Top 10 Influential Frugal Living Tips with a Big Impact

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There are many ways to save money. 

Today, we are going to focus on frugal living tips with a big impact.

Those money saving tips that will save you the most money in the shortest amount of time.

These are the big impact ones of the all of the frugal living tips out there.

If you are a frugal living beginner or desire to save money, this is what you need to start with.

For many households, you are busy and want to find the life hacks that will make the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time. Saving money is important to you. You have bigger and better aspirations in life.

For us personally, we choose to implement these frugal living tips with a big impact because we want to increase our savings percentage each and every year. We are on the path to financial independence – all thanks to the Money Bliss Steps to Financial Freedom.

You should check them out. You might be surprised how your perspective will change.

For now, we are going to stick with the frugal living tips that will save you the most money with the least amount of work. Does that sound like a good deal? You want real life hacks – not just clickbait titles. Right?

I thought so… Let’s dig in to the frugal living tips with a BIG impact!

How to Stay Frugal

The better question is why do you want to stay frugal? What are your personal reasons for being frugal?

In this particular case, we are talking about saving money.

In all honesty, staying frugal means that you are constantly wanting to save more money. You have bigger plans in your life and don’t want to be a slave to your money. You desire to make a plan for your money and that is of utmost importance for your household.

Learning how to stay frugal will turn into a frugal lifestyle. Then, for many, it will morph into a thrifty lifestyle.

It is easy to learn how to stay frugal when you have dreams and plans in your life.

In order to fund those dreams, you need to stop living paycheck to paycheck and begin to give purpose to how you spend and save your money.

If you don’t believe me, then check out this case on why being frugal lead to a millionaire’s success story.

Top 10 Frugal Living Tips with a Big Impact

Like it was stated before, there are hundreds of frugal living tips that you can implement right now to start saving money.

However, for too many people, the list is too long and they want to see immediate progress right now.

These are the TOP 10 frugal living tips that will change how you think about money, spend money, and ultimately save money.

If you want to enjoy life and money (and maybe one day reach financial freedom), this is where you want to start. With this list. Right now. Make these easy lifestyle changes and begin a new relationship with money.

1. Wait 24 Hours to Buy

This is the simplest tip to help improve your money management.

Wait at least 24 hours before you buy something.

During that time, you will figure out whether or not you actually wanted or needed the item. If you still want it, then you can purchase it. However, many times you realize that you didn’t need it or it wasn’t exactly what you wanted. So, you end up saving some money.

Obviously, the wait 24 hour rules applies to anything outside the realms of housing, food, gas, and utilities.

One of the smallest wins is to save $50 a week using this rule because over the course of a year, you will save $2600! 

Say what!?!? 

That is a big chunk of cash that you probably even didn’t realize you were spending. Now, you are one step closer to reaching financial independence.

2. Make a Plan for Your Money

How do you want to spend your money? Have you ever considered where you want to spend your money before you spent it? Don’t worry if you said no. Most people don’t make a plan for their money.

What does it look like to make a plan for your money?

Before you are paid, you decide how and where you plan to save and spend your money. Did you catch the first part? It is the biggest hint I have for you – decide where you plan to save money first. Then second, how you plan to spend the rest.

Many people call this a budget.

The key is to know where your priorities lie before putting in all of your expenses. You must make a plan to reach your money goals first. Then, figure out how to live on the rest. 

That is called making a plan for your money.

3. Say No to Debt

There is nothing frugal about taking out debt.

Around here, we call debt – the cash flow killer.

It is extremely hard to move forward when debt (specifically the debt payment) is holding you back. It is like taking two steps forward only to be taken back a step now and three steps back in the future.

How to get around not going into debt?

You save up for big purchases, and then, you can pay in cash. 

Side note… For this discussion, we are not talking about mortgage debt. In many cases, mortgage debt can be considered a “better” debt because purchasing a home may have a lower mortgage payment than current rents in the area.

4. Understand Where You want to Spend Money

Spending money isn’t a bad thing… IF you are spending money in areas that are important to you.

