Best Blogs on Frugal Living to Help You Save Money
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ExpertiseCaitlyn is a freelance writer from the Cincinnati area with clients ranging from digital marketing agencies, insurance/finance companies, and healthcare organizations to travel and technology blogs. She loves reading, traveling, and camping—and hanging with her dogs Coco and Hamilton.
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If you want to gain control of your finances, get out of debt, have more money in savings, and more time to do the things you love, you may want to try frugal living. It’s not necessarily about making more money, but instead spending less, and it’s easy to work frugal living into your life without feeling the need to completely cut out everything you love.
With hundreds of resources out there on frugal living and finances, it can be overwhelming to get started. We’ve put together a list of the top 12 frugal living blogs to help you save money.
Best frugal living blogs
1. The Penny Hoarder
From making and saving money to budgeting, investing, debt management and more, The Penny Hoarder was founded in 2010 and “continues to strive for a world where there is less money stress by empowering people to make smart choices with their money.” With more than 10 million readers per month, these articles are easy to read and you can find thousands of tips focused on frugality and financial independence.
2. Frugalwoods
Run by husband and wife Nate and Liz, Frugalwoods is a blog designed to help readers achieve financial independence through simple living. Content focuses on wholesome living, avoiding consumerism culture and the need for perfection with categories like credit cards, frugal city living, home improvement, marriage and money, smart buys, and more. They also share their own family spending breakdowns and reader case studies. While focused around their own experiences, the tips and tricks are easy to read and can be applied to your own situation.
3. Thrifty Frugal Mom
Where food, family, and finances meet, Thrifty Frugal Mom is a blog designed to help readers find ways to live well and enjoy life on a budget. Articles focus on frugal living tips, such as how to save money and eat on a budget, frugal recipes and meal-planning tips, frugal homemaking and other deals and ideas on how to save more money and live well. Lydia, the blogger behind Thrifty Frugal Mom, also aims to encourage women in all aspects of homemaking, including saving money while living a frugal lifestyle.
4. Frugal Confessions
For simple frugal living tips for how to save money and reach your financial goals, check out Frugal Confessions. Articles focus on how to manage your money better, how to save money, and marriage and money tips. With the belief that money doesn’t have to be complicated, messy, or control your life, blogger Amanda, a Certified Financial Education Instructor, writes to help readers confidently make daily money decisions that will strengthen their lives and stress less. Her strategies boil down to frugal wins that will widen the space between your paycheck and bills, motivating you with financial goals and savings challenges, and outlining money systems that will help your money work for you.
5. Frugal Rules
Start your journey toward a life of financial freedom through hundreds of tips on cord cutting, side hustles, money apps, saving money, attacking debt, and investing on the Frugal Rules blog. Articles are geared toward helping readers take control of their financial future with easy to read, understand, and implement tips and tricks. The blog was founded in 2012 by John and Nicole Schmoll with the goal of teaching people how to make smart money decisions to help them create a life of financial freedom.
6. Mr. Money Mustache
Mr. Money Mustache, who retired in his 30s, now writes about how we all can live a frugal yet amazing life of leisure. With a lot of personal experience around people “living ridiculously expensive lifestyles… and being baffled when they had no money left over to buy their own freedom,” this blog was created to share secrets about how you can create a life that is better than your current one while spending 50-75% less. This is the perfect website for those interested in saving money and living life a little differently, with some great personal advice on spending and saving.
7. Fun, Cheap or Free
“Where frugal gets a facelift,” Fun, Cheap or Free featured categories include advice and tips on food, lifestyle, budgeting, and productivity. Jordan, the blog’s creator, writes fun posts focusing on family and frugality. Find articles about shopping sales, budgeting tips, and enjoying life without overspending. Join “Freebs Nation” and live your best life while still on a budget. They also offer two digital courses, Productivity Bootcamp and Budget Bootcamp, for those looking for some extra help.
8. Living Well, Spending Less
Living Well Spending Less creator Ruth provides tips and advice on spending less time on the things you have to do so that you have more time for the things you want to do. Her SMART money tips will help you set a budget, pay off debt, plan for the future, and save more money in your everyday life. Discover secrets, tips, tricks, and advice for modern homemaking, cooking delicious, budget-friendly meals, life skills, and everything in between.
9. From Frugal to Free
Start by writing down the top three reasons you want to save money. Learn to budget, cut costs, set aside savings, maximize retirement plans, invest in small ways, build your credit wisely, and learn to communicate about money from the perspective of From Frugal to Free writers Kathryn and Shay. They also often offer resources like budgeting tools and links to other resources that talk about finances.
10. Jessi Fearon
After failing with money in her early adult life, Jessi Fearon set out to conquer her money and stop letting it control her. She’s a personal finance coach, writer, speaker, and money expert whose mission is to help readers realize money doesn’t control you, you control your money, and while it isn’t always easy to regain control it’s 100% doable. As someone who is completely debt-free, mortgage included, her website is full of great ideas based on real experiences for those new to budgeting or who need help with spending less.
11. Miss Manypennies
Want to create happier and healthier family finances? Hayley, founder of Miss Manypennies, shares tons of ways to save money and look after your family’s finances. With an emphasis on living frugally, not cheap, her aim is to help parents find easy and simple ways to save money and stretch the budget without having to make too many compromises. This is an excellent blog for parents since most of her advice revolves around family.
12. Living on a Dime
Living on a Dime has advice, tips, and tricks for saving and managing money in a variety of areas, but focuses on how to save money on groceries, coupon, and live a frugal lifestyle. Writers Mike, Tawra, and Jill write about their own experiences and financial journey to debt-free living to help readers move forward in life no matter their circumstances. You can also find tons of recipes.
FAQs
There are a few easy steps you can take to start living a frugal lifestyle, such as eating out less often, adjusting your thermostat, opting for generic instead of name brand, and using your local library for books, games, and movies. You can also try buying used items instead of new, or use a purchase waiting period to curb impulse shopping.
Many people argue that living frugally is an excellent way to ensure financial stability both now and in the future. It’s not about living cheap, but simply exercising a little restraint and making more conscious decisions with your finances. Some benefits of frugal living include having more money in savings and investments, more time for things you enjoy, reduced stress levels and improved health, and less debt.
Get Rich Slowly: Started by J.D. Roth, Get Rich Slowly covers a range of personal finance topics, including saving, investing, and getting out of debt.
Financial Samurai: Founded by Sam Dogen, Financial Samurai delves into personal finance, early retirement, real estate investing, and more.
Budgets Are Sexy: J. Money’s blog covers various aspects of personal finance, with a focus on budgeting and building wealth.