Habits of Highly Frugal People That Save Lots

Have you ever wondered if you possess any habits of highly frugal people?  Frugality is a trait that I have embraced my whole life.  When I was much younger, it was more out of necessity, but I found it easy to do and live with because it’s how my mother raised me.  I never once felt deprived as a child.  My mother did a great job of concealing the lean times.  I know their were many times that she and my dad did without, so me and my brothers could have the nice necessities in life.  But I never heard either of them complain and frugality was a lifestyle that I thought every one did.  Well, I was just a little naive.

Over the years, I’ve seen more and more families let go of what it means to be frugal and it makes me a little sad that “things” have become so important in our lives, that we sacrifice financial freedom to have the latest and greatest of whatever it might be at the time.  It doesn’t have to be this way.

I’m writing this post to illustrate the point that most highly frugal people are goal driven.  I know this to be true about myself.  One of our goals is to be financially responsible and live life free from debt, stress and worry, if that’s possible.  I would also like to make a point that being frugal is not the same as being cheap.  Being frugal is being deliberate about how you spend your money, not being wasteful and planning ahead.

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you buy a suggested product, I will earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.  For more information, see my disclosure page.

12 Habits of Highly Frugal People

Here are some habits of highly frugal people that will help you take control of your financial situation and hopefully allow you to live a happier, stress free life.

Have Goals

The first thing you have to ask yourself is why you are doing this.  Most, if not all frugal people (myself included) think in the long term.  We look at the end game.  It helps to ask yourself where you’d like to be in five, ten or twenty years down the road.

Is early retirement one of your goals?  Some might just want retirement.  Not necessary early.  Do you want a nicer home?  Would you like to stay at home with your children?  That was a big one for me, many years ago.

Define Them

Define what you want in life.  Write it down and make it more realistic.  When you have goals, it’s a powerful force. When I had my first baby, I had to return to work when she was three months old.  It about killed me.  I knew I wanted more children, so my goal was to come home, for good, when I had my second baby.  That made me start working toward getting out of debt, saving and possibly downsizing.

I was able to achieve that goal when my son was born.  It wasn’t until I became pregnant with my third (and last) that we decided we needed to downsize.  We decided right before she was born to sell our home and move out of the city.  Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.  We bought an old fixer upper, that had a more manageable monthly note.  It needed a lot done to it, but we took our time, saved and did renovations as we could afford them.

Retirement is also a huge goal.  Knowing that down the road, my husband would be able to retire while still relatively young, has been a driving force for us to live frugally.  We will see the reality of that goal in just a few short months.

Bottom line is to define your goals, then decide how you’re going to get there.  Identify the obstacles, if any, that are keeping you from achieving your goals, whether it be financial or behavioral.

Say No To Debt

When you’re frugal, it usually runs hand in hand with saying no to debt.  Even growing up being frugal, we’ve had our share of debt.  I became really good at transferring balances from credit card to credit card with zero percent interest.  After a while though, it becomes so tiring. It’s a lot of work!  There finally came a point when we said “Enough”!  We had to stop the insanity!

I also found Dave Ramsey.  He was instrumental in helping us see the light and begin to start living within our means.  Stuff became less important and getting out of debt became the most important thing for our family.  When I realized that we had to stop the insanity of living on credit if we ever wanted to achieve financial freedom, I began to put my expertise of knowing how to live frugally to good use.

Dave says personal finance is 80% behavior and 20% head knowledge.  He’s right!  Saying no to debt is all about behavior.  It’s about having the power to control the person in the mirror!

Always Have A Budget

This is probably one of the main habits of frugal people.  Your budget is your road map to financial success.  Without one, you’ll go no where.  You have to tell your money where to go each and every month or you will wonder where it went.  It’s just a fact.  You’ll find that the more frugal you are, the more detailed your budget will be.  If you need help getting started with this, check out my post, 8 Simple Steps for Setting Up a Budget.

Save, Save, Save

When you’re frugal, you tend to have an emergency fund, a retirement savings of some kind and sinking funds for certain expenses.  It just comes natural.  It’s our way of being prepared.  When you have savings, it’s like having insurance to keep you from going further into debt and it allows you to plan for the future.  The best way to save is to take it off the top and be intentional.  If you’re not intentional about savings, there’s always going to be something that will come up, that seems more important at the time.  Before you know it, you’ve lost precious time and you may find yourself in a hole so deep, that it could take years to climb out of.  Make saving a priority…not an afterthought.

