So, you want to know how to live cheap, save money and not hate your life?
Let’s get one thing straight – this not another ‘living frugal is the only way to save money!’ post. I despise the term ‘being frugal’. It makes me cringe just thinking that I have to make my own laundry detergent.
You can buy laundry detergent and still save money. And you can learn how to live cheap WITHOUT feeling cheap (and miserable).
What you’re going to learn in this post:
+ 27 tips on how to live cheap without feeling miserable
+ How to actually start getting ahead with money
+ Free downloadable checklist with all the tips for you to start trying today!
HOW TO LIVE CHEAP AND SAVE MONEY
1 – Keep a budget |
2 – Cancel cable, switch to Hulu |
3 – Use Ibotta to save on groceries |
4 – Use Rakuten to save money shopping online |
5 – Find cheap, easy dinner ideas |
6 – Spend more on what you care about, cut back on what you don’t |
7 – Take care of your car and other big ticket items |
8 – Use sinking funds |
9 – Shop Black Friday |
10 – Vacation Smarter |
11 – Always use the 24-hour rule |
12 – Start a savings challenge to keep motivated |
13 – Consider renting vs. buying a home |
14 – Start working out at home |
15 – DIY when it makes sense |
16 – Shop around for insurance |
17 – Continually look for better internet deals |
18 – Cancel subscriptions you aren’t using (check your bank statements) |
19 – Use Facebook Marketplace to buy used items in your area |
20 – Switch cell phone carriers (Mint Mobile) |
21 – Get your dental cleanings and exams |
22 – Drink water, exercise and live healthy! |
23 – Use the library (more than just books) |
24 – Use Amazon’s wedding and baby registries |
25 – Switch retirement savings to a Roth IRA |
26 – Automate your bills |
27 – Increase income |
1 – Keep a budget
Before you start wondering what kind of tips I’ll be giving you, hear me out. Keeping a monthly budget can show what’s really going on with your money and where it’s going.
There’s more to budgeting than just controlling your money. It’s understanding how it’s being spent. And sometimes your money is being spent on things you DON’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT.
Continually keep your budget and check up on your bank accounts so you know where your money is going. And make sure it’s not going somewhere it shouldn’t (like someone who got your card info and decided to use it at the mall … or a subscription you aren’t using anymore ..)
2 – Cancel cable, switch to Hulu
This is one of my absolute favorite tips on how to live cheap! It’s so easy, and the savings are DRAMATIC.
Maybe you’re still in a cable contract and just counting down the days until you get out. Or, maybe you’re too nervous to take the plunge.
Whatever the case is – get out ASAP!
Families who cut cable and switch to Hulu, Netflix, Sling …. etc… are saving over $997 a year!
Hulu is our personal favorite (even Hulu Live is a cheaper option than cable).
3 – Use Ibotta to save on groceries
What’s every single family in America’s biggest expense? FOOD. It’s no secret that we all like to eat (and eat a lot).
What is a secret is how much people are overpaying on their groceries when they’re not using the Ibotta app!
The Ibotta app is a cash back rebate app that gives you cash back on items YOU’RE ALREADY BUYING. You literally get paid for buying your groceries. And you don’t even have to clip coupons (which is absolutely miserable).
If you haven’t started using the Ibotta app or just want more details about it you can check out all the sweet, sweet cash you’ll be getting back here.
IBOTTA BONUS – Get an extra $20 back through the app when signing up through this link!
4 – Use Rakuten to save money shopping online
Raise your hand if you shop online. Now that everyone’s hand is raised, it’s safe to say that shopping online rules. Not that anyone can go shopping right now anyways because #covid.
If you shop online and don’t use Rakuten, you’re losing money. I didn’t realize how much online shopping I did until I started getting cash back from Rakuten for shopping online.
They give you a percentage (or specific amount) of cash back just for opening it up, searching for the store you’re going to be buying from and making your purchase.
You’re only adding one more step to your online shopping experience, and getting paid to do it!
If you’re wondering if this is legit, it is. And I use it allllll the time.
And now you can use it all the time too and finally get some cash back for your purchases by checking it out here.
