We try our best to live as frugally as we can, especially being on only one income. We are not cheap by any means but like to cut back where we can, and look for deals. It can become challenging at times, and I'm terrible at couponing so that hasn't really worked for us. Do you live a frugal lifestyle? What are your best frugal tips?
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We do try, although DH is an impulsive spender. He makes much more than I do right now, so I generally won't comment.
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I try really hard to, but we seem to fail a lot, especially when life gets busy/stressful. We are blowing our food budget this month for example, despite my best intentions
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We have definitely switched our lifestyle since having kids. I grocery shop deals, we have a Sam's club membership, we stock up when the price is right, and I use Cartwheel and Red Card at Target. These little things alone help save us lots of money.
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Yup most stuff I buy is second hand and I try not to buy stuff we don't need.
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Not really, but we live within our means and save so I'm ok with that.
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I don't know if I would say frugal, but we've become much, much better about our budgeting recently. It has been a necessity for a while,as I am in my 5th year of a graduate income, so there's not always a lot to work with. Right now, we are trying to get ahold of our attitudes as well as our spending with YNAB. We're a few days in and like it so far! We need to get out of the boom and bust cycles that come along with the school year so that everything is easier all year long.
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Yes. I have to be. A lot of second hand or DIY going on over here. I'm also terrible at couponing though. I need to try to get better.
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We try to but haven't been as good about it since moving. We ask ourselves a lot do we need this and we don't buy impulsively. So by asking what we need we've cut out cable, air-conditioning, we use lots of sweaters instead of turning up the heat. Honestly I just don't go shopping very much we don't go to stores like target or Walmart or anywhere really unless we really really need something and that cuts down on impulse shopping for us.
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I think I do, but I find myself paying more for convenience lately and splurging more. I used to *never* buy anything at the market unless it was on sale, or clothing unless it was on the clearance rack. Now I'll buy more at the market regular price, with the justification that it's still cheaper than buying breakfast or lunch at work. Or more clothing that's just on sale, not clearance because I'm too lazy to shop and hunt for deals and just want what I want. But I still try to save wherever I can even though we already live well below our means. I just put together a home theater PC so I could cancel DVR and return the cable box, it save $25/month. I won't even notice $25/month savings, but I like knowing that I'm saving it.
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I spend on things I value. Maybe my handbag would be seen as expensive to some, but I use the same bag for years at a time, so I buy well made bags at a place like TJ Maxx or marked down elsewhere & then use it daily for a few years. I don't see that as more wasteful than buying a cheap target bag that needs replacing every 6 months, maybe some ppl would rather have a new bag more frequently, I would rather have the nicer bag and keep it longer, to each their own. I also wait to buy things until I find them at a price point I'm comfortable with. I like what I like, I often like nice things, I rarely pay retail though. I do my best to not waste, I hate wasting food or energy or water (I don't pay for water, but as a valuable resource, I hate when it's wasted).
I live frugally in that I don't spend frivolously, but I'm not cheap in that I would refuse to spend money on things I value.
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Yep!
*I buy almost all clothes and toys for my daughter from consignment sales/shops or super clearance with only the occasional full-price new items. Books mostly come from 2nd & Charles (looove that store) or are borrowed from the library
*We use our discover card to pay for everything to get cashback and then pay it off each month. (this gets a lot of cashback since I make a lot of business purchases) and I am always using shopdiscover or ebates for online purhcases
*We only have one vehicle and it is a hybrid to save on gas.
*I am always using coupons and shopping sales (though I will not buy things I wouldnt normally be buying, so I check coupon sites for things that are already on my list) and have been doing fresh 20 so that most things are cheap like produce and lots of making from scratch.
*We only buy clothes for ourselves if there is a really good sale and we really need them
*We keep a super detailed budget for each month and also keep track of our energy uses and find ways to use less electricity
*I do lots of free things with my daughter like taking her to the park or library and free library toddler activities or just going on walks through the neighborhood
*We used an insurance agent to find us really cheap home and car insurance without skimping on coverage - HIGHLY recommended and it is free (the agents are paid by the insurance companies)We do occasionally splurge like when we buy new electronics/games and we tend to eat out about once a week. I rarely feel restricted with spending or anything as it has just been a part of life - we are frugal but still live comfortably and it means I get to be a sahm/wahm, so I think any "sacrifices" like not buying expensive makeup or getting my hair cut at a fancy salon are pretty minor. I'm pretty low-maint so that helps. Saving money is a bit of a hobby lol
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Mr. Frog loves shopping buy-one-get-one-free deals at the grocery store, and saving as much as he spent.
When he and his mom shop together, they compete to see who can guess closest to the actual dollar amount.
Mr. Frog is also the master at spotting clearance items that don't suck in clothing stores. He never pays full price for clothes because holy crap, why would you pay that for a piece of cloth!
He's currently reduced to 3 pairs of underwear, 1 I bought him for birthday a couple weeks ago, because he's worn them all out and every time he goes to buy more, he just ends up leaving in a rage at how much they want to charge for underwear now.
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Hmmm, I don't live as frugally as I should but I am okay with that. What I do want to do is reign my spending in and buckle down as we start thinking about ttc 2 early next year.
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We try very hard to live off of just one income.
I think spending is really crazy in America. There is just so much to consume that it's hard to resist.
Why do people need a new phone every year? Ads tell them they do. With a pricey data plan to boot.
For us a big thing is waiting a few days before buying anything. Talking it out helps too. Do we really need that?
I think de-cluttering helps also. When you de-clutter you know exactly what you own and what you do and don't need to buy since everything is simply laid out and easy to see.
