Saving money for a rainy day is important, but the ability to put away money starts with the right mindset. I’ve come up with top frugality tips to save money and live below your means.
This money saving habits will offer immediate benefits, and will ultimately improve your overall attitude towards money.
Remember it's not an inability to stick to a budget, it’s the thinking that you have to commit to frugal living and sacrifice in order to make it happen.
But we can strike a balance between living the life we want to live while also reaching financial independence by focusing on the decisions you make with your spending money.
When you do that, you can live below your means while still enjoying the lifestyle you want.
With that being said here are top 12 frugality tips to save money and live life below your means without sacrificing your happiness.
#1: Declutter ASAP to Live Below Your Means.
Look around your house. Chances are there’s a bunch of stuff you’re either not using or intend to use someday…but haven’t gotten around to until now.
In other words, you’ll never really have any practical purpose for these things - other than reducing the floor area of your place.
You may not notice it, but these non-performing assets directly translate into wasted money.
Buying the occasional knick-knack seems like a drop in the ocean, but if you carry on this pattern of spending, it won’t take long to find yourself knee-deep in clutter. How long are you going to bleed money and overcrowd your place with these things?
Just because something was on sale, it doesn’t justify buying it. What if it was something you’d only need to use a few times a year? Then it would have been money wasted, even it was on a discounted price.
Do an inventory check of the stuff you don’t want or need and tally the total cost if you want to spend less money and save more money. This is a great reminder of just how much you’ve spent on junk that hasn’t enriched your life in any way.
Peter Walsh, author of “Lighten Up: Love What You Have, Have What You Need, Be Happier with Less” shows readers how to wage a successful war on their junk, reclaim their space and put an end to compulsive spending.
In particular, he offers readers a unique way of how coming to terms with the unseen price of clutter.
He suggests calculating the per-square foot cost of your house and then computing how much unused space your clutter takes up.
When you multiply the value of square footage against the unused area caused by clutter, you’ll realize how much money is ALSO wasted on a per square foot basis.
#2: Stick To Cash As Much As Possible To Spend Less Money And Save More Money.
There’s a frighteningly large amount of the population stuck in credit card debt, and it only makes sense to avoid becoming another statistic.
If you want to stop using the dreaded plastic as a crutch, stick to cash as best you can.
For a lot of folks, credit cards are like a financial black hole of denial. They keep funneling expenditures into it and push it into the back of their mind – that is, until the statement comes back to haunt them.
Here’s a quirky way to deal with this problem. List down all of the monthly expenses that are absolutely essential to survival: food, utilities, transportation, savings and so on.
Whatever amount is left over can be taken out as cash which you can use for other unforeseen expenses during the remainder of the months, like entertainment and nights out.
Once it’s all out, you’ll need to wait until next payday. This gives you a very tangible idea of what you can spend without being remorseful since you’ve already put away money in the bank for the bare basics.
By giving yourself a limit, you’ll be less tempted to dip into your “essentials fund” or credit card swipe yourself into oblivion.
#3. Frugality Tips To Trim your Budget And Save Money.
If you find that too much of your paycheck goes to the “essentials fund”, then you probably need to find a way to increase your income.
Of course, it will take time to increase your cash flow (e.g. creating passive income, finding part-time work) but you can trim fat from your budget in the meantime.
Your food budget for instance, can be adjusted.
Maybe you can plan out a shopping list before heading out to the supermarket so you don’t impulsively grab stuff you can live without for now.
As for power consumption, consider if any appliances can be shut down (as opposed to being on standby mode) or if certain lights of the house can be shut off.
These are just a couple of examples that will also make your feel wealthy as time passes, so go over your circumstances to find out if it’s feasible to carpool/commute instead of taking the car… eating in rather than out and ditching cable TV for fee-based online video services like Netflix (since you probably have an Internet connection anyway).
#4: Re-evaluate Your Priorities To Live Below Your Means.
Sometimes, getting caught in the craziness of making ends meet - while spending on stuff you want - can make you lose sight of what’s truly important.
Sadly, it’s an all-too-common fact that our financial habits don’t align with our goals in life.
For example, you may want to retire by a certain age, but are your expenditures and savings actually working towards that? Think about the things that matter to you, such as your family and well-being.
Make a quick rundown of your monthly expenses (through bills, receipts, etc.) and compare that to what you want out of life.
Put it on paper, create a spreadsheet on your computer – it doesn’t matter how.
