25 EXTREME Frugal Living Tips That ACTUALLY Work! | saving money + minimalism

today I'm sharing a list of 25 extreme Frugal Living tips that will actually work to save you money and I've divided this list up into five different sections so that if you want to skip around to the various sections you can and we're going to jump right into this list of shopping tips with tip number one which is to never be afraid of questioning your loyalty to Brands a lot of us find comfort and familiarity so we keep going back to the same Brands over and over but if you find that a brand didn't meet your expectations or maybe the quality went down or they hiked their prices up too high you don't need to feel guilty about kissing that brand goodbye and taking your business elsewhere please repeat after me I pledge allegiance to my wallet and the financial Independence for which it stands one budget under control unexpendable with frugality and smart deals for all basically I want to encourage you not to let brand loyalty blind you to your option of seeking better deals and saving things Frugal tip number two is to do your homework and one of the best ways to do this is through comparison shopping comparison shopping is a powerful way to save money because when you put a little extra thought and effort into researching products before you buy instead of buying the first thing that pops up in your line of sight you're not only less likely to experience buyer's remorse but you're more likely to be able to find great deals or coupons that help you save even more money case in point I was looking to buy a new pair of comfy Flats to replace a seven-year-old pair of shoes that I had to declutter because they got completely worn out so I went hunting around and I found a lot of comfortable flats and I looked into things like sizing and fit and what verified buyers were saying about those items as well as considered how they would fit with the clothes that I already had in my wardrobe and then once I narrowed my choices down to the pair of shoes that I wanted to buy I cross checked that pair of shoes across various websites and I found that I could get the exact saying pear for almost thirty dollars Less on zolando versus Amazon and all it took was a few extra seconds of me typing into my laptop to be able to save 30 dollars just like that and this even works if you're already in the store which brings me to my next point which is to use price matching to save money a lot of stores like Home Depot or Best Buy or Michael's craft store and tons of other stores offer something called price matching where they try to meet or beat competitive prices in order to keep your business so if you can bring in flyers or pull up the product that you're looking at in that store on a competitor's website and that price is better A lot of times these stores will either try to give you the same deal or an even better deal number four score deals by shopping second hand second hand shopping is a great way to save money and you can either do this in person at places like thrift stores or flea markets or you can use secondhand shopping apps like Poshmark or Ebay second hand shopping has saved me hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the years and I got this shirt over five years ago for one dollar at Goodwill and I got this pair of pants that was a hundred and forty dollars originally for over 75 off at a local flea market so there are definitely great deals to be found if you know what you're looking for but what if you didn't have to spend money at all what if there was a way for you to get stuff completely for free as it turns out there are plenty of ways to shop for free one of the most popular methods is to join buy nothing or swap groups in your local area which are places that people who either want to save money or be more sustainable go in order to either give away stuff that they no longer want anymore or find things that they need themselves completely for free My favorite way to find groups like this is to run a search for buy nothing groups on Facebook either by using your city or zip code but you could also start your own group like if you know other people who also want to save money or be more sustainable you could start a group for say homeschool moms who exchange homeschooling equipment back and forth together or swap kids clothing once they're outgrown amongst people in the group and you can also research your local areas trash pickup days and walk or cruise around to see what people are leaving outside and it's a great way to scoop up great stuff for free just make sure to check your local laws and regulations and always stay safe when you're doing this the trick here is to only bring home things that you actually need otherwise you risk turning your home into a hoarders Paradise which is definitely a trap that I have fallen into in the past moving on to the beauty tips tip number six is to learn how to cut hair at home and this is a Frugal Living hack that we've used for many many years to save money on our kids haircuts and with a small upfront 30 Euro investment I was able to get the same haircut cutting kit that I also owned back in the USA and that small investment allows us to save over 600 euros every single year on kids haircuts fair warning though cutting hair at home can get rather messy so we usually do it in the bathroom so that it's easier to sweep up the trimmings afterwards tip number seven is to add eye drops to mascara did you know that you can extend the lifespan of your mascara by adding a drop or to a contact solution into the mascara to rehydrate it this is a Frugal Living hack that I picked up from a comment from one of my subscribers here on my YouTube channel and I tried it myself and it totally works I always love to read about the creative ways that you save money so as we go through this video feel free to drop me your best extreme Frugal Living tips in the comment section down below so we can all help and Inspire each other to explore new and exciting ways to save money tip number eight is to just Add Water along with the previous tip you can also add water to extend the lifespan of your other kinds of detergents or shampoos or conditioners like when my body soap is getting really low and it starts making that farting noise that's when I know it's time to add a little bit of water shake it up a bit and then I can get maybe two or three more uses out of that just by adding a little bit of water extreme Frugal tip number nine is to learn how to DIY at home another fun way to save is to learn how to DIY your own beauty products at home and there are so many recipes available for free online that can teach you how to whip up a luxurious face mask with ingredients like honey yogurt or avocado or make an exfoliating scrub for your skin using sugar and olive oil or maybe something like leftover coffee grounds tip number 10 is to