The benefits of frugal living go far beyond saving money. Why being frugal is good and the priceless gains you’ll get from living the lifestyle. Being frugal is not all about monetary gains. I’m about to show you the huge benefits you will gain from the careful, daily use of your resources (money or otherwise). “Trust me on this one.”
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What does frugal living mean?
I’ve lived a frugal life when I’ve had next to no money to work with, and I’m continuing to live a frugal life now that I am blessed beyond measure (both financially and otherwise). That’s right—frugal living has much less to do with saving a buck or two and much more to do with how you use the resources in your life. It’s a way of life.
Frugal living is about taking all the resources you have in your life—your money, your time, your energy, your friends, your family, your job, your side hustles, everything—and figuring out ways to both maximize them to their true potential and not waste them. You can be frugal, whether you’ve got little money or lots of money.
Why Being Frugal is Good
Do you dabble in frugality, but not really with any “why” behind it? This section might change you.
I can also confidently say that sometimes, it is these fringe benefits that really make the whole thing worthwhile.
You Gain a Deeper Appreciation for things and for Life
When you have a few resources at your disposal, you learn to appreciate them more. And I have found that as you appreciate your resources more, you begin to appreciate everything more.
Suddenly, your world seems filled with people you love, beautiful landscapes, and everything that you could ever ask for. Appreciation brings happiness, satisfaction, and an entirely different perspective. The more I appreciate things, the less I seem to need or even want them.
In many cases, fewer things are better.
It Puts You in a Power Position when Making Financial Decisions
The three ways you’ll make better financial decisions are:
Take the urgency out of your decision-making
Understand your opportunity costs
Test-drive to make sure it’s the best financial decision you’re making
And guess what? Frugality helps with all three of these.
You’ll take the urgency out of your decision-making if you’re frugal in both the good and the bad times, because you’ll have a reserve of resources to tide you over while you make your decision.
You’ll understand your opportunity costs pretty well because, as a frugal person, you’re used to carefully considering options when it comes to your money.
And you’ll be able to test-drive a financial decision before making it because you have the patience (another fruit of frugal living) to do so!
You cultivate a feeling of “having enough.”
Frugality is all about utilizing a basket of limited resources. It’s not necessarily about growing that basket, so you need to upgrade to a storage container in order to fit everything. It’s about simple living. Because I cultivate an understanding and usefulness for limited resources, I’ve found that being frugal helps to satiate and appease the typical consumer’s appetite.
This has wonderful, lasting effects besides your savings account; living your life with a sense of fulfillment and without feeling a constant need to purchase and procure leads to a more authentic kind of happiness. Spending less money means you get more out of life.
You can experience this same feeling without being rich. What a great benefit of frugal living!
You Gain Self-Sufficiency, Faster (and Longer)
Being self-sufficient – needing no outside help to satisfy your needs and wants – is a priceless feeling.
And frugality really helps with this.
Not only because you typically build up an emergency fund and other savings, faster, by living a frugal lifestyle. But also because you acquire the kinds of skills you need to stretch your resources longer, to make substitutes, and to use less (since you have a lower-threshold for feeling that you have “enough”).
You Benefit the Environment
Some people care about their role in the environment. Many local farmers tend to keep their products organic, preservative free, and pesticide free. This is not only advantageous for the health of consumers but is beneficial for the environment as well.
By not using pesticides and other harmful toxins, farmers are improving air quality and preventing water and air pollution. Furthermore, since the food is local and is directly given to supermarkets, there is often less waste. For instance, many imported goods often go bad before they are purchased, producing lots of waste. Buying local, this is avoided, and food waste is significantly less.
We provide reusable goods to help you live more sustainably. Our durable goods let you use less plastic.
You Can Take More Leaps of Faith
Being able to make life decisions without basing them entirely on money is a freedom that I want for everyone to experience.
And it’s one that frugality helps with, greatly.
When you have a pot of money saved up, and you continue to live frugally, then you are in a much better position to take life’s leaps of faith as they present themselves.
You Can Afford Quality, When it Really Matters
Guess what?
Frugal living is not all about buying the cheapest things possible.
It’s more about deciding to spend as little as possible on the things that do not matter to you, so that you can then buy what you want.
