These frugal living tips aren’t like those other — they’re a little unconventional or unusual, especially in an appealing or interesting way… or offbeat?
And any eccentric person reading this knows that’s a good thing, especially in 2025!
Let’s talk about 12 frugal living tips that are a little different that you should start doing this year!
Baking Bread
2020 might have been the height of baking culture, but the cool factor for making your own baked goods seems to be sticking around like dough on an ungreased pan.
Baking bread at home is an excellent way to save money while making your house smell impossibly delicious at all times. Plus, it’s a labor of love that you can share with family and friends (but only if you want to).
Make Your Own All-Purpose Cleaner
When life gives you lemons, make an affordable bottle of cleaning solution. There are tons of products, like baking soda, vinegar, and lemons, that you can mix together for a DIY cleaning spray. They often work just as well without any of the chemical smell or residue.
You can even mix things up and customize the scent with different citrus or essential oils.
Read More: 8 DIY Cleaning Supplies Recipes You Can Make To Save Money
Waiting To Buy Things When They’re On Sale
Gone are the days of impulse buys.
People are realizing that this old-school hack is easier than ever with apps that track prices for you. And you don’t even have to use the apps; sometimes, it’s as easy as adding items to your cart, waiting until you have a coupon, and buying the item then. Either way, the concept is the same: patience is key to saving money!
Plan an Extravagant Stay-Cation
Get creative with your vacation this year by staying home.
You don’t have to stay inside; bonus quirky points if you camp out in the backyard! Staycations can also mean exploring your hometown and falling in love with your favorite places all over again. You’re saving on airfare and accommodations, so not only do you have a more flexible budget, but you can afford to splurge a bit more and go big!
Make Gifts Instead of Buying
Making homemade gifts used to be a social norm.
And thankfully, the trend is back in full force! People are making their own stationery and gift cards, cooking or baking (there’s another use for that bread), and sharing on special occasions, or even taking one of their hobbies and using it as a way to create something unique for someone in their lives.
Plan a Leftover Night
Leftover nights are when you take whatever you already have in the fridge and create something new.
Toss whatever veggies you have in with some broth and pasta for a hearty minestrone.
Use some leftover rotisserie chicken to make quesadillas. This is a frugal living tip that both saves you money and encourages your creativity, so it’s easily one of the best if you’re looking for something fun and different.
Unplugging
“Unplugging” was never really a money-saving tip, but that’s only because there was so much less (or nothing at all) to plug into! A few years ago, hooking yourself up to every piece of technology was the cool thing to do. But it was both extremely expensive and not a very fun way to live.
Fortunately, we’re all waking up to the reality: we need nature, socializing, and movement! These are all good things for our quality of life and our wallets, so we must find time in our busy schedules to put the phone on silent, both metaphorically and maybe literally.
Freecycle With Some Friends
Swap parties and freecycling are on the rise, so join in and see what kind of fun stuff you can get.
Freecycling is just recycling things that other people would otherwise throw away, but you have a use for. For example, you might have just gotten a new coffee maker for Christmas, and your friend got a new blender. But you love their blender and their in the market for a coffee maker. Swap instead of buying new and both of you save!
Tracking Your Spending
Being a “numbers guy” is cooler than ever. Financial literacy and budgeting prowess are now marketable social skills, and keeping track of your spending is a big indicator that you have things under control.
With so many budgeting apps that make tracking every last expense impossibly simple, it’s no wonder that responsibility is back in fashion, and we hope it’s here to stay!
Collect Your Rainwater
Rainwater is a free natural resource you can use to water your garden. You can go all-out and install an irrigation system (which is more expensive up front, but makes using rainwater easier) or use a rain barrel. Either approach will let you harness the power of Mother Nature to help save money on your utilities. This is especially good for those of you with greener thumbs!
Do a No-Spend Challenge
Who’s up for some friendly competition? If you and your other frugal friends are looking for a different way to save, try seeing who can do it the best. You can go about this in a ton of different ways, like seeing who can last the longest without spending on something they don’t need, or planning an outing with friends at no cost, and voting on who had the best plans.
Actually Saving Your Money
Hold on — you mean it’s cool to tell people you can’t afford something and that you’re saving up for an emergency fund or vacation? Since when? We don’t know when the scales tipped in favor of frugality, but even the concept of putting money into a savings account is finally cool again.
Being frivolous with your spending is flashy, but people are learning it’s just not sustainable, which means that fans of financial independence are coming out on top!