enter low maintenance mode finally one of the best ways to save money on beauty related purchases is to Simply do less the more high maintenance your nail hair and skin care routine is the more products you're likely to buy as a minimalist I've gotten rid of over 90 percent of my beauty related products including things like hair curlers mousses and makeup and I keep my face washing and my makeup routine very very simple and I've stopped doing anything to my nails other than trimming them and another benefit of going low maintenance on your beauty routine is that you'll save more time as well as saving more money moving on to Frugal tips for your home tip number 11 is to turn down the heat and AC because the more AC and heat you use the more energy you're going to use and the more energy you use the more you're going to have to pay for that energy so in the summer we don't even have air conditioning what we have is a fan and we have a fan in the front and we also have a fan in the back hallway and that's what we use to keep our house cool in the summer as well as doing things like opening the doors and windows early in the morning to let the cool air flow in and then closing the windows and the blinds to reduce the sunlight that's coming in and heating up our home as we go through the hotter parts of the day and in the winter what we do is we just simply put on more layers of clothing and I have these fabulous fuzzy pants that I used to wear have completely saved my life in the winter when I'm freezing my butt off I can put on those fuzzy pants and I instantly feel so much warmer and more cozy and we also have these little thermostat readers in the front and in the back of our home so that we can make sure that it's not getting too cold old or too hot either way but basically the less energy that you have to use towards heat and air conditioning the more money you'll save over time tip number 12 is to line dry your clothing hanging your clothes up to dry not only helps you save money on electricity but it also extends the lifespan of your clothes because there's less wear and tear on them and when you line drive versus run them through a dryer that means that you'll also save money because you don't have to replace your clothes as often since they're not wearing out as fast tip number 13 is to negotiate all of your bills most companies would rather keep you as a customer versus losing you to one of their competitors so by contacting service providers like cable or internet companies or cell phone service providers and expressing a willingness to switch providers customers can often secure better rates and discounts I know that this can feel a little bit uncomfortable especially if you've never had to negotiate before but effective negotiation skills can Empower you to take control of your finances and keep more money in your your pocket if all it takes to save a couple hundred dollars a year is taking 15 to 30 minutes out of your day to speak with someone on the phone I think that most of us would be willing to get on the phone and shoot our shot and remember you miss a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take so don't be afraid to get on the phone with any of your service providers and let them know that you're willing to take your business elsewhere if they're not giving you the best deal number 14 repurpose or upcycle repurposing or upcycling items in your home is a great and very cost effective way to save money and you can get as creative as you want with this like you can take old thrifted wooden bowls and turn them into a coin and key catch-all or you could transform old jelly jars into storage containers for your kitchen or use old socks to dust your home so before you go out and buy something new take a look around your home and ask yourself if there's something that you could repurpose or upcycle instead number 15 we're reduce car expenses according to one study the average American household spends a total of five thousand one hundred and eleven dollars a month and transportation is the second biggest expense after housing at an average of eight hundred and nineteen dollars a month which not only includes things like car payments but also things like regular maintenance auto insurance and being able to gas up your car so it makes sense that if you can reduce your car related expenses you will also cut down on a lot of reoccurring monthly expenses related to car ownership we've done this by getting rid of our car altogether because we live in a big city with an excellent public transportation system and a lot of things that we need are within walking distance so we went car free a year and a half ago and that saved us a lot of money since then but even if you don't live in a place where you can go completely car free you could experiment with downsizing your car usage and doing things like walking war or riding bicycles or carpooling with your workers to work and another good way to save money on gasoline is to batch your errands together so what that means is if you plan your outings strategically and group together multiple tasks in one trip you can reduce the overall number of individual trips back and forth which minimizes driving time is more fuel efficient and also cuts down on overall expenses related to driving that brings us to the extreme Frugal tips to save money on food and number 16 is to create a meal plan there are so many benefits to meal planning and most of them will help you save money meal plans can help you plan your shopping trips around what's on sale and stay on budget when you actually go to the grocery store and you'll be more likely to stick to the list and less likely to buy stuff on a whim because you don't know what you're planning to make that week and meal planning can also help you cut back on food waste which happens to be the next tip on this list according to one organization the average American family of four throws out around 1 600 dollars a year in produce alone I've talked about this Frugal Living hack in several of my videos and one of my favorite ways to cut back on food waste is to make soups burritos or stir fries basically out of any kind of leftover ingredient you can imagine also I know that a lot of you have been asking me for a long time to share my rice pancake recipe that is a good way to use up leftover rice and I'm happy to let you know that I finally got that together for you and up on my food blog and I hope you'll forgive me but I was only able to snap a few quick pictures on my phone instead of doing a full-blown photo shoot but I promise they taste even better than they look and I know that they're one of my kids lunchtime favorites so I will make sure to link that recipe down in the description box below for you to check out and I'll also put the pin for Pinterest so you can pin it directly to your Pinterest board which is my personal favorite way to keep