Subscribe to ListverseTop Tips for Frugal Living
- Published October 17, 2007 - 35 Comments
Frugal living is a very rewarding way to live. Not only do you save money, you get to learn a lot of skills that many would consider long-dead. When living a frual lifestyle you are seldom bored because there is always something you can be doing to save money. Here is a list of the top tips for getting started in frugal living. You will notice that this is not a “top 10″ list – but rather just a “top list” – I would like everyone to contribute their own items and a small description in the comments and I will place them in the main list. Let’s see if we can make this the best online list of tips for Frugal Living.
10. Budget
This is essential for all lifestyles – not just frugal living. Make a budget (be completely honest with yourself) and put a special section aside to keep track of how much money you spend. Each week, try to spend a little less than the week before. This can be a lot of fun as you start competing with yourself. You will be amazed how much lower you can go week by week.
9. Cancel Unneeded Services
Cancel cable TV and any magazine subscriptions you have. If you are like me, the chances are that you don’t read the majority of your subscriptions. I have a subscription to the New Yorker and on the rare occasion that I do open the latest copy, I normally just look at the cartoons! Most of the magazines that are available have websites with many of their print articles online. Use those instead.
8. Sell Sell Sell
Spend a weekend to go through every room in your house, picking out all of the things that you don’t use or need. Once you have finished rounding up all your unneeded goods, sell them on ebay. Not only will you simplify your life by de-cluttering, you will make some money which you can put in the bank for an occasional treat.
7. Talk to other frugal people
There are thousands of brilliant resources on the internet for people who are interested in Frugal living. In addition to websites I strongly recommend the newsgroup misc.consumers.frugal-living which has thousands of subscribers and a non-stop flow of useful tips and advice for frugal living.
6. Save on Bills
Run your washing machine on cold, and make sure you turn out any lights that are not in use. Another great way to save money here is to turn down the thermostat on your hot water boiler. Most electric and gas companies have brochures that tell you how to save money – take advantage of these. You can save a lot of money by wrapping up warm on the sofa with a good book and leaving the heating turned off.
5. Freebies
There are lots of freebies available that can save you a great deal of money. A google search for free goods can bring up a lot of useful items that you would normally have to pay for. You can also try writing to some of your favorite companies and ask for samples. If you have to stay in a hotel for any reason, be sure to pack up any left over soaps or shower items – you are paying for them as part of your hotel room bill, so you might as well get some use out of them.
4. Cleaners
This may sound horrifying complicated, but it is very easy to make all of your own household cleaners. Not only is it easy, it is fun. One bar of soap can make enough washing detergent to last months! Here are some excellent recipes for homemade washing detergent. For other cleaning needs you can often use vinegar in place of the expensive items you are used to buying. Don’t bother buying dryer sheets – they are totally unnecessary and cost a lot of money.
3. Use Coupons
Check your local stores regularly for coupons or special deals. You should be careful though – don’t buy something that is not essential just because it is on discount. Keep the coupons handy in case you need one at a later date.
2. Clothing
Don’t buy new clothes unless you absolutely must. It also goes without saying that you should not buy big label brand clothing as it is much more expensive than regular clothes. This is also a good opportunity to develop some good old fashioned skills like sewing – if you have clothes that are in need of repair, don’t throw them away – repair them. It is not difficult to learn how to use a needle and thread.
1. Eat Well
I say eat well because if you follow this tip, you will eat better than you have before. First off you need to stop buying any pre-packaged meals. Start making your own meals – all three of them. As you get better at being frugal, you can set aside time on the weekend to bake bread and other goods – it is much cheaper to make your own bread than it is to buy bread from the shop. In addition, it tastes much better. You can also dispense with things like milk and use milk powder. Remember to buy your flour and milk powder in bulk. At some point in the future I will write a list of top 10 frugal recipes.
Technorati Tags: frugal
October 17th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Being frugel is like going on a diet, in order to be successful you need to make a strong commitment. It is a lifestyle change.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:10 am
These are good tips, I’m not a big spender but I know there are lots of things I can do to save money. I tend to buy lunch at work rather than bringing it but I am working on it, I’ve been good so far this week haha.
