8 Fantastic Frugal Habits To Live Your Life By

Saving money is easy to do when you’re in the habit of doing so, and harder to do when you don’t.

No-one gets to save a load of money without making certain decisions about how they are going to live their lives.

You need to be in the habit of saving money.

Frugal habits that you embrace will help you to achieve many things in life including saving money.

Look around you and at what rich people do; these millionaires won’t be the ones in the big flashy cars eating out at restaurants 3 times a week.

Nope, those people are the wannabe millionaires who haven’t sussed that in order to have money in the bank you do actually need to put it in there and keep it there.

Super rich people may spend a lot of money but you can bet they don’t spend all their money living paycheck to paycheck.

Regardless of your income, in order to build your savings you need to live below your means.

Period.

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Frugal Lifestyle

The frugal lifestyle helps you to achieve just that.

In addition it brings you enjoyment, peace of mind and the joy of living below your means.

When you embrace frugality you get into a groove of frugalness and create yourself some great frugal habits that you live your life by.

Being frugal isn’t associated with an income bracket, it’s about how you live your life through habits, values and goals you set yourself.

Frugal people come from all walks of life, you could be a millionaire or you could be on the minimum wage.

Of course if you earn a reasonable income and focus on being super frugal then you can end up rich.

That’s your choice.

You could go down the extreme frugal living route or you could just focus on being the right shade of frugal for you.

So what frugal habits should you develop?

What frugal habits do the super rich have that you can copy?

And are their frugal habits different to the frugal habits of less well off frugal folk?

Related reading: How To Be Frugal: Best Frugal Living Tips For Financial Success

8 Fantastic Frugal Habits

Eat Frugally

Frugal people plan and prepare their food at home using low cost but healthy ingredients they have bought at the best low price.

This frugal habit of eating encompasses many other little habits that help you to save money.

Using a meal plan to plan your meals ahead of time stops you from spontaneously eating out because you don’t know what to cook.

Cooking from scratch reduces your food shopping list because you aren’t buying more expensive convenience foods.

And they enjoy using frugal foods to save on their grocery bill.

They will happily make cheap frugal meals and enjoy them, alongside other cook from home recipes.

Other frugal habits that help you to eat frugally are:

  • prepare food from scratch
  • always have a meal plan
  • buy in bulk
  • reject convenience foods
  • eat out rarely

Related posts:

7 Meal Planning Strategies All Beginners Should Know

55 Easy Ways To Save Money In The Kitchen

Come and follow me on Pinterest for more money saving hints and frugal tips!

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Live Within Their Means

Regardless of your income if you spend more than you earn you are going into debt because you are living beyond your means.

Conversely, if you adopt the frugal habit of always living within your means then you will have money to save.

Frugal people know that the way to enjoy life is to not have to worry about money so living within your means is crucial to your frugal lifestyle.

You will likely adopt other smaller frugal habits in order to achieve this surplus income. Habits such as:

  • wait before buying
  • emergency funds
  • live in smaller houses
  • always learning about money

If you want to go down the super frugal route then have a read of my post about 11 extreme frugal living tips to get you started.

How To Live Below Your Means And What You Gain From It

Know Where Money Goes

If you don’t keep track of what you are spending how do you know if you’ve spent too much?

Frugal folk understand that knowledge is power.

They know what they are spending their money on every month because they track their spending.

This knowledge enables them to make informed choices about their money.

For instance they can see if their grocery bill is getting too high and make changes accordingly.

They can negotiate with their utility company when costs creep up.

How To Stop Living Beyond Your Means In 10 Easy Steps

fireworks in a night sky

Be Capable And Self Sufficient

Being a capable and self sufficient person allows frugal folk to get more bang for their buck.

Continuously striving to develop your own capabilities instead of paying someone to do something for you has many benefits.

You save money by not outsourcing the tasks; you increase your knowledge and skill-set and complete the task yourself.

And the final benefit is you get a great sense of satisfaction for achieving that outcome.

Capabilities you can develop to save money include:

Related reading: 12 Traditional Frugal Living Tips To Supercharge Your Savings

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Think Long Term

They are not sucked into the “buy it now, must have it now” mentality that has consumed most 1st world countries.

50 years ago people didn’t have credit cards or access to personal loans.

If you wanted something; a new car, a new cooker, you had to save up for it and go without until you had the money.

