outside or the house is already warm & I can hang clothes on a rack.
I also hang my laundry and wash clothes in cold water, it helps with the power bill.
As a poor college student, one of the reasons I was able to buy food is that I kept washing all my clothes in cold water (water was paid by apartment complex) and hung them around my apartment during the summer. Winter I placed by the heater (also paid for), took longer and it did the job.
As I have been getting older and wiser, I now only purchase clothes that I can wash with the rest of the clothes I have, classic, dark and wrinkle free if I wash them. I don’t like to iron anything, so I don’t buy it. Narrows down my selection but it is totally worth it to have one or two loads when you have kids laundry to do as well. I use my dryer on low heat for longer because it also helps keep clothes in better shape. Hang them immediately out of the dryer so they won’t wrinkle. I buy less clothes because I spend more on the quality, and buy sale jeans (8 bucks!) for my two boys. Mend them WHEN they rip them, and reuse them for my youngest.
I can only use one type of softener, so I will pay for it on sale, but I make my own liquid detergent by getting a 30 lb bag of powdered soap (6 bucks!), then mix with water. Lasts me a year and some change. I have been using the same strategy for my kids clothing as well, so far 7 years and saving!
I don’t buy dryer sheets because I use softener.
Beans and rice are awesome– they make for an insanely healthy meal in addition to being very affordable. Good idea all-around.
Yes. Love beans and rice for saving money and they’re also pretty tasty if you jazz them up!
These are great tips! My husband and I are doing the 2015 in 2015 Decluttering Challenge and have already made around $300 selling furniture, books, and a few other odds & ends. We also definitely use our own cleaning products — it helps my health, too, since store-bought cleaners give me a headache. I clean everything with vinegar and baking soda, basically.
Another thing that really helps us, along with the “fun budget,” is to find fun ideas that work well for free and keep a list on the fridge to remind us. For example we love playing charades (I know, sort of silly, but it’s fun! we use this website: http://www.playcharades.net/), making music together (we have a keyboard that my mom didn’t want anymore that my husband plays, and I sing) and geo-caching. We try to make cleaning fun, too, by listening to funny audiobooks from the library. 🙂
I love, love, love your ideas, Laaur! We love game night and have thought about trying geo-caching just have never actually put it on the “to try” list just yet.
These are all great tips. My tip would be learn to do without. Sometimes when you take a step back a need isn’t really a need.
Above all else, tithe, it keeps us cared for. Our every need is provided and we’ve been able to save 700.00 a month we otherwise never had before. We are now in the process of paying off student loans, I have every belief that the Lord will get us through that as well!
As a preacher’s kid, can I say “Amen to that!”
These are great suggestions! I was born frugal, so it’s hard to think in “beginner” terms, but we’ve had leaner times than others. I would add that keeping up with the housework, especially dishes, helps avoid last minutes spending. Also, consider taking up a very inexpensive hobby for something to do — think taking pics on your phone, or yarn crafts such as knit or crochet. These can be very rewarding and help use up free time where you might otherwise get bored and be tempted to shop. 🙂
Also a great hobby would be reading books from the library. If you have one day when you do all your in town shopping etc. Stop in your local library and grab a pile of books. They are “free”, and you don’t have to stop and buy a book. Even if it’s used it will still cost you something. 🙂 Your local library has a lot of things to do for Children that are free as well. Events in the Summer and Winter help provide free entertainment. 🙂