16 Of The Best Frugal Living Tips For One Income Families
Inside: Whether by choice or by necessity living on one income can be difficult. If you’ve ever wondered how you and your family can live a frugal life, here are 15 of the best frugal living tips for one-income families!
When we decided to homeschool our girls four years ago, we knew finances would be tight when we went from two incomes down to one.
Out of necessity, we had to cut back on spending and create a strict family budget. I won’t sugar coat it and say living frugally is always fun.
But over time, we adjusted, and now, I love nothing more than hunting down the best frugal living tips for my family! There’s so much fun to be had in getting resourceful and living frugally.
For single-income families, living a frugal lifestyle can make them much happier as a whole and enable them to live their best lives.
If you’ve ever wondered how you and your family can live a frugal life, here are 16 of the best frugal living tips for one-income families!
This post may contain affiliate links. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. You can see my full disclosure policy here.
The Benefits of Living Frugally
Living frugally holds incredible benefits that will come as a surprise to most people. The thing I love the most about frugal living is that it keeps the home clutter-free.
It’s easy to become tempted by sales and buy things we don’t need. Those things end up sitting in a cupboard, drawer, or corner of our homes for months on end, never being used.
And don’t even get me started on toys that can clutter the house.
When you stop buying things you don’t need (and spending more money than you have to), you wind up having money for the things you really want in life. A family vacation, a house, or even that Roomba you have had your eye on.
Living a frugal life frees up your time. When you aren’t busy spending your money on things that aren’t necessities or cleaning up the many useless items you have wasted your hard-earned income on, you find the time you never knew you had.
One of the most valuable benefits of living frugally is that you’ll save money and have more quality time as a family. When possessions stop being the focus and you’re not worrying about paying bills, you’ll find that your family becomes a lot less stressed and enjoy spending more time simply being together.
The Best Frugal Living Tips and Ideas You Need To Try
There is an abundance of tips to help you live a frugal life, but the best frugal living tips are ones that are easy to achieve and have maximum impact. These are my favorite frugal living tips to help you save money on food, your household expenses as well as clothes, and food shopping.
The Best Frugal Living Tips to Help You Save On Food
1. Make a meal plan each week, so you don’t fall into the trap of not having anything in the pantry and opting for expensive takeout food.
2. Make the most of supermarket cashback apps and coupons so you can get more for your money.
3. Buy food in bulk where you can and store nonperishables. You can also make meals in bulk and freeze them.
Related: How to Be Better With Money and Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck
Save Money With Simple And Easy Meal Planning
The Best Frugal Living Tips to Help You Save in Your Household
4. Switch to a less expensive cell phone company and check price comparison sites for the best deals around.
5. Ditch the cable in exchange for a less expensive alternative to watch all your favorite shows. You could opt for a subscription with Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Apple TV and save a significant amount on your monthly TV bill.
6. Switch from regular to energy-saving light bulbs.
7. You could lower your electricity bill by installing solar panels or doing something as simple as fixing draughty windows and doors.
The Best Frugal Living Tips to Help You Save On Shopping & Clothing
8. Don’t buy things just because they’re on sale. Take the time to consider whether or not you really need to spend the money and if you’ll have any use for the item. If you do need to buy something, be sure to look into cashback sites like Rakuten so you can earn money for your purchases.
9. Search the second-hand shops before going to large retailers. You’ll be surprised what some people will throw away. One man’s trash really is another man’s treasure.
10. Share the things you no longer need with family and friends and encourage them to do the same with you.
How to Incorporate The Best Frugal Living Tips in 2020
There are countless great ways to incorporate a frugal lifestyle into modern living. Living in 2020 doesn’t need to be as complicated as it’s made out to be. There are plenty of ways to live simply and frugally in order to better your family’s lives.
The media often tells us that the key to happiness is having more, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are some tips for frugal living in 2020:
11. You could upcycle your old furniture. Instead of throwing things out, turn that unloved coffee table into a project for a new lease of life.
12. Turn a section of your backyard into a vegetable garden so you can save some money on fruit and vegetables. Nothing beats fresh, homegrown produce!
13. At the beginning of the month, deposit part of your money to your savings account, so you force yourself to live with less. It will also prevent you from making unnecessary purchases and make you think more about what you want compared to what you need.
14. If you get a pay raise at work, put 40-50% of that into your savings. You’ll still have a bit more money each month, but at the same time, you’ll be saving!
15. Set yourself a goal to increase your rate of savings by 1% every 3-6 months. You won’t notice the difference every month, but over time, your savings will significantly increase.
16. Set a goal to pay in cash for all your needs. Avoid using credit cards which can give you a false sense of spending power.
Frugal Living Tips for Modern Families
Frugal living is the way forward. Having more does not make you happier… I would argue that it makes you and your family more stressed.
Spending money on things you want rather than need is a sure-fire way to end up with a cluttered home and minimal finances for the things that would truly enhance your life. Frugality certainly does not mean going without.
In fact, I feel like I have more even though I own fewer things!
Never has it been easier to make the change to a frugal lifestyle. More and more people are making the change, and there must be a reason for it!
Living frugally will help you save money on food, your household bills, and even the clothes you wear. Frugality forces you to think about what is genuinely essential in your life, which in turn helps you to prioritize those things for your family to live happier and more fulfilled lives.
Your Turn
Do you have some best frugal living tips for families living on one income? I would love for you to comment with your suggestions below!