Oh and before I forget, you’ll get an additional $10 cash back on your first purchase just by using this link! (you’re welcome)
5 – Find EASY, CHEAP dinner ideas
Guys, I’ll be the first one to tell you that I wholeheartedly despise cooking. I’ll do whatever I can to get out of it. Which equals a lot of eating out, and unfortunately a lot of our paycheck being eaten up right along with the tacos.
If it’s not easy (like one and a half steps) I’m not doing it. And if it’s not cheap, I’m double not doing it.
That’s why I’ve had to start finding the easiest (and cheapest) meals out there.
The only way I stick to it is by CREATING A MEAL PLAN.
We create a meal plan allowing ourselves to eat out 2-3 times a week, depending on what we have going on. Then I will write in the cheap and easy meals that I’m making on the other days.
I only plan out one week ahead and go grocery shopping once a week.
And just as a reminder – our dinners are EASY and they definitely help teach us how to live cheap and stop eating out. Nothing fancy, I don’t have time, patience, energy to do anything more.
You can check out exactly how I make our stupid, simple meal plan here.
6 – Spend more on what you care about, cut back on what you don’t
I was first introduced to this concept by Ramit Sethi, and boy was he RIGHT ON THE MONEY.
When I started realizing that I could be spending significantly less on things I don’t care about in order for me to buy quality, lasting items on things I DO care about completely changed our game.
7 – Take care of your car and other big ticket items
How often are you getting your oil changed?
Did I just remind you that you need to get your oil changed?
Take care of your stuff and it will take care of you. Don’t waste money by beating things down until it’s broken.
Take care of your vehicles, house (yes, your house needs tune ups too) and other costly items so you’re not wasting money unnecessarily having to fix it.
8 – Use sinking funds
Sinking funds have been our floaties in these weird waters during Covid. With so much uncertainty it’s been so calming to have extra money saved up for things that we’d still like to buy or need.
A sinking fund is a small amount of money ($5-$100 dollars) you set aside from your budget each month for specific things.
We have a sinking fund for house items we’d like, vacations, fancy dinners and even our own personal sinking fund in case there’s something we specifically want.
Having those has helped our budget so we can still feel like normal people and enjoy things that we love! (Mostly food)
Sinking funds don’t have to be complicated and will make you and your family happier not stressing about going over budget. Find all the details on sinking funds and how to use them here.
9 – Shop Black Friday
One of my absolutely favorite shopping days (even though I skip the stores and only shop online!)
Black Friday is my go to for items that I want, but don’t need right away. Vacuum starting to go out but it can last a few more months? Wait until Black Friday.
Throughout the year I’ll add to my Black Friday list and add things that I’m waiting to purchase on sale. Then I create a sinking fund and start saving up in January.
The key to Black Friday is only purchasing what’s actually on your list. If you’re spending on random stuff you don’t need you’re just wasting money. Use Black Friday and sales wisely.
10 – Vacation Smarter
My husband and I decided to get married the week before Christmas. When we went on our honeymoon the place we stayed at had their ‘holiday pricing’ meaning it was super expensive.
We were too dumb to realize that we didn’t HAVE to go anywhere and we could have saved that money and went somewhere cheaper where we could have done more excursions.
Now that we’ve learned our lesson we never celebrate our anniversary in December because prices are raised. We’ll go on the off-season.
Start taking vacations and trips when they’re the cheapest (which typically means less people too!)
11 – Always use the 24-hour rule
I’m totally guilty of being an impulse buyer. And I typically regret it my purchases after.
That’s why I’ve established the 24-hour rule. Anything over $100 (that’s not a necessity) we wait 24-hours to buy.
If we still want it after the 24-hours are up then we’ll purchase the item. If not, we’ll forget about it move on and save our money. This has saved me soooo much in the long run from both spending money I didn’t need to and feeling the buyer’s guilt after!
12 – Start a savings challenge to keep motivated
Saving money without a goal in mind can feel endless. Always have a savings goal and always set a time frame for when you want to accomplish that goal (while being realistic).
This is why I love savings challenges! There’s countless that you can try. Just search savings challenges on Pinterest and you’ll find thousands of options ranging from $5 dollar savings challenges to $1,000 dollars.
If you haven’t started an emergency fund yet, that needs to be your first savings goal. I’ve shared a bunch of savings challenges you can do to save up for your emergency fund that you can find here.