And not just what you want, but you can buy quality when you buy what you want. Since you’re not piddling away a bunch of money on everything else.
This means that you might have the cheapest phone plan possible because it doesn’t matter to you, but you were able to purchase a gorgeous set of golf clubs you’ll cherish for decades to come.
It might mean you routinely use coupons and grocery receipt cashback apps off of every grocery shopping trip, but when it comes to your animals, you like to splurge on grooming.
Whatever it is that really means something to you, spend the money there. As long as you are spending as little as possible in some other areas to make up for it.
You No Longer Have to Buy at Full-Price
When you have enough stashed in your freezer, cupboards, and savings account – a benefit of frugal living – then time is on your side.
Suddenly, you don’t have to spend money on something when it’s the most expensive, just because you need it now.
You can wait and hold out. When the price drops? Then you can swoop in and buy what you need (plus, perhaps, one more for the future to stock up again).
Hint: where does this really play out? When you begin collecting Social Security benefits at an earlier age, your monthly payments will be reduced. If you can hold out for a few years – because you have the resources to do so, plus don’t need a lot to feel satisfied – then you’ll get more each month. How cool is that?
Your Lifestyle Inflation will be Less than Others
Inflation of one’s standard of living is very impossible to prevent (simply have a look at some examples of lifestyle inflation). In fact, I go into great depth about it in the lessons I’ve learned throughout my life concerning money. The good news is that your lifestyle inflation is going to be considerably less than others’. All because of frugal living.
For instance, if you begin by purchasing used automobiles rather than brand new ones (like I did), then when the time comes to upgrade, you will be able to do so to a vehicle that is far more affordable than those of your peers who began their car ownership experience with a brand new vehicle.
Another big area where this plays out? Rewards. I have a firm belief that all of us are susceptible to the phenomenon known as “rewards inflation,” in which we feel the need to continually reward ourselves with something that is both more significant and more desirable in order to maintain the same level of “rewarded” satisfaction. If you start out rewarding yourself for much less than others, then you’ll end up spending less as you inflate those rewards moving forward.
You Learn How to Pass on “Good” Deals that aren’t Good for You
When you are truly frugal, meaning you are careful and smart about how you use your resources, then it becomes much easier to pass on “good” deals. You know, the sale that makes most of us feel a sense of urgency about buying it right now, but then it turns out to not be as great of a deal? Either because you don’t really need the thing, or because it’s just good marketing on their part, etc.
Hint: this is one frugal benefit I still struggle with – saying “no” to a deal if it’s not really right for me. But, I’m getting better and better as I go.
You Can Use Your Frugal Skills for What You Need
Sometimes, a person needs to be frugal because they don’t have enough cash flow to afford their life. That means they use all of their frugal skills to help their paycheck make it. The other way to use frugal skills is to stockpile the excess cash.
The good news? You can choose either outcome, and you can flip-flop between the two as needed. In times of flush cash, you can still be frugal and stockpile the extra money. In times of need, you can use those same frugal skills to survive.
Score!
You’ll Become Quite a Resourceful Person
In the course of trying to use our resources as carefully as possible, we learn a heck of a lot. Right? In fact, you could say this blog has been one long sharing of all the ways I’ve learned how to use money and resources in the most efficient way possible over the last three decades.
You’ll also become quite resourceful as you learn to do more with fewer resources. It’s really a cool process.
I hope I’ve shown you why being frugal is good not just for your wallet, but also for your life. What’s your favorite frugal fruit, and how has it helped you in your finances and beyond?
Lets Summarise!
Frugal living, which involves conscientious spending and resourcefulness, has several benefits for financial stability, stress reduction, and sustainability. Frugality encourages planning and savings by prioritizing necessities above desires. This method raises awareness of consuming habits, encouraging mindfulness and intention. By avoiding debt and saving for emergencies, thrifty people feel financially secure. It also promotes environmental responsibility since thrifty people reuse and recycle. Frugality encourages innovation in cost-effective problem-solving, encouraging self-sufficiency and resilience amid economic uncertainty. Beyond financial caution, frugal living promotes personal well-being, environmental awareness, and a more purposeful life.
