What does frugal living mean? What are the best frugal blogs and websites to follow currently? How can you begin living more frugally today?
Many people are feeling the effects of rising inflation, especially within the last year, and this has caused more interest in wise spending habits to make your money go further. Living a frugal lifestyle simply means saving more than you spend, and when you do spend money, spending carefully by researching the most affordable options before making a purchase.
If you want to learn more about frugal living, read on for Shortform’s selection of the best frugal blogs and websites to follow in 2022.
What Are the Benefits of Frugal Living?
Frugal living is a money-saving lifestyle that anyone can pick up. Since frugal living has serious benefits, many people live frugally, even the extremely wealthy. In fact, not wasting money and focusing on frugality is one of the top habits of rich people. That’s because a common interest among millionaires is achieving and maintaining financial independence, rather than displaying social status.
What are the benefits of frugal living? Many people view frugality as endless coupon clipping and searching through store flyers for the best sales but the truth is that these days there are countless resources for living frugally. It’s easier than ever to have a frugal lifestyle thanks to our easy access to information on the internet. This means living frugally shouldn’t disrupt your current lifestyle—it should complement it. By living frugally in a way that suits your unique needs, here are some of the benefits you’ll enjoy:
- Getting out of debt or not acquiring debt
- Having less financial stress (e.g. always chasing a larger income)
- Retiring earlier in life
- Having more time and freedom to pursue your interests
- Having more money to save or invest
- Being able to survive financially when times are tough
- Gaining more financial freedom, knowledge, and satisfaction
Best Frugal Blogs
With so many people turning to a frugal lifestyle, blogs addressing the topic have seemingly popped up overnight—but what are the best frugal living blogs? The most successful frugal living blogs are written by authors dedicated to the lifestyle who specialize in some form of frugal living, like gardening, couponing, or personal finances. If you’re ready to save money while enjoying life more, following the best frugal living blogs is an easy way to begin.
These are Shortform’s selections for the best frugal living blogs to follow in 2022.
A Cultivated Nest is all about homemaking on a budget. This blog has unique tips for DIY projects to cut costs on home decorating and renovations. Author Manuela Williams believes frugal living isn’t about restricting your lifestyle—it’s about spending smartly so you can use your money on things you really want. In addition to her frugal homemaking advice, she also writes about general money-saving tips, DIY beauty products, and budgeting tips to track your spending.
Author Kristen Cross, known as “The Frugal Girl,” has been blogging about frugal living since 2008. The Frugal Girl blog focuses on mindful spending, reducing food waste, green living, and making smart, high-quality purchases. This blog will teach you practical tips and share a real-world example of living frugally day-to-day. From recipes to repurposing ideas, The Frugal Girl blog is full of actionable tips and shows you how to be content with what you already have.
With up to 17 million reads per month, The Penny Hoarder blog is a must-read if you want to learn how to save, earn, or manage your money better. The blog’s primary purpose is to teach you how to take control of your personal finances to live with less money stress. If you want to read a blog that covers all the basics of frugal money management, like handling debt or planning for retirement, then check out The Penny Hoarder blog.
Author Marissa Winfrey has naturally lived a frugal lifestyle her whole life. Her philosophy of frugal living is to choose quality over quantity, which will help readers get rid of clutter and feel more satisfied with purchases. As a professional interior decorator, Winfrey’s articles are a good choice if you want to know more about finding beautiful bargains for your home. The Frugal Lifestyle blog also covers general frugal tips, like how to save money or couponing.
The Little House Living blog promotes simple, frugal living. Written by countryside housewife Merissa Alink, this blog explains how to DIY or create homemade alternatives to products. You can also find a variety of recipes from scratch, frugal household projects, and crafting ideas. The Little House Living blog is excellent for homesteaders who want advice on self-sufficiency and living a frugal lifestyle.
