A lot of small frugal things we do around here don’t seem to make a lot of difference at first. I often hear (and read) people comment “So What… you saved 10 cents, big deal”. But you know what, when you implement all these various small frugal tips and make them habits that you stick to week in and week out, they really add up.
Let’s say you start cooking your own beans instead of buying canned ones. And let’s low ball it and say you save on average 20 cents per can that you don’t buy on sale and use your own cooked beans instead. Let’s also assume that you use 3 cans of beans a week. That’s a $0.60 saving a week or $31.20 per year. Still not a huge amount of money, right?
But then you start to implement some more frugal living tips (I’ll share some of my favorites below). Some will save you a dollar a week, others like changing the type of meat you cook or replacing some meat dishes with things like beans and rice will easily translate into savings of a dollar a day.
Here’s a little made up example, just to show you how quickly all these little savings can add up.
Frugal Habit 1 – Saves $0.10 per day
Frugal Habit 2 – Saves $1.00 per day
Frugal Habit 3 – Saves $0.50 per day
Frugal Habit 4 – Saves $0.05 per day
Frugal Habit 5 – Saves $0.25 per day
Frugal Habit 6 – Saves $0.10 per day
Total Savings Per Day = $2.00
Total Savings Per Year = $730
Now things are really starting to add up and these are just minor things. Let’s look at a few frugal tips you can start implementing right away.
Tip # 1 – Skip The Convenience Foods
This one made a huge difference in our food budget. Once I got it and started cooking more from scratch instead of relying on pre-made and frozen meals, mixes and such, our grocery budget shrank by about $60 per week. That’s a $2 per day saving right there.
If you are working outside your home and usually go out for lunch, this can add up to some pretty big savings. I’m doing the math for you in that post. Take a look.
Here’s one of those tips that won’t add up to a lot of savings, but it’s so simple to implement, I encourage you to do it anyway. Plus as a bonus you’ll find some more simple little common-sense tips at the beginning of that post. They are always a great reminder for me.
These tips were originally part of the Frugal Challenge Monday I post on my blog every week. I would like to encourage you to stop by the blog each week to read the challenge and start implementing as many of them as you can into your own frugal lifestyle.
I was reading your “reuse water” and I thought I could help add to your frugality. Even that really dirty, not good for reusing dishwater would make your plants happy (indoor or outdoor). They like all those food bits. The soap keeps the bugs away and you don’t need to use any or as much commercial plant fertilizer. If it is really hot water you may want to let it cool a bit… though I have been known to dump it around the base of (not on) my outdoor plants. Thanks for letting me share!
My great-grandmother ALWAYS used all leftover liquids on her plants. She would use water, leftover juices from vegetables, old tea, coffee, etc. and pour it around her plants. She had the most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen. I continue this habit. Everything else except for meat and dairy goes into my compost. Waste not, Want not !
I actually read an article that was titled “Suprising things you didn’t think you could compost” and it said you COULD compost milk. I’ve not done this as I don’t have a compost (I live in an upstairs apt.) but it might be worth a try, or at least looking into?
…where are tips 4, 5, and 6??
I’m sorry, Kimmi, the first list of six are loose examples of small savings you might see using the scenarios in the first few paragraphs, and how those pennies really add up. The 3 Tips don’t actually correspond to those six frugal habits, but actually stand on their own. Sorry for the confusion. I can see what you’re saying. Thanks for pointing out the confusion.
Hanging your clothes to dry will save you tons of money in a year. I hate stiff clothes, so I pop them in the dryer on LOW with a couple of DRY towels designated for that use. Set the timer for 10 minutes, then hang to dry. Wah-la! No wickedly stiff clothes. Usually for jeans, I have to go an extra 5 minutes in the dryer.
I have two lines in a spare room. Put a couple cup hooks on the side of window or door trim and go across the room any way you can. I tied loops in the ends of my lines and can hang them over the cup hooks. When the clothes are dry, you can take the lines down and no one ever notices the cup hooks.
If you don’t want to hang dry clothes, just the towels in the dryer will cut down on the time it takes for a load to dry.
Use your slow cooker a lot. In the warmer months, you can plug it in outside so you don’t have extra heat in the house.
My biggest money saver? Making all my own cleaners, convenience foods and cooking from scratch (like you have posted).
I hang my clothes as well, and to avoid stiff clothes. I put a little liquid softener in with the wash.
hang them out to dry an pop them in the dryer for about ten min. to kill any no-see bugs and or spiders. They are never stiff. And they smell great.
Here are some of my favorite ways to save:
1. Hang out laundry.
2. Use white vinegar for your fabric softener.
3. Don’t use paper towels. Either buy a bundle of microfabric cloths or use old rags for spills.
4. Turn off and unplug whenever possible. Most things these days use electricity even when not on.
Thanks for the chance to share.
We use the clothesline in the good weather, and indoor drying racks in the bad. For years now I’ve put the stopper in the tub when showering, and pulled the water afterwards to put in my washing machine for the next load…it gives me about seven extra minutes of cardio hauling the water (my bathroom and laundry are on the same floor). My husband built a rain barrel for collecting rain from the eaves on our detached garage, and attached a soaker hose to it that we run all through the garden, under the mulch. We can turn the hose on and off with a handle. We are also big water drinkers, but when I walk around collecting all of the cups my family leaves everywhere, I find many of them still have a good deal of water in them. So, I put a clean bucket under my sink, and I toss all of my unconsumed water in there, and throw that in my washing machine when it’s time to do a load…it all adds up!
We all brush our teeth in the shower…so not only are we saving water but also time with no mess in the sink.And if you have sensitive teeth like me,you’re using warm water so no pain.Keep your paste & lidded brushes (can buy those toothbrush lids at the dollar store or electric brushes have lids) in the shower caddy and there’s no worry of mold or them dropping.
P.S. Lovin’ this site…can’t wait to have the family come for some bulk freezer cooking.
Neebing,ON,Canada
I work from home doing the bookkeeping for my husband’s plumbing business and I’m pretty busy. I still try to be frugal (lifetime habits) and my husband gets a bit frustrated with me for doing things like turning the shower pressure on low so as to not use so much water, growing a garden, hanging clothes outside, etc, He thinks that the garden costs more than buying the veggies at the store. Then, he tells me not to worry about all that, he’ll just work a couple of more hours a week.
What do you think?
I love the foam dishwashing soap, but it’s so expensive (I think). So I keep the bottle and put about 1″ of regular liquid dishwashing soap in it and then fill it up with water. Works for me!
Instead of expensive ant killer, I mix about ½ cup of molasses, ¼ cup of sugar and ¼ cup of active dry yeast together, then put small amounts on foil or wax paper and sit it were I see the ants. The sweet attracts them, but they can’t digest the yeast, so they die.
If you store your lemons/limes in water in your refrigerator, they will last 3-4 months. But don’t forget to change the water once a week.