Money Mentor
- Sep 23, 2021
- 3 min read

Frugal Living Tips

Updated: May 16, 2022

Most people think of the word "frugal" from the negative perspective of being stingy or unnecessarily critical about spending money. That's why they frown most times when you mention frugal living tips.

Frugal living sounds to them like denying oneself the essentials of life in the name of conserving money.

But in the actual sense, frugal simply means being intentional about your expenses. And, you'll agree with me that anyone who seeks to achieve his financial goals must be careful about how they spend.

So, in this post, you will learn the most effective frugal living tips you can adopt to boost your financial strength.

#1. Define Your Financial Goals

This is top of our list of frugal living tips because that is where everything starts. It is dangerous to be confused about what exactly you want, especially when your finances are involved.

When your goals are not properly defined, anything goes and that way, you can easily run into unplanned and unnecessary expenses. So, if you're looking to save more money, then you must figure out what your financial goals are.

What are you hoping to achieve financially? List them out, organize them into targets, and attach timeframes to them. If you always keep your financial targets within sight, it will be easier to resist the temptation of spending recklessly.

#2. Stick To Your Budget

A budget helps you allocate your money to your financial needs to suit your financial plans and goals. Budgets are necessary because they help keep you in check. But it is one thing to have a budget and another thing to have enough discipline to stick to it.

However, sticking to your budget is not rocket science. You can start by breaking down your budget into daily or weekly allocations, making it easier to trace. Then, ensure you keep a record of every expense no matter how little.

This will help you easily identify when you go off-track so you can retrace your steps immediately.

Also, review your budgets from time to time to ensure they match your current financial status. If you can stick to your budget, you won't have to bother about extravagant spending. That's why budgeting is one of the most recommended frugal living tips you will find anywhere.

#3. Cut Down On Expenses

Here’s another very crucial frugal living tip. It is important to track your expenses to be able to figure out where exactly your money is going. When you analyze your spending, identify the areas that are not really necessary and either eliminate or minimize them.

You can cut down your budget on things like eating out, frequent vacations, and other unnecessary luxuries. You can channel the money you redeem from the slashes to your savings, investments, or other more pertinent areas.

#4. Do Bulk Shopping

Buying things in bulk is often a good way to cut down costs. You get to save more money when you purchase necessities like foodstuff, toiletries, etc at wholesale prices. It even saves you some other expenses such as transport costs.

However, there is a higher tendency for misuse when you have such things in large quantities. So, you need to be careful enough to monitor the usage to avoid wasting resources.

#5. Prepare For Emergencies

This is another frugal living tip that most people seem to neglect. You need to appreciate the fact that unforeseen circumstances such as accidents, sickness, impromptu trips, etc can pop up any time and make you spend off-budget. These things are part of life, so they are inevitable sometimes.

But you can cushion their effects on your finances by setting aside an emergency fund. By regularly allocating a certain percentage of your earnings to your emergency funds, you can rest assured you are able to weather these emergencies when they eventually come.