However, too many times we are blindly spending money and not realizing where our money went at the end of the month.

Is that what you set off to do?

Probably not, but for now, you feel like you are a slave to your bills and not being able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. The time is now to figure out where your priorities lie and the area you want to spend money.

To make this process simpler, it is easier to decide where you don’t want to spend money. For us, a no spend challenge helped us visually see where we wanted to spend money and where we actually spend money. The experience was eye-opening and very valuable. 

Now, we know where we want to spend money and that has made a big impact for our finances. What could it do for you?

Just to Note… There are times where you want to spend money isn’t possible because you are barely managing to pay your basic bills. This frugal living tips with a big impact is to help you understand where your goals to spend money lie and what is unnecessary spending.

5. Know Your Reason to Live Frugally

Let’s be honest… living frugally doesn’t come with a lot of materialistic perks. You are sacrificing spending money in order to save money. It is hard to watch people mismanage their money only to get bailed out again and again.

To stick with frugal living and a desire to implement saving money hacks, then you must know your reason to live frugally.

Your answer will vary from everyone else’s answer. That is okay because we all have different money goals.

Have you thought about your reason to live frugally?

Our reason to live frugally is to travel. We don’t want to wait until we retire and the kids are grown to travel. We want to travel now and explore as much as possible while we can. Over time, that has morphed into our desire to reach financial freedom and not be a slave to our jobs. (Don’t worry… I love what I do here and don’t plan to change anything.)

What is your reason to live frugally?

6. Keep your Grocery Budget Trim

This is one of the biggest frugal living areas that will have the most immense impact – how you eat food.

Food is one of the basic expenses that you need to survive. However, how you choose to fuel your body will make a difference in your budget as well as how you choose to shop.

By becoming cognizant on grocery spending, you will learn to save to money on groceries, which will make a huge impact over time.

Let’s take this example… You are able to save $200 a month off your grocery spending. That equates to $2,400 in one year. Almost $5000 in two years. At the end of 10 years, you saved $24,000!! 

That is no small chunk of change. While spending an extra $200 a month doesn’t seem like much, over time it adds up to a greater amount. That is when you realize by implementing grocery money saving tips will have a bigger impact than you realized.

Overcoming your grocery budget is a learned trait; here are the best ways to save money on groceries today.

7. DIY First

I’ll be the first to admit that making something yourself can be overwhelming when you don’t have a clue where to start. 

Thankfully, there are plenty of tutorials to get your started with a simple Google search.

Frugal living tips with big impact is knowing how to do it yourself first.

Here is one that has saved us over $10,000 in the past 10 years… I learned how to cut everyone’s hair in the house. This is the hair cutting set that I like this best. The reasoning we started cutting our own hair because we were looking for ways to get out of debt faster. 

The worst case scenario with DIY… if it doesn’t work out how you expected than you can always call for professional help. Best case is you just saved yourself a lot of money.

Especially if you own a home, you must learn to DIY first. Many of the skills that you would hire a handyman to do used to be taught by the generation before. Too bad that this hasn’t still the case. However, thanks to YouTube, you have plenty of opportunities to learn how to do it yourself.

Another option is to trade services with a friend. 

8. Find a Cheaper Alternative

One of the traits of a frugal person is searching for cheaper alternatives. This is a simple money saving hack. 

This could be as simple as searching for a better price online and price matching. Or even waiting for a sale or clearance.

Finding cheaper alternatives are a great way to save money. Some options include:

• Buying in bulk
• Buying generic
• Buy less items
• Finding items that have dual purposes over single use. (like this food processor) 

You just have to open up your eyes to finding cheaper versions or figuring out how to buy what you need at a lower price.

Another alternative is to buy used. This especially holds true for new cars since they lose most of their value within the first 5 years.

Just to Note: A cheaper alternative doesn’t always mean the quality is the same. A thrifty person would want the item that will last longer than the knockoffs. One of the perfect examples is with phone charging cords until I found this charging cable. It is a cheaper alternative that still works as well as the original. 

