You can live a more frugal lifestyle without destroying your quality of life too, even if the definition of stingy is a bit harsh. At the end of the day, it’s a very personal lifestyle that really depends on every person’s circumstances, lifestyles and goals.
Nor do you need to save every penny and never treat yourself. Certainly, this is a more aggressive way to save and improve your financial wellness , but you won’t need to live this way forever either.
Instead, you want to find a balance of cutting costs and spending less, without being a complete miser. Here’s how to live stingy without going overboard.
1. Create a financial plan
The first step to living stingy is to create a plan. This begins with writing down a list of all your goals such as getting out of debt, buying a house, or building an emergency fund.
By focusing on one specific goal, it’ll be easier to create a plan and you’ll also be more motivated to reach it (just that number!). It’ll also be easier to decide which sacrifices to make and keep you motivated.
2. Activate your plan
The next step is to incorporate the plan into your daily routine. Do you need to set a spending limit? What expenses do you need to re-evaluate and change? Take out a bank statement of the previous month and look for expenses you feel you could cut out.
Maybe you can try brewing your coffee at home instead of buying takeaway, or buying a great crock-pot and cook more at home. If you want to keep a very tight budget, you can set a daily spending limit and make sure you don’t go over budget.
3. Evaluate your spending
Once you have your budget and plan in place for a bit, you’ll notice your habits changing and you won’t be tempted to overspend as much. If you’re able to keep doing this for several months, then you know you’re not going overboard.
However, if you find yourself severely unhappy or struggling after one month, then maybe you need to relax the budget and give yourself more room to spend and ease into.
4. Cut expenses drastically
Besides activating a plan and monitor general spending, cutting your expenses drastically will be important too. Look, I’m not a fan of depriving yourself of essentials or even some luxuries. But, sometimes your financial situations call for some more extreme measures.
While I don’t recommend live in a shed in the woods with no amenities, you should look for ways to eliminate some expenses and cut back on others.
5. Start to increase your income
Another thing you can look into is increasing your income to help you reach your goals and make living stingy a bit easier. This could be something as simple as completing surveys online, taking on some work in the gig economy, selling your unused or older stuff online, or doing some freelance work online. Working an extra hour or two every couple of days could pay off in the long run and help you reach your goal faster.