5 Frugal Habits That Can Save You More Than $50 a Day
Written by
Andrew Lisa
Edited by
Carly Brashears
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Could you use an extra $18,250 per year?
If you’re like most people, the answer to that question is a no-brainer. But the good news is that you don’t have to wait for your boss to have an epiphany about a $350-per-week raise you’re long overdue to receive. You just need to up your savings game.
You’d have to cut $50 a day from your spending to come up with that kind of cash. While that’s no easy feat, it’s possible if you’re willing to adopt a few frugal living habits.
No matter who you are or how you live, the extra $50 will most likely be hiding in the three biggest categories of your spending life — what you eat, how you get around and where you live. You might even find you enjoy some of your new frugal habits.
Change Your Eating Habits To Save $50 Per Day
You’ll have to adopt a trio of frugal habits to squeeze $50 a day out of your food budget. Any one of them alone might not get you there, but stick to all three, and you’ll notice that you suddenly have a lot more money to save and invest.
Making Food at Home
If your budgeting app reveals a preponderance for delivery and dining out, that should be your first target for cutting expenses — and in the post-pandemic era of high inflation, it’s not small potatoes. For example, Real Simple reports the average pizza now costs just shy of $18, which means two pies plus tax, delivery fees and a tip for the driver is an easy $50 for a single casual meal at home — and going out to restaurants will likely cost you even more than that.
If you order in or dine out regularly, you stand to save dozens of dollars per day by quitting the habit and saving or investing that money instead.
“Eating at home instead of dining out can save an average of $10 to $15 per meal,” said Jake Claver, a finance expert, qualified family office professional (QFOP) and CEO of private investment platform Syndicately. “Preparing meals in bulk and using leftovers creatively can stretch this even further.”
Grocery Shopping According to a Meal Plan
Cutting out restaurants and delivery is good, but how you make your meals at home — and, more importantly, how you shop for their ingredients — can compound your savings even further.
“Meal planning and grocery shopping with a list can help you stick to a budget and avoid overspending on unnecessary items,” said Scott Allen, who helps older Americans budget their finances as the co-founder of Seniors Life Insurance Finder. “It can also save you money by reducing food waste and only buying what you need for the week.”
The Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate.gov site offers tips, templates and tutorials on building meal plans and shopping strictly for the ingredients those meals require.
Meal Prepping
The last piece of the food-budget puzzle is to make your meal plan recipes in big batches and store the excess in the freezer. It’s called meal prepping, and it can save you time — most meal prep guides suggest cooking just once per week, perhaps every Sunday, to make enough portioned meals for the following seven days. It can also reduce the temptation to eat outside of your plan.
But most importantly, it can save you money. That’s because cooking in bulk allows you to buy in bulk, which is always cheaper than purchasing ingredients in smaller quantities.
Get To Work Like a Frugal Commuter
Driving your own car to work is almost always more convenient than taking a bus or train, or buddying up with a fellow commuter, but it’s rarely less expensive.
“Depending on your location, swapping a car commute for public transportation or carpooling can save significant amounts on gas, parking, and maintenance, easily exceeding $50 daily in urban areas,” said Claver.
Dozens of cities — from Kansas City, Missouri, to Hoboken, New Jersey — now offer fare-free public transit, with more slated to join the list. Even if your city isn’t among them, riding the bus, train or shuttle to work is cheaper than driving.
Others have found even more creative ways to cut commuting costs.
“I ride an electric scooter and don’t own a car,” said Brian Davis, real estate investor and founder at SparkRental. “Living in a major city, it’s actually faster to get around by scooter rather than fighting traffic. I don’t have to pay for gas, insurance, or parking, and the annual maintenance comes to around $100 instead of thousands. I also bought it used for around $170 total — and it doesn’t even cost me anything to charge. I charge it at work.”
If You Live Alone, Take On a Roommate — Or Become One
If you’re like most people, your home or apartment gobbles up between a quarter and one-third of your income. The frugal move would be to reduce that by as much as possible.
“A general rule of thumb is that your housing expenses should be around 28% of your income,” said Kendall Meade, certified financial planner at SoFi. “However, if you find you are way over this percentage, then you may want to consider some big changes, such as moving to a lower-cost option or getting a roommate.”
Moving and downsizing isn’t feasible for many, but if you have an extra room, you might be sitting on a 50% reduction in your housing costs in the form of a roommate you don’t yet have. Or, if you’re apartment hunting solo, consider something with one bedroom more than you need so you can live with one person more than you might care to.
“In Charleston, South Carolina, where I live, the average rent for a one-bedroom is $2,000 and the rent for a two-bedroom is $2,347,” said Meade. “So if you split a two-bedroom with a roommate, it could save you $827 per month — and that doesn’t include splitting utilities and other expenses.”
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