Consume Less – The Best Way to Save Money

We can argue all day about the best way to save money. You can clip coupons, shop sales, buy secondhand, and drive a paid off car. Those are all great ways to save money! Everyone has their own “trick” to saving money. But let’s dig deeper to find the best way to save money and live frugally.

Have you truly thought about the roots of frugality? To live frugally, you:

Use it up.
Wear it out.
Make do.
Do without.

All the surface level ways to save money (use coupons, shop sales) don’t actual change your habits and how you spend money. Sure, you’ll save money along the way, but you’ll still have a consumption problem. Overconsumption isn’t just limited to the “influencers” on social media. You could be overconsuming, too! Consuming less and living within the pillars of frugality is truly the best way to save money.

Our Consumption Problem

Overconsumption is when a person purchases goods (and services) beyond what they actually need. Not in a “this is a back up of my favorite makeup” way. Not “I like to have three boxes of pasta in my pantry just in case” way. But in a “I have a whole closet for my shoes” way and a “I have thirty six Bath and Body Works candles” way.

This is normalized all over social media. From “hauls” to PR unboxing videos, to even kids’ videos on YouTube of toys they were sent. It’s the full closet in the background and “Let’s Go Shopping” voiceover videos. Even in the “5 Things Worth the Money” trend is laden with overconsumption.

We have begun to believe that buying new things all the time is normal. Buying things for ourselves, our kids, our home is almost a daily occurrence with how easy it is to click and order with things showing up at our home in just a few days. We’ve normalized receiving a package weekly, if not daily. We’ve normalized not realizing how much we’ve spent on Amazon this month. Not remembering what’s in the packages once they arrive at our doorstep is NOT NORMAL.

Couple this overconsumption of consumer goods with stagnate wages, and it’s a recipe for credit card debt and living above our means.

So how do we reign in our consumption habits? How do we find the best way to save money if we’ve been conditioned to spend, spend, and spend?

Stop Shopping

Let’s say something together: STOP BUYING STUFF YOU DON’T NEED!

Whew. I don’t know about you, but I feel much better!

Now, when I say “stop buying stuff you don’t need” I mean:

• a new outfit for each and every occasion
• one-off tools that you’ll only use once
• anything “just because” it was on sale – if it was full price, would you still buy it?
• thrifted and secondhand things when you already have a home bursting with your own pre-loved stuff
• books when your TBR is a mile high (and the library exists!)
• toys because your kid is cute and you just passed the toy aisles at Target
• supplies for projects when you have other things you need to finish first
• new technology when yours works perfectly fine

Do you feel where this list is going? All of those things are wants, not needs.

A want is something that you can survive without and be perfectly fine. A need is something you need to survive – I’ll even include basic “happiness” and convenience items like a car, phone, and a sweet treat every now and then.

Here’s some quick tips to stop buying stuff you don’t need.

Inventory your home

Much like a retail store takes inventory, you’re going to do it, too. You can, of course, declutter as you go if you feel it is necessary, but it certainly isn’t required.

Go category by category and make a list of what you already have. I suggest doing the “high buy” categories first such as:

• food (pantry, fridge, freezer)
• cleaning and household products
• pet items
• clothing (yours, kid’s, partners’s)
• decor (both seasonal and everyday)
• books
• candles and home fragrances
• makeup and skincare
• personal care and toiletries

Anything you might be tempted to “just pick up” while you’re out shopping needs to be inventoried! Once you see how much you have, you’ll likely stop buying it. It is also useful to make a second list of things that you need. This would include things like kids clothing in the next size, more deodorant, etc.

Audit your spending

In order to figure out the best way to save money, you’ll need to actually look at your money.

Look at the last few months (1-3) of spending (your bank or credit card statements). Categorize your spending into groups that make sense to you. This could include: housing, transportation, debt, groceries, eating out, pets, school, kids miscellaneous, bills/utilities, etc.

If you find you make a lot of purchases at the same place, such as Target, Walmart, or Amazon, log into those apps and look at each transaction. Was that necessary spending? What category does that fit into? Do you even remember what you purchased?

If this opens your eyes to how much you’re spending… GOOD! That’s what this is meant to do. If you have no idea what you spend your hard earned money on, how will you ever make change?

Use a wish list

I’m not saying to stop buying things forever, but maybe just for a while. Saving money isn’t about deprivation, it’s about moderation. While you can buy anything you want, you can’t buy everything. That’s where a wish list comes in.

We call this our 72 Hour List.

It’s a list I keep in my phone of all the things I’d like to buy that are not a necessity. It includes the date, the item, and the price. I make myself wait three days before I buy it. I’m allowed to look for better deals and search reviews, but can’t click “buy now”. After the three days (or 72 hours) I’m allowed to buy the item if it is within our budget that month. If it isn’t, but I still want it, I add a line item to the next month’s budget so that I can buy it.

Honestly, I forget about most things on that list! That just shows how impulsive we can be when it comes to spending.

Find that dopamine

Whenever we shop, we get little bites of dopamine that make us feel happy. But once that feeling wears off, we want more and more and more! Sometimes using up our items gives us that since of satisfaction and longer lasting happiness. But often we resort to hours of doom scrolling both through social media and through shopping apps.

To find dopamine outside of shopping, find something that brings you joy. Like reading, mending your clothes, painting or drawing, going on walks or hikes, decluttering (oh, is that just me??), playing board games with your family, delving deeper into your faith… you get the picture.

Most things that will bring you joy cost very little money. Get books from the library or borrow on Libby and read on your phone. Audit your closet and see what needs mended and learn techniques from YouTube. Color with your kids’ colored pencils. Walk in your neighborhood or nearby park. Borrow board games from a friend or host game nights. All of these sound way more fun than shopping.

Also don’t be afraid to invite people in. I have found the more frequently we host people, the happier I am. Not only do I “get all my words out” yapping with my friends and family, but I just feel better. You do not need a perfect home in order to have people over. It doesn’t need to be 100% clean and tidy. It doesn’t need to be aesthetically pleasing. Just open your door to the people you love most in your life.

Get bored

Remember how as a kid, our parents would tell us that it wasn’t their problem that we were bored?

Yeah, we need that as adults too.

It is okay to be bored! You don’t need constant stimulation. Scrolling your phone for hours wasn’t a thing even a decade ago. Delivery within a few hours is a new invention. Our consumption problem has lead us to always be stimulated, never still. Hear me out on this, but a great way to save money is practicing being bored.

When was the last time you laid in your room and just listened to music like you did when you were a teenager? The last time you simply looked out your window to admire what’s around you (or people watch)? When was the last time you meditated (either Biblically or to clear your mind and become conscious of your body)?

Being bored or being “still” allows your mind to wander freely. No one telling you what to do, just existing for a little slice of time. Your brain will think of creative things to do! or maybe just create a to-do list. Keep a notebook nearby (not your phone) when you need to write something down.

When your mind wanders freely, to allows you to see a better path to happiness than trying to scrape dopamine out of doom scrolling or shopping.

Set your “default” to free

When we were first becoming super frugal, I was still always looking for “deals” and never thought of any alternative than spending money. Perhaps the best way to save money is to turn your “default spending setting” to free.

While looking for a deal on a item you were already going to buy is great (and you should be doing that)! Have you ever considered how you could get that same thing for free?

Now, I don’t mean for you to go through life expecting everyone to hand you everything you’ve ever wanted for free just because you need to save a buck. However, you need to look for ways to reach your end goal for free or lower cost.

Say you really need to fix up your fence. It’s only a few boards, so you believe in yourself and decide to do it on your own. But then you realize, you don’t have any tools for the job… or the lumber. What a dilemma!

While the lumber may not cost a whole lot, the tools might. Instead of running to the hardware store, you decide to reach out to your neighbor. You ask if they have any spare boards from when they redid their fence a while back. They say yes! You offer to pay them, but they give them to you just to get them out of the garage.

Next you ask around your neighborhood social media group if anyone could lend you their tools for a few hours this weekend. A nice guy from a few streets over has the tools, but isn’t available to lend them out until a few weeks from now. Instead of saying “oh thanks but nevermind”, you graciously accept his offer and decide to wait. When it comes to fence fixing day, you and the neighbor guy you just met become good acquaintances. A month goes buy and your new buddy asks to borrow something of yours… and you say “of course!”. THIS is what living in a community that gives from their own abundance looks like. And it can start with you.

We’ve become hyper focused on doing things ourselves, that we haven’t yet realized there are so many other people who would benefit from a community such as this.

The Swap

One of the things I love most about the mom’s group I joined several years ago, is that we are truly a community. We laugh together, pray together, learn together, and most importantly… we declutter together.

I am not the inventor of the swap that we have each month, but I sure am its biggest supporter!

This can work for any friend group or family. Here’s what we do.

We set a day each month to have “swap table”. We bring all our things we no longer need and set it out for the rest of the group to go through and take what they want. The whole idea is to give from our own abundance while being more intentional with what we already have. I know women who have been creative enough to give their kids a full Christmas without spending a dime thanks to our swap table!

We are also not afraid to ask for what we need. Whether it is just something to borrow, or something we’ll use long term, we know we can ask amongst friends for it.

Being on a tight budget is something we are all familiar with. Why not make it easier as a community if we shared with one another?

Live by the pillars of frugality

Living frugally is more than just figuring out the best way to save money. It’s a lifestyle that allows you to save money through building habits.

Before you buy anything, remind yourself of the pillars of frugality:

Use it up.
Wear it out.
Make do.
Do without.

Do you need something more? Or can you use up what you already have?

Is what you’re buying a replacement for something that is worn out? Or is it just another thing to add to your home?

Can you make do with what you already have? Is there something in your home that already serves a similar purpose?

If you didn’t buy this item, could you live without it? Would you be happy without it?

Drilling down through those questions will eliminate so many unnecessary purchases. When we buy something, we are meant to use it to its fullest and have it for a long time.

You can choose to break free from the cycle of buy-own-trash and choose to consume less. Consuming less is the best way to have a clutter free home. Consuming less is the best way to save money.