60 Creative & Practical Money-Saving Hacks For Frugal Living
Are you looking for fresh inspiration for frugal living? I've got 60 practical money-saving hacks you should try. Let’s go.
1. Track expenses
Track cash throughout the month and your debit card once a month.
2. Monitor accounts
Check for unexpected expenses or fraudulent activity.
3. Automate transfers
Automate transfers to savings or emergency funds.
4. Know prices
If you wait to find out the price at checkout, you’re less likely to put it back if it costs too much.
5. Cash-back deals
You can get up to 15% cash back from all sorts of online vendors.
6. Multiple income streams
You don’t need an ongoing side hustle but have options for when you need extra cash.
7. Keep change
Put spare change in a jar.
8. Separate spending and bill money
It reduces confusion and overspending.
9. Set short-term and long-term goals
Short-term goals keep you motivated on your way to bigger goals.
10. Pay immediately
Pay bills as soon as possible, so you don’t spend the money.
11. Keep food fresh
Store fresh veggies in Ziploc bags with a paper towel to reduce moisture.
12. Use thermoses
Take hot and cold beverages from home, instead of buying them.
13. Pack lunch
Pack leftovers or frozen meals. Get an ice pack and an insulated lunch bag.
14. Stop eating out
Challenge yourself not to eat out at all. During the pandemic, we didn’t for a year and a half, and saved so much.
15. Make foods from scratch
Processed foods cost more than raw foods.
16. Grow food
Growing herbs is easy to do.
17. Reuse disposables
Reuse disposable items a couple of times before throwing them away.
18. Shop international
Shop the international food aisle for spices and grains. Often, they’re cheaper than the regular aisles.
19. Sign up for rewards
Get coupons and redeemable points at the stores you shop at most often.
20. Buy store-brand foods
They’re cheaper than the name brand. You’ll be surprised by the quality and taste.
21. Don’t waste food
Eat leftovers.
22. Use capsule meal plans
This is making a lot of meals from a few ingredients.
23. Go meatless
Replace meat with beans twice a week or go vegetarian.
24. Eat less
Some people think it’s extreme to eat less, but most of us need to anyway.
25. Alternate subscriptions
We use free trials. One month we’ll do Paramount+. Then, we’ll pause it and switch to another service. When you activate the trial, set a reminder to cancel it.
26. Game night
It’s a lot of fun and costs almost nothing.
27. Movie night
We pop popcorn, fill our thermoses with Kool-Aid, have pizza, and watch something on TV.
28. Date night at home
Set up two canvases and tabletop easels, put on a Bob Ross video, and have a paint night at home, with supplies from the dollar store.
29. Go to the library
They have free books, DVDs, and family activities. In my area, in summer they serve kids lunch. Take advantage.
30. Set thermostats
In winter, keep your home between 69 and 72 degrees when you’re home and above 62 when you’re away. Higher temperatures dry out the air. Lower temperatures freeze pipes.
31. Use blankets
Instead of heat, use electric or fleece blankets. My favorite is fleece-lined sweatshirts.
32. Lights off
Turn out lights when you’re not in the room. Open curtains for daylight.
33. Launder in cold water
It takes energy to heat water.
34. Make valances and curtains
For about $4 worth of material and hem tape, you can dress windows.
35. Reduce flushes
Go number one while showering to save up to seven gallons by avoiding one flush. Alternatively, don’t flush every time you go number one.
36. Brush teeth with baking soda
Baking soda is a cheap, safe, effective, fluoride-free cleaner and whitener that neutralizes odors.
37. Use socks to save soap
When your soap bar gets too small to use, put the pieces in a sock, put the sock on your hand, wet it, and lather up.
38. Stretch soap
Add water to a half-full bottle of liquid hand soap. Shake it. Stretch that soap.
39. Polish shoes with Vaseline
Don’t try it with suede or soft leather.
40. Customize gifts
Get a Cricut or similar, and customize gifts yourself. You can DIY ten customizations for the price of one.
41. Exercise at home
Use exercise channels on Youtube to stay fit.
42. Travel with a capsule wardrobe
This can save on baggage fees.
43. Use Google Maps to find cheap gas
Type in gas and it will show you the price of nearby gas stations.
44. Wear the same clothing
Focus on a few quality, classic, interchangeable pieces.
45. Avoid dry-clean-only clothing
Check the tag before buying; dry cleaning bills add up.
46. Buy hats, gloves, and scarves from the Dollar Tree
Every year they come out with new sets. The ones I’ve gotten have lasted years.
47. Use half the cup of laundry detergent
The agitation cycle on the washer does most of the work.
48. Use raw foods and oils for hair
You can use bananas for deep conditioning and apple cider vinegar for clarifying hair and scalp. Four ounces of hair oil is $7, but 24 ounces of olive oil is only $8 and can detangle thick, coarse hair.
49. Use dish liquid and water as a clean-up spray
You only need a drop of dish soap and the spray lasts weeks.
49. Accept used items
Focus on spending money on things people aren’t giving for free, like electricity or water.
50. Repair
Whenever you can, fix what’s broken, instead of buying new.
51. Buy secondhand
Buy from thrift stores.
52. Buy used cars
Use YouTube to learn how to maintain it.
53. Charge your phone in the morning
Don’t keep it plugged in unnecessarily all night.
54. Cut your hair
Y’all can learn how on YouTube.
55. Reuse paper towels
After washing and drying your hands, hang your paper towel to dry and reuse it.
56. Separate two-ply paper towels or tissues
When you don’t need the full strength of both layers, separate sheets.
57. Save plastic shopping bags
Use them as small wastebasket bags.
58. Learn a new skill
Make your own jewelry or clothing, or do basic car and home repairs.
59. Repurpose
Before buying, ask, do I have something I can use for what I need? Over years, I’ve built a decent supply of tools and materials for upcycling.
60. More money-saving hacks
There’s no telling what you can come up with when you decide to spend less and create more. What are your favorite money-saving hacks? Let me know in the comments.
Comments
Join the conversation
For jeffery bates: Laundry detergent recipe 2 bars zote soap grate, 1 box arm and hammer super washing powder and 1 box 20 mule team powder. Combine . Use 1-2 table spoon powder per load laundry ! 1 tablespoon light dirt, 2 for dirty stuff (towels/bedding). I like a finer powder texture so I but the combined mix in blender and pulverize 1.5-2 cup at a time for a count of six. The texture turns out like commercial texture powders. I store it in two plastic 1 gallon jars with lids. It last my family of two for over a year. Cost $11-12.00 usa to make a batch . Sometimes I add the 16oz generic jar of oxiclean from dollar tree. You can add vinegar to rinse cycle if you feel it has a residue . My daughter does the vinegar rinse for sensitive skin but I don't. Been using this recipe for years since fresh start went off the market.
Loll, "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down! You can also put a brick in the bottom of your toilet tank. Saves water.
Reusing paper towels may not be a great idea. Just letting them air dry will allow bacteria to grow, like ecoli..(poop germs)
Instead, buy super cheap washcloths, in a pack. For travel use, wet each one, rub on soap from bar, and put in Ziploc bag, to use on car trios,etc. Reuse Ziploc bag
Also, for quick cold packs. Cheap dish sponge, soak with water, put in Ziploc and freeze. Easy to store, always ready.
If cooking or baking, see what substitutions are OK, so you're not buying ingredients you might not use again. Like buttermilk. You can add a few drops of vinegar, or lemon juice to milk, give it a chance to curdle and thickenuse instead. Or, do as I do. Buy generic plain yogurt. Freeze in ziplocs, in amounts normally used in baking, like 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, etc. Freeze, let defrost and use the same measurement
as the recipe calls for buttermilk.