Cheerful young woman with curly hair at home saving coins into her piggybank
Being single comes with autonomy and freedom, but research shows it’s more expensive to afford daily necessities when you’re on your own.
How To Survive on $500 a Month: A Frugal Living Guide
Learn: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000
Luckily, there are many frugal habits you can adopt if you want to save money. Here are some examples.
Embrace Minimalism The world is full of shopping temptations. There’s so much marketing designed to make us part with our hard-earned dollars. Chances are, like most people, you might have an excess of clothes, decor and other items already at home.
So, a good challenge is to embrace minimalism. It doesn’t have to be forever, but even a few months of intentional buying and deciding not to spend money on extras can help you to develop better frugal habits.
Buy Second-Hand You’d be surprised what you can find in a thrift store. Many thrift stores have racks that have new clothes with tags. Additionally, there are many resale apps like Poshmark, ThredUp and Mercari that sell gently used clothes for great prices.
If you enjoy purchasing home decor, Facebook marketplace often has a treasure trove of items from lamps to coffee tables to full bedroom sets.
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Cancel Subscriptions You might be paying for subscriptions you don’t realize you have. Go through your bank statements and your credit card statements to see what recurring payments you have each month.
You might be surprised to learn you are paying for subscriptions you forgot about. This is easy to do with so many TV subscription services available today.
Meal Plan Even if you don’t love cooking, having a meal plan is a great way to save money. There are many easy, affordable dishes you can make that cost far less per serving than ordering takeout.
A simple way to start meal planning is by having Taco Tuesday every week. Tacos are affordable, and once you’re in the habit of eating in every Tuesday, you can slowly add more days to the week.
Host Game Nights and Potluck Dinners If you’re used to going out with your friends each weekend and ordering drinks, encourage your friend group to have nights in instead.
By making your own cocktails at home, asking each friend to bring a dish and watching movies or playing games, you can save hundreds of dollars each month.
Negotiate Your Bills Every few months, take the time to review your bills. Sometimes, you can save money by making a few phone calls and asking for discounts. Your insurance companies often offer different discounts over time, including discounts for loyalty.
Additionally, if you get a bill in the mail from a hospital, you can ask for an itemized receipt and negotiate the details to try to get it for less.
Use the Library If you haven’t been to your local library in a while, you should check it out. Your library has many different items you can borrow aside from books. You can often rent board games, video game consoles and more from your local library. Many of them also provide discounts for museums and other attractions.
Barter with friends Bartering is when you exchange services instead of exchanging money. So, if you have a particular skill that could be helpful to others, offer it in exchange for something else.
For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you could exchange creating a logo for services like a haircut or manicure.
Work Out at Home If you have a gym membership (or several), try to start working out at home. Many of us need accountability, which is why a gym membership helps.
So, if you want to transition to working out at home to save money, ask a friend to join you. Choose specific days to meet up, work out together and keep each other accountable.
Give Your Time Instead of Pricey Gifts If you’re approaching several birthdays and want to reach some financial goals, think about giving your time instead of pricey gifts.
For example, you can create coupons that your friends and family members can trade for babysitting, cookies, help organizing or anything else that you enjoy doing.
Join Your Local Freecycle or Buy Nothing Group If you have a Facebook account, search for a freecycle or a buy nothing group in your area. These groups are location-specific and usually include your neighborhood or surrounding neighborhoods. Within these groups, neighbors list items they want to give away for free. You can often find home decor, clothing, books and even furniture in these groups.
There’s so much to enjoy about being single, but the downside is you don’t get the benefit of splitting bills with a partner. Luckily, there are many ways to save money and be more frugal if you’re single, starting with the tips above.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 11 Frugal Habits To Adopt If You’re Single and Want To Save Money