Simply getting started with taking a good look at the cold, hard numbers can spur you into action.
If you want to be successful in life you need to start using these frugality tips to save money that way you can reach financial freedom in a very short time.
#5. Track How OFTEN You Spend Money.
The big ticket purchases are easy to see. They show up as a big lump sum or as fixed expenses. These are the first reasons that come up as to why they’re living paycheck to paycheck or getting further into debt.
But the day-to-day spending is often a big contributor to that as well.
You probably think I’m going to start by saying they should work on the family budget or track how much they’re spending on a monthly basis. But I’m not.
Let’s focus on something that is much easier to track and change spending habits. Let’s look at how often you spend money.
I’m referring to the number of lines on your credit card statement or bank statement, how many times you send money to someone else on Venmo.
These things add up over time. They can also be easily changed since they are usually forms of discretionary expenses or flexible spending.
In this step, we’re not totaling up the dollars spent. We’re counting how many times we spent.
#6. Use a Budgeting App to Make It Easy To Track.
The easiest way to see this is to use a budgeting app that has all of your spending in one place. This includes your regular bills and fixed expenses, but also the one-off purchases. You can also literally count the line items on your statements too.
If a family has about 100 or less transactions in a month, that’s pretty good. It’s about 3 swipes, online purchases, auto pays per day on average.
But if we get up to 150 per month or more, then there’s some work that can be done to cut back spending and be a little frugal.
After all, that’s spending 5x per day or more. If spending is above 200 transactions per month, then we really need to dive in here.
Don't Miss: 11 Things To Do To Attract More Money Into Your Life Now
Don't Miss: 5 Steps To Manage Financial Stress And Fix Money Issues Permanently
#7. Understand The Value Of Money.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett
Knowing the real value of money goes beyond the price tag. It means understanding the effort it took to earn that money and the true worth of what it can buy.
#8. Save Before You Spend.
“Don’t save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.” – Warren Buffett
By prioritizing saving, you can ensure that you’re steadily growing your wealth.
It’s a strategy to prevent overspending and helps you to stick to your budget. Put yourself on the top of your payment list. Pay yourself first; who are you working for if you don’t?
#9. Buy Best Quality Items That Last.
It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffett
Look for value in your purchases like Buffett looks for value in his investments.
By investing in quality items, you’ll spend more upfront but less in the long run because they tend to last longer. It’s better to buy one quality item than to repeatedly replace a poor-quality item.
#10. Frugality Tips To Save Money On Meals and Cooking.
This is one of the most critical aspects of our lives and the most powerful frugality tip to save money.
We can go without money, but not without food. Eating healthy has more benefits for our general well-being, but it comes at a cost.
Fresh farm foods are very cheap to get from farmers' markets compared to supermarkets.
Find a local market and source your foods in bulk, and you will be surprised at how much you will save.
If you have a fridge, learn to cook in bulk and store cooked foods divided into daily portions.
Not only it will save money for you, but it also saves you precious time to engage in other crucial activities, like reading about personal financial management.
It is also proven to help you live below your means. Don't complain or criticize; try it and discover.
#11. DIY Do it Yourself to Save Money And Live Below Your Means.
Learn to create or repair things with your own hands. YouTube and Pinterest offer ideas and step-by-step tutorials on how to make things.
You can learn how to bake and decorate birthday cakes for your loved ones, troubleshoot or install software on your computers, or make and package holiday gifts.
This will save you much money and also earn you some respect points!
#12. Put Money into Savings
When living below your means, you still want to be sure you’re saving up money for the important stuff, such as retirement, a house, or an emergency fund.
By trimming down your expenses, you can allocate more of your income toward meeting these savings goals. With savings, you can also better handle any unexpected expenses or job losses that arise.
A good habit is using automated savings. This can be accomplished through various apps or even within your own bank.
Automating your savings can help you put aside a certain amount of money into your bank account every month. Because this will happen automatically on a date of your choosing, you won’t have to worry about remembering to make the deposit.
In addition to setting up automated savings, you want to ensure you have the right kind of savings accounts. The best savings accounts could earn you a little bit of interest or at least not charge you any fees.
After creating your savings goals, set up regular reminders to check in on your progress. These might be monthly or even quarterly, but the important thing is to verify that you’re on track and working toward a better, more stable financial future.
That's all for now. I hope you loved reading this 12 tips on living below your means. If you really enjoyed it please do not forget to share and comment your thoughts.
