Being frugal allows you to spot money-saving opportunities in hidden places. Although you may have a few tricks up your sleeve, several overlooked strategies can significantly impact your finances.
Here are 13 often overlooked ways frugal people can leverage to maximize their savings.
Conducting Home Energy Audits
Conducting a home energy audit can help you identify areas where you lose energy. Issues such as seal leaks indoors, inadequate insulation, or outdated appliances may be contributing to your high utility bills. An auditor can identify these problems and help you save money by eliminating high-energy appliances and checking areas that need fixing to prevent costly repairs and ensure efficiency.
Purchasing Reusable Products
By purchasing reusable products, you can reduce waste and save some extra bucks. Items like mason jars, mop pads, kitchen towels, glass straws, coffee filters, and baking liners are all items you can buy once and reuse as many times as you’d like.
Prescription Discount Programs
Skipping brand names when buying drugs can save you some coins, but enrolling in Prescription discount programs can further lower the cost of medications. GoodRx, BuzzRx, Optum Perks, and Blink Health are some of the best prescription discount cards you should check out.
Annual Vehicle Maintenance
Taking your car for regular service and fixing minor repairs is excellent, but it can be costly over time, especially if it breaks down frequently. Opting for annual vehicle maintenance can extend your vehicle’s life, improve gas mileage, detect problems earlier, and reduce the risk of mechanical failures. That saves you money on major repairs and gas.
Delaying Purchases
Another excellent strategy overlooked is to delay purchases. For example, when shopping online, you can abandon the cart and return to it after two days to decide whether to buy these items. You’ll often find that you don’t need these items as you’ve taken time to research other options or thought through a specific purchase.
Volunteering for Discounts
Some companies and organizations will offer free admission to events or attractions when you volunteer your skills and time. Other companies will offer vouchers and discounts on holidays, gym memberships, utilities, mobile phones, etc.
Using Cash Back Apps and Websites
Loyalty programs and coupons are fantastic, but have you considered maximizing your savings through cash-back apps and websites? Cash back apps and sites give you money for shopping at their recommended retailers.
With these apps, you could save a lot on groceries, travel, entertainment, dating services, etc. Find out which sites work best for specific purchases and use this to your advantage. Check out sites like Ibotta, Rakuten, and Dosh.
Renting Equipment and Tools
Purchasing tools and equipment secondhand is a great way to save money, but you could further reduce your expenses by renting them if you only need them once or twice. Most hardware stores or rental equipment businesses are willing to rent out their equipment at a fee.
This eliminates the need to pay the full cost upfront and saves on storage, transport, and maintenance costs.
Public Transportation Passes
While you could save money by not driving your car daily, purchasing individual bus tickets could be expensive in the long run. If you can buy annual or monthly public transportation passes to save even more money.
Refinancing Loans
Paying off your loans with high fees and interest can be expensive. Apart from making regular payments on your loan, you should consider refinancing your loan. That can be a mortgage or a student loan.
Refinancing means replacing your current loan with a new one with a lower interest rate. That saves you money on interest payments. Note that you must have excellent credit to qualify for lower-interest loans.
Negotiating Bills
While most frugal people don’t have a problem negotiating for better product prices, only a few try to negotiate their bills. To save money, you can negotiate with your cell phone provider, car insurance, gym membership, home security, or cable TV provider for better rates. Research a competitor’s price and use that as leverage to negotiate for a lower rate.
Library Memberships
Library membership provides you with access to free resources like books, movies, cheap printing, etc. You can also use the library’s free Wi-Fi to work or study. Some libraries also offer free tickets to local attractions and museums, which can help you save money.
Review Your Insurance Plans
Having insurance is great when you need to cover unexpected expenses. However, most frugal people never take the time to review their insurance plans, which could cost them over time. Remember that a lot can happen in a year, affecting your coverage options, insurance costs, limitations, etc.
Reviewing your plans will help you determine how these changes affect your coverage needs and when required.
Evaluating your plans can also help you save money by ensuring you’re getting appropriate coverage. Some insurance providers will also provide discounts if you get a car with advanced safety features or add an alarm system to your home.
Achieve Your Goals
These are a few ways frugal people often overlook that can help them save more money. Identifying these opportunities can help you maximize your savings and achieve your financial goals.
