Sometimes we just go overboard and live beyond our means; spending more and more without thinking about our income. Handling finances become so much easier if we just adopt a frugal lifestyle and follow some tried and tested frugal tips.
Besides this, the frugal lifestyle has many other benefits. For starters, it will buffer you from going into debt, you’ll probably achieve more financial freedom, and maybe even early retirement.
Despite this, many individuals refuse to adopt this lifestyle because they believe that frugal living will make their life less comfortable. But, that’s not true. It’s all about being content with what you have and making little changes to get your finances in order.
Further, being frugal is not being cheap or a scrooge. It actually means being a careful spender. A frugal lifestyle allows you to make smarter money moves and helps you to cut down unnecessary expenses. And nowadays, we are spending too much on household expenses because we somehow developed the habit of having extra comfort and convenience.
So I’m going to list out a few frugal living tips that’ll help you to reduce your household expenses once and for all.
15 genius frugal living tips to reduce household expenses
Household budget
You can’t reduce your expenses without first figuring out how exactly much you earn and spend each month. A budget helps you to monitor and evaluate your expenses so that you can remove or reduce unnecessary ones.
Meal plan
This one habit will probably help you to save you hundreds of dollars each month. It takes guessing out of the picture, you’re all aware of what you are going to cook next week, and buy groceries accordingly.
Ask for gift cards as presents
Have any special occasions coming up? Your friends, family, and relatives want to know what you want? Just ask for gift cards! You can choose to spend them on household items later.
Adopt a minimalist lifestyle
Declutter, and remove anything excess from your hose. That way you won’t spend money every month on maintaining it
Use the 30-day rule
If you see something you want to buy, don’t buy it immediately. Wait for 30 days to make the purchase. This is mainly to avoid impulse buying.
Don’t buy gift wrap
You can save money by using brown paper bags or old newspapers for wrapping purposes. There are lots of fun ways you can decorate your own recycled gift wrap! Moreover, consider saving gift bags and boxes and reusing them.
Try to fix appliances instead of instantly buying a new one
Most of the time the issues with the broken appliances are not major ones so, always try to get them repaired instead of immediately buying a new one.
Try to go makeup-free for as long as possible
For those who wear makeup regularly, start slowly and steadily. For instance, go without make-up once or twice per week, and gradually increase it. Makeup is a costly item and most tools which are used to apply it are not cheap either.
Buy in bulk if possible
The prices are substantially reduced when you buy non-perishable groceries in bulk.
Choose quality clothing
When purchasing new clothes, always pick quality products. That’s because generally, they are extremely comfortable and last longer as compared to cheaper options.
Don’t buy new books
You can always borrow them from the library or can buy second-hand books for cheap.
Make cleaners at home
Throw harsh chemicals out of your home because they not only are costly but can also harm your health. Instead, make cleaners yourself at home using ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, essential oils, alcohol, etc. you can easily find recipes online.
Use electronic devices until they die
Think twice before upgrading your T.V, computer, smartphone, tablet, and other such electronic devices. Are they working fine? Don’t buy if they’re fit for use.
Carry a reusable water bottle
Carry a water bottle preferably made of glass or stainless steel with you and avoid buying packaged drinking water.
Reuse plastic containers
Use them to store snacks and leftovers or be creative to make something purposeful out of them.
I hope that these tips were useful. Don’t forget to share them!
Have any other tips? Drop them in the comments. I’d love to read it!