In 1999, Swiss Socialite—Jocelyn Wildenstein—won a reported $2.5 billion divorce settlement. Within two decades, she went from being a billionaire to broke—no savings, retirement funds, or investments. Wildenstein’s sad story paints a perfect picture of the consequences of living an extravagant lifestyle. It also emphasizes the importance of embracing frugal living. In this article, we rounded up 15 frugal living tips to help increase your savings and achieve financial freedom.

Frugal living is about spending money consciously while prioritizing savings and investments. It also means being economical with your money rather than living an extravagant lifestyle where you spend more than you can afford.

People who practice frugal living tend to sacrifice and exercise financial discipline to achieve financial independence and freedom.

Samuel Johnson, a renowned English writer, once said:

“Without frugality, none can be rich, and with it, very few would be poor.”

His quote emphasizes the relationship between frugality and wealth while also outlining the consequences of failing to embrace a frugal lifestyle.

Here are 15 practical frugal living tips on how to live frugally.

If you want to live frugally, you must learn how to control your spending. Creating a budget helps you do that by prioritizing your needs over wants. A Budget also makes monitoring your income and expenditure easy, giving you a bird’s eye view of your overall financial situation.

Do you often make impulse purchases?

Yes?

Adopting a frugal lifestyle may be difficult without a clear budget.

Remember, frugal living is about spending your money economically and intentionally. By creating a budget, you plan how you spend your money, which helps address impulse buying while ensuring you manage your money effectively. Make sure you review your budget occasionally and make adjustments where necessary.

Visiting a 5-star restaurant and ordering a plate of steaming spaghetti and meatballs is easier and more convenient than preparing the same meal at home.

But did you know that eating out is expensive?

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the average American spends $3,008 per year dining out.

That’s an average of about $8.24 per day.

Aside from being expensive, eating out is less healthy as most restaurant meals are processed. Plus, they contain high fat, sugar, and sodium, which are detrimental to your health in the long run.

On the other hand, homemade meals tend to be healthier as you have control over the ingredients you use to cook. Overall, with homemade meals, you save money while improving your health. By eating outside, you do the opposite.

For some people, living frugally involves seeking cheaper alternatives without considering quality. However, frugality consists in making smart purchasing decisions that help you save money down the road. And one of the best ways to do that is by prioritizing quality over price.

Truth is:

When you buy an item with a higher cost but superior quality, you get more value than when you settle for a cheaper quality alternative. One will serve you for a long time, leaving you satisfied, while the other will degrade fast, causing you to make a replacement, thus spending money you’d rather save or invest.

Living a frugal lifestyle involves exploring options and leveraging skills that can help you save money. Bargaining is one such skill. And learning how to bargain is a frugal living tip that’ll help you save a few bucks, which can compound in the long run.

So, how do you bargain?

Start by offering less than you are willing to pay. If the buyer agrees, it’s a massive win for you. If they don’t, they may push for a price that falls within your budget.

You win both ways.

When negotiating, always try to be friendly but firm. And ensure you bargain at the right time without being aggressive so you don’t come across as a nuisance or a jerk.

By monitoring your spending, it’s easy to understand where your money is going.

Are you spending more on entertainment or eating out?

What about subscriptions?

Do you shop more than you should?

When you keep close tabs on your expenditure, your financial awareness increases. And with increased financial awareness comes the need to spend mindfully, which is one of the core principles of frugal living.

Use a budgeting app to monitor your spending. Remove expenditures that are less important while prioritizing those that are important and add value to your life.

Rather than pay a painter $500 to paint your room, why not DIY?

DIY simple tasks help you learn new skills and save money on labor costs, which can be redirected into savings or investments. It also allows you to personalized projects based on your taste or preference, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment.

Common DIY skills to learn to live a frugal lifestyle are:

Fixing a leaking tap

Painting a room

Clearing a blocked drain

Changing a light bulb

Hanging shelves

Replacing faucet

Installing ceiling fan

While DIY is a frugal living tip that can help you save money, ensure you contact the appropriate professional if you encounter tasks beyond your experience and skill set.

Growing your own herbs, vegetables, and fruits is another frugal living tip to consider. It helps lower your grocery bills, allowing you to save money. Plus, it promotes self-sufficiency by reducing your reliance on external food sources.

Growing your own food is also healthier.

Truth is:

The “fresh” fruits bought from grocery stores aren’t actually fresh. They contain less nutritional value, having spent a longer time in storage.

Fruits, vegetables, and herbs grown in your garden have more nutritional value as soon as you pick them. The moment they are off the plant, their vitamins and minerals start to diminish.

