Frugality and the frugal lifestyle is gaining in popularity right now. Being frugal simply means knowing how to stretch your dollar by making the most of what you buy and buying less of the things you don’t need. However, living frugally doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself or completely change your lifestyle. Here are a few simple ways any family can embrace frugality and make it work.
Invest in a Deep Freezer
One of the best purchases you can make as a large family is buying a deep freezer. Deep freezers can make a huge difference on how much money you pay on food. Buying a deep freezer expands your options as far as buying in bulk goes, especially for meats. You could buy primal cuts and save them in your freezer. You could even buy complete or half animals and have enough to feed your family for a whole year. This alone could significantly reduce the pressure on your monthly expenses instantly.
Learn the Art of the Cheap Meal
When you realize how much restaurants are overcharging for meals you could easily make at home, it’s hard to pay for a restaurant meal again. If you eat out a lot, learn how to make some of your favorite meals yourself. Buy in bulk and make readymade meal prep kits or make complete meals and put that chest freezer you just bought to good use.
Process Your Own Meats
If you’re buying a lot of processed meats, you can save a lot by buying large parts and either processing them or having your butcher process them for you. For instance, instead of buying pre-packaged ham, you could buy the whole ham at your local grocery store and have your local butcher slice it for you for a small fee. This way, you’ll get the cut you want and will be able to pay a lot less on packaging and processing.
Pick Your Own Produce
Depending on where you live, you can save a lot of money simply by going out and picking your own produce. Many farms will allow people to do just that and pay by weight. If you don’t know where to find local farms where you can pick your own fruits and vegetables, you can look on sites like pickyourown.org.
Become a Coupon Master
Couponing is one of the easiest and fastest ways to save on anything. And with the plethora of online options, saving using coupons is easier than ever.
The best way to use coupons is to look for deals on perishable items and stockpile them. However, make sure that you don’t buy something you don’t actually need simply because it’s on sale. Just because oatmeal is on sale, don’t think that you’re going to force yourself into liking it. Sites like Frugalfabulousfinds.Com have tons of great deals on all types of items, so that would be a good place to start looking for offers.
All these tips are not only easy to implement but will make your life much easier as well. So, don’t hesitate to incorporate some of these tips in your daily routine if you want to reduce your monthly expenses.