Cook and Eat At Home

When I was a kid, eating out was only for special occasions.  It was a luxury, so to speak.  Now days, it seems to be the norm.  People waste more money on fast food and restaurants, than any other category in the average budget.  Why is this?  It’s from lack of planning.  Meal planning is crucial, when you embrace frugality.  You can literally save hundreds of dollars, maybe more, by cooking from scratch and meal planning.  I call the fast food drive thru one of the biggest budget buster there is.  Occasionally, it’s ok, but eating out on a regular basis can make you go broke.  If you work outside the home, pull your crockpot out and put it to work!  Check out some of my easy crockpot recipes for inspiration.

 

Buy Used

Frugal people don’t drive new cars.  If you’ve ever listened to Dave, he says you should only buy a new car if you have a net worth of over one million dollars.  Now, I know some would laugh hysterically at this, but an automobile loses 60% of it’s value in the first four years.  You are immediately upside down, sometimes by thousands, as soon as you drive it off the lot.  Buying used allows someone else to eat the depreciation.  There are many good, reliable used cars out there.

Just think what that car payment could be worth in 10, 15 or 20 years if it were invested, instead!  It’s mind blowing!

DIY Whatever You Can

Well, my friends…This is a given.  We could have never bought that old fixer upper, so many years ago, if we weren’t able to DIY and fix whatever we could on our own.  It helped that my husband was a great handy man, as it saved us several thousands of dollars.  I wouldn’t recommend buying a fixer upper unless you’re handy or you have a whole lot of money to pay someone else to do it.

The great thing now is that even if you don’t know how to do certain things, it’s so much easier than it use to be.  YouTube has taught us both so much!  We always check there first before paying someone else to do things.

Shop Thrifty

Always check thrift stores, consignment sales and garage sales before buying retail.  There are so many bargains out there!  I find name brands and gently used items all the time, for a fraction of what they would be at the store.  My philosophy is “Why would you pay more if you didn’t have to?”

Don’t Worry About the Joneses

Never compare yourself to someone else.  It’ll get you in trouble.  You may see your friends on social media, living it up, but do you really know what’s going on?  Trips, cars, homes…stuff.  You have no idea the price that someone may be paying.  Comparison is never good, in cases like this.  Live within your own means and let the Joneses do their own thing.

Know How To Say “No”!

There comes a time in everyone’s life that you have to just say “no”!  It’s so easy to go over budget each month when things come up with friends or family, that you would really like to do.  But when you’ve committed to your budget, saying “no” is ok.  Sometimes, it might even be a little painful, but it’s all part of living within your means.  If you don’t have the money, DON’T SAY YES!  I promise…You will survive!

Communication is Key

In order to embrace the frugal lifestyle, communication is key.  In order to work toward a common goal, like say retirement, being on the same page with your spouse is vital.  If one is a spender and the other a saver, that’s ok, but you have to find the middle ground and come together for your common cause (or goal).  Both of you need to know what’s going on, especially when it comes to finances.  You can achieve a goal so much easier when you work together, instead of working separately or against each other.  Set time aside to discuss your goals, your dreams, your budget and how you plan to achieve these things.

Learn From Past Mistakes

We ALL make mistakes!  That’s what makes us human.  Even the best “frugalers” screw up from time to time.  I am so guilty, here.  I pride myself on being frugal, but I have made some doozy mistakes and I have tried to learn from them.  When you are frugal and you screw up with money, you tend to beat yourself up a little more than the average bear.  What that does is it burns into our brain the mistake that was made and it (hopefully) keeps us from making that same mistake, twice.  We hate to lose money, but hey…it happens to us, too!

So there you have it!  12 habits of highly frugal people!  It’s a lifestyle that I am very proud to live.  It has afforded me and my family a wonderful, blessed life…and peace of mind.  Being frugal doesn’t mean that we have given up the things that make us happy.  Quite the opposite.  Being frugal has allowed us to be happy and enjoy the things in life that really matter.

Do you practice any of these habits of highly frugal people?  What have you done to become more frugal?  Do you consider yourself to be a frugal person and if so, what have you done to get there?

Also, be sure to subscribe to Love to Frugal so you never miss a post and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram!