7 Easy Frugal Tips that are Sustainable & Reduce Waste

I know there are some elements to the zero waste lifestyle which might seem only attainable to the privileged. However, there are some easy frugal tips which can save you money and are sustainable tips as well.

I’ve listed 7 of my favourite sustainable tips for living frugally. We’re not a high earning household and therefore there are some things we’ve been unable to switch to the zero waste option for. This is my way of reducing our waste whilst still living within our budget.

I’ve always thought it’s important not to waste anything in life. Money, energy, water or even food. I expect it comes from upbringing, I’m one of seven so we didn’t have a lot of money and we were always taught to be resourceful.

How Can I Be Sustainable And Frugal

You may be wondering how can I be sustainable and frugal? There’s a few ways that I do this which are listed below. The thing with sustainable living is that if it’s done properly it will also involve frugal habits that save you money long term as well.

Buy Secondhand

This is one of my favourite sustainable tips, buying secondhand when you need to buy anything is such an easy frugal tip. When you’re thinking how can I save money and live sustainably, buying secondhand is an amazing start on this journey.

When people first think about sustainable living, they don’t always realise that being eco friendly can save you money but it definitely can and buying secondhand is a really affordable way of doing it.

For example if my children needs clothes or shoes I will always look for secondhand clothes or shoes first of all. I use EBay, Depop or Facebook Marketplace to see if anyone is selling preloved, what I need.

For example I’m currently bidding on some school shoes for my son in the next size up. If the bid goes too high I keep looking to ensure I’m not paying too much for secondhand shoes.

I stick to these same rules when it comes to everything I buy. My mobile phone is refurbished and the same applies to any technical item I’ve purchased such as an external hard drive and microphone.

Most of the time buying secondhand items you will save money making it a great sustainable tip for living frugally.

Bulk Buying

Another one of the easy frugal tips is to buy food and toiletries in bulk if you can. I understand that this might not be possible for everyone, for many reasons including budget, storage or even where you live.

However, it’s sustainable tips like bulk buying which also reduces waste overall. Of course it’s not quite as good as using bulk stores, but if that’s all your budget to stretch to – then it’s a great tip for living frugally.

I’ve always bought certain things in bulk like soapnuts, himalayan black salt, turmeric and soy sauce. However, lately I’ve been tried to source more wholefoods in bulk to reduce waste.

It’s surprising how much money you can save by buying things in bulk. Of course you have the higher price initially. If you can factor that into your budget however, it’s a great frugal tip.

Mend Things

Mending things is one of the sustainable tips to save you money. Of course it’s also a great tip for living frugally as well. As you can avoid having to throw things away or replace them – you can fix things before they get worse.

I have to admit, I’m not the best at mending holes or tears in clothes. I can reattach a button and fix holes but I don’t do a very good job. I expect I just need to practice.

The same applies to everything else around the home. My children are forever breaking things and I always turn to glue first and foremost to see if I can fix it.

A bit of story time now, I actually returned a Dehumidifer to the manufacturer a few months ago. I’d packaged it up to be returned in the original box and I was awaiting the collection. My partner asks me if I wanted help unpacking the dehumidifier, he had assumed that I had just ordered another.

It didn’t even cross his mind that I would be returning it to the manufacturer to be repaired. This made me realise what a wasteful society we live in – that it’s seemed unusual to be returning something to be repaired.

Food Shopping

Food waste is such a huge problem in the UK and probably in other Countries as well. Only buying what you need when you shop for food is one of the sustainable tips which is a good tip for living frugally as well.

I have a set meal plan for the week and this means when I do the food shop I know exactly what we need for the week. There are a few days which I leave a bit open in case I need to switch things around. This plan means that I’m less likely to buy food that has the potential to be wasted.

With children some degree of food waste is inevitable, however I think we do pretty well. We cook what we need and if there’s left overs I always save it for lunch the next day. This is one of the easy frugal tips that I think helps us keep to within our food budget every week.

Mindful Purchases

I definitely talk about this a lot but the best thing you can do for the environment is to use what you have. If you need something, one of the most sustainable tips is to really think about whether you truly need it.

My favourite of all these easy frugal tips is to put things into the basket online or on a wish list and think about it for while to consider if it is something that I need. I consider the price, it’s value to me and if it will really improve my life in some way.

I’ve always been careful in general with money so usually when I have decided to buy something or make some change – I’ve already been considering everything in my head for months.

It’s important to consider the carbon footprint of every item that you buy and this is one of my sustainable tips that I think is so important.

Free Activities

So this tip might seem like it doesn’t fit, but this tip for living frugally doesn’t apply to physical items. I wanted to include it however, because in family life there’s always a sort of pressure to give your children experiences to improve their health and wellbeing. This does not mean that you need to spend money to do this though.

Some of the best experiences do not have to cost a lot of money. Making use of parks and local country walks are even better easy frugal tips because they’re free. I understand that it’s not always going to be completely free depending on where you live though. You may have to account for public transport or car parks, however if you take a packed lunch it makes a relatively cheap day out.

Of course you don’t need to have a family to experience these days out, a simple walk is good for most people’s mental health – as long as you physically are able to.

Reusing Containers

Another tip for living frugally is to save old containers for repurposing. This is one of the most useful sustainable tips for me, although perhaps not too obvious that you save money.

When you do have to buy things that come in packaging, you can reuse the packaging to plant things in or even as storage.

As I’m avoiding buying plastic these days I do buy food in jars and save a lot of the jars for storage. We love Saurekraut and they come in these brilliant big jars which are perfect for storing dried goods. The smaller jars I store things in the fridge and loose tea that I buy in paper packaging. This is one of the easy frugal tips, as generally if you’re trying to live more sustainably you’re probably already washing out jars and containers to be recycled.

However if not, it’s worth looking to see what you can pick up in jars in your local area.

Summary

I hope these easy frugal tips are helpful. I tried to put together some of my favourite tips for living frugally and reusing what you have at home as much as possible.

I’ve decided to challenge myself to a No Buy year for 2021 and this has really made me think about how easy it is to just spend money without really thinking about it. Zero Waste Family who live in San Diego are also doing a No Buy year, check out my interview with Fredrika by clicking here.

I think it’s easy to get caught in thinking that things can be replaced these days and we need to try better to mend things and use what we can as much as possible. If some of this sounds like a lot of effort, be sure to check my sustainable tips for lazy people post.

I do hope these sustainable tips are helpful, do let me know if you have anything to add. If you want regular sustainable inspiration which is suitable for beginners, sign up to my monthly newsletter below.

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