Living a minimalist lifestyle is great for many reasons and one of them being that it helps you to save money. And I am going to share ways I save money with minimalism.
A few weeks ago, I uploaded a blog about the money saving mindset that minimalism teaches us that greatly helps us to save money. And in the comments I got a lot of requests from you guys for more money saving tips. So for this blog I sat down I made a list of some of the ways I save money with minimalism and I’m going to share them with you right now.
These things all work well for me and chances are that some or even a lot of them can also work for you. Though there may be some in there, that are not really your cup of tea. So just take what you can use and leave the rest, and if you have any money saving tips of your own share with the rest of us, then please do so in the comments.
Number One I always make sure that I use up what I have before I buy something new. And Yorkshire people have a reputation for being frugal and I’d say that’s probably often pretty true. So I make sure I squeeze out everything I can before I buy something new. And this also goes for other things like clothing and furniture. I take really good care of my stuff and that’s why it always lasts me a really long time For example, I don’t dry clean my clothes So that saves me on electricity cost but it also makes sure that my clothes last longer and I will not replace them with new clothes if they are still good and I can still wear them.
Same goes for furniture. We’ve had this furniture for a really long time now. Would I say it’s still 100% my style? No, not really. If I had to buy new furniture now, it would probably look a little bit different But I’m not going to replace the furniture that I have now because it’s still good It still works and I’m still grateful for it.
Because of minimalism, I am not really influenced by trends and fast consumerism So I just like to keep everything as it is until it no longer works and this habit really helps me to save money.
Number Two My phone is kind of old it is the Samsung S6 And I’ve always been a samsung person and they’re going to be releasing the S10 soon.
So it’s really old It still works fine. It does the job and most of all it’s super cheap And I also have a very limited data plan because I don’t need a lot of data I don’t stream movies outside of the house. I don’t use much social media So all in all my phone is only a couple of pounds each month
Number Three is having an intentional wardrobe.
Now, before I went minimalist I used to spend a lot of money on clothing and accessories. It was my biggest indulgence It wasn’t that I was buying especially pricey things But I just bought a lot and it added up There was a time when I spent around two hundred pounds each month on clothing and right now, this just seems crazy to me. But that was what I did So being intentional with your wardrobe really helps. A few things that I do: I only have about 30 hangers in my closet and when they are full that means that I have to get rid of something first If I want to buy something new and this really helps me to think before buying anything.
Another thing that I do is I go out for specific items So I’m not randomly going out shopping for clothes anymore, which I used to do a lot But let’s say I noticed that I need a new pair of jeans I just go out and find a new pair of jeans And once I find a pair I like I just go home So changing this habit from buying random clothes that I find hanging around To searching for something specific and then leaving.
Number Four on my money saving tips list, is bringing your own bottle of water when you go out. And you may have heard this one before but it just makes good sense. Whenever I go out I just bring my own water instead of buying bottled water or bottled drinks. Better for your wallet, better for the environment.
Number five is a great tip if you want to save money and that is to use sales wisely and use them to your advantage Now you may have heard minimalists say that you should avoid sales, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a smart thing to do So what it comes down to is using the sales your advantage now Let’s say there there’s a wallet and it’s 50% off and it is now £30 if you didn’t need a wallet to begin with then it’s not a good deal Because you’re still spending £30 a wallet that you didn’t feel the need to buy in the first place, but for me I only have onewallet and after a few years of daily use it gets old, it gets worn out, and let’s say that this was happening and I was scouting for a new wallet.
Then buying it on sale would actually make sense. Now an important note here This also doesn’t work if you start to buy things that are more expensive because they’re on sale So for example, I would never buy a wallet that’s £200 even if it used to be £400. I would however buy a wallet that’s £60, so if I can get that wallet for £30 then I’m actually saving money So if you want something or need something and it can wait a few months, then wait until you can find it on sale somewhere I do this with a lot of my purchases. I’m thinking maybe half or more than half So this way I do end up saving a lot of money.
Number Six is that I don’t own a car. And this is a choice I made because it’s possible for me and I totally realize that this is not a realistic option for some people.
It totally depends on your situation But even then, there may be things that you could do to save money. For me where I live there is excellent public transportation and I can use that to get to most places I also own a bike and I also just walk a lot. I do spend money on public transportation, of course, but still that’s way cheaper than buying a car, keeping up with maintenance, and spending money on fuel and parking and insurance. I don’t have any of that The only thing is, I don’t really like to use public transportation at night. It’s still relatively safe here, but Sometimes things do happen and going at night would kind of be scary for me So if I have to be somewhere at night and I can’t get a ride or just simply ride my bike there I might spend money on a cab. But again this happens very little and the costs don’t go nearly as high as owning a car Now if you need your car for work Or you need it to get around and you don’t have access to public transportation like we have here, which I know is the case in a lot of places, then getting rid of your car is not an option.
