The cost of living is rising at an alarming pace. Energy bills continue to sky rocket, with further increases expected in October (in the UK, anyway). But when you have already set your budget, stopped buying branded items, reduced your grocery bill by preventing food waste, etc, where is there to go? Extreme frugality is the way! I have already written about this in this post, but here are some more ideas for super thrifty living.
20 tips for super thrifty living
1# Family cloth
Consider quitting or at least cutting down on toilet paper and use ‘family cloth‘ instead. Controversial I know – we are used to our super soft two ply! I have to admit that I have yet to take this step. However, I would definitely have done this during the first lock down if we had run out of loo roll. As it happened, we had a Who Gives a Crap subscription at the time, but if we hadn’t I would have used family cloth in preference to panicking and having a punch up in the supermarket.
2# Use bicarbonate of soda as a deodorant
Bicarb of soda can be used as a thrifty and eco-friendly ingredient in simple toothpaste and deodorant recipes. It is often mixed with coconut oil, as in this deodorant recipe, or it can be sprinkled into your smelly trainers and left overnight.
3# Read the Moneyless Man
The Moneyless Man* is an incredibly interesting and inspiring read that will make you question how much money we really need. The author, Mark Boyle, lived a whole year with no money at all. He is a ‘freeconomist’ and had been living on very little before his experiment. His view on how our current economic system is bad for people and the planet is really eye opening. I am reading it again and intend to read the Moneyless Manifesto* next.
4# Brew your own beer and wine
This is much cheaper and healthier than buying your booze from the shops, although you do get the occasional explosion. My demijohn of gooseberry wine blasted all over the garage once!
You can often pick up the required equipment for home brewing from Freecycle. I got my demijohns from there.
5# Upcycle thrifted clothing
Buying second hand clothing is a great idea when you want to be super thrifty. However, if you have some sewing skills you could take this a stage further and upcycle your thrifted finds. There are lots of good examples of people doing this on YouTube. Check out Dianne’s Sewing Room and Coolirpa.
6# Make butter
Making butter might not be cheap in itself, but if you can pick up yellow sticker double cream at certain times of the day, it is quite easy to make butter at a considerable saving. You can find instructions here.
7# Light fewer bulbs
If you have candelabra type lights, keep them off and put a single lamp on instead. Alternatively, you could remove some of the bulbs from the candelabra.
8# Borrow a doggy
if you can’t afford your own dog, you can borrow one! You get some of the benefits – exercise, company and cuddles – without any of the expense. Sign up to borrowmydoggy.com. for the opportunity to make some new furry friends. Alternatively, the Cinnamon Trust also needs walkers and dog sitters for older people in hospital or housebound.
9# Turn your hot water to once a day
For years we had our hot water to come on in the morning and late afternoon. With three girls in the house, it got used! However, in recent years we have often heated the water in the afternoon but not used it. Now we have turned it off altogether. It comes on for 45 minutes in the morning, and if we need more or want a bath we need to heat it specially.
Why heat water that you may not use?
10# Never auto renew
Never let any annual bills auto renew. You should be sent a reminder when your car or home insurance is due for renewal, so always shop around at that point. Your bills will always go up if you don’t.
11# Ditch your car
Many of us have lifestyles that are dependant on having a car. We totally rely on them! However, if you can get away without one, consider getting rid of it (or you are a couple with a car each, maybe you can make do with one between you?).
There are ways to access a car ride without having the expense of your own vehicle. For example, you could rent a car, or organise a lift via a car sharing schemes such as liftshare.com.
12# Make a rocket stove
Here’s an unusual thrifty living tip! You could bypass the oven in your kitchen and cook outside on a home made rocket stove. If you use waste wood, you will reduce your energy bill and cook for free. Here is a video showing how to make a rocket stove from old tin cans.
13# Invest in a Wonderbag
A Wonderbag is an interesting product if you are looking for something energy saving to give – or receive – as a present. It is a kind of non-electric slow cooker: you bring things to the boil then place them in a super insulated bag to finish cooking using no energy.
I guess if you have some sewing skills it wouldn’t be that hard to make one actually. It is just a very padded heatproof bag. However, Wonderbag is also a social enterprise creating employment opportunities and reducing the burden placed on women. They say:
“Women and girls are disproportionately burdened with the unpaid labor of collecting firewood and cooking. When you subsidize a Wonderbag you invest in people, which is a way to support productivity and innovation, cut poverty, create opportunities, and generate prosperity. Investing in women today helps communities increase their incomes tomorrow.”
14# Grow your own tea.
Why are we so addicted to Indian tea? (I am – can’t deny it!). We know, because the supermarket shelves are full of the stuff, that you can make tea from all sorts of plants: mint, chamomile, fennel, for example. These can be grown at home very cheaply and you can make your own tea for hardly any money. (For the eco-conscious amongst you, that also means no transportation emissions, no pesticides and no packaging too.)
15# Make your own oat milk
If you like a dairy free drink, why not try making your own oat milk? Oats are cheap and there is very little packaging involved.
I have been told by my daughter’s vegan boyfriend that it doesn’t last long in the fridge and requires a lot of shaking as it separates, but he said it tasted good in coffee.
I am going to give it a go using these instructions.
16# Go car camping
Think you can’t afford a holiday because accommodation is too expensive? How about car camping? Ilona from Mean Queen Life After Money does this on her regular trips. She has an estate car and makes a very comfy bed in it. You can see one of her trips on YouTube here. If you pop over tell her I sent you!
17# Mend and darn!
If you have no sewing skills it will pay you to learn some basics. Then you can do small repairs to your clothes and learn how to darn your socks.
This is a bit of a lost art. Clothing is so cheap we often don’t bother repairing things when they develop holes or the hem comes down. However, if you buy quality clothing in the first place and repair it, it will last for many years. A fundamental of extreme frugality and thrifty living in my book.
18# Become a mystery shopper to eat out for free
If thrifty living means that you can’t afford to eat out very much, then sign up to become a mystery shopper. If you are prepared to write a report on your experience restaurant meals out, you can usually get at least one course and a drink for free.
19# Use your bath water to water your plants
What the heading says! Leave your bath water to go cold and then save money on your water bill by using it to water your garden.
20#Rent out your spare room
Renting out your spare space is a great way to earn money to supplement your income. You can have a permanent lodger, offer a room on AirB&B or host foreign language students. I have a blog post here with general ideas on making money from your spare room.
I hope you enjoyed these tips on super thrifty living. For more ideas on extreme frugality, check out this post.
* These are my affiliate links and if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a (very small!) commission. Thanks.
Leave a Reply