How to Live Frugally without Being Cheap?

“How to live frugally without being cheap?”- Do you think to be frugal you should be cheap? Well, being frugal and being cheap is not the same. But many people don’t adapt frugal living just because they don’t have the clarity about frugality.

Frugal living is all about being resourceful, but not being cheap. In reality, being thrifty is not similar to being a miser or being cheap. One must understand the concept of frugality to live well in life without spending more money.

In simple words being frugal means not wasting your resources and money. Frugal living is all about the proper utilization of resources and money. In my current blog, I would like to share my experiences about thrifty being.

Frugal living is fun if you know how to live frugally without being cheap

Do you think frugal living is all about saving money by compromising on the quality of life? Well, who likes compromises in life, right? But frugality teaches you to live your life well without compromises that too without spending more money. In fact, you will live a much better life by adapting frugality.

Frugality is about saving money wisely. You should know how to live frugally without depriving yourself. Otherwise, you can’t enjoy your life and you feel that saving money is boring. So never think that frugality is a burden for you. Instead, think frugality is a challenge and enjoy being frugal by balancing your spending and saving.

Are there practical ways to be Frugal without being Cheap?

Trust me, if you start to walk on the path of frugality you so many practical ideas will pop up in your head to be thrifty without being cheap. I myself implement many practical ways in my life to be frugal. Well, don’t underestimate the human brain! nothing is impossible, there are practical ideas to be frugal without being cheap.

7 Unexpected ideas about how to live frugally without being cheap

As I am practising to be frugal in my daily life, I observe the spending habits of my friends and relatives to learn from them. And even I learn from their money mistakes, I’ve realised that by being cheap one can not save more money in the long run. So now here I’m going to share 7 practical ways that will teach you to be frugal without being cheap.

1. Don’t shock your friends by gifting cheap things!

Well, in true friendship it does not matter whether the gift is costly or cheap. But in the practical world, one must be sensible to choose a proper gift. And I’m sure even you always want to gift the best thing to your close buddies and relatives. And I can understand that youngsters really struggle hard to choose the cheap and best gift to your girlfriend or boyfriend!! If you are a teenager and not earning money yet then it’s even more difficult to buy the best gift from your pocket money and impress your crush! So at this time never ever buy cheap gifts for your friends. Here you should apply the concept of frugality.

How to be frugal while gifting your friends without being cheap?

Be frugal and prepare handmade gifts for your friends. When I was in school days I was getting so many handmade gifts from my friends. And I can say that those were the best gifts. I personally feel that handmade gifts are really the best option to gift someone without being cheap. Your friends will be so happy to accept handmade gifts even you used very simple things and less money to prepare that gift. Here the feeling is more important and handmade gifts improve the connection, bonding.

Even today I feel very happy if I receive handmade gifts from my friends or relatives. Many times even I prepared handmade gifts like greeting cards or simple things and presented to my friends. So you can also show your creativity and make handmade gifts instead of spending money gifts. You need simple tools like craft paper and some materials to make handmade gifts. So this is the practical idea to be frugal without being cheap.

2. Never visit unhygienic hotels to save money on food

To save some pennies if you visit unhygienic hotels and eat then this is not at all a frugality. So never visit any unhygienic food centres to save money on food. If you do so then this is not good for your health. Now you may think that you are saving money but in future, you have to bear all medical expenses. So frugality is not only about saving money but you must be practical and sensible while saving money.

How to be frugal with food?

Once I asked my friend about saving money on food, do you know what he said? He said “Ankita, I have a brilliant idea to save money on food. You look for a house which is very near to kalyana mantapa (wedding hall), and daily attend weddings to have yummy food! that too free of cost!”. Well, this was a hilarious reply from my friend, but I don’t recommend this idea to you to be frugal with food!

Are you seriously thinking about saving money on food? Well, that’s a good thing to save money on food. But to be frugal with food if you visit any random unhygienic hotels where you get unhygienic food at a low price then this is not considered as being thrifty. So if at all you are planning to be frugal with food follow some good habits.

Instead of eating outside food, cook food at your own home. Buy groceries in a bulk quantity, if you do so then you get more discount on groceries. We all know that preparing yummy food at home costs us lesser than eating outside food. So from now onwards inculcate the habit of munching food at home.