Also about the dryer sheets, I only use them when I wash a load of towels. They don’t make a difference with anything else and you’re right with most things they are totally useless. However with towels it makes a difference, they come out way softer.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:56 am
just don’t be penny wise, pound foolish.
October 17th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
As far as clothing- (this works more for men than women because basic men’s fashions rarely change)
It’s actually better to invest in more expensive, higher quality clothing than in ‘bargain’ brands.
Polo is much more expensive than Old Navy, for instance, but my Polo collared shirts have held their color and resisted wear over the years while the Old Navy ones only lasted about 6-8 months with the same frequency of wear.
It’s a bigger hit to the wallet at one time, but over time you truly do save money because you don’t replace them as often.
Being frugal also means being able to see the long-run benefit of an expensive purchase as well as being thrifty on everyday items!
October 17th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
this list i believe is for the SCROOGE of the world!
October 17th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I already do alot of this…
) I buy fast food on a very rare occasion.
10.I budget every cent…I have been doing such a great job of it, I have helped my fiance pull himself out of debt.
9.I didn’t get into any un-needed services to have to cancel from…internet is needed as it is my main form of communication with my family and I need them and they need me
8. I sell everything and anything that sits around for too long without being used. I have light decorations so the house isn’t bland and of all the decorations I do have, the most expensive one was $12. The rest were under $1 each.
7. I don’t talk to other frugal people cause…well…I think I do well enough.
6. as stated in 10…I have budgeted enough to help my fiance pay of debts most of which were utilities.
5.I always keep my eye out for freebies. The last one I got was a box of fruit snacks to comment on so the marketer knew whether to go live with the product of not. They were very yummy and if it does go live I do plan on buying them (unless they charge too much)
4. I don’t make my own cleaners but I do get some of the best stuff out at a nice price. I use a laundry detergent that costs $35 for the bottle but the bottle (size of liquid Tide) lasts 9-12 months compaired to the $15 bottles of Tide that last a month.
3.Coupons make up 90% of my purse. I get special coupons made for me from Krogers because I am a frequent shopper and have a Plus card. The plus card also give reduced prices on alot of items in the store.
2. I am still wearing the clothes I had in my closet 12-14 years ago. When I do get new clothes I never spend alot on them. I don’t buy big names and like to shop the misfit clothes that were sewn wrong or some thing is wrong with them so they are reduced price. Then I take them home and fix em. All clothes that Don’t fit my kids anymore get donated to family first then to Goodwill, Salvation Army, or Easter Seals.
1. I have a bread maker (and with kid lunches it is so much cheaper.) I make most of my meals and “splurge” from time to time on something premade. My kids are extremely healthy and love the food I make (for the most part). And my fiance has gained some healthy weight (he was so scrawny before
It is alot easier to be frugal if you don’t consentrate on the names. I look great with the items I have and use. And I feel great. I have done this since I was 15 (first job). Best advice I have is Always keep your eyes open and don’t worry what others think. Name brand isn’t everything.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
1.You could bathe only twice a week, and brush your teeth every other day, thus saving on soap and toothpaste.
2.You could stop wearing underwear, so as to decrease overall laundry.
3.Cancel the cable, even if you watch it, and splice the wires from your neighbor’s house to your’s.
4.Gather and use only rain water.
5.Help stop the problem with stray cat and dog over populations and eat some of them.
October 17th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
The Dum Guy: haha hilarious – especially number 5.
October 17th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Name brand is nothing but marketing unless the product proves itself.
But:
I would rather pay a few extra dollars once for a product that works, works well, and works for a long time than pay again and again for some crap I can’t depend on.
BTW- If you want to live better, sell your TV. All it does is try to sell you things. Otherwise you’re stuck watching “Fat Guy & Wife”.
I don’t have cable.
No, I haven’t seen the new South Park.
I know I suck.
I also don’t pay $65 per month for infomercials and a bunch of poo I’ve either already seen or don’t care about.
Yay Me!!!
October 17th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Yarr: you can always watch selected shows on the computer anyway – I do that with Heroes and the Sarah Silverman show.
Ravyn: that is perfect – it sounds like you have the right balance of everything. I want to eat at your house!
October 17th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
First I am not changing my TV. I don’t watch a ton and enjoy what I do watch. To me being frugral does not mean going without all the time.
