11 Incredible Benefits Of Frugal Living

Living frugally might sound like a scary concept if you’re used to the alternative. People may view you as “weird” or an outcast due to your unconventional new lifestyle.

But there are many hidden benefits to frugality that you will eventually enjoy should you adopt the frugal lifestyle.

Here are 11 unconventional benefits of frugal living.

11 Benefits Of Frugal Living

1- Frugal Living Is Great For The Environment

First, frugal living is amazing for the environment. Think of all the waste that gets produced with the packaging of every day items.

A recent study found that the average U.S. person produces over 2,000 pounds of trash per year.

While frugality won’t cure all of society’s environmental ills, any little thing you can do for your part will help.

Instead of buying new all the time, recycle! You’ll be doing your environment a huge favor.

2- Frugality Boosts Creativity

When you’ve committed to living frugally, you’re automatically going to get more creative.

Instead of heading to the store to buy everything, you learn to make some things yourself, which boosts creativity.

For example, learning to DIY your own candles, soaps, clothing, crafts and more really gets those creative juices flowing.

3- Not Keeping Up With The Joneses

There’s this crazy concept that people in the US buy into – keeping up with the “Joneses”. Basically, this means people compete with each other for who can have the biggest houses, the nicest cars, the “best”.

Well, when you’re living frugally you automatically free yourself from this competition – by not playing at all.

Let others scramble around going into debt purchasing things that don’t really matter to compete with each other for nothing.

You’ll live free and clear from the pressure.

4- Frugality Brings Options

While on the surface it seems if you live frugally and spare your coins, you’ll have fewer options in life, when you think about it more deeply, you quickly realize that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Living on little money actually increases your options. You can quit your job if you want to and start a passion project that you love – even if it pays significantly less. You can retire early because you require less money to live off. And you can even take time to follow other dreams, like traveling (cheaply) around the world.

When you have fewer needs that you can’t produce or come up with yourself, the world opens up to you.

5- Automatic Decluttering

Another great benefit of the frugal lifestyle is automatic declutter (well, eventually).

If you’ve been on the opposite side of the spectrum, you may have collected lots of “stuff” that you’ll have to first get rid of.

But once you embrace the frugal lifestyle, you’ll be collecting and holding on to far less.

In time you’ll start to notice that your home is far less cluttered, and the things you do have are things that you really need and value.

It brings so much more peace.

6- Frugality Builds Community

Frugality also builds community. One such way is through the Buy Nothing Community. Here, people give away or exchange things that they no longer need, and people come together united for the purpose of supporting the frugal lifestyle. It’s a great way to meet new people in your area who share your interests and help each other out while supporting the community and environment.

7- Frugality Strengthens Family Ties

Somewhat related to improving creativity, frugality also helps strengthen family ties. Learning to DIY things together, and spending time in ways that don’t cost money means that you’re spending quality time getting to know each other and to bond. Furthermore, solving problems and coming up with solutions without spending money is a skill that will strengthen any marriage – since money is the most common cause of marriage failure.

8- Fewer Choices To Make

Living frugally means there are far fewer choices to make. With advertisements constantly bombarding us, trying to separate us from our money, sometimes making simple choices can be overwhelming.

Well, if you’re committed to buying relatively few things in the first place, some of this overwhelm is released. Stress less, save more!

9- Automatic Exercise

Some of the creative free ways you spend time with family and friends will likely involve going outdoors and being active. Hiking, long walks, dancing at free concerts, playing sports you enjoy. All these things are automatic exercise, which are good for the body and the spirit.

10- Healthier Diet

Frugality also means precious little dining out, and way more homecooked (or home grown) meals! No more fattening, salty fast foods that are unhealthy for your body, you’ll likely be growing your own food or shopping at the farmer’s market, then whipping up healthy meals at home to enjoy with your family. Automatically improving your diet will improve your health all the way around, which benefits your overall quality of life.

11- Having Money For Emergencies

Finally, having money for emergencies because you spend precious little on everything else is a huge benefit of the frugal lifestyle.

No matter who you are or where you come from, life will throw curve balls at you. If you practice frugality regularly, you have so much money stowed away for life’s inevitable.