13 – Consider renting vs. buying a home
It’s a common myth that renting is a waste of money. In a lot of cases, buying a home is actually a waste of money.
Don’t get me wrong, after renting for 5 years we were super excited to buy our first home. The difference was we were actually prepared and knew that the home we bought we’d be living in for more than 5-7 years (anything less than that is not worth it.)
If you’re on the fence of renting or buying, weigh your options and see what kind of benefits renting has. We’ve had multiple people tell us over the years how much money we were wasting on rent. However, we could have easily wasted more money on a house we weren’t ready for or didn’t even like if we would have listened to them.
14 – Start working out at home
How many of you have a gym membership that you’re not using on a regular basis (or at all)?
I personally love working out, but hate going to the gym. That’s why I started looking for options at home. I got myself some cheap weights on Amazon, a yoga mat to make the ground softer and search workout videos and programs on Youtube.
Set up a dedicated area in your house to be the workout area and find some cheap weights on Amazon and cancel that gym membership!
15 – DIY when it makes sense
Wanna learn how to live cheap AND have really cool stuff?? Learn how to DIY!
My husband has a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. I’m constantly bringing up new project ideas to him and even though he rolls his eyes every time I bring a new project up, he’s always super happy when we can cut the cost down on something we would have spent big bucks on!
For instance, one of the recent things we DIY’d were barn doors for our bathroom. When building our new house they wanted to charge us $500 bucks just to put a door on our master bath.
Instead, we made barn doors for under $150 that turned out amazing!
Whenever you’re doing a DIY project you want to be sure and price it out so that you’re not spending more trying to DIY instead of buying. (We made this mistake on our entryway table … turned out great, but cost a lot more than if we would have bought one!)
16 – Shop around for insurance
Did you know that once you get insurance you’re NOT stuck with them for life?
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people making (and easiest ways to save money), not shopping around for insurance.
When was the last time you priced out other insurance companies for your home or auto insurance? Probably the very first time you got insurance on it!
Insurance is a business and they’re constantly competing with one another, check out what other options you have, I guarantee you’ll be surprised at how much you’re overpaying on insurance.
A common misconception is that you can only get medical insurance through your employer or the government. This is totally false! We’ve been using Christian Healthcare Ministries for our medical insurance and it has been the best thing for our family AND saved us a ton of money!
17 – Shop around for utilities/internet
Just like with insurance, utilities and your internet are a business. While it’s much harder to shop around for utilities (in our area we only have one gas and electric company) the number one expense behind that is your internet costs.
Are you overpaying on internet? Checking out other internet options in your area could save you a couple hundred a year!
18 – Cancel subscriptions you aren’t using
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve forgotten to cancel more than one subscription I started. How many times do we sign up for a ‘free month subscription’ that turns in to a paid subscription that you totally forgot about!
Guilty. And it’s definitely happened more than once.
This is why it’s so important to go through your bank statements and track expenses in your budget so you know if you’re being charged for a subscription that you’re not even using.
I did a poll on my email list and it was shocking how many of us do this exact same thing! There’s so much money you could be wasting by being oblivious to what’s being charged to your card every month.
To get a free expense tracker you can snag one in the Freebies Page and find out what subscriptions you may have forgotten to cancel!
19 – Use Facebook Marketplace to buy used items in your area
The ultimate way on how to live cheap when newly married- get used your furniture so you can save up for the nice stuff!
I head here all the time to buy items that are discounted. Kitchen chairs, yard and gardening items, baby stuff (because we all know how expensive a baby is).
I’m very picky about my items and always make sure that they are clean and in decent shape. And all of the items we have gotten have lasted us and we’ve never regretted it!
You can also sell your own items on Facebook Marketplace (my husband’s favorite part). I’ve sold things like barely used shoes, backpacks … etc. So not only can you save money by buying discounted items on there you can even make a little cash to go along with it!
20 – Switch cell phone carriers
It’s no secret that everyone has a phone. It’s also not a secret how expensive your phone bill can be!
Switching phone carriers is a great way to save money. One option that I’ve seen a lot of people have success with is Mint Mobile. They start as low as $15/mo. Guys, that’s only $180 a year!
21 – Get your dental cleanings and exams every 6 months
Hear me out, getting a cleaning and exam done isn’t my favorite thing to do either (I don’t think anybody likes it.) However, working in the dental field now for the last few years I’ve realized just how important it really is.