Of course the American way to be frugal is to spend money on being frugral!
Buy a water heater blanket. It prevents heat from leaving your water heater and increase the overall performance.
Buy the flouresent (sp?) light bulbs.
Compost your lawn clippings to save money on your fertalizer.
Turn the heat dry cycle off on your dishwasher. I did and sure enough they still dried!!!
Don’t buy expensive gas, just go with the cheap stuff. The only cars that generally need the higher octane have wierd compression ratios. These are funky sports cars.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
20Fan20: good suggestions! Thanks
October 17th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Yarr: I can not go without tv….my kids would kill me if i didn’t go insane first…
Jamie: Come on over…I love cooking (now anyways) And I love feeding people…Everyone who comes over knows they gettin’ fed
another thing I do is I buy in bulk…when krogers has their 10 for 10 specials or 20 for 10 or what ever under $1 they are running. I stock up on my dry goods for those days I just don’t feel like doing much or I forget to go to the store. I am talking my fiance into clearing a space in the garage for me to put a freezer chest so I can shrink wrap and store meat (my freezer inside just doesn’t have enough room.) After he does that I am gonna make him build me some shelves out there to store dry goods…and some of the condements that stay good for a couple years without being fridgerated and the such…
October 18th, 2007 at 6:27 am
I have a TV, guys.
It was late last night and all that was on was infomercials. I was thinking, now why did I by this thing again?
I’m not out to de-TV the world or anything, but have you ever noticed that no matter how many channels you have, there are still large chunks of time when there’s nothing on?
That’s why I don’t spring for cable.
October 18th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I actually just cancelled my digital cable DVR service because when you get down to it i download all the shows i want to watch or stream them from the internet anyways. my son liked the dvr so he could watch spongebob wen he wanted but i figure ill just buy some dvd’s for him, its cheaper in the long run.
October 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
For #9, there are tons of free magazine subscriptions out there for the taking — interesting, mainstream magazines, too. Check out the free magazines forum at slickdeals.net. We have somewhere between 5-8 magazine subscriptions and don’t pay for any of them. (And yes, we recycle.) Magazines come in handy when you don’t watch TV and don’t have cable.
October 19th, 2007 at 6:51 am
Wash all your clothes, by hand, with common soap.
It keeps you away from the TV or computer, does wonders for your finger muscles, and can be a pleasurable experience, with the right mental set, never mind the energy bills. It’s a good time to philosophise about things.
And if it was good enough for your grandmother, it’s good enough for you.
Also – buy food at markets; fresher, cheaper and all-round better than supermarkets.
Or go native – turn up at markets when they close; you’d be surprised at the amount of produce they don’t want to take back to their homes.
Used to be able to live for a week on great soup made from rejected (you have to clean it thoroughly)veg’.
Never buy a vacuum cleaner – a brush is more effective, and doesn’t require electricity.
I could go on and on, but i’ll stop here.
;+P
October 19th, 2007 at 7:05 am
My comment was flagged as spam ?
I wonder why. Perfectly decent comment.
Now my curiosity is piqued, heh.
Too long maybe ?
October 19th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Che: I have demarked it – I can’t see any reason in the text that it would think it is spam – weird. And long comments are okay – we have some pages long on the evil women (in a George Bush debate I think).
October 19th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Alice: great idea – thanks for the link.
Che: I agree about the washing clothes by soap – very frugal tip indeed!
October 20th, 2007 at 6:34 am
I have a solar powered clothes drier, it’s called “the sun”. Unless it is raining my clothes are always outside drying in the sunshine (wind works too)
October 20th, 2007 at 6:46 am
lydia: haha true – I neglected to mention it – probably because it seemed so obvious. Excellent addition
October 20th, 2007 at 7:14 am
unfortunatly, hanging clothes out to dry is nto an option for some of us apartment dwelling folk.
I cant so much as hang a towel outside without getting reamed by my landlord
and why on earth did someone “dig down” my first comment?
October 20th, 2007 at 7:30 am
juggz: which one? I don’t see any down votes on your comments
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:12 am
For serious frugal living if a garden is unavailable, one could put up clothes lines on the ceiling with a pulley system and hang ones clothing to dry inside. As a bonus it makes a nice and free canopy interior decor.
