Frugal living is so often seen as a buzzword. One of those things ‘other’ people do and isn’t ‘for me’. However, there are lots of little changes we can all make in order to change our impact on the planet whilst also saving some cash. It’s easy to say but harder to implement. How can you actually live frugally?
Frugal With Food
There are some amazing ways to be live frugally with your food. Have you ever considered using our garden to grow your own produce? Imagine having a section of your outdoor space being used as an allotment. Grow some potatoes, carrots, beans and other vegetables. Grow some fruit like strawberries and raspberries. If you have a fruit tree, even better! You could even add a few chickens to your outdoor space to have eggs every day. This could be a great saving to your weekly shop. 5 chickens laying an egg a day will give you nearly 30 eggs a week. That would be maybe £4 or £5 if you bought them from the shop. That’s a lot of eggs on toast you can enjoy!
Whilst we’re discussing cooking, do you batch cook? This is where you buy more ingredients, making them cheaper as you are buying in bulk. Then you cook more than just the one or two portions of the meal that you need. Using your freezer to stack your own version of ready meals, you have food ready when you need it. All you have to do is defrost before you go to work and it’s ready for the oven when you come home. Get to know your freezer, make it work for you and you can enjoy batch cooking some of your favourite meals so you have them whenever you want.
Frugal With Your Belongings
Stop spending money on stuff you don’t need. Enjoy spending money on quality things that you will actually use and enjoy. But so many of us fill space in our house with junk. We try and fill, maybe a void in our hearts with stuff to help us feel better. The reality is that it doesn’t help. We end up with clutter and less money in our pockets.
Instead of buying new clothes, can you make the ones you have go further. The likelihood is you just like the idea of new clothing, you don’t actually need it. Can you get shoes resoled instead of chucking them and buying new? Upcycle your clothing too, so you’ll avoid the cost of buying brand new and keep less usable clothing going to landfill.
The average person in the UK has almost £800 worth of stuff in our homes which we don’t want, or need, or indeed use. Sell it. If it’s worth something, sell it and enjoy the money elsewhere in your life. Enjoy the extra space on your home too. Experiences over things is a great mindset to shift to to help you live frugally.
Frugal With Life
We so often sign up to a free membership which turns into a paid membership. That’s how they get you. That’s how they make their money. It’s time to give your life and spring clean and cut back on the things you no longer use. Cancel that Amazon Prime Video subscription, you haven’t watched it in months! Switch utility suppliers for a better deal. Make your own cleaning products. Fix broken things instead of throwing them away.
Being able to live frugally isn’t not enjoying yourself. It’s not sitting there not having any fun. It’s realising what is important and focusing on that, rather than what the rest of the world might say.
A Frugal Future
There is a certain responsibility about looking after our planet for future generations and shifting ourselves to live frugally will certainly help. If we start making changes now, we’ll be able to enjoy the lives we want, whilst being able to say that we’re doing out bit too. Did you know you can even be frugal at festivals?!
Save some money and become more self sufficient. Save usable items being wasted, be sensible with your decisions and help others make changes too.