We have countless patients who will come in only when there’s an emergency and needing $1,000’s of dollars worth of work done. When in reality, if they would have regularly come to their exams and cleanings we could have fixed what started out as a small problem for only $100 bucks.
There’s a common misconception that going to the dentist means you’ll spend more money getting fillings done. But in the long run, you’re saving money by avoiding those $1,000 dollar emergencies.
A lot of offices are also now offering great membership plans for patients who don’t have dental insurance. Which can be extremely comparable to regular dental insurance plans.
22 – Exercise daily
This is one of those tips that you did not expect to see when learning how to live cheap and save money … but guys, the science behind it WORKS!
Did you know that on days you exercise you’re:
– Less likely to use your credit card
– Less likely to procrastinate at your job = pay raises and more income
– Will start doing the dishes 20 minutes earlier in the day on average (which means more time to work on your side hustle)
One simple habit can change not only your body but your money. All it takes is a 30 minute walk a day to transform your finances and start saving money.
Majority of the time, saving money just means changing your habits. By simply changing certain habits you can save more money.
23 – Use the library
One of the most underrated buildings in every city is the library. I’m super guilty of buying books, reading it once and then never touching it again.
How often do you re-read the same book?
How often do you re-watch the same movie?
I didn’t even realize that libraries had movies, I just stumbled upon them and it became my husband’s and mine favorite date night activity. Instead of spending a bunch of money going to the theaters we wait until the movie comes out on DVD and have a fun movie night at home.
24 – Use Amazon’s wedding and baby registries
Amazon’s registries are gold. (Because who doesn’t love Amazon??)
Little did I realize how expensive a baby actually was until I get pregnant with our first kid. I watched all these expenses quickly add up and wondered how people even afford to have kids?!
We started an Amazon baby registry and quickly realized how amazing it was. Not only do they send you a cute baby sample box, but you get 15% off the items on your registry and 20% off diapers for the first year. If this isn’t a savings grace for new parents I don’t know what is!
You can even see how much you’re actually going to save on each product with the 15% off and the savings is seriously so worth taking the time to create the registry.
With their wedding registry you can get up to 20% off on items! I’m kicking myself now for not using it when we get married (maybe we could do a vow renewal and create a wedding registry for it!)
25 – Switch retirement savings to a Roth IRA
If you’re not contributing to a Roth IRA for retirement you’re losing money.
A Roth IRA is a high-interest retirement savings account that you can contribute to yearly. And then you watch it GROW.
Roth IRA’s are great options for those who don’t have any retirement, or already have a retirement started! You can never start saving too much money for retirement.
Unfortunately a lot of people don’t realize the benefits of starting retirement early. Using a Roth IRA can help you save up money for it even faster and be prepared so you can actually enjoy your retirement ages instead of dread them.
You can check out this post to find out exactly how a Roth IRA works and how you can retire with over a million in the bank.
26 – Automate your bills
No one wants to be sitting in a home with the lights off because you forgot to pay your electric bill. What’s crazy is how often this happens.
What’s even crazier is when you’re overcharged for forgetting to pay your bills (like your credit card). You’re wasting money with overcharge fees just because you forgot.
This is where automation comes in. Much like automating your savings account, you can automate your bills. This will help you so that you don’t have to pay any ridiculous fees (or suddenly have your lights turned off).
27 – Increase income
The last money saving tip is two-fold; a great way to save more money is to MAKE more money!
This isn’t just about getting a second job, this is finding passive income to make extra income.
You can make money from a side hustle, a blog or even as a stay at home mom.
Another overlooked way to increase your income is asking for a raise. When was the last time you asked for a raise (if ever)? Chances are, if you ask they’ll give it to you.
CONCLUSION
Those were my top 27 tips on how to live cheap and start saving money without hating your life. And no, making your own laundry detergent wasn’t even option.
These are all practical tips that you can start doing today. Some of these can save you thousands a year. It’s all about how much effort you’d like to put in to changing some habits and saving that money!
I want to hear from YOU! What are some of your favorite tips from this list about how to live cheap and save money that you’re excited to try?
For more tips on how to live cheap and save money you can follow me below on Pinterest!
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