So often, when you hear about ways to be more frugal, the suggestions do not really sound very enjoyable. Of course, it can be better for your personal finances to spend less over the long term. But if you have to give up all kinds of fun stuff just to put more money in your savings account, that prospect is not necessarily very appealing.
The good news, though, is that there are actually some money-saving things you can do that can be downright fun. In fact, here are four frugal habits that I actually enjoy, and that you might find to be pleasant too.
Shopping at thrift stores can come with significant savings, with one study indicating thrifters save close to $1,800 annually by avoiding new purchases and buying used. I also much prefer it to just going to the store and picking up brand-new items off the rack.
I’ve purchased the vast majority of my furniture (except for items like mattresses and soft furniture) at thrift stores, estate sales, and garage sales. I also buy almost all of my kids’ clothing and a ton of my household decor, like paintings and decorative items, at thrift stores.
I do this not just because it’s cheaper but also because I find the stuff to be better made. Plus, I don’t just get stuck with buying what’s on trend and I can buy more items while spending less. Just this past year, for example, I was able to send my son to school in a different Christmas sweater for almost every day of December — all for less than it would have cost me to buy one new holiday sweater on Amazon. And I can sell all those items back to consignment stores afterward.
Thrifting also feels like a treasure hunt, and it allows me to create really unique and personalized spaces over time. It’s by far my favorite money-saving habit.
If you enjoy shopping, or if you need to decorate your house or buy clothing, check out your local consignment and thrift stores first. You may just be amazed at what you find.
2. Cooking at home
Cooking at home is something else I really enjoy doing. I do dine out often, but my husband and I also really like to challenge ourselves by trying to recreate restaurant meals at home for less. We’ve managed to perfect certain dishes like pad thai and various kinds of pasta and seafood dishes, and our versions have become so much better that we don’t even order them in restaurants anymore.
Cooking together is something our whole family gets into, and my kids even have little toddler-sized kitchen knives. It costs a lot less than visiting a restaurant with our family of four, too. If you’re spending a lot on dining out, why not try out our technique of trying to beat the restaurant food by making it better at home? You may find the process fun and the food delicious — and you can keep more money in your checking account in the process.
3. Gardening
Buying fresh veggies and fruit can get really expensive, especially since my kids can devour a container of strawberries in around 0.4 seconds. Gardening gives us a less expensive way to get some of these items. We planted raised bed gardens in our backyard, along with some berry bushes in our yard, and now we get a good amount of our produce from our own garden during the summer months.
Gardening can be expensive to get started with, but try to grow your plants from seeds and attend plant swaps as much as possible to make sure this is actually a frugal habit if you want to give it a try.
4. Making my own coffees at home
Finally, the last frugal habit I find fun is trying to create fancy coffee drinks at home. I invested in a nice machine that allows me to do everything from grind my own beans to froth milk and I have a great time trying out different combinations of flavors to make customized drinks.
If you like fancy coffees, buying the equipment to make your own at home could pay off in the long run. While I spent about $200 buying the coffee machine, I’ve saved around $750 a year even after accounting for buying coffee beans, since I was buying fancy coffees a couple days a week at around $4 or $5 a pop.
As you can see, these frugal habits can be enjoyable all while saving you money. Give them a try yourself today to see if they’ll work for you as well as they have for me.
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