Our family is pretty frugal, and during the last year I believe we’ve cut our expenses significantly in response to the global uncertainty. That said I always believe there is room for improvement so I audited our household against 70 tips to cut expenses, save money and live a thrifty life.
Canstar being the legends they are recently produced the following article which I started reading ‘Frugal Living: 70 tips to cut expenses, save money and live a thrifty life’. Instead of just simply reading the article which you need to read I decided to do an audit to see if there were any areas that my family could improve upon.
If you want to do this audit on your own individual circumstances I’ve created a free printable below for you to try it for yourself
These are our results from doing the audit:
These are our results from doing the audit:
| Frugal Tip | Implemented | Needs improvement |
| Spending Diary or Regular Expense Tracking | ✔ | |
| Write down your goals | ✔ | |
| Make Savings Fun (Visual Tracking or Savings Challenges) | ✔ | |
| Self-awareness of emotional spending and avoidance of triggers | ✔ This is a constant battle | |
| Join an online community (eg Facebook or Instagram community like She’s on the Money) | ✔ | |
| Start a coin jar | ✔ | |
| Shop at a physical supermarket | ✔ | |
| One shop, once a week | ✔ | |
| Use a shopping list app | ✔ | |
| Meal prep like a pro | ✔ | |
| Make use of leftovers | ✔ | |
| Use your own coffee machine | ✔ | |
| Swap meat for veg regularly | ✔ | |
| Buy frozen veggies | ✔ | |
| Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach | ✔ | |
| Buy generic brand versions where possible | ✔ | |
| Pay bills on time to avoid late fees | ✔ | |
| Monitor your bank balance | ✔ | |
| Audit your bank accounts to see if you are paying fees | ✔ | |
| Check how much interest you are paying on your credit card | N/A | |
| Phone your bank and ask them for a discount on your home loan interest rate | ✔ | |
| Shop around for your car insurance regularly | ✔ | |
| Review your health insurance regularly | ✔ | |
| Review your personal insurance regularly | ✔ | |
| Review your superannuation fund | ✔ | |
| Track down lost money in bank accounts | ✔ | |
| Review your telecommunications contracts | ✔ In the last 6 months | |
| Seek cheaper ways to connect internationally | N/A | |
| Avoid streaming on your phone using mobile data | ✔ | |
| Review your electricity and gas use regularly | ✔ In the last 6 months | |
| Pay yourself first (your savings / investments etc) | ✔ | |
| Use ‘Rounding Up’ programs | ✔ I do mine manually | |
| Get your bills online | ✔ | |
| Get discounts on petrol | ✔ I could be better | |
| Get bonus interest on your savings account | ✔ | |
| Organise your tax receipts | ✔ | |
| Check your family is registered for the Medicare Safety Net | ✔ | |
| Keep things in working order | ✔ | |
| Fix it yourself | ✔ | |
| Buy clothes that don’t need dry cleaning | ✔ I cannot remember the last time I needed dry cleaning | |
| Make your own greeting cards | ✔ | |
| Start doing Secret Santa for Christmas | ✔ | |
| Check your calendar to save money on gifts (Plan ahead) | ✔ | |
| Delay gratification: Follow the 10 second rule | ✔ | |
| Delete stored debit / credit card numbers | ✔ | |
| Calculate the value of your impulse buys in hours of work | ✔ | |
| Use your local library (including online libraries such as the Libby app) | ✔ | |
| Make your own cleaning products | ✔ | |
| Look for coupons or cashback opportunities | ✔ | |
| Consider joining a customer rewards program | ✔ | |
| Shop out of season | ✔ | |
| Reuse, reuse, reuse | ✔ | |
| Rationalise your subscription services | ✔ | |
| Price match where possible | ✔ We need to do this more | |
| Shared expenses: use splitting and repayment tools | N/A | |
| Use air conditioning more efficiently | ✔ | |
| Get your head out of the fridge | ✔ The kids need improvement | |
| Save on electricity and air dry clothes | ✔ We are mostly good at this | |
| Freeze uneaten food | ✔ | |
| Save on water costs by using water savings techniques (timed showers, water saving shower heads etc) | ✔ | |
| Participate in free online surveys for cash | ✔ | |
| Take your reusable bags to the supermarket | ✔ | |
| Collect and cash in (Bottle Deposit Schemes) | ✔ | |
| Check your payslip | ✔ | |
| Grow your own veggies / produce | ✔ | |
| Propagate your own plants | ✔ | |
| Learn for free | ✔ I need to do some more research on this | |
| Ditch expensive printers | ✔ We’ve compared ours and its one of the cheapest out there | |
| Know your refund rights | ✔ | |
| Get help from a financial counsellor if you need it | N/A |
The Verdict:
So we have successfully implemented 60 out of 70 of the Frugal Tips recommended by Canstar. In the next few weeks I’m going to work on some of our improvement areas and:
- Start a coin jar
- Meal prep
- Check to see if we have any missing money
- Consistently use petrol apps and discounts
- Trial Secret Santa this year
- Be a little more organised with gift giving
- Calculate the ‘real’ cost of splurge items in relation to work hours
- Take advantage of price matching more
- Put more effort into drying clothes naturally
- Find out about free study options
Overall this audit has been a really great way to check in and find a few areas to improve upon (and it didn’t take long at all). I highly recommend doing the same and the link to free printable is below:
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Frank on FIRE 
Never go shopping on an empty stomach – I have always been a victim of this because I tend to shop after work before going home, so I don’t have to do it on the weekends. My alternative to this is to order grocery pick-up, after dinner on a Friday. That way my tummy and wallet will be both happy!
Save on water cost – I have had a cheap experience on this this month. I thought that I was saving money on not repairing my leaking pool pump properly. This summer I ended up paying 4x my usual water bill. Had to shut down the pool immediately.
Grow your own veggies & propagate your own plants – I am very happy that this is part of your list. I have been working in the garden for only a year, still have so much to learn. Still spending more money on growing my veggies compared to just buying them at this point. Hoping that it changes as I gain more experience. I had propagated so many plants that I give them away to friends every time we see each other. Great to give something you work on to.
Will work on the other goals!
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How did I miss this comment. So many awesome tips in here !!!!!
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