Ever wonder how the older generations used to save money? Here are eight examples of old-fashioned habits that can still help you work toward your financial goals even in today’s society.
Cook From Scratch
We’re not just talking about your meal prepping a sauce or two; you’ll see significant savings by making as much as you can from scratch. Note, however, that there is often a time trade-off here, so baking fresh bread every morning might not be for you.
Learn To Sew
Today’s generation is so used to tossing clothing aside once it gets a small hole in it. But sewing a basic stitch is easy to learn and can help save what you’d otherwise consider unsalvageable clothing. This tip pays dividends if you have a larger family with kids, too, because they’re much more likely to be more aggressive with their clothing.
Grow Your Food
Growing fresh food at home is probably much more straightforward than you think. You don’t have to have a giant plot of land for a garden, either; you’ll save space if you make some space for fresh herbs on your windowsill. It’s also immensely gratifying to make a sauce from scratch and finish it with herbs you just plucked from a pot in your kitchen.
Use Homemade Cleaners
You can make your all-purpose cleaner with a few household ingredients you probably already have lying around. Varying combinations of baking soda, vinegar, lemon, salt, and borax could be mixed and matched to arm your home with everything you need to keep it clean.
Buy Cheaper Cuts of Meat
Chicken breast is still the most in-vogue chicken cut, but how many of you know just how delicious (and honestly forgiving) a recipe with chicken thighs is? Many cheaper cuts are significantly less expensive, but they still offer a ton of flavor. Another pro-tip: buy bone-in anything and save the bones to make broth later!
Exercise at Home
Working out the old-fashioned way involves stripping things down to the bare necessities. Bodyweight workouts or cardio activities like biking or running won’t cost you a thing. If you’d like, you can upgrade this old-fashioned tip to the modern era by introducing YouTube exercise videos. Either way, you’re still saving on not shelling out for a gym membership.
Reuse and Recycle
Leftovers: they’re not just a concept for food (though we always recommend repurposing food however you can). Old t-shirts make fantastic tools for dusting. Rinse out food jars and use them to store extra sauces or soups in your fridge. There’s a lot you can do with things you’d otherwise throw away, and back in the day, that’s precisely what they did.
Live Smaller
The world is consistently vying for our attention to buy things we don’t need and making us feel like we can’t live without them. But most frugal people will tell you the same thing: life gets a lot easier when you learn to love it with less.
That doesn’t mean you can’t splurge or spend on things you love. It just means reassessing what you need versus what you want and stopping yourself before impulsively buying something that just adds clutter to your life.
Read More:
- 30 Ways To Get Free Stuff (That Aren’t Scams)
- 12 Best Coupon Apps of 2024
- 13 Ways To Earn Money From Paid Surveys [At Home, Online & More]
