23 Frugal Life Skills That Save Money

Last updated on September 21st, 2024 at 10:28 am

 

The economy nowadays is unpredictable, but adopting frugal life skills that save money is a real game changer. And also with money, nothing comes to life without learning skills that matter regarding finances.

I don’t mean going back to college to acquire real-life skills, but traditionally acquiring applicable skills to help you save money in everyday life.

Some skills may require investing in time and money to take you through and the charges are worth the investment.

Though, you can’t have it all at once but here is a list of frugal life money-saving practices that you can benchmark to start cutting spending on a daily.

Frugal Life Skills That Save Money

Money-saving life skills can indeed get you better with your finance but you need to stick to those that apply in your life. Now let’s get into proven practices that workout best to save the most money.

1. Pay Yourself First

If you’re paid by someone and you’re not paying yourself, you’re not being fair to you. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve gotten, keep some money aside as savings for future plans.

Yes, put a certain amount aside and later work on other items that you need to spend on money in the monthly budget. Arrange with the bank to automate savings from checking accounts to saving accounts for convenience purposes.

This is a skill that you need to practice because implementing it at once might not be easy when you’re not used to it. Let the amount to be saved every month or so be included in the budget to help you keep on track.

When I had just started saving money off my salary I got challenged but as time went on I got used to it. Start paying yourself, it’s one of the best strategies that you can use to reach money goals fast.

2. Budgeting Money

Another real-life skill that will save you a lot is budgeting money every month. Most people don’t take budgeting seriously as a tool that can put their finances right, it’s worth the time.

With budgeting you can simply tell your income and expenditure for the month, it gets easier to determine where you need to make some adjustments to save.

I can’t tell how much you put aside as savings but with budgeting best practices in place, it can boost your savings. And you don’t need to spend money on expert guidance about budgeting, manually script a budget planner for yourself at no cost to you at all.

3. Investing

Investing is done with a long-term plan of making money in the future. And some of us don’t save because we are good at it, but because there’s a future investment goal pushing us.

Investing money sometimes requires professional guidance or else you may end up making huge losses doing it. Finance experts help you make informed decisions when it comes to diversifying investments in the best way possible.

Before, I learned about investing money in the stock through Youtube without taking any paid course and though later I did get better with professional guidance knowing that to invest in shares of a company you need to understand its financials.

4. Cooking

You can save a lot of money preparing meals for yourself at home. Honestly, eating out all the time is costly and it creates imbalances in your monthly budget.

If you want to learn how to cook to save money keep around people who are good at it to get skills. Your family member or friend won’t charge you to teach you cooking.

However, it’s not just about being in the kitchen but you need to be passionate about learning the skills to save you money preparing meals.

5. Bargaining

If buying things at the supermarket costs you a lot of money, it would be wise shopping in the market to save. Yes, it’s very possible to negotiate prices in the market to get purchases at half price compared to stores with fixed prices.

And negotiating prices is not being cheap, it’s being financially mindful with money to save upon expenditure where necessary.

6. Sewing

My granny taught me how to put buttons and how to make repairs on clothes years ago, it’s a skill I never regret learning. For sure, I am not an expert at it but the skill saves me some good money on repairs.

When you don’t know how to sew you end up throwing away some clothes or hiring someone yet simple repairs can be made to stay in use. Mending saves money you would spend on tailors and buying new clothes from stores all the time.

Money spent on sewing and buying new may not seem that much but when you sit down and do the math over time, it has a big impact on your budget.

7. Gardening

You don’t have to be a professional farmer to put up your garden of food crops to save money buying groceries. It’s kind of a dirty job to most people but what to do when you want to cut expenditure?

Start small no matter the space you have, at least something is better than none. Plant crops that won’t need much space but are used daily like onions, tomatoes, and vegetables.

Gardening is a healthy practice since plants give us oxygen that we breathe and at the same time freshen the environment with cool air. And again, you don’t need to have a chunk of land to start growing crops to save on groceries.

8. Food Preservation

Stop spending money on food thrown out as waste yet it can be preserved to serve for more days. A lot of money can be saved when all is consumed due to preservation.

Some commonly used preservation measures include freezing, salting, sugaring, and chilling. With all put into practice, food wastage is cut hence saving money on food. And traditional preservation measures won’t cost you that much compared to buying preservatives like vinegar.

9. Persistence

If you want to make money you must put in the work and the same applies to saving money. You need to have a savings plan that you must stick to for some time. With persistence, you can very well achieve your savings goals over time and the results are worth the effort.

Saving money isn’t hard as long as you stick to the practice and give up on whatever doesn’t add up to you other than costing you in life. Perseverance applies in every aspect of life given you want to make the most out of it.

10. Financial Discipline

One of the most crucial life skills when it comes to saving money is financial discipline. It all rotates around how you manage your finances every day that goes by.

It’s believed that one’s financial status reflects his or her money management skills hence the better your skills the more you save.

Financial literacy at times might cost you in case you want to get informed ideas from experts but it’s a lifetime skill that no one will ever take away from you. Financial discipline can never fail you in life and it puts you in a better position in terms of spending.

11. Baking

I don’t get it when you can make baked foods yourself at home but you’re buying them from stores. There’s a lot of money spent buying cookies and other baked items yet it is possible to make them home.

Not everybody can bake but you should learn how to do it even if at a cost to save some money spent on desserts every day. Get time when you’re back home to make some desserts or learn how to make them at no cost to you through Youtube.

12. Riding a Bike

Learning how to ride a bike is at no cost to anyone who wants to get started using it as means of transport. It’s a skill that will help you reduce fuel costs using a car to move around nearby places.

If you like moving around your town you don’t need to use a car, riding a bike is healthy and it can also save you money on gym subscriptions.

