What if happiness wasn’t necessarily synonymous with financial and material abundance? Indeed, what if happiness were much simpler than that, and lay in frugality. In other words, less is more. The problem is, where do you start, and even how? Here are 6 tips for creating and living a frugal life.

1 – Living a frugal lifestyle means rethinking the way you eat

Our society encourages us to eat too much, and too many unhealthy things.

In fact, even though commercials are always reminding us to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day, junk food is gaining more and more ground on our plates.

The problem is that, without realizing it, we are multiplying our food needs. Needs that aren’t really needs at all.

The result: we eat too much, we have weight problems, we feel bad about ourselves and we also need a bigger financial budget to buy this junk food.

In other words, eating less but better would help us feel much better about ourselves and our lives.

We know that, yet it’s hard for us to resist junk food. So, what can we do?

First of all, we need to look at ourselves: what are the times of day and/or evening when we tend to crave junk food?

I invite you to write them down somewhere, and then, for each moment, find 1 or 2 solutions to avoid succumbing to your cravings.

This could mean doing something else during those moments, like sport, walking the dog, cleaning the house… Keep your hands and mind busy.

Finally, to live a frugal life, we also need to change the way we shop for food.

In fact, the best way to stop giving in to junk food is to keep it out of your cupboards and fridge. (laughs)

But what can you do if you’re really addicted to junk food?

Start somewhere, with a food. Soda, nutella or pizza.

And, instead of saying, “Never again will I eat it,” say, “This week, I won’t.”

Indeed, don’t ask too much of yourself. Take small steps, that’s the secret to making slow but sure progress.

2 – Revisit the way you dress

In our society, we are encouraged to change our wardrobe with each new season.

We’re told that being on the cutting edge of fashion will help us feel better about ourselves. But is this really the case?

First of all, buying so many clothes costs us a lot of money, and when we don’t have enough, we get very frustrated.

What’s more, over time, it weighs heavily on our consciences, because we know that the textile industry pollutes enormously.

Finally, the clothes in the new collection don’t necessarily suit our figure, our skin tone or even our lifestyle.

In other words, if we could rethink the way we dress, we could rediscover a simpler, more welcome happiness.

So, how can we live a frugal lifestyle?

One way is to buy less. Limiting ourselves to one new outfit per season and taking care of our current outfits, for example.

We can also buy more in line with our style, figure and lifestyle, to ensure that in that clothing we feel good about ourselves and our lives.

Finally, we can buy second-hand clothes.

What do you think?

3 – Living frugally means rethinking the way you entertain yourself

Society also encourages us in the way we entertain ourselves.

Because its aim is to make us consume, it directs us towards entertainment and hobbies that require us to invest money.

And here again, we feel a great deal of frustration and anguish at the idea of not being able to afford this or that fashionable entertainment.

How about going back to simplicity and living a frugal life?

Because we can entertain ourselves with free or very inexpensive things: nature walks. Books from the media library. Cooking delicious meals. Gardening. Painting. Drawing…

It’s not a question of restricting yourself, but of returning to simplicity if you feel the need.

What I’m trying to say is that you may not need to buy dozens of books a month, if you’re an avid reader.

This year, I’ve already read over 228 books. But I’ve only bought 41 of them. All the others I borrow from the media library.

Understand that you don’t necessarily need to invest a lot of money to keep yourself entertained. Take a look at second-hand books, for example.

4 – Take a step aside with our wanderlust

So, one of the main obstacles to frugal living is travel.

The thing is, society also encourages us to travel a lot, to go to the other side of the world, several times a year.

In fact, you’ll never hear anyone say: “I don’t like to travel”, it’s so frowned upon in today’s society.

And yet, as we all know, traveling has a real ecological impact. What’s more, it requires an enormous amount of money, and therefore creates a great deal of frustration on a daily basis.

Financial frustration, but also emotional frustration. Because all we want to do is get away, leave our daily lives and the place where we live. It’s terrible when you think about it, isn’t it?

That’s why, to return to a simpler happiness, it’s time to anchor ourselves more firmly where we are.

To rediscover the place where we live: inside our home, but also outside. Our neighborhood and the surroundings of our town or village.

Because happiness isn’t somewhere else, on the other side of the world, it’s first and foremost here.

So why not try to feel happy wherever you are, and live a frugal life?

5 – Slow down to live a frugal life

In fact, frugality requires us to slow down. To slow down our needs and our actions too.

And that’s where it gets tricky for us.

Because we’ve learned to be restless, to run faster and faster. To earn more money, buy more things and do more things.

In fact, we’ve been taught to accumulate things, activities and relationships.

But happiness isn’t about this accumulation, this hyperactivity. Because happiness isn’t outside you, it’s inside you.

That’s why being happy requires us to become more deeply rooted in ourselves and in our lives.

And we need to slow down to anchor ourselves, to meet our needs and feel happiness and well-being.

The problem is that society doesn’t help us to slow down – quite the contrary. So don’t expect it to help you do that.

In fact, it’s up to you to make the choice and change the way you live. One step at a time. One day at a time.

Just because society encourages you to do certain things doesn’t mean you’re not free not to.

You are free! Free to be happy in your own way and at your own pace. Free to live a frugal life in your own way.

6 – Living happy sobriety in your own way

Maybe you too would like to live a more frugal life to experience simpler happiness. But you’re often lost between what you think you should and shouldn’t do.

Indeed, the concept of happy sobriety can also lead us to adopt certain behaviors that stifle and weigh us down.

For example, we may forbid ourselves certain purchases that would make us happier.

So I think it’s important to tell you that living frugally doesn’t mean relapsing into new injunctions either.

In other words, live a simpler happiness in your own way.

Remember, you’re free.

In other words, if you feel like taking a trip, take a trip.

If you feel like going to the movies a few times this week, do it.

Living frugally isn’t about prohibition and lack. It’s about living more lightly.

In fact, it’s simply about not clinging to false needs that don’t make us happy, and focusing on the things that do make us truly happy.

In other words, it means sorting out our lives, letting go of things that are not essential, or even completely absurd at times, and keeping only the things that bring us happiness, real happiness.

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover The 100 most beautiful positive thoughts to bring happiness into your life
Discover Successful living: 6 tips for living a happy, successful life

I recommend this inspiring book:

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley – William D. Danko

This book sheds light on the frugal habits of millionaires, challenging conventional notions of wealth. Through their research, the authors reveal that many millionaires accumulate wealth not through extravagant spending, but through disciplined saving and wise financial choices. This book provides practical information on how to live frugally, emphasizing the importance of budgeting, saving and investing wisely. It serves as a guide for those looking to adopt a more frugal lifestyle to build financial security and achieve long-term prosperity.

Everything about this book was wonderful! Very well written!

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself