Many people have negative thoughts about living cheaply. For some, it could mean delayed gratification, while some may view it as eating less or using a certain product multiple times.
By being creative and smart on how to make your resources work for you, living in a frugal manner will mean a lot more than just saving money and achieving your financial goals!
If you are set on venturing into cheap living for a purpose, this article will give you amazing tips on how to spend less with ease and enjoy the journey without depriving yourself of anything!
1. Utilize Money-Saving Apps
When you want to live cheaply, you will definitely want to get your groceries for free through accumulated cashback or gift cards!
This is absolutely possible by downloading some of the best money-saving apps that can help you with your shopping and groceries.
You can even save more since many of these apps are absolutely free to use.
Here are some of the most useful apps that can support your cheap living habits:
- Ibotta: With over 2,000 partner retailers and as much as 30% cashback, Ibotta can help you earn a lot of money that you can redeem through your bank or PayPal account.
- Fetch: Fetch allows you to accumulate more points as you upload more receipts from restaurants, clothing stores, groceries, gas stations, warehouse clubs, and more! Once you have enough points, exchange them for gift cards from your favorite stores!
- Flipp: Flipp is a powerful tool that supports your cheap living goals by automating many things for you, including selecting the best deals, discounts, and offers for your shopping list items.
- Dosh: Dosh provides you with automatic cashback as you link your debit or credit card to the app. These earnings do not just apply to your grocery, retail shopping, and dining expenses but also to your hotel bookings!
- Rakuten: Taking pride in its 3,500 participating stores, about 20 million users, and around $3.2 billion in total cashback, you only need to accumulate $5 in Rakuten to cash out through a physical check or your PayPal account.
If you want to save more, you can even use multiple apps and enjoy all their benefits as soon as you are able to earn your cashback and discounts.
2. Take Advantage of Your Credit Card Rewards
While living cheap may mean reducing spending and putting your credit card aside, it can also work the other way around!
So long as you use your credit card only for necessary purchases, you can gain more points and cashback the more you use it — especially for “rewards” types of credit cards.
Unlike apps, you don’t have to go through the nitty-gritty of linking it with deals or uploading receipts.
However, let me reiterate that you must do this only if you can pay your credit card in full and on time. Otherwise, you can’t live cheaply with all the interest and charges you must pay!
3. Buy Used Gadgets (Gazelle)
In our modern world, electronic devices are already a part of our daily lives. In fact, you will need them to be able to pull up the apps we suggested that can save you money!
However, gadgets are also one of those possessions that lose their value fast. They easily get replaced by their more advanced versions.
So how can you still live cheaply but still have a neat gadget to use? Go for a used gadget that is in great condition! How do you do it? Try Gazelle!
Gazelle has a wide range of certified pre-owned electronic devices like iPhones, iPads, Samsung phones, Google phones, and Macbooks that you can buy or trade your old device with.
Make sure to search the items well and find coupons that can earn you as much as a 5% to 10% discount!
4. Save Money on Video Games (GameFly)
Living cheaply does not necessarily mean giving up on your hobbies, and if you have children, some of your “leisure” money might be going to video games.
Instead of repeatedly buying games to keep your family entertained, consider renting them instead through GameFly!
You can start with a 30-day free trial and then rent two video games within the period. After the trial, you can continue to a paid subscription of either $15.95 or $22.95 per month.
The cheaper option allows you to rent one video game at a time, and the higher one bumps the number to two.
Imagine how much you can save, considering the price of one brand-new video game for a console is about $50 to $70!
This way, you can stay frugal while still enjoying time with your family at home.
5. Visit Your Local Library
Continuing our discussions on hobbies, some of you may enjoy a quieter form of entertainment and would love to read books instead.
Books are also quite expensive, regardless of whether you buy a hard copy or a soft copy.
To save on costs, you may want to visit your local library instead and read books for free!
Some modern libraries even offer technological advances, like audiobooks.
Pro Tip: If you are a regular visitor to your local library, consider becoming a member. Many libraries have exclusive perks like handing out exclusive passes to local attractions, among others.
6. Plan Your Meals at Home
Food is one of the heaviest expenses of any household and is one of the most critical for survival.
Eating out is even more expensive. In fact, it is estimated that the average consumer in the United States spends a monthly average of $166 on dining out.
So, how do you enjoy food at home while still living cheaply? Plan wisely!
Here are some ways on how to do this:
- Create a meal plan for the entire week: This will help you manage your weekly budget as well in terms of ingredients.
- Plan based on “First in, First Out” (FIFO) method: Create recipes first based on your currently available ingredients. This should save you money by avoiding food spoilage.
- Always create a shopping list: After you are done with your meal planning, you are now ready to make a shopping list. This guarantees that you do not wander off and add a lot of stuff to your cart that would just end up not being used.
- Buy your ingredients in bulk: Though this might not work for perishables like fruits and vegetables, this is more economical for meat and other ingredients that have a longer shelf-life with proper storage. Refer to this list of items that make sense to buy in bulk.
- Opt for online grocery shopping: Especially when you have kids, it is best to just do online shopping. Aside from saving on gas, this prevents you from adding unplanned items to your cart.
