Living frugally does not have to be complicated. There are many frugal ways to enjoy life by spending less. Whether it is your choice to develop frugal habits or out of necessity due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, I want you to know it’s possible to save money while living through these unforeseen times.

Here’s what we did that completely changed our life.

20 Frugal Ways To Thrive

1. Access your necessities

Identify what your absolute value in life. Decide what needs to be cut off and what needs to stay. Cutting back on excessive spending can change your life and save your family from financial devastation.

2. Create a budget

Once you identify your necessities for living. The next step is to create a budget. Write down all of your household income and make it accountable.

3. Cut off unnecessary subscriptions

This may sound bad however, you need to cut down all the subscriptions to your favorite TV shows, products, and any other services that you are subscribed to. If it is not essential then it needs to be cut off.

4. Begin meal planning

Not only did my husband but also my kids thought I went crazy when I begin meal planning. I literally created a schedule for our meals for the entire week. I went shopping once a week and brought only the items on my list. This was truly difficult at first because I was used to going into the grocery store and buying anything that my heart wanted. However, I had to learn self-discipline and become more intentional in my fiances.

5. Freeze the leftovers

My family truly dislikes leftovers. They were very bougie and did not like to eat the same meal twice in a row. Not sure where they got this from. However, I begin taking my mother’s advice and freezing our leftovers rather than throwing it away. I typically save leftovers for Saturdays. We called it leftover Saturday. This basically was a free-for-all day and everyone was able to eat the leftovers from the weekdays.

I also became more strategic in the amount that I was cooking in order to reduce the excessive amount of leftovers. This was essential because it saves us money on weekly groceries.

6. Shop only with coupons

Look, I am no coupon queen and I barely knew the basics of couponing. However, I knew I wanted to learn how to truly live. Therefore, I needed to develop frugal ways to thrive. Couponing was one of those frugal ways that I’ve learned. I now use a coupon for every item that I need it.

If you’re not using coupons when you shop, then you are seriously missing out. Trust me, if you are truly interested in living frugally then, couponing is the next best them. Literally, I encourage you to look into The Kraft Coupon Lady

7. Stop buying new

This was by far the most important thing on my list for me personally. For my family to thrive in this new lifestyle I stopped buying new everything. Now it is very rare that we buy new products.

All of our products come secondhand from the thrift store. However, our essential items such as undergarments and hygiene products are not typical items to get from the thrift store. You may want to continue to purchase those items brand new.

8. Sell your old goods

Having such a large family, with five growing children, we have lots of clothes that we accrued throughout the year. We used to donate those clothes to the secondhand thrift stores until I realized that I could get paid for our old clothes. Therefore, I begin selling my clothes on sites such as EBay and Mercadi. Being that many of our clothes come from the secondhand thrift store and then we were able to sell them on these websites, basically, it’s a win-win.

9. Start your own veggie garden

This can save you so much money especially if you’re a cooker that users herbs. This is also a great experience for your children as well. We started our veggie garden last year and literally, I don’t purchase any outside herbs anymore. Amazon has the perfect herb garden starter kit that you can buy that’s relatively inexpensive.

10. Downsize and drive one vehicle

We typically drive one vehicle as a family. This is so beneficial for so many reasons. First and foremost we save hundreds of dollars on gas because we have only one car that we drive on a regular basis.

This also means that we save money both car insurance and maintenance throughout the year. These are just a few benefits. However, if you are able to swing it, I suggest downsizing and keeping one car.

11. Purchase less house

One of the reasons why we are able to live so frugally and really thrive in this life is because we have decided to purchase a home below our means. When we were moving from New York to Florida, we were approved for $165,000 worth of a house.

However, we purchased an older home for significantly less than that. Therefore, our mortgage is literally cut in half of what it would have been if we would have purchased based on our full approval amount.

12. Look for savings everywhere

Remember when I said I am no coupon queen, however, I am the saving queen. I find sales all the time. Not just on products but on everything you can think of. Whether it be hotels, flights, insurance, or wigs I find the deals. Look, I realized that there are many resources available that are not being utilized. I guarantee you, if you look for them then you’ll find it.

13. Cook all your food

I know it’s summertime and you want to go out to eat however, the majority of Americans spend entirely too much money on outside dining. Save your coins and eat indoors. Cook all of your food.

14. Enjoy free family fun

There are literally so many resources that are available right in your city. When we moved to Jacksonville we didn’t know of any available resources in our area.

However, we were able to get online and start looking up free events. It’s simple and easy. Just Google some free family events in your city. This is also a good opportunity to network and find other families.

15. Cut off your cable and switch to streaming

We haven’t had cable now for the past five years! We have cut our cable and don’t miss it at all. We have three Amazon fire TVs and two fire sticks. Literally, we enjoy our streaming much better than cable.

16. Stop following the top brands

We used to follow all of the top brands for all of our products in our home. However, we have literally switched up and now by store brand everything. We realized that the products were just as good as those top brands. However, for almost half the cost.

17. Cut meat out of your diet

Unfortunately, not only is meat not as healthy for you but it’s also expensive. It has been a year since our family has stopped eating meat. I am slowly transitioning our family from eating seafood as well. I realize that it is so expensive and most cost-effective to live on a vegan diet. I am not suggesting you go vegan however, I am suggesting that you cut back on the amount of money that you spend on meat products.

18. Save on doing laundry

This is funny however, do you know that you can save on your electric bill by washing clothes during peak times? This is something new to me and I didn’t know this for the longest time. I always thought that it was best to do laundry at night rather than in the morning.

We had our electric company send out a representative to show us the best practices to save on our bill and this was one of the ways. Use can do this as well. Run an energy test throughout your home to see where you save more.

19. Use the first and in first out method in your pantry

I’ve learned this method from working in the restaurant business. First in and first out, has to do with product inventory. I typically go shopping every Saturday for the week ahead. However, before I go shopping I examine my pantry to see what I have and what is needed. I make my meals based on what products I already have in my home.

20. DIY before hiring help

Living in an older house has definitely been a challenge. Although our home is 60 years old and we have a great structure, things are beginning to fall apart.

Therefore, we have put our DIY skills to the test. My husband and I with our children have been taking on these DIY projects as they come up. We have done over our entire laundry room and kitchen. Our next project is the master’s bathroom. Stay tuned for that!

Living frugally is possible however, you have to strategize your frugal ways of living in order to thrive.

Keep in mind that it’s possible to truly live a better life by spending less and breaking the cycle of consumerism that has been instilled in us as a society. There is life aside from name brand high priced products. Learn how to make the shift. If you have any specific questions on how to get started or if I missed any pertinent information please leave me a comment below.

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