The Frugal Woods blog is another great option if you want to know more about frugal homesteading. Authors Nate and Liz Thames describe themselves as “ex-urbaners,” going from an ultra-urban, suit-and-tie lifestyle to owning 66 acres of Vermont countryside. This blog details their journey from a conventional lifestyle to rural living on a budget. They hope to share the advice they learned along the way so readers can learn from their mistakes and find out how to fully embrace a frugal lifestyle.
Published by The New York Times, the Frugal Traveler blog is dedicated to readers who want to travel more but spend less. If your goal is to travel on a tight budget, then the Frugal Traveler blog will be your companion for all things budget traveling, like how to pay for vacations with loyalty program points or whether you should travel by train or plane to save the most money. Named “Travel Journalist of the Year” in 2019, columnist Elaine Glusac is an award-winning travel writer who you can trust has the best advice for frugal traveling.
Earning recognition from the likes of CNN and The Seattle Times, the One Hundred Dollars a Month blog is written by self-proclaimed “very bored housewife” Mavis Butterfield. Her articles are treasured by readers for providing frugal gardening, canning, cooking, and crafting tips. Each article includes high-quality photos to help illustrate DIY projects, making them easy to understand, even for beginners.
The Clever Girl Finance blog is written for women who want to control their finances. With its mission of supporting women, this blog has grown to become one of the largest personal finance platforms for women in the U.S. A big perk of the Clever Girl Finance blog is its free resources, like financial courses, access to financial mentors, and weekly videos. The articles also cover many frugal living topics, including minimalism, motherhood & frugality, dealing with student loans, and more.
In this blog, certified financial education instructor Amanda L. Grossman shares her best strategies for women looking to retake control of their finances. Grossman’s view on frugality is that it shouldn’t be overly complicated, and she wants to show readers who are tired of living paycheck-to-paycheck that adopting a frugal lifestyle can lead to financial independence. Her top-rated articles include advice on common money mistakes, rules for making the best financial decisions, and how to save money when you find it challenging.
With the slogan “Your guide to a beautiful life on a budget,” the Frugal Beautiful blog is a top resource for learning to live frugally and why that doesn’t mean being cheap. The blog’s “Frugality 101” series is a good option for beginners, including topics like how to detox from overspending and how to survive when money is tight. Author Shannyn Allan’s philosophy on frugal living is to spend smarter so you can indulge in meaningful luxuries.
The Living Low Key blog has been featured in publications like Business Insider and U.S. News & World Report. The blog’s authors, Cassie and David Pipp, have earned the respect of readers thanks to their success in escaping a high amount of debt and raising their net worth to nearly half a million dollars. The blog teaches you their best tips for saving money as well as budgeting when you have a family.
Best Frugal Websites
What are the best frugal living websites? While there is an abundance of frugal living websites, only the best websites offer actionable tips, free resources, and expert information on living a frugal lifestyle. We believe the best frugal living websites recognize that frugality doesn’t mean difficult sacrifices or penny-pinching.
Here’s our collection of the best frugal living websites to bookmark in your browser.
Deborah White, the owner of the All Things Frugal website, has created a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in frugal living. White learned to live frugally by navigating the challenges of low-income family life with three children. From budgeting to the most cost-effective purchase ideas, White’s website offers easy-to-understand guides full of useful information on living frugally.
With tutorials on topics ranging from edible landscaping to starting homeschooling, The Prudent Homemaker website has frugal living tips for anyone looking to add some frugality to their home and family. The creator of the website, Brandy Simper, was inspired to share her knowledge of living a frugal lifestyle after not grocery shopping for an entire year, living only off a food storage supply.
The Cheapism website coined the term “Cheapist” to describe anyone who spends smart and lives frugally. Rather than being “too cheap,” this website aims to show you how to make wiser purchases and avoid wasting money on unnecessary expenses. This website is full of professionally-researched goods and services that save you money on high-quality items.
