6 Ways to Be Frugal without Sacrificing Your Standards
When you’re looking for ways to save money and live a frugal lifestyle, you might think you’re going to need to sacrifice your standards and give up all the comforts in your life. That might be the way some people do it, but you don’t have to give up everything.
Here are some simple ways to save money without giving up your comfort and convenience.
- Accept help when offered
You’ve probably been offered help from time to time by people who just want to lend a hand or do you a little favor. Sometimes these favors can save you time and/or money.
For example, someone may offer to babysit your kids or take you to work so you don’t have to call an Uber. Take people up on their offers because if they didn’t want to help, they wouldn’t try. Also, if you really need the support, every bit will help.
Many people are actually just waiting for the opportunity to help others, and that’s a sentiment you’ll see among people whose job it is to serve others. For example, there are plenty of law enforcement officers who go out of their way to help citizens on a daily basis, and that’s a side of the police that many people don’t know about.
However, the National Police Association (NPA) works hard to show the public the good that the police do for their communities.
Help can come from the person you least expect, so be ready to accept assistance when offered. It can save you money but also time and energy, too.
- Find free entertainment
There are so many fun things that don’t cost a penny, other than the gas it takes to drive there. For instance, most beaches are free to roam and some don’t even require you to pay for parking. It’s always fun to spend a day at the beach with friends, family, and even your dog if you can find a pet-friendly beach.
- Get food assistance
If groceries are getting expensive, it won’t hurt to apply for a program like food stamps. What you’ll get will be based on your income and tax status, and it probably won’t cover your entire grocery bill. However, even if you only qualify for a hundred dollars, it’s worth applying because that’s a significant amount of help each month.
- Eliminate monthly subscriptions
We live in a subscription-based society these days and it’s hard to find services that don’t charge a monthly fee. Gone are the days of licensing a piece of software for a one-time fee and getting infinite use.
It’s extremely easy to buy what seem like affordable services here and there, so you may not realize just how much of your income is going toward subscriptions. If you don’t have a current list, check your bank statements to see what’s billing and start canceling things you either don’t need or don’t use.
If the need to save money is urgent, cancel everything you can resume later on. For instance, Netflix, Hulu, and game subscriptions are a good place to look first.
- Create a fund for extras
From time to time, you’ll want to do things you haven’t budgeted for, and the easiest way to manage these situations is to have a fund for that purpose. For example, every paycheck you can set aside $10 for this fund. That doesn’t seem like much, but if you get paid every two weeks, after just one month you’ll have $20 to go buy that pizza you’ve been eyeballing.
- Plan your restaurant meals
If you’re used to heading out to a restaurant on a whim, start planning your restaurant meals instead. This will make the cost predictable and easier to manage. For example, you can plan to dine out on every last Friday of the month and that will make it simple enough to budget. This works great when you want to eat at a nice restaurant.
In the meantime, if you want to go to a restaurant but it’s not in the budget, train yourself to have discipline and wait. Or you can splurge by using your “extras” fund if you have enough saved up.
Frugal doesn’t have to mean lack
Being frugal doesn’t mean you have to live without things that make you feel comfortable. It just means picking and choosing which extras you’re willing to give up for the time being in order to free up funds for your priorities.
