What is Frugal Living and how to Start

When it comes to lifestyle changes, there’s a trend. Whether vegetarianism, zero waste management or frugal living; there is always a concern that opting in, is somehow losing out. Sometimes this feeling of missing out, is the reason people choose to not even try. However, this is a misconception. By choosing to make changes like these, you are not depriving yourself. What’s more, is you never have to go all-in at once. After all, better to transition and make small changes than overwhelm yourself. I don’t think any lifestyle change should be about sacrifice; that would actually be missing the point. It’s about personal betterment after all; and this is achieved by manageable micro changes accumulating over time. These little tweaks eventually allow us to make decisions with new contexts in mind. Frugal living is no different, you look your why and start the how one step at a time.

What is Frugal Living?

Frugal living is essentially about managing your assets more considerably. More thoughtfully handling, saving and spending money. This enables a different kind of quality of life. It’s about determining what you want from your day-to-day living and using your financial and personal resources to help you achieve these things.

So, you see; you’re not taking anything from your life but enabling something else altogether. What you do to achieve that (of course) depends on what your overall goal is and honestly, there are any number of reasons why people taking steps towards more modest means of living.

Why Do People Choose to Live Frugally?

Sometimes, it is because of necessity. The economy is fragile, and finances can go a bad way during times of economical hardship.

Other times, it can be for ethical or practical reasons; the culture we live in is inherently consumerist. That leads to a lot of waste. The truth is, that we don’t need mountains of stuff but finding and buying new things has never been easier. There is something satisfying about escaping that loop or having the control to dictate when and how you opt in.

Being frugal means redefining your relationship with money, this leads to better management, spending and saving habits. You get more for what you spend enabling debt repayment, saving and a financially healthier way of living. This has a lot of appeal in itself.

Whatever the reason though; there is a lot of satisfaction to be had from adopting frugal living practices.

How to Start Frugal Living?

It all starts with being honest with yourself. Know your finances and what your goals are. From there, think about what you need to do (entertainment is a need, just don’t commit to it in excess) and proceed from there.

Yes, you are budgeting but do it in a considerate way. If it is too strict and cruel; it won’t last. From here, things will come naturally and having gone through this info and knowing it does not mean you have to live according to a spreadsheet (unless you want to); this is about visualising information to begin with.

Take inventory of what you have; think about what you need and what you don’t. Old phones are a great thing to freecycle, as are clothes. You could even consider selling unused items or vehicles; services that offer cash for Ford cars or other older models can provide an easy way to declutter while boosting your savings. This is also the perfect time to start looking into ways you can save money on your energy and grocery bills.

First Steps…

From here on out though, you will need to live within your means. It’s an age-old adage but it is an important one. Credit culture is problematic to say the least but escaping from it is extremely liberating.

Once all that is done, you’ve taken your first steps. Maybe, that will be all you need to do? Perhaps not. It really depends on what you want from your new frugal living lifestyle but once you start, it only gets easier from there.