Saving insane amounts of money is a badge of honor for frugal people. Through their lifestyle changes and swaps, the savings can really add up.
According to a YouGov survey, 28% of Americans report that they definitely plan to save more money in 2026. To help them get a jump start, there’s plenty of financial wisdom to glean from people already living a frugal life.
On Reddit, frugal people hyped each other up by sharing the exact amounts of money their best lifestyle changes have saved them.
From food swaps to shopping habits, the amount of money they save is impressive. Here are some of their brag-worthy savings:
Food
“For me it was quitting drinking coffee at coffee shops and making coffee at home. I am saving roughly $1500 each year and I cannot say that I am really missing the barista stuff. Took maybe a week to get used to it. Wild how fast your brain changes when you see the actual numbers.” – St3fanHere
“We quit DoorDash and Uber Eats. We’ve probably saved $10,000 in one year!” – Cultural-Package6900
“Drinking smarter. I now have two drinks at the bar and two at home at $1-$2 a piece. That right there saves me $20 a week.” – WillWork4Cats
“Not eating out. We either eat a hotdog at Sam’s or we take lunch with us. Even going from $8 each week down to $2 makes it $416 down to $104. And occasionally we would treat ourselves to a buffet which added $25 3 or 4 times each year.” – Cute-Consequence-184
“My husband was spending money at convenience stores; Gatorade, breakfast, candy, sodas…he would tell me it was $3 here and there. I had him add up every purchase for an entire month, over multiple months. He was spending $500 a month on these little purchases. He makes good coffee at home now and eats at home. It takes less time to eat at home or grab something than stop at a store and buy it too. He was shocked because it seemed like less than $5 every time. But it adds up.” – heartshapedbox311
“I buy 2L seltzer and make my own Spindrift for 25 cents per bottle and love it more than any other drink I’ve ever had. I use coupons and get free food and make recipes to leverage free food or the cheapest thing I can find in the grocery store. Dozens of delicious original recipes for as little as 50 cents per meal. My favorite is our local Safeway has deals for free turkeys some holidays and huge $4 cans of Hominy and I’ve developed a green Chile turkey posole recipe that includes a whole turkey (or Costco rotisserie chicken) a huge can of Hominy and 3 huge cans of Las Palmas green Chile enchilada sauce with some cheap vegetables that works out to 2 servings per dollar. Pizza is not good for you, but the deals at my local domino’s and little Caesars makes a $6 dinner for 2. Lots of ways to eat for $1-2 per meal, which can save you around $50/day, $1500/month, $20k/ year vs a lot of people’s food budget.” – deproduction
Shopping
“Buying used, especially when it comes to household appliances and furnishings. We got 3 appliances that would have been $6k new for $500 used. People remodel and just want stuff out of their house, so it’s cheap.” – MsCeeLeeLeo
“Getting an e-reader & reading almost exclusively through Libby. Thanks to my library I save over $1000 a year on my ebook habit alone!” – Inside_Training_876
“I went to the thrift store and bought a DVD player for $2.99 and a VHS player for $1.99, gave my kids (3 of them) each $10 to pick out their own videos, and we ended our streaming services, which were coming up for renewal after a promo, and I did not want to pay for Disney+, Max, Hulu, and Netflix anymore. Win all around. We own (instead of paying fees for ‘licensing the right to view’) a ton of movies on DVD/VHS, no ads, watch exactly what we want, and when we buy new videos, monthly expense is never over $20 (I had set that as a condition). Streaming services have become the biggest ripoff of all time, imo. It was fun while it lasted.” – OneLonelyBeastieI-B
Self-care
“Buying a gel nail set on Amazon for around $30 and doing my own nails has saved me around $120 a month for the past year!!!” – christslastpodcast
“Color my own hair $500 a year saved.” – 4travelers
“In 2009 I finally quit smoking after 43 years. Cigarettes just got too expensive. I made a spreadsheet to track the savings and closed it when I broke $20,000.” – Environmental_Log344
“Using a safety razor to shave instead of traditional cartridge razors. If you’re in a profession or the military that requires daily shaving, this will save you a lot of money. I’ve been doing it for about 6 years now and one pack of safety razor blades cost like $10 and can easily last a year. Much better than the cost of cartridge razor blades over time.” – Sigfawn
Household expenses and utilities
“Car work. I’m doing my front brakes today. Was quoted $700 for parts and labor. Just picked up pads, rotors, and misc for $220.” – lurksAtDogs
“Solar heating and I don’t even mean solar panels just the black water pipes in a box on the roof cut out electric bill by more than 60%.” – angako
“I dropped cable and had a guy install a tv antenna that pulls in channels from Chicago and Milwaukee. Saves me about $1800 per year.” – Glass_Procedure7497
“I’m lucky to live in a city with eBike stations and everywhere. They have a veterans program that basically I pay almost nothing as long as I use them for short rides (time wise not distance). I even use them in snowstorms to save $10-$15 bucks a pop.) Probably saved $400-$600 this year easy alone on that.” – WillWork4Cats
“Sweat equity on a home improvement. We had a bonus room situation. We saved probably $40k by doing the flooring, painting, trim, framing, and insulation ourselves.” – fredinNH
“Partner and I put plastic insulation we got free from the city over a plastic skylight in out bathroom. We’ve got electric radiators, and our electric bill went down $100 after doing that, keeping the bathroom at the same temp.” – madwrites
