10 skills for a frugal life

Adopting a frugal life, becoming more independent and relying less on others to provide for you every need results in an industrious life and the need to develop a broad skill set.

To some this may seem tiresome, after all why learn to cook when you can buy ready-made, why learn to mend clothes when it’s so cheap to buy new ones, why clean your own home when you can hire someone to do it for you.

To others like myself, a life of independence is not only something to work towards, but something to take joy in and something to be proud of. We reject to some degree the modern lifestyle of convenience, specialisation and cheap, readily available commodities and yet embrace the modern notion that life is all about continuous learning.

Below is a list of skills, some of which I would consider essential, others less essential for a frugal life. What frugal skills would you add?

Essential skills

1. Planning and organisation

Planning and organisation are the most important skills underpinning a frugal life. It is impossible to be frugal without the ability to plan ahead and be organised. Even financial management relies on the ability to plan ahead, set goals, organise your finances, monitor your progress. Budgeting, saving money, shopping around for a bargain, menu planning, frugal cooking, household maintenance all rely on your ability to plan and be organised.

I was reminded of this the other day when I wrote a post about convenience foods. Readers shared their convenience foods for days that they didn’t feel like cooking and some of the suggestions included frozen homemade lasagne, homemade sausage rolls and pizza and stews and casseroles, all of which require planning ahead and being organised. 

2. Financial management

Frugality is all about saving money, so it comes as no surprise that financial management is an essential frugal skill. What does financial management involve? Budgeting, saving money, prioritising expenses, debt management, financial goal setting, retirement planning and investing. This seems to be an undervalued skill these days.

3. Creative Thinking

It’s easy to go out and buy something to fill a need or solve a problem. It’s less easy to create a frugal alternative. A frugal alternative to buying something new might be to reuse and recycle available materials like my peg basket or it might be to find an alternative to a problem like making a table extension rather than buying a bigger table. Creative thinking is useful for frugal entertainment ideas or for how to feed the family on a bag of carrots and a pork chop.

4. Cooking

Groceries are one of the major household expenses and so if you’re looking to reduce expenditure, then focusing on the groceries is a good place to start. Convenience foods and takeaway all cost more than fresh, healthy produce, so learning how to prepare and cook fresh food will go a long way to saving money.

5. Smart shopping

Knowing how to bag a bargain is just as important as knowing how to say no to impulse buying. I don’t think shopping is evil, but it pays to be smart about parting with your hard earned cash.

Less essential but useful frugal skills

6. DIY

Do it yourself covers a range of things from making your own cleaners and soap to doing your own home renovations. Depending on your experience, sometimes it’s smart doing jobs around the house yourself, sometimes it’s better to get in the professionals (which is where smart shopping comes into play). The more skills that you learn and practice, the less you have to rely on others to do these tasks.

7. Sewing and crafting

Even if you’re not a sewer, knowing how to darn a sock, sew on a button and take up a hem are good skills to have. The more sewing skills that you have, the more money you can save on clothing and household linen. Sewing isn’t the only craft that is useful. My husband likes to do woodwork and has made furniture for our house at a fraction of the cost of buying ready made furniture. Other useful crafts may be knitting and crocheting, painting, card making, jewellery making to name a few.

8. Gardening

I believe that you can be frugal without ever doing a jot of gardening. But being able to grow your own vegetables, even if it’s only a few herbs on the windowsill, will save you money on the groceries.

9. Maintenance

Maintenance covers a lot of ground. I’ve listed a few maintenance skills but the list is not exhaustive by any means nor am I suggesting that you need to have all of these skills, it just gives a few ideas. I’ve added self to maintenance, after all you need to be healthy and ‘maintained’ just like any inanimate possessions.

Around the home

• Change tap washes
• Clear drains
• Clear gutters
• Weeding, pruning, mowing
• Pest control
• Clean carpet and upholstery
• Repair appliances, toys, furniture and other household goods.
• Pet grooming

Car

• Change oil and oil filter
• Change spark plugs
• Change tires
• Wash and wax
• Change wiper blades

Self

• Cut hair
• Facials, manicures, waxing etc
• Exercise
• Eat healthy
• Mend clothing

10. Bartering

Skill swapping or good old fashioned bartering can fill a skill deficit without having to fork out a heap of money for a service. I haven’t tried bartering, but I remember reading about an elderly lady who advertised to wash and iron clothes in exchange for electrical and plumbing work. There will be skills that you have that others don’t that you can use as currency. If you have bartered in the past, why not leave a comment explaining how it worked and how it went.

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