Living on the Cheap claims to be “your local resource for freebies, discounts, and deals.” With over 1.5 million visitors per month, this website has a lot to offer in terms of finding the best deals from retailers in your city. Living on the Cheap also publishes articles written by consumer journalists who provide actionable advice on living a frugal lifestyle, including help with personal finances, entertainment, and travel.
The mission of the Wise Bread website is to show you how living frugally can be fun and rewarding. Targeting money-conscious consumers, this website offers financial advice, shopping tips, career advice, and money-making ideas. All the writers for the Wise Bread website have a stake in frugality, while some come from the finance industry, other writers specialize in career counseling or homemaking. The website also provides a community forum for getting personalized advice.
Lisa, the owner of the Adapt Your Dollars website, was inspired to teach women about money management because it was something she never learned growing up. Her website will teach you about financial literacy and wellness through engaging articles and guides. Some of the useful resources you can find on Adapt Your Dollars include a meal planning guide and a free budgeting workbook.
Empowering visitors to use frugality to live a more satisfying life, the Frugal and Thriving website offers a uniquely Australian perspective on frugal living. Hailing from Queensland, Australia, website owner Melissa Goodwin learned how to be frugal while raising kids on a single income. Goodwin has created a variety of frugal resources for visitors, including how to get into a frugal mindset, budgeting with a family, and frugal living tips for your household.
With features on national media outlets, like Good Morning America, Jordan Page has certainly become well-recognized in the frugal living community. Page’s Fun Cheap or Free website provides a helpful beginner’s guide for new visitors looking to begin a frugal lifestyle. The website guides you through an introduction to budgeting and offers special programs, like Page’s Budget Boot Camp and Meal Plan Subscription.
The Inspired Budget website offers step-by-step guidance on how to achieve your financial goals. You can attend the free training course, The 4 Step Framework To Budget For Your Best Life, and download free budgeting cheat sheets designed to help you become debt-free. Website owner Allison Baggerly created these and many other resources based on her experience successfully paying off over $100,000 in debt, and her financial expertise has earned her features in esteemed publications, including Forbes and Parents.
Frugal Coupon Living owner Ashley Langston understands the struggle of trying to maintain your lifestyle on a smaller income. She created her website after becoming a mother and learning to live on half of her previous income. In addition to sharing online deals for saving money on products and services, Langston also created a library of free printables for frugal DIY crafts, party planning, seasonal celebrations, kids’ activities, and home organization.
Managed by the non-profit organization Consumer Federation of America, the America Saves website supports lower-income visitors in achieving financial independence, from owning a car to saving for a home. With a focus on helping visitors overcome the financial difficulties brought on by the Covid pandemic, America Saves provides in-depth guides to help you identify saving goals, like an emergency fund, and achieve them by using the website’s tools—motivational tips, advice, and reminders.
Final Words
We hope you enjoyed Shortform’s selection of the best frugal living blogs and websites, and that they have helped to show you the value of living frugally. If we missed out on your favorite frugal living resource, let us know in the comments!
If you’re inspired to begin living frugally today, the first step is to get into a frugal mindset and recognize that money doesn’t always equal happiness. Adopting just a couple of new frugal living habits can lead to more satisfaction in the long run. If you’re interested in reading more about some frugal habits you can incorporate into your lifestyle today, check out our favorite book summaries for earning and saving money—The Millionaire Next Door or The Psychology of Money.
TITLE: The Millionaire Next Door
AUTHOR: Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
TIME: 22
READS: 119.6
IMG_URL: https://www.shortform.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/the-millionaire-next-door-cover.png
BOOK_SUMMARYURL: the-millionaire-next-door-summary-thomas-stanley-william-danko
AMZN_ID: XYZ
TITLE: The Psychology of Money
AUTHOR: Morgan Housel
TIME: 52
READS: 120.4
IMG_URL: https://www.shortform.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/the-psychology-of-money-cover.png
BOOK_SUMMARYURL: the-psychology-of-money-summary-morgan-housel
AMZN_ID: XYZ
