I’m always looking for ways to save money, so when I noticed this thread of frugal individuals posting the one habit that’s had the greatest impact on their finances, I couldn’t round them up fast enough. Here’s what others said:
1. “Personally, I’ve discovered that planning meals and cooking at home has been a money-saver and a health booster. It not only saves on food expenses but also limits the temptation to dine out, ultimately helping me to stay within my budget better.”
A notebook meal plan open to a page with rows for several days and columns for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A hand fills in the section for dinner
Andreypopov / Getty Images
—u/severe-unit911
2. “Eating my lunch. I’ve saved around $35k throughout my 12-year career by avoiding eating out every day while at the office.”
—u/readsalotman
3. “Clearing out my pantry half/year/quarter year. I love purchasing in bulk or while something is on clearance. I have a bad tendency to forget what I own. So, I have set ‘clearance months’ where I can only purchase fresh fruit and vegetables at the farmers market. Everything else must be from the pantry. It’s an amazing way to clear the freezers of vegetables and pre-cooked meals and actually utilizing all my dried beans, lentils, and rice. I have a special diary and monitor what I enjoy eating or what products are most versatile (rolled oats can be used for homemade made oat milk, cookies, and overnight oats, for instance).”
—u/littlelazybee
4. “Making use of the library. It’s free and is one of the last refuges we can visit without an expectation to pay for a service or the time spent there. It’s been a blessing financially and psychologically.”
An individual sitting cross-legged on the ground between rows of bookcases in a library, reading a book
Dima Berlin / Getty Images
—u/quickstep3138
5. “I don’t let myself spend money unless I’m okay with letting something go. Aligns with my anti-consumerism and anti-clutter.”
—u/momentofclarity_2022
6. “Using a budgeting app so that all my ‘useless’ purchases that I have to input a) make me feel like the asshole I’m being to myself and b) they actually total up.”
—u/[deleted]
7. “We never (well, 99% of the time) never pay for coffee that we haven’t brewed ourselves at home. We use a Chemex and some excellent Costco coffee beans that we grind ourselves.”
A glass Chemex coffee maker with a wooden collar and leather tie full of brewed coffee on a table
Jupiterimages / Getty Images
—u/kbenn17
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8. “For buying online, put it in the cart. If you return to it several times and think, ‘Yes, I need/want that,’ get it. Most of the time it’s not required and I’ll delete it or orphan the cart.”
—u/teegee0005
9. “I ensure I REALLY need something before buying it, particularly if the buy is over $100. If I notice something that is appealing or I desire in a shop (or even online), I have to leave it behind and consider it for at least 24 hours, but typically a week, before I buy it. It keeps me from making impulse buys, escapes targeted marketing/moments of weakness, and it prevents me from consume, consume, consume. Typically, I don’t actually need the thing I feel like buying on the spur of the moment.”
—u/in-out-up-down-5280
10. “General maintenance and repairs of your house, vehicle, and possessions. Becoming a handyman is all repetition of doing the essentials in and around your house. You’ll save a tremendous amount of money knowing how to do the little and easy things instead of having to hire someone.”
A female with long hair, wearing a beanie, jeans, sneakers, and a poncho top, changing a tire with a jack and wrench by the side of the road
Bobex-73 / Getty Images
—u/trobsmonkey
11. “When I was younger, I read the average woman spent 35% of their disposable income on beauty and clothing. What on earth?!? So over the years, I’ve kept an eye on how much my peers and now direct reports spend. For me, it’s one cut a year/year and a half. Makeup only on specific sales. Second hand professional attire (all designer like Elie Tahari, MM LaFleur, and Maggy London). I receive compliments often on classic pieces and never feel dowdily dressed from meetings to galas. Meanwhile, coworkers who earn 1/6 of what I earn are spending hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on athleisure wear, let alone office attire, each month.”
—u/tranwreck
12. “My wife and I both commute less than two miles from home. Wear and tear on vehicles and gas savings for the better part of 25 years accumulate.”
—u/judgesmalls23
13. “Frozen food. My husband and I both have extremely long days. We were wedded to the idea of cooking our own food for ages, but it never really worked because we had to cook it from scratch. Once we switched to frozen food we ate at home more. It’s not the cheapest thing but it saves US money. So we’re pleased about it.”
Someone is grasping an item in a grocery store frozen foods aisle, using a shopping cart
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd / Getty Images
—u/datfumbgirl
14. “Being semi-vegetarian. My parents were huge meat eaters, so dining out for me was costly, but I discovered if I purchased more vegetables and merely purchased smaller quantities of higher quality meat, I could not only dine better but also lose weight!”
—u/sllver_mcgee
15. “I purchased the lowest priced 2013 Prius C when gas was through the roof. I average between 50 and 60 mpg driving 60 miles each way to work.” —u/gumbledore2000
16. “This is counter-intuitive, but allowing myself to spend the extra money on semi-prepared fresh foods has saved me money. Examples being purchasing bagged coleslaw mix rather than grating cabbage and carrots, chunks of fresh pineapple, marinated ready-cook chicken, etc. I’m less likely to pull over and pick up food going home from work if I know I can just toss some delicious chicken in the air fryer and stir some dressing in the slaw mix. I actually consume more fruit and veg this way because most of the work is done.”
A shelf of pre-packaged fruit cups of mixed berries, kiwi slices, strawberries, and chunks of pineapple
Gerenme / Getty Images
—u/mrshyacinthbucket
17. “Rent/buy less house and car than you can afford. This has saved my partner and me hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years (we live in a very high cost of living area). Driving modest cars until the wheels fall off and living in smaller/less nice houses and apartments than we could technically ‘afford’ has given us so much more financial stability than I could have imagined. I know that to many folks, even the most minimal housing and transportation expenses are too much. But if you have the option to make choices, opting for a good enough place or vehicle and saving or investing the remainder is really a good thing in the long term.”
—u/suburbansubversive
18. “Paying myself first: What I mean by that is I first invest a part of my paycheck, which goes into it. Next, some goes into savings (for big expenses). I survive on the rest.”
—u/bettafromdaville
19. “Being very cautious about what auto-renew or subscription services I have. Not to mention I don’t have any services; I’m just very cautious not to put things on autopay. Honestly, a lot of people have services they don’t use or just use a few of the features. I try to pay things outright so I can just not renew next year if I decide I’m done with the service. I will also look at my current services and see if they have what I need. Or I just do without. With everything being a subscription now I try really hard to have as few as possible!”
Photo of a red “Subscribe” button being pressed by a black computer cursor pointer
Gorodenkoff / Getty Images
—u/loose-scientist-2916
 20. “Buy the good version of the thing (even if it costs more) and take care of it. I’ve spent so much money buying and replacing crappy cheap stuff.”
—u/bee_luv
 21. “Pay in cash when I’m out with friends. Automatically caps my drinking and spending to what I have in my pocket.”
—u/321applesauce
22. “For me, returning to work from home has made the most financial difference. It eliminates so much of the cost associated with being employed, like clothes, travel, and food expenses. Though I try to pack a lunch, it’s simpler to charge some incidental takeout expenses on the way home from a harrowing workday. I left my at-home job a couple years ago and returned to working at home after less than a year of attempting the office setting again. I saved $10k less in the time I spent commuting to the office. I should mention also that it’s simpler for me to do and earn some overtime pay when working at home because I’m not so worried about leaving for traffic or in-transit time. I’m childless and single, so I don’t have to minister to anyone’s needs besides my own, which leaves me a lot of choice and autonomy over my expenses.”
A woman with long hair sits at a kitchen table, sipping from a mug and gazing at a laptop screen. A plant is in the background
Luis Alvarez / Getty Images
—u/glittering-degree569
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23. “What I feed for the week varies based on what is available at the stores that week. I know, I may purchase some items at normal price, but most of my high-cost food, such as meat and produce, are bought when they are on sale. I’ve experimented with so many different dishes and types of produce that I never would have thought to experiment with before just because of this practice.”
—u/crazycanadianferret
24. “I shop sales and price match when I can. At some of the grocery stores that we go to, at the bottom of your receipt, it will say how much money you saved, or I try to do it myself if the store doesn’t do that. Then I’ll take the savings amount, and I deposit it into a second savings account. I usually save around $100-$130/month. It’s not a lot of money, but we’ve been doing it for a couple of years. We’ve used the extra money for flights to see family members, put it towards a new mattress, etc. It really takes the sting out of larger expenses a couple of times annually.”
—u/someotheralias_
25. And last, “Use a travel points credit card and a cashback card for monthly necessities and pay credit cards in a grace period. Points cover vacations, and cash back covers Christmas presents! I didn’t know how much money I was throwing away on interest by paying just slightly outside the grace period (when the payment was ‘due’).”