Someone celebrated their frugal wins on the platform by highlighting 11 ones that improved his life. He said that when he started the journey, he was overwhelmed with advice from people who told him to put $500 a month in his IRA, invest in real estate, and save three months’ worth of expenses when he barely survived.
11 Frugal Tips
The following 11 tips are what set him on his frugal journey;
- Setting up “Get Stuff done dates” with a friend
- Keeping a “Maybe” box in my closet for donations
- Assigning chores to different days
- Meal prepping
- Scheduling a quarterly home purge
- Opening up a rewards credit card
- Limiting time on social media
- Following hobby-based accounts instead of consumption-based ones
- Getting a password manager
- Delete saved credit card info
- Canceling Amazon Prime
He asked other Reddit users for other tips that improved their financial lives. We have sampled some of the best responses from this conversation here:
Unsubscribe From Sale Notifications
“Unsubscribing from sale notifications worked really well for me,” says one person
Refinance Your House When Interests Are Low
“When interest rates were low, I refinanced the house. Rather than a cash-out like all of the cool people were doing, I just changed it to a 15-year instead of a 30-year mortgage. I will save well over 6 figures in interest; my payments really didn’t change by much. Also, the equity is there if I need it for emergencies, but I am not paying interest on money I don’t need to borrow,” illustrates another user
Group Buy / Batch Cook
This will only take one day out of your time per month, “I dedicate one weekend a month to massive batch cooking to stuff the freezer with easy-to-make, healthy meals during busy weeknights. It’s usually all family members on deck to help.”
Create Wishlists
Do not check out “Create wishlists or leave the item in your cart for at least a day or two when you want to buy something online. This form of “window shopping” helps curb impulse purchases, and if it is an item you actually want, you might get a discount code from the site.”
Balance Your Accounts Daily
You will know what you spent money on, “I balance my accounts daily. It takes 5 minutes max, and it helps me see exactly what’s coming and going, what’s expected, and where I’m at. It makes keeping on track really, really, easy.”
Keep an Emergency Fund
One day, an emergency fund will come in handy: “Always put some untouchable money aside for emergencies and retirement.”
Make More Money
Try to increase your level of income, “I don’t see “make more money” on here. There’s an infinite supply of money in the world but a limited supply of personal resources to cut or save.”
Join a Buy Nothing Group on Facebook
You will get great stuff for free, “I joined a Buy Nothing Group on Facebook, and the gifting community has been amazing. I was able to furnish a room in my apartment from gifted items.”
Use Coupons
Coupons can help you save substantially, “Just googling “website coupon code” whenever I am about to make a purchase that has a coupon code space to enter. Just bought lift tickets to ski and saw that section. Opened a new browser and searched for it. Found one that gave me $25 off. It worked and took me about 3 minutes to find.”
Spend Less Than You Earn
Always have a surplus, “Spend less than what you earn, fun splurge, and don’t get in credit card debt just so you have nice things.”
12 Frugal Hacks That Make All The Difference
A Reddit user who started the frugal journey with his wife a couple of years ago wanted to know the frugal hacks people had that made all the difference.
According to the OP, shopping grocery sales every week and planning their meals helped cut their bill from $250 to $100 per week. Other users shared their stories about frugal hacks they had that made some difference in their lives. Here are some of the best ones.
12 Frugal Hacks That Make All The Difference
12 Items Frugal People Proudly Exclude From Their Shopping List
Frugal people are known to spend their money wisely. They live within their means and don’t spend a lot of money. According to a thread on Quora, here are some common things frugal people never buy.
12 Items Frugal People Proudly Exclude from Their Shopping List
23 Side Hustles You Never Considered That Make More Than Your 9 to 5
Have you ever wanted to make a lot of money from a side hustle and quit your 9 to 5? You may know about the typical side hustles, but I bet you never even heard of these lucrative side hustles!
23 Side Hustles You Never Considered That Make More Than Your 9 to 5
9 So-Called “Frugal” Habits That Are Actually a Waste of Time and Money
Not everything is frugal! I am sure you have read articles and tips that promote frugal living and give some ideas that are just not frugal! These frugal myths float around and sometimes even cost people a lot of money!
9 So-Called “Frugal” Habits That Are Actually a Waste of Time and Money
10 Stupid Scams People Won’t Stop Falling For
It seems like every day there is a new scam popping up, promising to make you rich or solve all of your problems. Yet, despite the prevalence of scams and the numerous warnings about them, people still fall for them.
10 Stupid Scams People Won’t Stop Falling For
This article was produced and syndicated by A Dime Saved.
