Now that the year is coming to an end, I want to know what is your frugal tip that worked for you in 2025.
I'd love to hear about the obvious stuff and the weird weird little habits that ended up saving you way more money than you expected.
Mine was just bringing my own food to work.
I didn’t think it would matter that much, but not buying lunch out every day saved way more than I expected.
What frugal tip worked for you in 2025?
byu/salamagogo inFrugal
Posted by salamagogo
12 Comments
Shopping at Aldi really helped my grocery budget. My budget is 250.00 every two weeks and ordering online at Kroger, it kept creeping up steadily and not leaving any room for produce or forgotten items. Now I can get a full cart of groceries at Aldi for 100-150.00 and just get my specialty items from Kroger. My fridge and pantry are definitely fuller now.
I started ironing myself instead of taking stuff to the cleaners. I’m slow, but good. But slow, so there is always a backlog. I hate wrinkled shirts, or anything, really.
Finally got a bidet this year. Shortly after, I switched to bidet cloths. I don’t even think about toilet paper anymore, though I keep a couple rolls on hand for guests. Wish I’d done it sooner
Biggest change that will pay dividends (eventually) that I made was upping my mortgage repayments. About 2 years in at what started as a 30-year, I am now on pace to be done in another 15. If I can shave off a couple more in the coming years and just be done in 15 years all in, would be pretty happy. Gonna save me hundreds of thousands in interest over the life of the loan.
Meal planning prioritizing what I have in my fridge that will go bad in the next few days. My food waste is way down once I started doing this.
Also: not logging into Amazon 😄 those little purchases really add up!
Tracking my spending has been huge. I track all discretionary purchases in Google Sheets and make a budget each month. It really helps me stay on track, and eliminates temptations to eat out or make impulse purchases when I know how much I’ve already spent and what my budget allows.
Don’t accumulate clutter- a huge time and money saver. No storage lockers lingering away, no stacks of boxes in the basement. Yard sale that stuff or give it away.
Also- Smartphone coupons. I worked at a big corporate retail store and noticed how popular these are with younger shoppers. If a coupon is offered, use it. Some stores are all about it (Menard’s, Kohl’s) others won’t mention them but a verifiable coupon will be honored.
going out for special dates only, more expensive, less often, much more memorable, and much less average eating out
Track my spending daily and aim for 13-18 no spend days a month. I’m ending this year with 60%
No spend days and added over $1k/month to savings.
I also have a list in my reminders app for upcoming bills. It’s kept me home so much this month to see that I have $500 in car repairs next week so no,
I don’t need to go out shopping right now.
I signed up for a few store delivery services, two with half price specials, and a subsidized ride share program for seniors, which allowed us to go to one car. We save more money not having the second car vs. paying for the other services. Walmart+ ships free and does free return pickup, plus includes a free streaming channel, so that has been an especially nice time and money saver.
I bought more produce saver containers and washable silicone food storage bags so we use very few Ziploc kind of bags anymore.
I’ve started making baked potatoes from Sam’s in the crockpot, just put on high for 4 hours, keeping extra in the fridge for reheating for meals for a few days. Ten pound bag, two days worth of calories, for only $3.77.
I switched to loose teas I use with metal tea strainers to save money and avoid plastics from regular tea bags.
I put as many electronic devices as feasible on power strips and reduced the electric bill by $25 a month.
It’s a great year for savin money. I completely stopped ordering takeout and drive-thru. Air fryer and rice cooker for the win! Brought all my own lunches. Best bonus, lost some weight, and brought down my blood pressure a couple digits.