- Grow your own food: Just imagine how much you can save when you just need to pick your ingredients from your own backyard!
Aside from these tips on how to live cheaply and still eat right, check out our article on how to save money on groceries.
7. Master the Art of Negotiations!
If you are serious about living cheaply and saving a ton, you have to learn how to negotiate.
I was able to save hundreds of dollars by negotiating several transactions, such as the following:
- Credit card annual fees: Since I have been able to manage my finances well and have been a loyal customer of my credit card company, negotiating to waive the annual fee is easy.
- Bank fees: I have recently discovered Cushion AI and have been using it to automatically negotiate some of my bank fees, like overdraft and wire transfer fees.
- House bills: Using Trim as my automated bill negotiator has helped me lower my internet, TV, and phone bills for just 15% of the annual savings I got from its successful attempts.
- House rent: Remember that your landlords are humans, too. This means that in cases where you really are struggling with money, try to negotiate rent holidays or cuts during challenging times.
Though negotiating might not always give you the desired results, being persistent and using the right resources can definitely help you with your goal!
8. Stop Using Disposables and Single-Use Plastics
Though it may seem like a cheaper option, disposables, and single-use plastics are actually more expensive in the long run.
Not only that, most of them are also non-biodegradable, posing a big risk to the environment.
Some of these plastic products that we tend to use a lot are water bottles, utensils, drinking cups, sandwich bags, and grocery bags.
Be wary of the use of disposables, too, such as paper plates and cups, tissue paper, straws, and coffee filters.
If you really want to live cheaply, think long-term and use products that you can wash and reuse.
9. Consider Moving to a Cheaper Environment
If your schedule and resources will allow it, you may also want to consider moving to a new house or environment in exchange for a cheaper way of living.
What type of options do you have? Well, you can consider moving to a place that is nearer to your source of income. This way, you save on transportation or gasoline costs.
As you consider this, our guide on saving money for a new house can make this life decision even more achievable for you.
If you are single, you might even want to find a responsible roommate to split household expenses with. This will even lower your expenses further.
10. Remove Unused Subscriptions and Memberships
Living cheaply does mean spending less. In this case, removing subscriptions and memberships that you do not use or do not benefit from entirely will help you with your cause.
Do you watch Netflix on a lot of devices simultaneously? Are you able to watch that many channels on your cable TV? When was the last time you actually visited your gym?
As you list down all your monthly expenses, reassess your usage and how much you can save if you remove these from your monthly spending.
11. Regulate Your Temperature at Home
If you live in colder areas, heating may be one of your major expenses, which is something that can be easily taken care of in a cheap manner.
Hang thick curtains on your windows to keep the heat inside your home intact, and fill those gaps on your window sills and below your doors with blankets.
On the other hand, when it is the summer season, instead of turning on your air conditioning unit the entire day, you can be creative in keeping your house cool.
Try opening windows and doors during the wee hours of the morning and at night to let the cooler air in.
Personally, I always make sure to turn off lights and appliances we do not use to lessen the heat inside the house.
My husband also brings in some plants inside our house during the hot weather to help not just purify the air but also create a cooler environment.
12. Go for Free Entertainment
As I have mentioned, life doesn’t have to be dull and boring just because you decided to live cheaply.
Of course, having fun and keeping yourself and your family entertained is important as well for your overall well-being.
However, instead of spending a lot on dining out, going to a movie, or shopping at the malls, try some alternative forms of entertainment that will not cost you a lot, if any!
Here are some ideas for you to get started:
- Go for a picnic in your local park.
- Visit museums with free entrances.
- Enjoy arts and crafts with your family at home using recycled materials.
- Go for movies at home while enjoying a homemade meal.
- Play board games with your family.
- Participate in volunteer work.
- Take your dogs out for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood.
These cheap forms of entertainment are even featured as one of the habits of people who never overspend and are perfect for those who wish to stay frugal.
13. Try Shopping at Thrift Shops
We might have the impression that shopping at thrift shops is a waste of time because they are cheap and do not last.
Let me try to convince you otherwise! Many of the dresses I have worn have received compliments from my friends. They even thought that I had bought them from branded stores!
Sometimes, you just need to be patient and look for those that are made of great quality fabric and are sewn really well.
Fit them perfectly, and you have saved more than half of your money than going for expensive brands that look similarly great on you!
Pro Tip: When you want to buy clothes from your favorite brands, wait for major sale events where their prices can drop by as much as 50% to 70%, such as Black Friday and Mother’s Day Sales.
14. Explore Cheaper Forms of Transportation
Although convenient, cars are one of the most expensive types of transportation.
Aside from the actual cost of a car that might still be in mortgage, you also need to consider the cost of gas and maintenance.
If you are truly serious about living cheaply, you can try commuting instead through readily available public transportation, such as buses and trains.
You can even join a group of friends from your office and go for carpooling!
If you are up for it and want to stay healthy, riding a bicycle is an even cheaper alternative.
Indeed, cheap living entails some sacrifices, but this will also help you save faster towards your bigger dreams.
Do you have other ways to suggest how to live cheaply? Share it with us in the comments below!