track of my recipes because it's so easy and addictive I know that you're going to want to keep eating it again and again tip number 18 is to reduce me consumption because plant-based meals tend to be less expensive as compared to meat-based dishes so incorporating meatless meals into your diet can help you cut down on grocery expenses and potentially save a significant amount of money over time we try to shoot for one to two days a week where we go completely meat free for those days and we've built up this library of meat-free recipes that still leave us feeling full and satisfied and help us cut back on meat for those days number 19 is to know the cheapest Foods so there are certain ingredients and Pantry Staples that tend to be less expensive and if you use those to build up the bulk of your diet then the more money you'll be able to save over time so it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with what's on sale what's on season as well as routinely buy things like rice oatmeal bananas dried pasta and all of those other cheap Pantry Staples number 20 is to dump your recipe and bonus points if you double it using vegetables instead of meat like I did with these giant meatballs so instead of doubling the meat in this recipe what I did is I ground up in my food processor some carrots some broccoli and a lot of parsley and then I used that as a second component of me instead of doubling the meat and when you double your recipe what you're doing is you're also saving yourself time because you already have some meals at your disposal that you can put together quickly and still be able to eat healthy and using the vegetables helps you save even more money so we were able to enjoy leftovers for the next couple days just with this one simple Frugal hack that brings us to the extreme Frugal Living mindset tips and tip number 21 is to build a priority pyramid a priority pyramid is a lot like a food pyramid and if you think of a food pyramid what you have at the bottom is what's supposed to be the bulk of your diet which which is the foods that are the healthiest and the best for you and then up at the tippy top there are the things that are meant to be eaten sparingly or completely eliminated all together so if you take the exact same principle you can build up a priority pyramid that will help you decide how to put your money towards the things that matter to you most which is really Financial minimalism 101 so that means spending well on the things that you enjoy and cutting back or eliminating expenses on the things that don't matter as much to you and a lot of people who think they have money problems actually have priority problems so being able to set your priorities and putting your money where your mind is is going to help you get better at saying no to those things that don't matter to you so that you can say more yeses to the things that do matter number 22 is to set goals I'm big on goal setting because it gives us a clear sense of purpose and direction as well as Keeps Us motivated to keep moving forward even when the going gets tough and knowing what your goals are also helps you track the progress that you're making towards those goals and I'm a big believer in the saying what gets measured gets managed number 23 is to have a can-do attitude almost anything that needs to be done in your home is figure outable and can save you money if you keep this DIY mindset towards it like I had no idea how to decorate a house when we first moved here and I think I did a pretty good job putting things together in a way that looks cohesive and I had no idea how to oil a raw wood table but I figured it out and I was able to do it with just a little bit of Googling in YouTube so having a can-do attitude can save you all sorts of money in your home whether it's saving on maintenance fees because you learn how to fix things yourself or assembly fees because you don't need to pay someone from Ikea to put your new furniture together or figuring out things is like how to budget or create a meal plan there's not much that can't be learned in this world with a little bit of Googling or YouTube searching number 24 is to purge your budget so this is where I keep the budget in our house it's right behind my desk so that when we purchase things all the receipts come here and I go through them and I enter them into the budget and then at the end of the month I check and see what's going well what isn't and sometimes just like your home needs regular decluttering in order to keep it tidy your budget also needs regular decluttering so that you can cut out the expenses that aren't contributing a lot of value to your life anymore or that you find that you don't enjoy or whatever the case may be so I would suggest either on a monthly basis or every season kind of going through your budget and seeing if there's any expenses that you might want to purge from your budget and if it's something like a reoccurring expense like you're not going to the gym anymore maybe you can save a hundred dollars every month by eliminating that expense from your budget and that one hundred dollars a month that you cut is going to save you a total of one thousand two hundred dollars after a full year so it's totally worth it to do these regular budget purchase as I call them and finally tip number 25 is to go on a spending freeze a spending freeze is a great way to kind of reset your finances or do a financial detox particularly if you're trying to save up a lot of money towards a certain goal like for example when I graduated with my Master's Degree I had twenty five thousand dollars of student loan debt that I had to pay off so I immediately put myself on a spending freeze and I was able to save up and pay off those student loans very very fast because I eliminated almost all of my non-essential spending even though my family is much more financially stable now than I was back then when I graduated and I had all that debt we still love to do at least one spending freeze every year just to kind of reset our finances and challenge ourselves and teach our kids about money so I have a video with a lot of great tips on spending freezes if that sounds like something you're interested in make sure to go check out this video or I'll see you next week until then take care bye bye

Channel: A to Zen Life

Views: 157,158

Keywords: extreme frugal living tips, frugal living, frugal tips, frugal living tips, frugal living ideas, money saving tips, save money, extreme frugality, frugal hacks, frugal habits, frugal living tips and ideas, frugal living hacks, saving money tips, frugal, budget, money saving hacks, grocery store hacks, budget tips, how to budget, ways to save money, minimalist, minimalism, financial minimalism, a to zen life, how to save money, how to save money fast

Id: qxDD--8u7ZQ

Length: 20min 10sec (1210 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 04 2023