Are You Doing Frugal the Right Way?

Frugal living is becoming normal because everyone has to tighten their wallets to deal with the rising cost of things. It is no longer a choice or preference to live frugally. It has become essential to be frugal in managing day-to-day expenses. However, some foolish frugal ways to save can cost you money more in the long term. Here are some frugal mistakes that people make because they only focus on the price rather than what they get in return for the price. 

Cutting corners and skipping the essentials 

When things get more expensive, it is understandable that you need to reduce your spending in order not to overspend. If your income hasn’t increased with the rising prices of goods and services, you have no choice but to cut spending as much as possible so that you still live within your means. However, you should not cut corners on things that affect your health. 

Food 

Do not skip meals, eat only cheap processed and unbalanced meals because the physical body needs balanced nutrition to stay healthy.   

Medication and supplements 

They are expensive, but if you have medical conditions and are prescribed medications and supplements, not taking them may deteriorate your health in the long run and can end up as expensive medical bills. 

Healthcare coverage 

For affordability, some health insurance products have kept their premiums low but reduced the coverage. When shopping for your health insurance plan, don’t only focus on the monthly premium charges. You should not compromise on the coverage to save a few dollars a month and end up with big hospital bills when something goes wrong. 

Miserly maintenance – will cost you more down the road 

There are scheduled car maintenance and house repairs to upkeep our car and home.  Some miserly maintenance work to save cost can cost you more money. It is not always a good idea to save a few dollars here and there especially when it’ll cost you more down the road/in the long run. 

Car maintenance 

Oil and tyre changes are regular car maintenance to upkeep the running of your car.  For example, if you buy inferior engine oil you may end up paying more if it spoils the car’s engine. Using low-grade tyres is another frugal mistake that is dangerous for you and other road users. In case of accidents due to tyre problems, it may cost much more to repair your car compared to a set of good quality tyres. 

House maintenance and repair 

Similarly, buying cheap house repair materials and paying less for shoddy work may not be the best way to save money because if they do not last the test of time, you end up paying more for added repairs. For example, if you don’t pay for good quality plumbing pipes, you may end up with water leakage problems which can ruin your ceiling.  Hence, you may need to spend more to replace the pipes again and also repair the ruined ceiling boards.  

Buying cheap electrical appliances 

Cheap unsafe electrical appliances have proven to be dangerous. Many home fires were started by faulty electrical appliances. If the prices of electrical appliances are too good to be true, you need to ask why and do more research before buying them.

Hidden wasteful shopping habits 

Frequent frugal foolish mistakes are made when shopping for groceries and essentials. 

Always looking out for ‘Promotions’ and ‘Deals’ 

When shopping for regular items, you often get caught up with promotions and deals on products that are not part of your shopping list as they are usually not what you really need then. You need to be vigilant and not get caught in ‘Frugal Marketing’ traps. Beware of deals such as; “add $xxx to get 5% off” or “buy one more for a discount voucher”. There is no harm in stopping by the promotional rack to check them out but be mindful before putting them in your cart. 

Buying bulk of things 

Buying bulk is a good money-saving strategy. However, if you buy perishable goods in bulk, whatever you cannot finish will end up in the bin and you actually waste more money than you save. Sometimes buying bulk can only save very little compared to the regular packaging.  When you buy much more than what you need, more space and extra storage are needed to store them, and you may end up spending more to buy storage furniture.  

Driving across town to save $5 

It is not uncommon for people to go out of the way to buy an item that is a few dollars cheaper. They forgot to add the cost of fuel and driving time to the price of the discounted product. With rising fuel prices, you are likely to pay more for fuel used than what you saved.

Choose to be Smart Frugal Instead 

Frugal is defined as being smart with your money.  In times of the rising cost of things, it can be very tempting to cut corners, be foolishly miserly and get caught in marketing traps. But you can be frugal smart by being a smart shopper and practising good budgeting to adapt to live smart frugal and get the best value for your money without any compromises.