Living the frugal life doesn’t mean wearing 20-year-old t-shirts and reusing tea bags. There are many less painful ways to trim the fat from your budget. Cutting away waste is the first step in living a frugal life while still maximizing enjoying life’s pleasures.
Here are 5 easy ways to trim your living budget.
Monthly subscriptions
Cancel any monthly subscriptions that you never use or hardly use. What? Did I just remind you of a few stealth subscriptions (things you subscribed to as a trial and then forgot) that are slowly nibbling away at your budget $5 and $10 at a time? Cancel them now. If you didn’t remember they existed, you don’t need them.
Do you have a gazillion streaming app subscriptions? Select your top two and cancel all the rest. Be honest, your watchlist is dozens of titles deep and you will never watch all that stuff. Pick the two that you watch the most and the rest…well, most titles will end up on the two you pick or YouTube, eventually. Be patient and you can watch those titles there.
Do you still have magazine subscriptions? Do you really read them, or could you find and read that same info elsewhere for free? Cancel them.
Food delivery
Just no. If you plan your meals you will not need to order food deliveries. Your fridge and freezer should be full of meals, ready to heat and eat. If you want a treat, plan ahead and pick up your meal – save the extra delivery fees and tip. Stop letting Grubhub dig into your food budget.
Useless gadgets
How often do you use that cute stainless steel handheld mini mixer? Once a year? Never? Stop buying kitchen gadgets, home repair doodads, and cleaning thingies you will rarely use. Single purpose tools are a waste of money and space if you rarely perform the single task they’re made for.
Trendy fast fashion
Cheap, fast fashion that won’t survive a wash or a season is a waste. Repeatedly needing to buy new shoes or pants because the cheap ones from Target or Walmart are worn, will make your clothing budget balloon. Instead, invest in quality clothing and shoes that will last. Shop the clearance racks and reseller marketplaces for new quality clothing items at a fraction of their retail cost – never pay full price.
Extended warranties
Extended warranties largely exist to make the store money. Most appliances and electronics will die young (show major defects within the first year) if they are going to die before their time. Within that first year, the manufacturers’ warranty is usually still in effect, buying an extended warranty full of loopholes and gotchas is just a waste.
Eliminating waste from your budget is the first step towards a financially healthy, frugal lifestyle. All of those small cuts can add up to big dollars over the course of a year. Don’t waste money on stuff that you could save or enjoy on things or experiences you truly value.