But there may be things that you could change if you are willing to save money anyway. Maybe you could see if you could carpool to work or maybe you could park your car a bit further away where there’s free parking Or maybe you could just use your car a bit less and don’t use it for the short distances If you want to, there may be things that you could change to save money and if this tip is not for you then that’s okay, too.
Number Seven is meal planning I used to go to the grocery store and just buy the same things every week and figure out what to do with them later on And now, my wife and I take some time to plan out the next four or five days and then make our shopping list accordingly. And when we do this, we also take into consideration the discounts that are available for that week So let’s say there is a discount on cauliflower then we make sure to include things on our list that have cauliflower This way it can be strategic with my meal planning and eat things when they are cheaper And we also don’t have to throw away any food that has gone bad because we didn’t get around to eating it.
If I could only share one tip with you in this blog Then I would make it this one Because I think this one has made the biggest difference for me when it comes to saving money and that is cutting out impulse buys. Actually thinking about things before you buy them makes the biggest difference So if you’re in the shop and you see something you like Just take a picture and go home and think about it for a few days I used to buy maybe two three four things on impulse Every time I went shopping and they were never really big things, but they did add up.
And I noticed that I am a sucker for these beautiful displays in the store. And it makes me want to buy something. And now whenever I get into a situation like that I just snap a picture I go home and I notice a couple days later, I don’t really want it more often than not.
Next tip is holidaying in our own country or somewhere relatively close by. Now England is a small country so I only have to travel by train for a few hours max and I’m totally across the country and the scenery is different there that people are different and it’s just a lot of fun. So we only travel abroad every few years for example We been to Norway and Italy a couple times and we loved it and we’ll probably go visit there again. Within every few years, but our usual vacations we just spend them somewhere close by or relatively close by or even just staying at home and doing fun day trips.
Of course this totally depends on your preferences and your priorities Maybe you love traveling the world and you figured out a way to do it on a budget and that works too
Next step is to exercise at home Now unless you do things like swimming or tennis, for example, they’re kind of hard to do at home. But for me things like yoga or interval training or even going for a hike or for a run I can do all these things without paying for a gym membership And I also don’t need any expensive equipment or expensive sporting gear. There are many videos on YouTube with workouts using just your own body weight and trust me, at my size they are challenging enough. So this is a great way to save money and still get in a good workout
Number Eleven cancelling subscriptions and memberships that you are not using or not using enough.
I have cancelled most of them I only have Netflix and Spotify now and these are choices that I made because I really enjoy using these services a lot. So if you’re spending money on something every month then take a moment to think. Am I really getting my money’s worth? Am I really using this often enough? And these monthly automatic payments can be kind of tricky because they’re easily overlooked. But it really adds up when you cancel them
Next tip for saving money is to save first and spend later. So if you know roughly how much money you need to get through the month, Then you also know how much money you will have left to save and instead of waiting until the end of the month To save whatever is left It really helps to save that money first and just make do with whatever you have left for the rest of the month. For me this way I save a lot more money than if I’m just saving whatever I have left at the end of the month and As you get more used to minimalism as it becomes more and more your natural lifestyle You will buy less and less things and this way you can even bump up your savings incrementally.
Number Thirteen you know how people often say that they have trouble finding a present or a gift for a minimalist for your birthday or for the holidays Well, I usually ask for gift cards And since I never can think of a physical item to ask gift cards were great for me. So I usually ask for gift cards from stores that I know I go to at least a couple times a year for things that I need and then, whenever I do, I can just use my gift card and this way I save money that I was going to spend anyway Now, of course, you could just also ask for cash.
It’s basically the same principle But I don’t know. It’s just I don’t really like to give cash or get cash from someone, I think gift cards are way more fun.
Lastly because of our minimalist lifestyle we can make do without a big apartment or a big home or any pricey rental units, Because we don’t own a lot of stuff. So our stuff doesn’t take up much space. We live in a one-bedroom apartment now. Granted, the living room is quite large, but it’s just enough room for us We don’t need a bigger home or extra storage Living expenses are for most people their biggest expenses. So if you can find a way to live in a smaller place or in a more affordable neighborhood or city Then you can actually save a lot of money And of course, this is depending on your lifestyle your family size. If you have so much stuff that you have to buy a big place for it or if you have to buy extra storage, then downsizing might be a really good idea to end up saving some serious money. If you enjoyed the blog You know what to do.
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I will see you all soon. Have a great day. Bye bye .
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