10 Frugal Things I Learned From My Parents That I Still Do Today

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I didn’t learn much about frugality or personal finance growing up so I’m excited to have a guest post today from Jason Lee of Mint Habits. I hope you’ll enjoy the fresh perspective!

Growing up, our household had no money, no toys, no dinners out at restaurants, and very little of anything else.

Both my parents worked, making just enough money to cover the bare minimum to survive. The main costs were a mortgage, two vehicles, and food and clothing for the entire family.

We ate simple foods and didn’t experience anything luxurious. In fact, I was about 5 or 6 when I had my first piece of gum! I bought it myself for 10 cents at a nearby convenience store. How wild is that!

My parents never directly taught me anything about money. But living the way we did, I learned so much about how to be frugal with money without ever needing to read a book about personal finance.

I want to share with you 10 important basics of frugality I learned from my parents when I was just a kid. I think it’s amazing how I still apply all of these things well into adulthood without thought. It just goes to show you that good habits can stick with you forever.

With that said, here are my top 10 frugal living tips I learned from my parents.

1. Work Hard Towards Making More Money

The most important thing my parents ever taught me is to work hard. They worked full time jobs making near minimum wages, paid off vehicles, the mortgage, and took care of us kids.

Every day was 12-16 hours of work for decades. That was my parents’ life. To help them, I got my first job when I was just 14 years old. I made around $100 a pay check initially. That was enough to buy me simple things like a cheeseburger or a book.

I knew if I wanted more, I would need to make more money. My parents always told me that I should never put myself in the same stressful life situation they have, where every day is a financial worry.

I ended up upgrading jobs quickly as the years passed, all the way to today, where I blog full time for a living.

My parents definitely pushed me to work hard towards achieving more. I was able to turn my passion for writing and helping others into a full time business.

I think that’s what most people should strive for – to work hard doing what they love and make money from it. It’s why I wrote this blog post about hobbies that make money. It’s one of my most popular posts I’ve ever written.

Frugality, like anything else worthwhile in life, takes hard work to achieve. I find a lot of people believe being frugal simple means not spending money, however it’s much more than that.

Frugality takes practice, mental discipline, and a lot of learning during your journey to better financial habits. You will learn so much about yourself along the way, and very likely developing a whole host of other good habits too.

The underlying principle of working hard towards saving money and making money is that you’ll accumulate more wealth. And the potential stresses and challenges of a frugal lifestyle become a lot less when you have the financial ability to rebound from it!

2. Adopt a Minimalistic Lifestyle

Growing up with next to nothing, it was really easy being a minimalist, seeing that it was my only choice.

I had a phase where I ended up “splurging” a little on things like designer clothing, eating at nicer restaurants, and buying random cool things like electronics. This lasted a few years until it dawned on me that I was just as happy with these things as I was when I was a poor child.

Giving up that life and getting back to living simply was an incredible decision for me and my health. I started to save a lot more money and began enjoying life more because life is more manageable when you keep it simple – at least it was for me.

My room has next to nothing inside it – just the essentials. And I drove the same vehicle for 15 years until it was no longer useable.

I highly recommend moving towards a more minimal way of living. The huge amount of money you’ll save will likely be your biggest benefit. However you may also find out just how amazing living with little more than the essentials is for the ease and simplicity it brings.

3. Eat Simple Foods

My parents used to feed me the same low costs foods every day. This way of eating was out of necessity. It was an incredibly rare experience to have something like McDonalds. It’s something that has stuck with me and will probably never change.

I used to listen to a lot of Dave Ramsey podcasts. People would call into his show asking for help on getting out of debt. His answer was always the same. Beans and rice. Rice and beans.

You may not need to be that extreme if you are in good financial shape. However if you want to adopt a more frugal lifestyle, eating low cost “non fancy” foods is absolutely the way to go.

I’ve always found foods like spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and toast incredibly tasty. These are really simple to make foods that will make an enormous difference in your bank account.

I’m sure you have your own list of low cost foods you adore that you could put more emphasis on incorporating it into your daily food routine. This is a great place to start on your journey to frugalville.

4. Think Hard About Every Dollar That Leaves Your Wallet

My parents never wasted a dollar on anything. In fact, my mom used to pick pennies off the ground. She would get incredibly excited if someone left a quarter in the shopping cart.

I remember sitting in the cafeteria at lunchtime desperately wanting to buy a plate of fries in high school. The price was only $2.50. But I didn’t. I could definitely afford it. But I knew it was not the best use of my money, despite my tummy disagreeing.

That’s the type of frugality you’ll want to adopt as well if your goal is to save as much money as you can or if you are in the process of getting out of debt.

Every dollar you spend needs to be carefully considered. Every dollar counts.

Eventually, you’ll develop the habit of only putting your money towards things you truly need. This is one of the most important frugal habits you’ll ever learn and use for the rest of your life.

I often find myself picking something off the shelf, inspecting it, and putting it right back after carefully considering it. I almost never really need it. That’s the kind of thought process you can start to use on your frugal journey in order to spend money more wisely.

Have you heard of a no spend month? It’s a challenge you can take for one month to help build up your bank account. You can learn how to do that here.

5. Avoid Debt

It always blows my mind how little thought people put into decisions that cost thousands of dollars. I had a friend take out a loan for a vacation a while back. He said he’d “figure it out” when he got back. He’s probably up for a lifetime of financial problems for him if he continues to make money decisions like this.