9. Choose FREE First

Oh my! This hack is one of the best frugal living tips with a big impact. 

Why choose FREE first?

Then, you don’t have to spend your hard earned income for something that is used for a short period of time.

This could be for everything you spend money on.

Find free things to do with no money.

Source items you need in Buy Nothing Facebook groups or Nextdoor.

Choose the library over buying the actual books.

Ultimately, you’re looking on how to get things and do things for free first. This doesn’t make you cheap at all. It makes you frugal. Plus it gives you the chance to spend that money on something else than aligns with your reason to be frugal.

10. Think Long Term

Too many times, we are focused on the today and not the tomorrow. While that mindset for life is great, it isn’t a great mindset to have with your money.

You need to think long term.

Think long term in what you want your money to do for you.

Ask yourself questions like these:

• What are your long term goals?
• If money wasn’t an object, how would you spend your days? Now, how can you start making progress to your desire?
• What do you want to do, but feel like you can’t? Or you’re not good enough?

Too many times, we are focused on living paycheck to paycheck that we don’t stop to make plans on what we want the next year to be like? Or the next 3 years? 5 years? Even 20 years away.

If you are ready to make a big impact in your life today, start by dreaming and thinking long term on all of your spending and saving.

Frugal Family Tips

Really quick, we are going to spend a little time discussing frugal family tips for your household.

Why?

Well kids are expensive and it can be hard not to want the best for your family. And it can be easy to spend money to make that happen.

But first, why should you implement frugal family tips for your household?

Hint: so you can raise financially savvy children who make smart and wise decisions with money as adults. More is caught than today.

Kids learn by example.

So, why not be the best example for your kids with money?

The above list of the top frugal living tips with a big impact are solid money management tips that will build a solid foundation of success.

There isn’t a specific list of frugal family tips. It is taking the above life hacks and talk with your family about why you are making these money decisions. Have conversations about spending money and saving money.

In the long term, by teaching frugal family tips, it will open the door for many opportunities. 

That right there, my dear friend, is the gift that will keep on giving.

Tips for Living with Very Little Money

Typically, there are two types of people who are living with very little money and they are on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

First of all, don’t compare yourself to others. That slippery slope of comparison is a trap; one in which will cause you great harm, stress, and financial strain.

You are looking for tips for living with very little money.

If you are struggling living paycheck to paycheck, then you are in a tough spot right now. Remember, I said right now. You can always change your financial situation. It starts with your money mindset first.

The other person who is that extremely frugal person who is consciously choosing to live with very little money. That means, you are prioritizing the saving percentage you save each month.

In addition to all of the tips above, you must become EXTREMELY cognizant of your plans to spending money.

You know how and where you plan to spend every single penny that you earn before the money is in your hand.

Consistently, you are finding ways to spend less money and save more money.

A no spend challenge becomes a normal way of living for you. The key is you can’t hold a grudge on your choice of extreme frugality. 

Just remember, you can lead a fabulous life with very little money. Money won’t buy your happiness. Finding contentment with your life is the target.

Which Frugal Living Tips with a Big Impact will You Try First?

Okay, so in all honesty, most of these frugal living tips are great money management tips that will completely turn your life into a completely different direction.

You are here because you want saving money life hacks. 

This list of the top 10 frugal living tips with a big impact will flip your life upside down for the better. 

You need to make a big impact on your finances. Now, you need to embrace these saving money tips and have them become natural habits. 

Regardless of income, you are capable of saving your first $10,000, then saving a $100,000 and ultimately being a millionaire. All it takes is thinking long term and decides what is most important for your family and your household.

You hold the keys to a brighter financial future. Grab them and begin to open up doors to more opportunities. 

In case you want more frugality in your household, in this post, we outline over 175 + of the best frugal living tips, which are great once you master the money saving tips that will have a longer lasting impact.

For now, what frugal living tips with a big impact will you try first. Comment below and let us know!

Know someone else that needs this, too? Then, please share!!