Frugal people recognize the value in saving up for items they require thereby not paying interest on loans and credit cards.

They create financial goals to help them focus their savings habit.

Quality is also something you would concentrate on in order to maximize value for money.

It’s not about buying expensive gear, it’s about getting quality gear which you can often pick up used for a fraction of the price new.

Things to focus on are:

  • think long term
  • plan purchases ahead
  • pay in cash
  • never pay full price
  • value quality and reliability
  • shop second hand
  • never buy new cars

The Best Money Habits To Transform Your Wealth And Happiness

Know How Much You Need

Buy only what you need instead of anything that you want and save the extra money not spent.

Sometimes you can get mixed up between what you need and what you want.

You might need some form of mechanical transport (a car) but you don’t need a brand new pick up truck.

You need something that gets you from A to B (presuming there is no public transport), what it looks like and how old it is are fairly immaterial.

Children don’t need huge amounts of plastic toys and dozens of after school activities.

They need time to play and have fun, which doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Frugal people have worked out what is important to them, what their needs versus their wants and are able to save money as a result:

  • only buy what they need
  • give kids less stiff
  • use every drop
  • wait before buying
  • say no

7 Benefits Of Living Frugally: The Gains You Make

map covered notebook with ruler and pen and green succulent plant

Creative In Their Life Enjoyment

You can spend a fortune on entertainment if you choose to.

Frugal folk choose not to.

Being frugal means they choose alternative forms of entertainment.

They still have fun and enjoy life without spending a ton of money.

They will likely have friends who share similar frugal values.

Friends who have the same outlook as you are an absolute boon, you don’t have to explain what you do and why you do it to them.

They get it.

  • seeking out free summer activities
  • don’t shop as a form of entertainment
  • do low cost exercise
  • focus on work life balance

45 Creative Ways To Save Money (You Need To Know)

small boy in black leather jacket sat in large chair in front of table covered in piles of bank notes

Getting A Great Balance

Being able to balance work, life, being frugal, saving money is a great habit to embrace.

So many people strive and fail to achieve a good work/life balance.

Frugal folk have got it sussed.

They aren’t trying to keep up with the Joneses; they’re not working as many hours as possible just to pay the huge bills they have addled themselves with.

By living below their means, saving money and being thoughtful about how they live their lives they can achieve a great life balance now.

They may well work extra hours but it will be on a money making hobby or a side hustle that they enjoy doing.

They are less stressed because they have got a good balance.

Frugal Living Strategies – How To Make Frugality A Success

Frugal Habits To Live Your Life By

When you want or need to be frugal you need to make certain life decisions and create routines that you live your life by in order to attain the frugal lifestyle you want.

As you can see even rich people have the same frugal routines as those of us on a more modest income.

Being frugal isn’t about having a load of money.

It’s about what you do with the money you have and that is where these simple frugal habits come in.

Come and follow me on Pinterest for more money saving hints and frugal tips!

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Last Updated on 5th April 2023 by Emma

About Emma

I'm here to help you become confident in making the best money decisions for you and your family. Frugal living has changed my life, let me help you change yours.

1 thought on “8 Fantastic Frugal Habits To Live Your Life By”

  1. My husband and I have done really well by living frugal, while raising three children and we have never gone without anything. We now own 2 houses, one we built (5,000 square feet) and another we purchased (3,000 square feet) for cash, in a rural vacation area near my husband’s parents as they were getting very infirm with dementia. Biggest saving was having a huge garden to grow fruit and vegetables. It was wonderful to have fresh produce for every meal, including eating a baby watermelon for dessert. I canned vegetables and had two freezers full of extra produce and meats, which I bought on sale. It is easy and just became a way of life! I also made all our jams and sauces, like spaghetti sauce! By cooking all our meals, I was able to branch out into a lot of international cooking, which gave us a good variety of flavors. No one ever complained, like kids will often do. That was our life! Now being in our late 60’s and me being in a wheelchair fulltime we have had to cut back greatly on producing our own food but I still home cook, buy on sale, and have a small raised garden for tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers. Unfortunately our children did not take ANY of these practices with them, when they moved out, got married and starting having children! Credit cards are maxed, spend foolishly and vacation any time they want whether they have extra money or not. Grab a credit card and just go! BTW, I have developed or just used many household tips for years; nothing is new to me anymore!

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