Still thinking about life skills to save you money, right? Riding a bike should be included on the priority list.

13. Bartering

Giving out what you have to get what you want is known to be a traditional practice and a great way to save money. Doing this means you won’t spend money all the time out on things you can barter with neighbors and family members.

I used to barter spaghetti for plain soya porridge with my neighbor and I still do it where I feel it’s worth doing to save. You can also barter your skill for something else as you wish.

At no cost to you, in today’s age bartering can be practiced online through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

14. DIY (Do It Yourself)

Doing some tasks yourself at home is a real money saver today where getting almost everything you need to pay. Though some tasks require professionalism at least you can pick up the basics to cut costs like car repairs, painting, fixing door locks, and more.

Not everything will require calling somebody out to do repairs for you yet you can fix things yourself at no cost to you at all. And where it requires putting in some time to acquire skills please do if you want to cut costs to save.

15. Catching Fish

Catching fish is fun to me, I don’t know about you. Fishing is a skill that you can learn to save money by buying fish out.

Fish can serve as food or sauce and it costs a lot of money to big fans like me who can’t go days without it. But I only beat the cost with my fishing equipment to do the fishing myself by the river banks to get fresh quality fish.

Therefore, catching fish is a great skill that can help you save money buying out expensive from stores.

16. Filing Returns

It sounds to be complex to most people but there’s nothing hard about it when you’re ready to learn. Hiring professionals every year to submit your taxes costs a lot of money, but you can also learn how to do it yourself to save.

There’re many online resources like blogs and Youtube that you can use to learn how to file returns yourself without incurring any cost at all. Though it takes some time to make things right but that’s nothing to worry about just put in the work.

17. Making Coffee

Coffee shops are making a lot of money from clients every day that passes, when you account for how much you have spent buying coffee out, it’s surprising. Carry your coffee from home to work in a portable flask to reduce the cost.

However, you can also invest some money to buy a coffee maker to use at home to prepare coffee. Making your coffee at home will save you up to $50 a month and that’s equivalent to over $500 a year in expenditure.

This will drastically lower your budget for the month with almost $50 in expenses which can be diverted to your savings or other necessities.

18. Dry Clothes Outside

In case you’re using a dryer to dry clothes, it costs you a lot at the end of the month in power bills. Drying clothes outside on a cloth line is a cost-effective process since it reduces power costs.

When the sun comes out and you want to dry clothes, spare your drier to cut power bills to save money. At a cheaper cost, you can also get yourself a movable drying rack for laundry from an online store to start drying from outside.

19. Meal Planning

Before, I was the kind of person who never took time to think about what to buy for meals, and it cost me a lot for some time. But when I realized that planning meals ahead of time saves when purchases are made without pressure it positively impacted much on my monthly budget.

Shopping on a list, buying cheap in bulk, and keeping the freezer in good condition have made meal planning a good practice that saves money.

Through meal planning, you can make yourself any healthy meal cheaply with ingredients in the desired quantities saving you more every month. If you’re not good at it, let social media platforms like Youtube and websites like Google get you the basics.

20. Chopping Firewood

Using firewood to heat the house or cooking cuts costs on power bills and gas. The heater and gas are both put on hold at times for firewood to do the work at no cost to you.

And if you don’t have trees around talk to neighbors that have cut some down yet not using them to chop them up for use. Cutting trees for firewood doesn’t require much skills but all you need is using tools that can cut into pieces.

21. Organize Friendly Home Invites

I find inviting friends at home much cheaper than meeting at the bar or any other place to party at a cost. When you go to the bar the drinks are charged highly and also incur transport costs, all these add to the budget of the month.

Organizing such invites you don’t incur that much hence saving more money and at the same time enjoying the moment and sharing memories.

Sure, it’s a great way to cut costs. I like inviting friends or family members to my place to have some time together.

22. Creating an Emergency Fund

Honestly, when you don’t have an emergency fund most of the time you’ll end up in debt to be able to cover costs. Putting up an emergency fund will save you money that you would incur in the form of interest payments on borrowed money.

It’s a money-saving skill that everyone should understand to be able to work upon emergencies with ease at any time they happen. Therefore, if you don’t have an emergency fund it may be very hard for you to save money.

23. Record Keeping

You don’t need to be a professional information scientist to manage your records. This is something that you can do yourself without hiring an expert to keep a record of incoming and outgoing mail.

Record keeping will help you keep track of bills, rental agreements, monthly budgets, loan agreements, and other documents of value.

When documents are kept safe it gets much easier to refer and also identify areas that need to be worked up for the best. Sure, you need to keep in check with the budget, loan agreements, bills, and sent mail.

Some people don’t have the time to do all this but it’s very important and saves a lot in terms of personal information management best practices in general.

FAQs

• Can Any Life Skill Be A Money Saver?

Almost, a lot of the things that we learn in life and put into practice without hiring someone to do the work reduce spending. You won’t spend any money on things like changing car oil, filing returns, painting, car repairs, and more.

• Do I Need To Invest Money In A Life Skill To Make the Most Out Of It?

It depends on the complexity and how passionate you’re about the skill. If you’re just after learning the basics you don’t need to invest any money to learn, just use platforms like YouTube and Google to get started.

I have a friend who does his car repair and he never went to any garage but acquired the skills on Youtube, he’s now saving a lot on car repairs. How cool is that?

• How Much Time Do I Need To Learn A Life Skill That Can Save Me Some Good Money?

Though some skills are complex but when you’re passionate enough, trust me it won’t take you a lot of time to put the skill into practice to cut costs and start saving money.

Through Youtube, It took me not more than a year to learn about blogging and trading the financial market before investing in any course.

The End

You may not have all the skills, learn those that are most applicable to you to save money every day. Last but not least, be passionate about learning to be able to successfully apply the skills in a way that will save to lower costs.