There are so many different ways to live a frugal lifestyle, and it can differ from person to person. Though I consider myself quite frugal and we’ve always lived on a budget and been very intentional with our money, I thought it would be fun and insightful to put together a list of things that most people would assume a frugal person would probably do, but that I am not doing right now.
When it comes to a lot of things in life, I’m a big believer in counting the time costs and looking at the return on investment. And this is also true with frugality. How much is your time worth? How much are you saving per hour to prioritize different frugal choices? Is it worth it to you?
Only you can determine that based upon your budget and your current season of life. During some seasons, if it was saving $3/hour, I needed to be saving that because money was so tight. In other seasons, there has been more breathing room in our budget, so it wasn’t worth it to invest my time into something that was only saving us $3/hour. (For example, I’ve never found it worth the time to make my own tortillas from scratch!).
10 Frugal Things I Don’t Do (Right Now)
I hope my list encourages you that no one can prioritize all the frugal things all the time and there are seasons where certain things work and seasons when they aren’t a good choice.
Here is my list of 10 frugal things I don’t currently do:
1. Use paper coupons.
Years ago, I was a couponing queen with a huge organized tub of coupons. Nowadays, I just shop the sales and use digital coupons.
2. Cloth diaper.
We exclusively cloth-diapered our first but switched to Pampers after our second had a skin reaction. I got diapers for free by playing the drugstore game!
3. Make my own laundry soap.
I’ve tried multiple times and it’s never worked for me. And now I’ve heard it actually might not be good on your washing machine.
4. Never go out to eat.
As soon as we could find room in the budget for eating out, we prioritized it. It’s so nice not to cook occasionally!
(Psst! Looking for coupons to help cut the cost on eating out? Follow along for our best restaurant coupons each day, plus check out all of these places that kids eat for free!)
5. Always re-use baggies.
I only re-use freezer bags if they’ve had dry ingredients in them or if I’m putting the same ingredients in them (i.e. we usually have a bag in the freezer where we put frozen bananas).
6. Cut my kids’/husband’s hair.
I grew up with my mom cutting my hair. But I’ve tried and was a terrible failure at this one! 🫣 So we go to the salon instead!
7. Shop at Aldi.
I love Aldi and have shopped there off and on my entire adult life, but Kroger delivery and digital coupons are where it’s at for us right now. Though if we lived in area where there wasn’t a Kroger or a discount grocery store, you better believe I’d be shopping at Aldi (see photo above from my grocery trip on our lake vacation recently!)
(You might find this article interesting on an experiment about which is cheaper — Kroger or Aldi!)
8. Always buy used.
My girls are big into thrifting, but I find it’s a lot of time investment for me & I often don’t love what I find. (I do love ThredUp, though — which is sort of like online thrifting!)
9. Dry our laundry on a clothes line.
My mom loved doing this and many people raving fans of it, but I just don’t love it and find it to be very time-consuming. Plus, it doesn’t jive well with my allergies.
10. Plant a garden.
We always had a HUGE garden growing up and it can save you a lot of money. But it’s a big time investment and not something I’ve prioritized after marriage.
(After I wrote this post, I realized I forgot another frugal thing I don’t usually do: make birthday cakes/cupcakes. We can buy them for $5-$8 at the store, and that’s worth the time saved right now, plus my kids love to get to choose their colors/designs/kind.)
Looking for more frugal inspiration?
- 20 Things You Don’t Have to Pay For
- 7 Things Frugal People Never Pay For
- What to Do When You’re Tired of Being Frugal
- 3 Simple Ways to Start Living a More Frugal Life Right Away
- 24 Simple Ways to Live More Frugally
- 6 Frugal Tips to Help You Live on One Income
- 5 Fancy Habits That are Actually Frugal
Up until a couple of years ago, I never bought a pack of pasta or a loaf of bread, as I always made my own from scratch. I will occasionally make a special bread, but I almost completely switched to store bought as it’s not something I have time for anymore.
Yes, Kroger Stores e-coupons are an amazing way to save money on groceries. They own a popular chain in my area, and they also send their customers paper coupons as well. They can be used in combination with the store deals for the week, and the e coupons. People save a ton of money if they shop the deals.
YES! I love Kroger for so many reasons!!
I appreciate this so much! A lot of the time if I’m not doing the absolute cheapest option at all moments of the day, then I feel guilty. This was very freeing to read, so thank you!
You are so welcome! I’m so grateful it was freeing and helpful to you!
I loved this list and I pretty much never did any of them. We are gluten free so we rarely eat out. But it’s a health issue not a budget issue. And no Aldi OR Kroger. We don’t have those in Calif.
There are many ALDIs in California. I don’t go there because of the prices (although that helps), but for the oroducts they have. And they have delivery, too, if that’s what you’re looking for.
I no longer stock up on presents — it was more important when my kids were littler and there were so many birthday parties but at some point I felt that I was actually spending more in the long run and ending up with things we never gave or used! I do still shop in advance so I can find good sales but it’s just that my shopping is much more targeted now.
I also don’t always make my own coffee! I actually spend way less than I used to but it’s such a nice treat now and then!
I stopped making homemade laundry detergent. We have very soft water and I discovered that two of the main ingredients in homemade are water softening agents!
I stopped washing zip baggies…and then I stopped using them entirely. I will use a jar or container with a tight-fitting lid, or a cheap plastic bag with a twist tie (I buy them in bulk).
I no longer clip paper coupons.
I no longer buy clothing from the clearance rack. I buy a better quality and I’ve found I can wear them for years compared to a season or two.
I no longer subscribe to magazines. I found that if you’d read one you’d read pretty much all of them (same subject matter in each) so I let all my subscriptions go.
I no longer get takeout. We live in a very rural area so it’s not worthwhile to go pick it up and come home again, BUT I do buy frozen convenience items that let me have the luxury of a quick and easy meal without a lot of preparation on my part.
I no longer keep things ‘just in case’…It started to overwhelm me to hang on to so many things. I let them go and trust that when I need an item provision will be made.