26 Extremely Frugal Ways to Save Money

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Looking for new easy ways to save money or curious how people who are into extreme frugal living cuts costs? Then you’ll love this list of helpful ideas!

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If you’ve been at all intentional about trying to save money, you probably are familiar with the usual recommendations. Things like buying store brands when grocery shopping, turning off the lights when you aren’t in a room and buying clothing secondhand.

Those are all wonderful ideas, of course. But I thought it would be fun, and hopefully helpful too, to share some of the money saving things that extremely frugal people do.

The great thing is that not only do these things save you money, but many of them also reduce waste too. So you can benefit in more ways than one!

1. Make foaming hand soap

One of my favorite frugal hacks! It makes hand soap go so much farther and it’s super easy to make your own!

2. Save cotton from pill bottles

Use for anything you would use a cotton ball for!

3. Cut open lotion bottles and toothpaste tubes

It’s honestly shocking how much is still left inside when you think these things are empty!

4. Save cereal bags and use them as wax paper

Cut open, then use between cookies, to separate hamburgers when freezing, etc.

Or leave it as is and when flattening chicken breasts, put it inside and your mess will be contained.

You can also try putting a cereal bag in the bottom of your kitchen trash to keep it from getting as dirty in the bottom.

5. Rinse out food bottles

Ketchup, BBQ sauce and mustard can be rinsed out with a bit of water and then put into things like Sloppy Joes
Creamer and heavy cream can be rinsed with coffee and then of course put into your cup of coffee
Chocolate syrup can be rinsed with a bit of milk when making chocolate milk

6. Turn off the shower while washing

7. Use the appropriate size burner

This may seem obvious, but putting a small kettle on a big burner simply wastes heat.

8. Turn old towels, t-shirts and bedsheets into rags

Cut into a convenient size and use them for all sorts of things!

Towels – make great rags for scrubbing up floors, cleaning bathrooms or just general clean-up jobs
T-shirts – work really well for dusting
Cotton Bedsheets/Pillowcases – these tend to be more lint-free and work really well for cleaning windows and mirrors

9. Reuse plastic grocery bags

Walmart style grocery bags have so many uses:

Trash can liner
Line paint trays
Wrap up wet paint brushes in between uses
Double-wrap soiled diapers
Doggie clean-up bags
Packing material

10. In winter, leave the oven door open after baking

It’s a great way to heat the house for free!

11. Use the other side of printed paper

Perfect to use for keeping game scores, for kids to draw and paint on or even for printing, depending what it is.

12. Reuse bread and tortilla wrap bags

We never throw out bread or tortilla wrap bags before using them again! Shake out the crumbs and they work great for all sorts of things.

Bread bags are the most versatile and work well for storing homemade bread, putting sandwiches in when going on a picnic, wrapping soiled diapers, picking up dog waste and more.

We use tortilla bags as Ziploc bags. They also can work to pick up dog waste, too.

13. Reuse Ziploc bags

Unless they were used for raw meat or something greasy, resealable bags can be washed and used over and over!

14. Use a small spatula to scrape out containers

These spatulas are perfect for scraping the last drop from almost any container.

15. Reuse glass jars

I love using old pickle, salsa and pasta sauce jars for leftovers and for food storage!

16. Reuse foam mailers

17. Use mesh fruit bags as a pot scratcher

For optimum effectiveness, tie into a knot or put several inside one bag and then knot.

18. Use dryer lint as fire starter

Pack a toilet paper roll full of dryer lint for an easy fire starter.

I’ll be honest, we tried this and it didn’t really work. But I know people love doing it, so it’s worth a try!

19. Save ketchup and mustard packets from restaurants

Squeeze into bottles to make sure they actually get used!

20. Put shampoo and body wash in old pump soap bottles

This is super helpful if you have a family member who tends to use way more than they need! Simply limit the amount to 1 pump and it will save you loads of wasted shampoo and body wash.

Two homemade pumpkin spice iced lattes next to each other with whipped cream and paper straws.

21. Rarely buy already made coffee or coffee drinks

You can even buy quality coffee and it’s still way cheaper than going to a coffee shop!

Here are a few of my favorite coffee drinks that are easy to make at home:

Homemade Caramel Frappe
Homemade Mocha Frappe
Homemade Peppermint Mocha Frappe
Homemade Vanilla Iced Latte
Easy Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
Easy Homemade Mocha
Easy Homemade Latte

22. Shop after holiday sales

This is a great time to stock up on gift wraps, gift baskets, decorations and more!

23. Rarely use disposable, one-time use items

Instead of paper towels, use homemade rags. Instead of dryer sheets, use wool balls. Instead of pads or tampons, use a menstrual cup or reusable pads. Instead of paper plates, use regular plates and run the dishwasher. You get the idea!

24. Make almost everything from scratch

A few of my favorites:

25. Always use cashback sites

I’ve saved hundreds by using sites like BeFrugal to earn cashback on my online purchases. I look at it as bonus earnings since I’d be buying the items anyway!

26. Adjust the thermostat

Keeping your thermostat at 72 in the summer and 68 in the winter is a great way to save! I don’t do so great at keeping the house warmer in the summer, but I find the winter option easier as we can easily add layers.

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