I’m frightfully afraid of decisions that put me in debt. I didn’t buy my first vehicle until I could pay for it 100% with cash. My parents were the same. Besides their mortgage, everything they ever bought was with cash. They too hated the thought of being in debt.

I think today’s culture has made it “ok” to go into debt and continue to be in debt. The consumer world thrives on spending and being in debt, not around saving and building up that bank account.

Buck that trend! By applying the last step of carefully considering every dollar that leaves your wallet, you’ll naturally think carefully about going into debt. Some things like a mortgage may be a worthwhile expense that will put you in debt.

And that’s 100% okay if it’s the right financial move for you and your family after careful consideration!

6. Reuse Everything You Can

My parents were outwardly incredible at reusing everything. They composted everything. Made 2nd and 3rd batches of tea from the same leaves. Old clothes were turned into clothes to wipe floors. Bones and left over vegetables were used to make soup stock.

I absolutely love this way of living because it not only helps you save money, it helps you make an environmental difference. I wore the same winter jacket for 10 years, I still have it, broken zipper and all.

Really work towards getting the most use of everything you have. If you have a $50 sweater that you’ve worn 200 times, you are so on the right track! You want to try and fill your life with as many of these types of great purchases as possible.

7. Always Think Ahead

My parents always stressed about the yearly property taxes, car insurance bill, house insurance bill, etc. They knew every year it would be due, and they made sure they set aside money to cover the costs.

They have never made a missed payment or scrambled to put enough money together to cover costs like that. It was because they made a plan in advance to make sure they were financially able to cover those costs when it came up. In one word, they were “prepared”.

I highly recommend you start an emergency fund for the unexpected moments. And on top of that, sit down and figure out what hard costs you pay every year, and save all that money a year in advance. I do this with all my expenses.

By having all my main expenses already “paid for” a year in advance, I feel more financially free and relaxed about unexpected expenses, and life in general.

This practice will help you save money for one, and also mitigate the risk of forcing yourself to take on debt unnecessarily (like taking out a loan to cover car payments).

8. Make Your Own Instead of Buying

Along with reusing everything, my parents were also masters at making things. They pretty much never bought anything they could make themselves.

One of the biggest things my parents did for our household was grow a garden. My mom also made us clothes for many years. My dad fixed up anything and everything around the house instead of hiring someone.

It really came down to “doing it ourselves” over spending money to get someone else do it for us.

I’ve also adopted their mentality of “doing it yourself”, but not as extreme and with more thought into money and cost of time. It always comes down to what costs more – me doing it myself or hiring someone who can do it better, faster, and of course cheaper.

9. Happiness is 100% a State of Mind

As you know, I grew up with very little but I was one happy kid. Back then, we actually went outside and played with other kids in the neighbourhood. I played with their toys, and their basketball!

To be honest, I had no idea what a different life was. I thought my life was the life of everyone else – give or take.

When I got older, I realized not everyone had the same upbringing and wealth. And I also realized that rich people weren’t necessarily happier than me.

And it dawned on me that being happy is really a mental thing. It was nice when I got my first bike and it was nice when I finally got an ice cream cake for my birthday instead of a regular cake. But I was still the same happy kid wearing clothes my mom made and eating budget foods every day.

You can absolutely be happy living a frugal lifestyle. Happiness will come down to what’s most important to you. If you base your ego on the things you own and the size of your home, you’re going to be unhappy with frugality – but that’s probably not you if you’re reading this article.

If true happiness comes from love, family, friends, health, and making a difference, then you will put your thoughts and money towards these things, and be, dare I say, happier than the many millionaires of the world.

The cool things you get in life, like a new iPhone, really becomes a bonus on top of the already happy state you live in. And living a frugal lifestyle is infinitely easier in this state of mind.

10. If It’s Free, It’s For Me

My last frugal tip is really a tip that encompasses a lot of the tips I’ve talked about already.

There are so many free or near free things in life that are so incredibly fulfilling and rewarding.

My mom used to take us to Costso just so we could eat the free samples. You don’t need to go that far with adopting the “free” lifestyle – though it could be a good move if you are in an extreme financial troubles.

However, I’m more talking about balancing your life with free things that brings joy and happiness to you.

For example, I absolutely love spending time with friends and laughing. I love sitting around talking about whatever while a movie is on or with music playing in the background.

I love going for walks outdoors in the sun and watching cooking tutorials on Youtube (okay yes there is an internet cost involved but that’s a cost I need to pay regardless!)

If there are things in your life that you enjoy doing, and it’s free, really make an effort to include as much of that activity as you can in your life.

Everybody loves free! I love free. You love free. Rich people love free. Free never gets old!

Being frugal means finding ways to enjoy your life without needing to spend tons of money on things or experiences.

Frugality comes down to putting your dollars towards the things you value the most. That can absolutely mean booking a luxurious one week vacation in the Maldives.

Being frugal doesn’t mean being “cheap”. It means being economical! And the backbone of economics is to put your dollars towards the things you value most.

Being frugal has been second nature to me my whole life. I understand a lot of people didn’t grow up like me and will need to change their lifestyle in order to adopt a more frugal mindset.

If you are currently on the journey of becoming more frugal, congratulations!!

If I can give you one last advice, it would be to do something frugal each day. A little bit every day goes a long way. Down the road, you’ll find yourself naturally doing these frugal things without thinking about it.

That’s what we’d call a frugal habit! And that will serve you well for the rest of your life! Good luck.

About the author:

Jason is a personal finance blogger at minthabits.com. He loves helping others with real practical advice on topics related to saving money and making money. Feel free to check out his blog to learn more from him.