These are all blatantly taken from the wonderful work of Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and their book “Your Money or Your Life” that offers up ways to find happiness in your life with frugality.
They offer up a series of ways to save money (or as they might put it, re-allocate your life energy in ways that are in line with your values). Without adieu, here they are:
1. Don’t Go Shopping. Don’t make trips that are explicitly for the purpose of mindless shopping. Limit those opportunities whether it is checking out the newest Amazon sale for stuff you don’t need or that new pair of jeans you think you need.
2. Live Within Your Means. There are radical solutions from financial gurus like Dave Ramsey that tell people to tear up their credit cards, but take a look at what you are making vs what you are spending. You can game the system with credit card points, but I think this strategy can be playing with fire. Accountability is key for this to work and you should find a way to budget out using an app or spreadsheet that you hold yourself accountable to (weekly or monthly budget meetings are key).
3. Take Care Of What You Have. This is pretty self-explanatory, but just take care of your crap. Regular oil changes, clean your dishes, don’t leave things out rotting unused for years, etc.
4. Wear It Out. Use everything until it has reached its final life breath. Squeeze it out of your clothes!
5. Do It Yourself. My wife and I spent a Sunday afternoon making our own place-cards for our wedding, spending about $50 instead of a couple hundred. I’m not saying I’m the world class example of the DIY movement, but with a few minutes or hours you can easily learn how to clean or repair most things.
6. Anticipate Your Needs. This basically comes down to thinking ahead. Often you’ll spend more out of necessity in the moment than something that is known ahead of time.
7. Research For Value, Quality, Durability, Multiple Use, and Price. This is pretty self-explanatory, but you should look at multiple sources for prices and make sure you are spending your money in a valuable way.
8. Buy It For Less. Go to yard sales, Salvation Army, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. The choices are endless. You can maybe find your own local “Buy Nothing” group You can also maybe make friends with some of your neighbors (scary, I know) and maybe create a borrowing network? Or, at least, you can give your neighbors a real scare when you suggest taking their stuff.
9. Meet Your Needs Differently. Do you ever feel like you only have one choice? Often, if you take a wider view, that’s not the case. Like choosing to read this whole sentence. Look at how you’ve wasted your life energy! But, in seriousness, you can find ways to actually meet your needs. It might mean getting books or movies from the library instead of buying them online or prepping meals ahead of time for the workweek.
10. Follow the 9 Steps of the “Your Money or Your Life” program. Check out the book on Amazon here [Not an affiliate link].