There are many reasons why many people lean towards extreme frugality. For example, some people want to get out of debt as early as possible, pay off their mortgage, travel around the world, or even retire early. The point is, being extremely frugal is not a negative thing but can help you to achieve financial abundance and true freedom.
Your Rate Of Savings Determine How Early You Can Retire
Before we get into all of the ways you can save money, you may be wondering why you’d resort to extreme frugality and deprive yourself of the little things in life. Something like a couple of lattes per week or cable television can add to your quality of life, right?
The amount of money you save determines how long you need to work to retire with enough money to live comfortably. If you only save 5% of your income, then you will need to work an almost impossible 66 years before you can retire.
However, if you have a 50% savings rate, this will drop to only 17 years of working before you can retire. If you can take it a bit further to a 75% savings rate, then you can retire after only seven years of working.
So, as you can see, those extra lattes do count. Suppose you can practice extreme frugality for only seven years and achieve a 75% savings rate.
In that case, you can enjoy the rest of your life in retirement mode and do whatever your heart desires.
Don’t Buy A Car/Get Rid Of Your Current Vehicle
Automobiles not only cost a lot of money to purchase, but they are also very costly to run and maintain. To put this into perspective, the average cost of a new car is $36,718.
So, if your monthly salary is $3,000 per month, then you’ll need to take all your income for an entire year to pay for a new vehicle. This is quite ridiculous since the cost of insurance, maintenance, and even gas is omitted.
As a result, it is a much better idea to avoid buying a vehicle in the first place and opt for public transport or simply try to get a ride to work from a friend, family member, or co-worker every day. This will save you thousands of dollars while simultaneously lowering your carbon footprint.
Stop Going To Restaurants Or Buying Fast Food
Most families spend hundreds of dollars every month on takeout and eating at restaurants. Even if you’re single, you probably still spend a lot of money socializing at clubs, bars, and restaurants.
This is undoubtedly wasted money. So, we recommend that you completely stop buying food at these establishments and start cooking your food at home.
You can save even more money by finding and cutting out coupons for the grocery so that you can save as much money as you can on your grocery bill. By planning out your meals according to the coupons you have every week or month, it will go a long way in reducing your food bill.
To take things to the extreme, you should consider meal prepping, batch cooking meals, and freezing them. You should also create lots of meals with cheap items such as beans, frozen vegetables, and other items on sale.
Purchasing fruits and vegetables that are in season will also be much less expensive. You can even wash and cut up fruits and vegetables and freeze them when they are cheaper so that you always have affordable produce available for your meals.
Suppose you have land space available around your home. In that case, you should also consider growing your food such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, green beans, eggplant, pumpkin, etc.
Additionally, if you do happen to go to a fast-food restaurant, be sure to take as many ketchup and other condiment packets that they would allow. These are quite handy, and you can store them in your fridge.
This will undoubtedly save you a couple of bucks as you won’t need to buy your condiments at the grocery.
Downsize Your Life & Move Into A Smaller Home
Next, if you have many belongings and clutter in your home, you should get rid of them.
To get into a frugal mindset, you should reduce your desire to purchase and be surrounded by a lot of “stuff.” A good idea is to hold a garage sale and sell any item you don’t need.
You should then consider moving into a smaller home if you live in a large home or apartment. If you are paying a large mortgage on a large house, then you should downsize. Tiny homes have become quite popular, and they typically only cost between $30,000 and $60,000.
By purchasing a tiny home instead of something more expensive, you’ll not only save money on your mortgage but all of the accompanying expenses such as insurance, repairs, heating, maintenance, etc.
Make DIY Gifts
Another area where most people spend a lot of money is on gifts during the year for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, Christmas, etc. To reduce how much money you spend on gifts, you should go the DIY route for all of your gifts.
There are many things you can make with a little bit of time and a few YouTube tutorials.
For example, you can easily make beaded jewelry, knitted sweaters, photo frames, etc. These gifts will cost you only a few dollars or almost nothing if you have some of the raw materials around your home.
Cheap/Free Entertainment
Next, suppose you spend money on a Netflix subscription or regularly go to the bar with your friends. In that case, you’re throwing away money.
Instead, cancel your streaming subscriptions and opt for YouTube, which is entirely free. As for entertainment, you should think about hosting game nights at your home or even do free activities such as hiking, going to the beach, fishing, etc.
These types of activities are not only free, but they are also of higher quality. Additionally, they will make you feel better in the long run instead of alcohol-fueled nights out.
Self-Care
Another sector many people unknowingly spend a lot of money on is self-care. You likely get your hair cut or done at a hairdresser or barber, get your eyebrows waxed, etc.
Instead of spending money on these areas, you can save a lot by learning to cut and color your hair and your family member’s hair. This is s a specific skill you can learn online and will undoubtedly save you a lot of money. You can even learn how to do your nails, wax, etc.
You can also save money on disposable razors by purchasing safety razors. Instead of buying shaving gel, ordinary soap will work quite well.
Save On Electricity
Finally, there are many ways you can lower your electricity bill, and one of them is to take cold showers. Cold showers also happen to have many health benefits, and since you won’t spend much time in the shower, you’ll also save on your water bill.
Also, instead of using heating, use blankets or layer your clothes when possible.
Final Thoughts
We have just covered precisely how you can start being extremely frugal in your daily life. It will take some time to get used to and adjust. However, your bank account will thank you.
Not many people will understand what you’re trying to achieve. However, keep in mind that frugal living is not about being miserly but about saving money to create a future lifestyle that you desire.
It will also ensure that you and your family are well taken care of during your retirement. There is no better feeling than financial security.
