If you’re looking for ways to pinch a penny to save money on a tight budget, look no further than here. I’ve listed some incredibly helpful frugal living tips that can help you to save money for anything you may need. With these few changes in your daily habits and lifestyle you can easily pinch pennies and even save enough money to buy a house in no time or simply change your life financially forever.

Frugal living tips to pinch a penny simplified

• Set a budget

• Get rid of unnecessary things

• Buy Generic 

• Shop in bulk and look for sales 

• Sign up for your bank’s cash back rewards on your debit card

• Start eating at home. Limit take out!

• Ditch your cable for other options

Set a budget to pinch a penny

Setting a budget is a great way to manage your money and tell it where to go. With a budget, you’re able to pinch a penny because every dollar and cent has place to go. A budget will also help you figure out how much fun money you can have without missing an important payment on bills or debt.

Budget setting apps that track your expenditures 

One of the easiest ways to keep tabs on your budget and pinch a penny is to use a phone app that can help track your finances and goals. A great one to use is the Every Dollar app, a lot of people swear by it. Dave Ramsey (a famous budgeting guru) endorses it on his radio show.

To Pinch a Penny Get Rid of the Unnecessary things 

Getting rid of things you no longer need or use not only helps you to embrace a more minimalist lifestyle but also earns you extra space and organization as a result of decluttering. Selling old items for cash can be used as a great side hustle too!

Subscriptions you don't use 

Another great way to save money and pinch a penny is to get rid of old subscription packages that you aren’t using. It’s really easy to fall into the trap of keeping them going even if you aren’t getting full use out of them anymore. If you can’t use everything in your subscription package or aren’t getting your monies worth, why bother keeping it?

Cable packages that have many channels you don't watch 

Cable packages are a big waste of money a majority of the time. No person can watch 500+ tv channels at one time, and most people only have a select few channels that they watch in the first place. This is an obvious way to pinch a penny! Why pay for all of the channels that you aren't using?

Mobile phone packages that don't meet your needs 

Mobile companies change their phone packages all of the time so it is very important to not fall into a loop of keeping the same plan you’ve had forever. Your plan may at some point become outdated and end up costing you a lot more money than a newer plan offered by the company. Save tons of money by pinching a penny on phone packages!

Every 6 months or the very least, once per year, check in with your mobile phone provider and see what they can do to help lower your bills. Do you qualify for any loyalty discounts, do you really need all of that extra data or would adding a ghost line bring your monthly bill down? You won’t know until you ask and the longer it takes for you to start asking, the more money you could be spending in the meantime.

Buy Generic to Pinch a Penny

A great way to pinch a penny is to buy generic brands. Name brand items are often overpriced simply because they can be. People are paying more for the brand itself than they are for the product. A frugal tip to keep in mind is that a lot of the production companies making the name brand products are the same ones making the products for the off-brand competitors. You probably didn’t know that, huh?

Generic meds 

Generic medications still have to pass the same safety standards as the name brand ones. The only major difference is the labels. While it could be less expensive to continue to buy name brand depending on your insurance, you also can usually find over the counter medications even cheaper in the generic variety. If you can, make sure you pinch a penny when buying meds - especially if there are generics or over the counters available.

Generic brand foods (i.e. Greenwise brand at Publix versus name brand) 

Would you believe me if I told you that Peter Pan peanut butter is made by the same company that makes Walmart’s Great Value brand? It’s true! A lot of food companies are made by the same places with little to no difference in the ingredient lists. 

Pinching a penny by choosing store brands over name brands can save you a lot of money. You don’t have to wait for sales or coupons before stocking up.

Shop in bulk and look for sales to Pinch a Penny

One of the more popular frugal living tips to pinch a penny is to shop in bulk and look for sales. This is because better-priced deals usually come with bulk purchases. The price per unit is normally cheaper so even if you end up spending more money on more products, you’re actually saving money because the price per unit is a better deal.

Costco

Costco is a store where a lot of people choose to do their bulk shopping. Most of the people who pay for their yearly memberships to Costco swear that it is the best place to shop in bulk because the prices are so great and they can easily pinch a penny.

Some great frugal tips for Costco include doing back to school shopping there. Choose to buy your lunch snacks and other items there so that you can have many on hand throughout the first few weeks or months of the new school year. This is a great way to stretch that back to school budget before upcoming holiday expenses.

Amazon's bulk groceries 

Amazon Prime members get access to the prime pantry for grocery purchases. A lot of these are actually bulk purchases and pretty great because it is so incredibly convenient. You can also take it one step further and set your items to be subscription-based so that you don’t have to keep reordering them. You can even pinch a penny by saving a percentage on purchases by purchasing a subscription. Plus, this is a perfect way to keep food in stock when you’re a busy working mom.

BOGO sales at Publix 

While Publix can sometimes have more expensively priced items, a lot of great deals can still be found there. In fact, couponers who love to pinch a penny love to shop at Publix because of the BOGO deals. When stacked with manufacturer coupons and store coupons, these deals can be so great that you may end up getting paid to buy in some cases.

Ibotta app

If you don’t already have the Ibotta app, I recommend signing up for it here with this link. Penny pinching and frugal living is only a click away with this easy app. All you need to do is scan your receipt and product barcodes after you’re done shopping. Within a few hours you can get reimbursed with rebates and cash bonuses for your shopping trip. 

This is another great way to cut down on back to school expenses and costs for the holidays!

Sign up for your bank's cashback rewards on your debit card to Pinch a Penny

If your bank offers a cashback rewards program for their debit cards, sign up for it and enjoy your luxurious cash. This can be extra beneficial if you do a lot of your normal bill payments with your debit card.

Can also use Dosh app 

The dosh app can also be incredibly useful at helping you to save money. All you have to do is link your debit or credit card and it can help to get you to get cash back on your purchases.

Start eating at home. Limit take out! 

Once place where a lot of people blow their monthly budgets is on fast food and take out. They enjoy a nice treat that someone else cooks or they are simply too busy to make a full meal themselves and need to grab something quick and on the run.

But the truth is that cooking meals and eating at home can actually save you a significant amount of money when it comes to pinching a penny. It also makes for a great way to spend time with your family - cooking together in the kitchen. So if you’re looking to live a more frugal life, try making more meals at home and you’ll notice a difference in your finances.

7. Ditch your cable for other options 

Cheaper alternatives to cable include Youtube TV, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix.

Netflix 

Netflix is great for watching tv shows and movies both old and new. The downside is that shows often run a season or two behind cable so you have to constantly watch out of spoiler alerts. 

Hulu

Similar to Netflix but Hulu offers a different variety of tv shows and includes options of watching shows a day after they air on the cable channel! This is great for staying up to date with your favorite shows and not an entire season behind.

Youtube TV

For about $50 per month, you can get access to over 70 channels on youtube tv. These live channels can help you to save money as opposed to a traditional cable package. The only downside is that the channels available are limited and don’t appear to be geared towards kids.

Amazon Prime Video

A perk that comes with Amazon Prime video is that you can subscribe to channels for about $6 per channel per month. So if you have kids that love PBS kids and a budget that doesn’t want to pay for a ton of channels, you can pick and choose which tv channels you want from Amazon and then you get access to all of the shows and seasons for that subscription price and can cancel at any point if you run out of new episodes to watch or get bored.

By taking advantage of any of these frugal living tips to pinch a penny you can easily reduce your cost of living and save money.

How do you save a coin and pinch a penny to make a stash for yourself or your family? Let me know your favorite frugal tips in the comments below!

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