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Even though I'm not a grad student anymore, I still try to live like one. So yes, we're frugal. We have a LOT of debt. For the next year at least, every extra penny is getting poured into that debt until it's at a level that lets me breathe a bit easier.
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Sort of? We budget, but we also budget for luxuries like Starbucks, eating out, etc. We buy generic brands at the grocery store and I don't buy clothes for LO unless they're on sale, but I also don't buy the cheapest clothes I can find either. I guess we're somewhere in the middle.
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Somewhere in the middle. I'm really cheap about the thermostat.
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We try. We live within our means but we don't have as much "emergency" money as I'd like, but part of that is just hoarding. I get really upset buying groceeies. I really really do my best to keep it cheap & I don't buy extra that we don't need but we seriously eat about 95% of what I buy every week & then we eat that 5% rollover plus whatever else I bought the next week & we are both at really healthy weights as is our LO. I'm not sure why we are such piggies lol it really causes a lot anxiety for me though
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@Mrs. Sunshine: the grocery budget is one of my biggest sources of stress too!
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I have to say no for our recent past but we've started making big changes the last couple weeks and we're living extremely frugally for now and until our debt is gone. We waste a lot of money on eating out and unnecessary impulse shopping so we're cutting that out to ramp up what we can pay toward our debt. I'm really excited to be debt free within the next couple years. It will be amazing.
The tips im using is no impulse buying. If I want something I have to wait at least a day or two to buy it and assess whether I really need it.
Selling u necessary items (furniture not in use, dhs bass amp, baby items, etc)
And fun and free weekend activities: park, festivals, playdates, and just having friend over to our house rather than meeting for dinner etc -
edited to change my answer after rethinking it. We budget and save every way we can. We do budget for luxuries though. But we live well below our means.
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@cmomma17: I just feel like I should be able to have more control over how much it is but I don't! It's like the grocery store is some kind of money vacuum!
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We live within our means. It's very important to me that we are able to save for our futures and not carry a ton of debt. Like lawbee said we budget for luxuries.
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@cmomma17: @Mrs. Sunshine: I just downloaded a really cool app called Snap last week. It's by Groupon and it's basically a coupon app but you get the savings after shopping. You can shop at any store--you just take a pic of your receipt and upload it using the app. The cool thing is some of the stuff doesn't have to be a certain brand. For instance, right now they have $1.00 cash back on any gallon of milk and $1.00 cash back on any loaf of bread, etc. Once you reach $20 you can transfer the money to your bank account. So it's basically like getting money back for stuff I'd buy anyways. I'm excited to use it!
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@lawbee11: what?!? That's awesome! I use Walmarts savings catcher sometimes but I never check ads so it's basically just me blindly hoping that I bought something that would be cheaper somewhere else. Thanks for sharing!
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I think so, I mean, you get what you pay for. I would rather spend a little more to get something I can use longer than buy cheaper and have to buy multiple.
I try to use everything I can, like buying chicken bone in and using the bones to make broth. I turn stray socks into cloths, etc.
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@lawbee11: cool, I'll check it out!
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Probably not to the full extent of that word, but we live within our means and I budget, coupon, mostly buy things on sale/clearance, etc.
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@lawbee11: I saw something about that app, but I wish I understood what the company's incentive was. Like, what are they getting out of offering people cash back for random grocery brands? It doesn't make sense!
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Yes!! As much as we can. I have been accused of being cheap... I coupon, try to eat frugal (but healthy) meals, only buy clothes on clearance or consignment, keep our thermostat turned up, etc.... We pack lunches for work every day and eat out for lunch at work very rarely. Most Friday evenings we either go out or get take-out somewhere. That's our treat. But otherwise we eat at home, and make coffee at home.
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@IRunForFun: I bet that companies pay to be featured in the app. Then the hope is that you as the consumer will be influenced and will purchase things that you otherwise wouldn't. I love stuff like this because I am pretty non-influence-able (is that a word??) So I can get credit (hopefully) for things I'd already buy and not be swayed otherwise.
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Sometimes. Right now is one of those times! I do love to shop but I feel better about myself when I'm frugal.
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Not as frugally as some, but more frugally than others. I don't buy expensive things, I try to find things for cheap or DIY stuff, but I like to shop, so I get new things frequently.
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We budget for everything. I mean literally everything, even grabbing a burger off the dollar menu or a splurge shopping spree.
It helps us see where our money is going and holds us accountable for our purchases. We are aggressive savers but we also give ourselves breathing room in the budget.
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I try not to buy crap we don't need. But I definitely pay for convenience. We make a decent living, have two busy jobs, and save a reasonable amount of money each year. My job is stressful, and I want to spend my time outside of work with my family and friends, not clipping coupons.
It helps that I hate to shop though, and we live in an apartment and I try not to clutter it up too much. We still have more stuff than I would like.
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@yoursilverlining: "Not really, but we live within our means and save so I'm ok with that."
Agreed. We're the same way.
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Yes but I know we can be more frugal. But everyone needs a treat now and then!
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Somewhere in the middle but we need to be better. I don't buy clothes unless on sale, but I still buy more then R needs. And we eat out more then we should. I can't figure out how to cut the grocery bill.
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We have had points in our life where we have had to be extremely frugal, so where we are now feels like a luxury. Although we are on one income now, so we will see how much more frugal we have to be!
I am obsessive about maximizing sales on kids clothes and toiletries. If I can't find a good deal on something, I would rather not buy it. We eat at home. I coupon at the grocery store. We don't go on vacations (unless grandparents are paying, haha). We don't buy a lot of kid gear. Really we just try not to buy a lot of stuff.
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