The point of this little blog post is to get you thinking about ways to save money and while I’ll be sharing some practical things that I do myself, I want you to dive deeper into the mindset being applied here in conjunction with frugality.

Shopping Cycles, Sales, & Otherwise

Only buy clothes that you need. Otherwise, always buy what you don’t need right away when they’re cheap and only then. This not only applies to clothing, but also all retail or consumer items.

While grocery shopping, always check for bulk items at a cheaper price especially when sales are being had on smaller items. Most times, the bulk item is cheaper still than the smaller item on sale

Also, while grocery shopping be aware that most foods have on and off seasons so plan your shopping accordingly

Try out the selection brands of the products you’d normally buy. You would be surprised how little difference there and yet they can cost half as much or sometimes more. For example, 1 Minute Rice 1Kg box costs about $7.99 whereas an 8Kg bag of rice from a random brand costs $11.99. The cost difference is huge and realistically I doubt one would notice much difference in the rice considering minute rice isn’t even super high quality anyway.

The 30-Day Challenge

The easiest way to save money is to try cutting something out of your life for 30 days and see the difference it makes. Ideally, cut out something that will improve your life and or replace it with something better. This is the best way to dip your toes into frugality. Reward yourself by using a portion of the savings on something you value more than what you gave up and put the rest to good use.

The Frugal Mindset

Now do note, most people will say oh well it’ll probably taste worse or that’s unrealistic, etc. That is fine, but if you then say you’re lacking money and wish you had more, know that you’re choosing to sacrifice that for boxed rice and many other simple things that from a zoomed-out perspective seem so insignificant. Changing the type of rice I eat or buying cheaper frozen vegetables seems like an easy trade for more wealth.

It’s also not just about sacrificing and having less, it’s more about adjusting your expectations to your budget and more importantly, shifting your spending from insignificant things like rice, to be able to afford the things that you get a lot of value from. It’s a huge misconception that frugal people get less out of life. We just put our wealth into a smaller amount of things that we value more and in my case, it improves my quality of life. When you focus on the things you want the most and cut out the fluff, you’ll be amazed at how much more you can achieve financially, and in all other avenues of life.

I think these things are more important than ever these days and I just felt like writing something so I shared this while I was going over my budget this Sunday. Anyways, feel free to like, share, and leave a comment below on what you think about this and how you save.