7 things I stopped buying to save money as a frugal person

And what you can do to start saving more

I will be the first to admit that I am a frugal person. I save every penny I can and challenge myself to live far below my means.

It wasn’t always this way, though. There was a point in my life where I would spend every penny I earned. It didn’t help that I was working a minimum wage paying job at the time, but not even that stopped me from spending more than I was making.

It wasn’t until I was forced to move out of my parent’s home with no more than $2,000 to my name that I realized my spending habits were out of control, especially for how little I was making.

Anyhow, if you are somebody who needs to save some money in a short amount of time, start by looking at what you are spending your money on and what you can cut from your budget.

Spending money on things that aren’t going to benefit you is essentially like throwing money away. Why have it if it’s not something you use?

When you need to start saving money, every bit helps. You don’t need to become incredibly frugal like me. Just start small and find little things to cut from your budget.

Once I started cutting things from my budget, saving money became so much easier. I eventually realized that I didn’t even notice or miss the things I cut from my budget. But I did notice the extra money I was able to save. Because of it, I now have zero debt, an emergency fund, and 8 months of living expenses saved up. I call that a win.

Here are 7 things I stopped buying to save more money.

Bottled water

Bottled water isn’t the most expensive thing, but it is an unnecessary expense.

Currently, a 32 pack of water at Target costs $3.49. That’s for the generic Target brand water. If you get fancy and buy Dasani or carbonated water, you’re looking at $5 per case.

Why spend money on water when you can go to your sink and fill up your water bottle as many times as you want for free?

You can get a reusable water bottle at Target for $5 to $10. That’s going to pay for itself in just a few short weeks. Plus, you’re not having to dispose of all the extra plastic.

Again, it might not seem like much, but any bit helps. Even saving the $3.49 to $5.00 can add up to a lot of money over time.

If you need filtered water, invest in a Britta or a purified faucet. Ditching plastic water bottles can save you $300 to $500 per year.

Subscription services

I didn’t realize how many subscription services I was actually signed up for until I went through my budget. That’s because you hardly notice when a $5 or a $10 fee is deducted.

Once I realized I was signed up to six different subscriptions that were costing me an extra $75 a month, I decided to cut back. Now, I have three subscriptions that cost me a total of $24 a month. I split Amazon Prime with my family, I have a Netflix subscription, and I also have a Medium subscription. That’s it.

Subscription fees can be sneaky. They don’t seem like a lot of money, but cutting just one subscription of $9.99 a month is going to save you $120 per year.

Think about the subscriptions you have and cancel the ones you use the least.

New clothes

One of my favorite songs back in college was Thrift Shop by Macklemore. While it didn’t speak to me then, you better believe it does now.

One of the best ways to save a lot of money is to stop buying new clothes and buy some lightly worn clothes at a thrift store instead. A new pair of jeans is going to cost $60 at basically every department store. But if you go to a thrift store, you might be paying 25% of the cost. That’s like a 75% savings on EVERYTHING!

If you aren’t somebody who is comfortable using wearing used clothes, do yourself a favor and start shopping at TJ Maxx or Marshall’s. Even shopping at these stores is going to save you 50% on clothes that are brand new.

Fancy coffee

I am probably going to make a lot of people mad buy saying this, but if you spend $5 a day on a cup of coffee, you are a fool.

It’s okay to treat yourself every once in a while, but buying a $5 coffee every single day is such a waste of money.

If you haven’t read the book The Latte Factor by David Bach, I highly recommend doing so. Essentially, if you take that $5 a day between the ages of 25 and 65, you will retire a millionaire.

Yes, you read that correctly. You can become a millionaire by making coffee at home and investing the money you would be spending on your overpriced latte.

Since reading this book, I have spent very little on coffee. Instead, I have a subscription at a gas station near me where I can get one cup of coffee every day for only $5.99 a month. I’m getting coffee for an entire month for the price people pay in just one day.

You can also buy a cheap coffee pot and make coffee at home. Even doing this is going to save you so much money.

Brand name foods

This is another area where you can save a lot of money.

I love food, but I absolutely hate how much groceries can sometimes be.

For example, a tub of Quaker oatmeal at target costs $4.59. The same-sized tub or Target’s house brand costs $2.59. Right there you are saving $2.00…

That’s only one example. A bag of Target brand rice costs $1.39. The same size bag of Uncle Ben’s rice costs $2.59.

When it comes to food, buy as much generic brand items as you can. It all tastes the same, but buying generic brand foods is going to save you so much money on all of your grocery trips.

Items in the checkout line

This is a prime example of why I do all of my shopping online and just pick it up. Not only do I save a lot of time by not having to do my own grocery shopping, but I am also not tempted to buy anything extra in the checkout lane.

Think about it: how many times do you go through the checkout lane, see a candy bar, soda, or the latest Vogue magazine and immediately throw it in your cart?

For some of us (most of us), it happens all too often.

Learn to cut it out. Cutting out these extra and unnecessary purchases is going to slowly save you a lot of money. Sure, it might only be a few dollars every time you go to the store, but with how much shopping we all do, it adds up quicker than you might think.

Restaurant meals

No, I’m not saying you need to stick to the old rice and beans diet (although that does save a lot of money), but try to cut out or cut down on the number of times you eat out.

Eating out is going to cost at least twice as much as cooking at home.

Let’s say you go to a restaurant, sit down, and have a good meal. Even something cheaper like a burger and fries is still going to cost $13.00. By the time you add a drink to wash it down, you’re looking at $15.

Then you have to add a tip. Let’s say for this example you add a $3.00 tip.

By the end of the meal, you’ve spent $18.00, and that’s just for one person…

The point is, eating out is expensive. Instead, buy groceries and make meals at home as much as possible. If you really want to take your savings to the next level, start cooking in bulk.

As a result of eating out less, I have been able to save $50 per week. I am a single guy and would generally just order a lot of fast food, and I’ve still been able to save $50 a week. Think about how much you can save if you cut out the number of times you eat out.

The point of this is to find ways you can cut down on your spending. You don’t need to cut everything out of your life, but start small and build momentum as you go.