How to Become More Thrifty – Six Strategies That Will Save You Hundreds

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how to be more thrifty

Want to be more thrifty but not sure where to start?

Change can always be a little overwhelming.

Frugality is not so much a destination, but a journey. And like any journey, it starts with a single step.

Or in this case, six steps to significantly reducing your expenses, save money and be in a better financial position.

Being thrifty isn’t so much about saving money, but changing spending habits. Once you change your habits, the savings follow.

6 Steps to Becoming More Thrifty

There are plenty of tactics you can take to save money. This site is full of them. But you need to start with overarching principles and strategies first and then apply them to your circumstances.

The problem with tactics is they are so specific that it can be hit and miss whether they work for you.

For example, make five meals from one roast chook is a tactic. It will work for a lot of people, but if you’re trying to feed a couple of hungry teenage boys then…not so much.

On the other hand, stretch small amounts of meat to make more than one meal is a strategy that anyone can apply in varying ways.

So this article talks about strategies first. Ones that can be applied to most situations. From there, work out specific money-saving tactics that work in your circumstances that will enable you to action each strategy. Some suggestions below.

1. Start With the Groceries

Of all the places to start saving, why start with the groceries?

Because of the big three expenses (housing, car payments and groceries) the groceries are the most flexible and it’s easy to save money on the groceries.

You also see immediate results, which can be an important motivational boost. And it feels less like deprivation – a good way to ease your way into becoming more thrifty.

So how do you start saving money on the groceries?

PLANNING is the first important step to saving money on the groceries. Planning ahead what you’re going to eat at each meal, writing out a shopping list and sticking to it when you shop will save you significant amounts of money when you shop.

You don’t need to plan with the precision of a military campaign. A menu plan is simply a list of meals: a few ideas for breakfast and lunch will suffice and 7 nights worth of dinners. You can allocate those dinners to a particular night, or choose a dinner from your list each day.

While menu planning is easy, there are a few things you can do to maximise your grocery savings:

Other articles on grocery savings include:

Save Money on the Groceries eBook

Grocery shopping on a tight budget

For more ways to meal plan and save money on groceries, check out the eBook Plan Cook Save: How to Eat Well When Money is Tight and Time is Short.

*Learn how to set the right grocery budget for your circumstances.

*Find out the easiest and quickest way to reduce the grocery bill.

*Discover a meal planning strategy that will only take you a couple of minutes a week but will save you hours.

2. Have a No-Spend Challenge

One tip you’ll often hear is to track your expenses for a month to get a really good idea on where your money goes.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a very valuable and enlightening exercise! The downside is, you’re not actually saving any money for a whole month and it’s a tedious exercise – most people give up after a few days.

We can reverse this idea with a no-spend month. You still get a pretty good idea of your money leaks because for the whole month you’re not spending on auto-pilot. The challenge helps you to become aware of your spending habits just like tracking your expenses does, but you also have the benefit of saving money straight away.

To start a no-spend challenge, agree what expenses count as necessary expenses and what counts as stuff you don’t really need. Bills, groceries, rent, debts, fees – that stuff counts as necessary expenses. Spend on the necessities, avoid the rest.

As part of your no-spend month, whenever you don’t spend, write it down. Become aware of where your money goes. Then do a few calculations.

We’ll use the example of takeaway coffee, because it’s a common expense that adds up, but do this exercise for all the discretionary expenses you say no to this month.

Ask yourself:

  • how many times do I buy this each month?
  • how much does it cost each time?
  • how much is it costing me weekly? monthly? yearly?

Write it all down and add it all up. How much yearly is all of your discretionary spending costing you? Is it worth it? This is not a rhetorical question, the answer may well be yes! Or would that money be better spent on something else?

Read more: How to have a no-spend challenge

3: Become a Mindful Spender

The point of a no-spend month is to make you more aware of your spending habits and to give your savings a quick boost – it’s not meant to be a long term strategy.

The key is to find the balance between enjoying today and saving for tomorrow. That’s going to look different for each of us.

Now that you’re more aware of where you money goes, it’s time to get creative with how to meet your needs and wants in a savvier way and save money.

Here’s a great example from some friends of mine.

On the weekends, my friends take the kids to the beach. They pack their own morning tea so that’s a fun morning outing for the family for free.

They do love their coffee though. Instead of spending up to $5 each for a cup of coffee, they pop into the service station on the way and get an 80c cup that they say is just as good as the expensive stuff. Not only that, they can drink their coffee in peace in the car with the kids are strapped into the back and diverted.