Some of the easiest fruits, herbs, and vegetables to consider growing are:

Cucumber

Garlic

Tomatoes

Thyme

Lemongrass

Rosemary

Cabbage

Bell pepper

Blackberries and raspberries

Not all secondhand items are of low quality. Some are of high quality and they come at a low price. Ultimately, you save money and the planet by decreasing environmental pollution.

So visit your local thrift stores, keep your eyes out for garage sales, and check online marketplaces to find secondhand items you like. You’d be practicing frugality and doing Mother Earth a favor.

If you want to save money on groceries and other purchases, leverage coupons, deals, and discounts.

A recent study of consumer spending showed the typical U.S. household could save $1,465 a year using coupons to purchase food, household items, entertainment, clothing, and more, lowering their household costs by 6.4%.

Money saved from coupons and discounts can be invested or placed in a savings account to accumulate over time. In addition to helping you live frugally, leveraging coupons also allows you to afford premium products.

To get coupons, Torok, a 32-year-old mom of 2 who saved over $1,000 on groceries in 2023 by couponing, gave this advice:

“Start by downloading the app for a store where you frequently shop. Then, take a few minutes to see if any coupons are available for items you’re already planning to purchase.

It’ll take you five minutes to go through your whole cart and scan and clip the coupons,” Torok says.

Take a good look at the things you own.

Are there old clothes, childhood toys, old gadgets, books, handbags, etc., lying around unused?

Why not sell them and save or invest the money?

Remember, frugal living isn’t only about being resourceful or spending mindfully. It also involves finding ways to make extra income. By selling things you don’t need, you won’t only be making some extra cash but also decluttering your home.

Common places to sell unused items are:

Facebook Marketplace

Ebay

OfferUp

Poshmark

Decluttr

One of the principles of a frugal lifestyle is conscious spending. But it’s hard to spend consciously if you don’t understand the difference between your needs and wants. Your needs are things required to survive, such as medical care, clothing, shelter, food, etc.

On the other hand, your wants are things you desire but can live without, such as a designer bag, expensive vacation, sports cars, etc. Knowing the difference between your needs and wants will ensure you spend on things that matters, thus improving your financial wellbeing.

It is easy to make an impulse purchase when you shop with your card. However, it’s often harder to indulge in such a habit when paying in cash.

Here is why:

When you pay for something in cash, the feeling experienced is almost similar to physical pain. Plus, you feel a loss when you count those wads of dollars and give them to the cashier. This makes you more conscious when paying in cash.

The result?

You become more frugal.

Waiting 72 hours before making a purchase is a frugal living tip that’ll help you curb impulse buying. Impulse buying occurs when you make purchases on a whim without adequate planning. It is the opposite of frugal living, which encourages you to spend money consciously.

When you wait 72 before buying the drop-dead gorgeous Rolex wristwatch you saw at a mall, you give yourself enough time to think. Plus, the dopamine spike and instant gratification you experienced at first sight of the wristwatch reduce, allowing you to be more logical with your purchasing decision.

Owning a car is expensive, let alone owning 2 or 3 cars?

According to AAA, the annual cost of owning a new car in 2023 was $12,182, an increase of 14% from 2022. If you own two cars, you’ll pay double the amount—which is pretty expensive.

Rather than strain your finances by owning two cars, why not stick to one?

Sticking to one car is a frugal living tip that can help you save on insurance, fueling, and maintenance costs.

If you have multiple drivers in the home, you can create a plan to ensure that everyone enjoys the benefits of the single car. You can also consider carpooling with friends and family, using rideshare services or public transport, or renting a car to lessen the effects of owning one Car.

Your subscriptions may be eating away at your earnings, and you may not even realize it.

According to a 2022 survey commissioned by market research firm C+R Research, customers spend $219 monthly on subscription services, more than 2.5 times than they realize.

Your Gym subscription may cost just $40 per month. Not much.

What about Netflix? It costs $16.

Not bad, right?

However, if you add up your subscription fees, you’ll realize that you spend a lot more on subscription fees than you realize.

How do you fix this?

Note down your subscriptions and eliminate those that aren’t important, like:

Live streaming

Cable

Music

Game

Paid apps

Shopping membership

Cloud storage

Credit monitoring

Canceling useless subscriptions will help free up cash that can be invested, saved, or used to finance essential expenditures.

Frugal living should be a lifestyle habit for anyone looking to save money and achieve their financial goals faster. When you live frugally, investing and saving for your future becomes easy, leading to less stress, more joy, and peace. Start small and work your way up.

The goal is to integrate these frugal living tips into your lifestyle via consistency. In the end, practicing frugality will be like second nature to you.