CuriositiesSEP 5, 2022

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

Mantas Kačerauskas and Adelaide May Ross

Inflation has recently hit a 40-year high, and we’re all feeling the effects. What once was a simple trip to the grocery store can now leave a huge dent in our wallets, and the current gas prices are deterring many of us from taking those late summer road trips. So whether you have a stable income or you’re currently living paycheck to paycheck, we could all use some tips that can help us stretch our money.

To help you pandas get the most out of your dollars, pounds, euros, renminbi, etc., we’ve gone through the Financial Independence subreddit’s Frugal Friday threads to round up some of the smartest and most practical money-saving tips we can all start implementing. Be sure to upvote the recommendations you find most helpful, and then let us know in the comments what your personal favorite tips and tricks are for saving money. Then, if you’re interested in gaining even more personal finance knowledge, you can check out another Bored Panda piece featuring tips that will get you the most bang for your buck right here.

#21

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

I make my own soap and hand wash. It’s quite therapeutic, fun, saves me money and reduces plastic waste.

shekbekle, Sincerely Media

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51points

Hutchins also warns people who want to get more bang for their buck not to settle for quoted prices. “It’s not a secret that you can call your cable and cell service providers once a year, and they’ll likely give you a better rate plan,” he told CNBC. We should all be taking advantage of our negotiation skills everywhere we can. Whether it’s utilizing the chat function on websites where you’re shopping to ask if they can do anything about the price of an item or searching for coupons online that you can use in stores, Hutchins explains that there are almost always ways to avoid paying the ticket price. “Say you’re renovating and need to spend a lot of money at Home Depot. There are websites where you can buy Home Depot coupons online,” he explained. “I needed to buy patio furniture and bought a 15% off coupon for $2.”

#22

I'm big on yard sales and thrifting and flipping the things I already have and using that money specifically to buy clothes and shoes. I hunt for high quality gently used brands priced for a steal and I only seek things I actually am in need of. For my birthday next month I have a big bag of clothes and purses and things and plan to turn it all into my favorite thrift store for in store credit and use that for a shopping spree in the store as a gift to myself! Other than that I do the little things like making my coffee at home, we buy creamers we love so the coffee is delish. My biggest problems are eating out but I'm getting better at meal planning for the week and cooking even though I HATE cooking!

alexitam14, Clem Onojeghuo

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48points

#23

A month ago I spent $800 on home-gym equipment. Now I have enough to do almost all the main movements I would do in a commercial gym, just steps away, in my basement. It’s a huge time saver and most of the stuff I got will last indefinitely.

finallyransub17, Brian Wangenheim

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48points

#24

Well, for a scant few hours of my time, I'm the proud owner of 3 dozen quarts of applesauce with another 3 dozen worth nearly done. And my dear sweet apple tree has dropped mayyyyybe 10% of its apples.

I should finally invest in a cider press, but the 25gallons of currently fermenting liquids don't really need more company.

#RuralPeopleProblems I suppose.

Edit - my apple-addled brain needed re-formatting.

GingerThursday

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43points

Hutchins also says that it can help to “pick off low-hanging fruit”. Take a long, hard look at where you’re spending, and eliminate any unnecessary burdens. If you’re not using Netflix more than once a month, it might be time to end your subscription. Chances are, if you really want to see a film on there every now and then, a friend of yours can loan you their account for the evening. And for some lucky individuals living in the United States, Hutchins recommends checking out MissingMoney.com. The site is a database filled with unclaimed checks just sitting around. It wouldn’t hurt to search your name and see if anything comes up!

#25

I've been taking doordash trips in the direction i'm heading for longer drives to get my wife's fancy sour dough bread & composting. Now I can write off my mileage and I can usually make enough to pay for the bread & entire trip. BOOM.

Edmeyers01, Marques Thomas

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38points

#26

We have several cats, and we make their food. Cheaper than buying the expensive cans, and gives them better nutrition, so less visits to the vet

Picard-Out

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35points

#27

I (25F) initially lived with my sister, whose also in her mid 20s. Our youngest sibling asked to move in with us to go to attend the university nearby (15 min away). Instead of getting a 3 bedroom apartment, we kept the 2 bedroom apartment and used a room divider to turn the living room into a 3rd bedroom.

le1236, Patrick Perkins

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34points

We hope you’re learning some useful tips from this list that might help you stretch your next paycheck. Whether you’re the most or least financially stable you’ve ever been right now, we understand how greatly inflation has impacted all of us. Keep upvoting the posts you find most practical, and then feel free to share your own money-saving tips with your fellow pandas down below. And if you want to find out even more ways to live frugally, don’t forget to read this Bored Panda article next!

#28

Online shopping tip- install a chrome extension for reverse image searching and use it before you buy anything. Sometimes things are sold on multiple online retailers at different prices. I just switched from buying a sofa on wayfair to Target.

Sometimes products are being dropped shipped from aliexpress, especially when it’s a shopify site you get to from a FB ad. Reverse search might find this if the seller is too lazy to take their own pics, but long shipping times are a good clue as well. I ordered a garden tool recently, then discovered I could have bought it for less than half on aliexpress.

catjuggler

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34points

#29

We just got a free trial of a meal kit delivery service for next week. They give them to current users to give to their friends to entice new customers to join. We noted down there us 4 in our household so we are getting 20 meals (5 days x 4 people) delivered for free. This is the 3rd free trial we've had.

jka8888

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27points

#30

Hungryroot referral program is $50. They have great snacks and decent organic meat.

Tiedup_tight

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18points

Mantas KačerauskasBoredPanda Staff

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