My point is, they’re not depriving themselves, and they’re not feeling deprived. They have found a savvy way to meet their wants without spending a fortune. A trip to the coffee shop for the whole family can set you back around $30 or more, and it’s in no way relaxing and enjoyable with toddlers. Their solution is a win all round.

So where are your discretionary spending black holes and how can you fill wants more cheaply?

To give you some ideas, check out:

Once you become savvy with your spending, it’s time to take it to the next level. Being thrifty encompasses bigger things than saving a buck: it requires a shift in perspective.

It’s about seeing the beauty of things that aren’t new and shiny and belong on the cover of a glossy magazine. It’s about thinking through the impact of our spending on the wider environment. It’s about finding contentment with imperfection and happiness that has nothing to do with consumer goods or how our house looks or what brand of clothes we wear.

It’s about being creative – inventing solutions that aren’t found in a catalogue or on the shelves of a big box store on a Saturday afternoon.

For frugal inspiration, check out:

4: Go For Big Wins on the Bills

So far, we’ve looked at gaining immediate savings. Now we’re going to go for the big savings that pay off in the long run and we do that by negotiating a better deal on our bills.

If you’re not negotiating your bills every year, you could be putting hundreds, if not thousands of dollars into someone else’s pocket when you don’t need to.

So it pays to shop around each year and take the time to compare prices and get a better deal on your bills.

Then, once you have a better deal, take steps to reduce your bills.

Read further:

5: Create a Savings Plan

A savings plan is a great tool for helping you stay thrifty in the future and cover the bills stress-free. Different from a budget, a savings plan is a proactive plan for your money.

To create a savings plan, divide your bills into the number of pays you receive. For example, if you get paid fortnightly, and you pay your car registration yearly, divide the rego amount by the number of fortnights left until it’s due. If you pay your phone bill monthly, divide it by 2.

Do this for every bill and then add up the amounts. This is what you need to be putting away into a separate savings account each payday to cover the bills.

As part of your savings plan, don’t forget to save for emergencies.

An emergency fund is a separate savings account to cover the unexpected financial upsets in life. Car motor blown? Unexpected medical bill? That’s what your emergency fund is there to cover.

Build an emergency fund the same way you would your savings plan by automatically transferring a set amount each payday to a separate savings account.

For more information see:

6: Get Rid of Your Debt

It’s hard to be thrifty and save when you’re forking out interest for yesterday’s purchases.

Here’s the easy 3 step plan to get out of debt:

1. Stop using credit to make purchases. It’s impossible to get out of debt if you continue to incur it. From now on, no more new debt unless absolutely necessary.

2. Automate your debt repayments just like your savings plan. If your minimum monthly repayment is $100, pay $50 each payday and do it automatically, so you can’t spend that money on something else.

3. Snowball your repayments. That means paying the minimum on all your debts except for one. On that one debt, pay as much extra as you can afford. Once that debt is paid off, use that whole amount as the extra repayment on the second debt, and so forth.

The combination of being thrifty with your money and having a solid savings plan in place will practically eliminate the need for consumer debt in the future.

For more information see:

The secret to becoming more thrifty can really be summed up in one little phrase: spend less money.

In reality though, you’re not actually trying to spend less money, you’re changing your habits to ones that will cost you less money. Focus on the habits and the savings will come.

how to become more thrifty

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4 Comments

  1. Melissa i just love your tips. I do alot of these already and follow my own progress on my blog stepping–back.blogspot.com but wow i need to step up my game to meet your dedication.

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Hi Jacinta, great blog. Don’t think that I’m perfectly frugal! I’m not.

  2. Hi Melissa,

    Such a great list of ways to become more thrifty! I agree – a no-spend month is a great way to kickstart positive habits and save in the short-term. While it isn’t sustainable long-term (we all need to treat ourselves and indulge every once in a while!), it’s an important frugal strategy to consider trying out.

    Additionally, as you say, meal planning is a great way to be frugal. It’s a sustainable way to save money in the long run. Personally, I get excited with planning what’s on the menu for the upcoming week. Even if someone doesn’t particularly enjoy planning, once they start saving money, they’ll be hooked on it!

    If someone is just starting out on their frugal journey and wants to pick one area to focus on, which one habit do you think they should hone in on first?

    – Jani, Frugal Fun Finance

  3. Thank you Melissa, once again actionable tips and a great read. Can you recommend other REALLY valuable bloggers to have in my email list?