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:30 am
lydia: great idea – though maybe not so good if you are renting
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:20 am
lydia: In my old apartment, I had my clothes hung on a clothes line that criss-crossed my kitchen. When my clothes were drying no one could see through the kitchen because I didn’t use nails to hang the line but rather the corners of the cabinets and the doors to the utility cabinet on the oppisite wall. It was entertaining. Hanging clothes is a wonderful thing but I do have a dryer because hanging clothes outside in the winter is a bad idea and the house I live in now has no place logical (or not) to really effectivly hang clothes.
/thinks one of these days I will have a basement.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
The easiest way to save electricity is to turn your TV and all its various connections off at the wall ( also prevents it catching fire and burning your house down…nice plus). The same applies to your microwave and anything that has standby or little clocks that you dont need anyway. Change your bulbs to energy efficient ones – you can burn 6 for the same energy as 1 standard bulb (or just turn it off altogether and play the what was that i just stepped/ran/fell into game..)
If you have pets, instead of buying that overpriced store muck, make their food. My two monsters get doggy stew – froz vegies, pasta, rice, any leftovers from our people dinners, pet mince (get this from the butcher, it made up of everything they dont use and is ridiculously cheap)and anything safe or tasty that you can throw in. I make a huge pot at the start of every week for less than $5, its nutritious and they love it. Scraps free from the fish market suit my cat just fine, not to mention my seafood is so cheap from getting it right off the boats. This concept applies to just about anything you eat – get it straight from the source at any time you can!! Its fresher, healthier and nearly always cheaper. Combine this with growing your own herbs in big pots at home and you can have healthy, tasty meals for a pittance! Am sure i could babble on for ages but the sun is shining and the well fed dogs reckon its time to go to the beach and catch some fish for dinner! Cheers, Kate
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Hey! I’d also like to point out that http://www.freecycle.org/ is a good way to find stuff you need for free
Also, although I’ve read many of the lists, this is my first post, and I’d like to say that I really love the site and probably won’t get anything done in my second semester =\
March 11th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I used to be broke, so I got used to cutting corners. Like, I was food-stamp broke. If I wanted new clothes, I went to Goodwill or Salvation Army. I rarely would get anything that was off-brand. I got Levi’s, Gap, Old Navy, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. All the brands I loved, but nothing ever cost me more then $5, unless it was a coat or something. I got a full-length wool coat (w/ zip-out liner) for $20. Leather blazer-style coat, $25. The only thing you need is time. It takes patience to wade through all the junk and find the good stuff. Also, great for finding kids’ clothing, since a lot of them are practically brand new from not having been worn very long.
-To save on electrity (or if it gets cut off) I’d use candles or a kersone lamp. Note: *never* leave these unattended, especially if you have kids/pets. During the day, I just pulled back the curtains and used sunlight.
-Quit buying soft drinks and the like. We usually only kept milk, juice and water. Still do.
Save your change. You’d be surprised how quickly it can add up.
-No computer? Use your local library instead of spending money you don’t have. No internet bill, either.
-Febreze, etc. If clothes aren’t really dirty, maybe just smell funny from being around smokers, etc. Use that instead of washing.
-Get together w/ another broke friend to cook, w/ each contributing 1/2 the ingredients.
-If you have to let one of your utilities turned off, make sure it’s not the water. You can leave w/out light and heat, but you always want to be able to bathe (cold showers suck, but you get clean) and you always want the toilet to be able to flush.
I could go on and on, but this is too long already.
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
if theres any site that requires you to type in some sort of discount code, check on the internet first! They have sites that are made specifically for sharing these codes. It saved me 6 and a half pounds buying a pizza from Dominos today.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Hang clothes to dry on those racks, they’re cheap, and just before they are completely dry throw them in the dryer then you never need to iron and you don’t use the dryer very long. I make my own detergent. The recipe is too long for this site, but it’s soooo cheap and good. I use vinegar, salt, baking soda and lemon for lots of cleaning and mayo to oil my wood furniture after clearing the dust away with plain old water. My son asked me when he was little if we ever bought anything that wasn’t on sale!
October 29th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Можно и подискутировать по этому поводу …
November 1st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
haya