Living frugally is a lifestyle change and rather than depriving yourself of luxuries, living frugally actually frees up money that is available for you to spend! If you watch the pennies you spend on a daily basis, such as on food, activities and travel your bank balance is likely to be much healthier. There is an abundance of information on the internet on how to live frugally, in fact being frugal has actually become quite trendy!    

Before you sign up to owning your first allotment in order to embrace “the good life”, here are some easy ways you can live more frugally and save money!

Know your own finances

This sounds an easy concept, as we all know what we are spending our money on, don’t we? Unfortunately most people haven’t a clue where the majority of their money is spent, we have a tendency to bury our heads in the sand when it comes to really knowing our finances. Sometimes debt can spiral out of control to such an extent that advice from a  debtsettlement.co can really help us to handle our finances.

Make a list of all major outgoings, then total up the amount of money you spend on extras such as eating out, coffee shops and clothes. It can be surprising how much your daily skinny latte adds up!

Spend less than you earn

It sounds so obvious when you write it down, but in reality unless you really focus on what you’re spending, it is easy to spend more than you intended. With the invention of contactless card payments, credit cards and debit cards we can sometimes think our funds are never ending, as we never actually handle cash. On the other hand it has never been easier to keep an eye on our finances, with the invention of online banking that can even be accessed from our smartphones. Try to develop the habit of checking bank balances daily. It may help to have a weekly budget to stick to.

Homemade is best!

When you looked at your spending habits, you may have been shocked by the amount of money you spend on eating out or getting takeaway food. Cooking from scratch at home is a much cheaper way of eating and is also much healthier! Search the internet for frugal recipes and source foods that are local and in season. It is helpful to do a weekly meal planner so that you don’t go off track and order a pizza instead!

Look at where you shop

You can save a huge amount of money by becoming more savvy in your shopping habits. Some shops and supermarkets charge premium prices for exactly the same products, or similar products than other shops. Often you are paying more for the “shopping experience” and ambience rather than for better products. It is therefore more frugal to shop at the budget stores to get the same products, but at cheaper prices. Local markets are also a good place to find quality locally sourced produce at reasonable cost.

These are easy ways to become more frugal and save money in the process.