3. Take care of your health by being thrifty

If you don’t consult a good doctor when you are sick, just to save some pennies then this can be considered as being cheap. And also don’t randomly take cheap medicines when you feel sick. This is not the right way to be frugal with your money. But there are so many other ways to take care of your health by being thrifty.

Know how to live frugally without being cheap when it comes to health

Instead of thinking of saving money on hospital bills when you fall sick, take precautions. If you start daily healthy routines then that’s really good for your health as well as for your pocket. Take care of your health from the beginning to avoid hospital bills.

To maintain good health you don’t need to join any costly health club or gym. Here you can apply the concept of frugality. Instead of joining a health club or gym by paying huge membership fees, you can use simple exercise tools. I myself use simple exercise tools like skipping rope, acupuncture ball. And even I opt for walking.

I also watch some popular and reputed youtube health-related channels. You can also learn simple yoga and exercise. Recently I’ve understood the benefits of Surya Namaskar  (Sun Salutation). So all these simple yoga and exercises will help you to stay healthy. And I read good health books, recently I have purchased a book called Mudra Sanjeevini. This book is all about self-healing by hand gestures. So you can also read good books related to health by not wasting your money on unnecessary things.

These are all practical ways to save money on health. By this, you will not be visiting doctors and will be saving money. This is how you should practise frugality without depriving yourself. Once you realise the importance of frugal living you will surely understand that frugal living is really worth.

4. Don’t cheap out on beauty products to save a dime

All most all the youngsters use one or the other beauty products. But have you ever thought to save money on beauty products? Well, you are thinking to buy low quality and cheap beauty products to save a dime then this is not at all appreciated. This will be considered as being cheap rather than being frugal. You should never cheap out on health and beauty products.

But yes, you can think about saving money on beauty products. You can save money by buying good quality beauty products at a discounted price. Usually, you can find coupon codes, offers and discounts on beauty products during festival seasons or even during online sales. So grab these opportunities. Even you get up to 50% discounts on branded products during some special occasions or during sale. So wait for such offers to save money.

5. Cancel your all unwanted subscriptions

Recently I have cancelled some unnecessary subscriptions such as TV channels and even I’ve stopped using 2 sim cards! These were all unnecessary subscriptions and I was not using them any more. So I’m sure you have also subscribed to so many things which are not necessary.

Once I had subscribed to the newspaper too but I realised that I was not spending more time to read the whole newspaper and I was just reading a few important things. So I cancelled my newspaper subscription too. Now if I want to read any particular news I browse the internet and read it for free. So if you have subscribed for any magazines or even TV channels then cancel your subscription immediately and save your money. Here due to ignorance, you are spending more money.

If you calculate all your subscriptions then you will be shocked that you are wasting your money. So analyse your all subscriptions today and remove unwanted things.

6. Don’t buy clothes at so-called sales to be economical

Avoid visiting sales which do not provide good quality products. If you spend more money to buy clothes at such sales then you are wasting your money. Such clothes are not durable. And even avoid buying bags and other accessories at such sales.

Even I made some money mistakes in my life. I bought some products in sales. And those products were not worth the money. I’ve learnt from my money mistakes. So I advise you to be careful while doing shopping because every glitter is not gold!

7. Spend money on durable good quality products

I’ve seen that my neighbour brought an old freezer. That was a secondhand product and that was not in a good condition. But to save money they have brought that old freezer. After this, they have spent a lot of money to repair that freezer. But it was not at all a durable product. There were so many issues with that old freezer. They spent more money frequently to get repaired that freezer.

This is not the right way to save money. In this case, they have spent more money on repair. So if you are purchasing any daily use products which are very useful for you, such as washing machine, mobile or freezer then do one-time investment. Here you must focus on the quality of the product. You must know to make smart moves with money. Just to save some pennies if buy old product which is not in good condition then you will lose a lot of money on repair.

Is there a difference between being frugal and being cheap?

Yes, there is a difference between being frugal and being cheap. Being frugal is all about economic living without depriving oneself. Whereas, living cheap is all about compromising on the quality more often.

Frugal vs Cheap

You can save money by being cheap, but this is a temporary solution for money. In the long run, you can’t save more money by being cheap. Now you may be happy by saving a dime by being cheap but in a very near future, you will lose your money. So always choose to be frugal but not to be cheap. By being frugal you can accomplish your financial goals.

If you are planning to save more money in your life then know how to live frugally without being cheap. Frugal living will help you to reach your financial goals without any stress. So take simple steps today to be frugal.