You’re a busy person with a hectic schedule, but you want to live frugally. You’re probably wondering what steps you’ll need to take to start saving more of your money.
Living frugally allows you to be more self-sufficient while saving more of the money you work hard to earn. No matter how hectic and busy your schedule is each day, there are steps you can take to start saving extra cash and becoming the frugal person you’d like to be.
1. Start Meal Prepping Instead of Eating Fast Food
Stop buying convenience food: meal plan and prepare food ahead.
When you’re busy, it’s easy to stop at a fast-food restaurant, grab a quick meal, and eat it. Not only are most fast food meals unhealthy for you, but they’re also going to cost you quite a bit each week.
If you add up your fast food expenses over a few weeks, you’ll likely notice that you’re spending hundreds of dollars that you could’ve saved. Avoid that problem by meal prepping.
- Use your day off to prepare meals that will taste good when reheated. You might want to prepare grilled chicken, brown rice, seasoned veggies, baked salmon, cauliflower rice, and other delicious foods.
- Separate your foods into portions and place them in microwave-safe containers with lids that you can store in the fridge. You can take these meals with you on the go, reheating them in a microwave for a few minutes to get them tasting hot and fresh again.
The homemade meals are much better for you, but they’ll also help you save more of your money on breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
If you’re not sure where to start with meal prepping you can start with Meal Planning – with Real Plans and 51 Freezer Meals You Can Make
2. Use the Auto-Pay Feature to Pay Your Bills
If you don’t mind using the auto-pay feature, it’s a good idea to sign up for it with your electric company, gas company, and even the cable company. It’s easy to forget when specific bills are due, especially when each bill has a different due date.
If you don’t make the payment on time, you’ll end up having to pay late fees. And, when this happens more often than you’d like to admit, there is a good chance you’re spending more than you need to or want to. Sign up for the auto-pay feature, you’ll never have to worry about making a late payment or dealing with costly late fees again.
3. Grow Your Fruits and Veggies Instead of Buying Produce
Start planting and growing fruits and vegetables in your backyard. Produce is expensive. The price for some of your favorite fruits and vegetables is on the rise, and it’ll probably get worse with time.
If you’d like to save money and still have fresh fruits and tasty vegetables to use in recipes, you can grow them at home. Some of the easiest options to grow include broccoli, lettuce, potatoes, and radishes. However, you can grow just about anything in your backyard if you’re willing to put in the effort.
And while it may seem difficult if you’re busy, gardening is also very relaxing and can be a great way to de-stress.
Once you start seeing your plants growing and you can finally harvest them, you’ll be glad you took the time to plant the fruit and vegetable seeds. Everything will taste fresher, and you’ll get to save more of your hard-earned money.
Savvy Garden Tips to Save You Money
4. Make Budget-Friendly Meals to Eat
Try to make budget-friendly meals that you can eat for lunch and dinner. Casseroles are a great choice because they’re often easy to prepare, take little time to cook in the oven and get made with cheaper ingredients.
Some of my favorite casseroles:
- The Best Chicken Casserole Recipes
- Breakfast Casserole with Bacon and Hashbrowns
- 15 Delicious Casserole Recipes
You can make casseroles consisting of different types of pasta, ground beef or sausage, cheese, and your favorite pasta sauce. Look for other budget-friendly recipes that sound tasty and don’t take too long to prepare. You’ll indeed find some meals you can make in 30 minutes or less, which is perfect when you don’t have much time to make a meal.
5. Take Your Bike to Work
If you don’t live too far from home, consider riding your bicycle to work instead of driving there. You’ll save a lot of money on gas when you use the bike to get to work each day. The cost of gas is yet another thing that is currently on the rise.
If it costs you anywhere between $30 and $50 to fill your tank up all the way, imagine how much you’ll spend by driving into work each day? If you don’t have a bike, it’s a good time to invest in one.
Not only does it help you cut back on gas usage, but it’s also great exercise. If you don’t want to ride a bike, you can always walk to work, especially if you live close enough to get there by foot. Check out these tips for finding the cheapest gas in your area.
6. Use Apps That Offer Rewards for Receipts
Download apps that allow you to accumulate points and gain rewards from purchases you’ve made. Fetch is one of several apps that will enable you to scan receipts for all different types of stores, including Dollar General, ShopRite, Target, and Wal-Mart.
You’ll gain extra points when making purchases for specific brands and products. You can even earn thousands of points by referring people to sign up under you through the Fetch referral link.
If you scan your receipts regularly, you’ll eventually end up with enough points to redeem for gift cards to all kinds of places. It’s like getting some of your money back on the purchases you’ve made throughout the year.
10 More FAST Frugal Living Tips to Try When You’re Busy
- Rent a Room: Get a roommate or try renting a room as an Air BnB
- See if you qualifying for a Homestead Exemption
- Rent Space to someone that needs to store an RV or 5th Wheel
- Walk or Use Public Transportation
- Buy in Bulk Best Foods to Buy in Bulk
- Buy used The Best Things to Buy at a Thrift Store
- Make coffee at home Best Way to Brew Coffee at Home 5 Methods
- Get a side hustle like mystery shopping or selling crafts on Esty How to Start Selling Your Crafts on Etsy
- Shop Sale Cycles at the Grocery Store (What to Buy Each Month of the Year)
- Dry your clothes on a line The Best Frugal Laundry Tips
Frugal Living Tips for Busy People
Even if you’re busy more often than not, you can still learn to live frugally and save your money. Busy people can successfully become frugal when they’re willing to take a few extra steps.
Instead of heading over to the fast-food restaurant, use your day off to meal prep for the week. Don’t forget to use the auto-pay feature to avoid late fees, grow produce in your spare time, and even consider riding a bike to work.
When you make specific changes in your daily life, you’ll notice the money you’re saving in the long run, and that is what makes these changes worth it. Before you know it, you’ll have more money in your savings account than ever before because you’ll save so much from your frugal lifestyle.
More Frugal Living Tips:
20 Frugal Food and Grocery Tips
25 Practical Tips to Living Frugally
Creating a Family Budget
Pay Off Debt (Financial Peace University)