Clever People Are Sharing Their Life Hacks To Living More Frugally, Here Are 30 Of The Best Ones

It feels like the dream of reaching financially stability, being able to ever purchase a home, and even being able to retire at 65 is slipping further and further out of reach every day. And while the easiest way to become rich or get to stop worrying about our finances is to have a job that pays hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, unfortunately, we can’t all make that happen. So unless you’re among the Jeff Bezos-es and Elon Musks of the world, it probably would not hurt to start adopting more money-saving habits.

These can be anything from using leftovers wisely to making sure you take advantage of any discounts you can possibly get, but in combination with one another, these tips can hopefully help you have a little bit more left in the bank at the end of each month. Despite how unattainable financial independence can sometimes feel, we all want to reach it. So let’s see if this online group can help us out!

The Financial Independence subreddit is a very popular place, as it currently has 1.4 million members. And as the group’s description states, “This is a place for people who are or want to become Financially Independent (FI), which means not having to work for money. Financial Independence is closely related to the concept of Early Retirement/Retiring Early (RE) - quitting your job/career and pursuing other activities with your time. At its core, FI/RE is about maximizing your savings rate (through less spending and/or higher income) to achieve FI and have the freedom to RE as fast as possible.”

The moderators have made it very clear what the community is about, and even what it isn’t about. They focus on discovering and achieving life goals: “What would I do with my life if I didn't have to work for money?", as well as helping members simplify and redesign their lives to minimize spending. “Your wants and needs aren't written in stone, and less spending is powerful at any income level,” the moderators explain.

The page also focuses on providing tips to help increase members’ income streams by adding on additional projects and side-gigs and helping them save a large amount of their incomes. In fact, they recommend that members try to set aside at least 50% of their income. Obviously, that is a privilege and not possible for everyone, but in a perfect world, that would be the goal for all of us. The subreddit also helps members learn how to invest and manage their investments, so they can keep an eye on early retirement.

When it comes to what the page is not about, they clearly state that the goal is not “gaining wealth for the purpose of excessive consumption”. So if you’re planning on becoming a billionaire and polluting the planet even faster than you ever could before, I’m going to stop you right there. And lastly, the moderators note that the community does not focus on taking the slow, traditional route to retirement. It is for people who want to go above and beyond and maximize their resources to retire early.

Now, if you’re rolling your eyes thinking that early retirement will never be a possibility for you given your current financial situation, I completely understand. We have not all had the resources, opportunities, or time to be able to set money aside and save for retirement. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start saving as much as we can right now. An extra hundred dollars left in the bank each month can go a long way for some of us, and even if it means we have a bit less anxiety when we take trips to the grocery store or have to buy a birthday present for a loved one, it’s worth it. The less time we spend stressing out about paying our bills or how we are going to pay rent, the more time we can spend nurturing our relationships and looking forward to our futures. 

Having less financial worries can actually benefit our health as well. You might not even realize how common it is to be anxious about money, but according to a recent survey, 90% of Americans say their financial situation impacts their stress levels. And we all know that unmanaged stress can have a negative impact on our well-being, but 40% of Americans also said that “managing their money on a daily basis limits the extent to which they can enjoy their day-to-day life”. Financial stress is distracting and can keep us from ever being able to relax, deter us from going to the doctor when we need to and can lead to detrimental impacts on our personal relationships. Whatever it takes to minimize anxiety when it comes to our monetary situation is well worth it.

You might be concerned that there is no way to cut corners financially without lowering your quality of life. But according to Chris Hutchins, a self-proclaimed ‘life hacker’ and host of the All the Hacks podcast, there are several ways many of us can start making the most of our money without sacrificing the things we love. “The biggest one for me is looking at where you spend most of your money and figure out how to get a better return or erase the expense,” Hutchins told CNBC. To do this, he recommends first figuring out how inflation is personally affecting you. For example, are you spending much more on gasoline, or do you not even own a car? Maybe groceries or dining out is stealing more of your income?   

Hutchins says that once you realize how exactly inflation is impacting your finances, you can find a way to take advantage of it. For example, find a credit card that will earn you cash back wherever you spend the most. That way, the spending that you can’t avoid will actually come to benefit you. Sure, it’s best to minimize your spending altogether, but if you are required to drive an hour to and from work every day, see if you can start earning cash back on all those fuel purchases.