Living a minimalist lifestyle is great for many reasons and one of them being that it helps you to save money.
And in this video I share 14 ways I save money with minimalism.
A few weeks ago,
I uploaded a video about the money saving mindset that
minimalism teaches us that greatly helps us to save money. And in the comments
I got a lot of requests from you guys for more money saving tips.
So for this video I sat down I made a list of all the ways I save money with minimalism and I'm going to share
them with you right now. These things all work
well for me and chances are that some or even a lot of them can also work for you. Though
there may be some in there, that are not really your cup of tea.
So just take what you can use and leave the rest, and if you have any money saving tips of your own share with the
rest of us, then please do so in the comments.
number one
I always make sure that I use up what I have before I buy something new. And Dutch people have a reputation for being
frugal and I'd say that's probably often pretty true.
So I make sure I squeeze out everything I can before I buy something new. And this also goes for other things like
clothing and furniture. I take really good care of my stuff and that's why it always lasts me a really long time
For example, I don't dry clean my clothes
So that saves me on electricity cost
but it also makes sure that my clothes last longer and I will not replace them with new clothes if they are still good and
I can still wear them. Same goes for furniture. We've had this furniture for a really long time now.
Would I say it's still 100% my style?
No, not really. If I had to buy new furniture now, it would probably look a little bit different
But I'm not going to replace the furniture that I have now because it's still good
It still works and I'm still grateful for it. Because of minimalism,
I am not really influenced by trends and fast consumerism
So I just like to keep everything as it is until it no longer works and this habit really helps me to save money
number two this guy
My phone is kind of old it is the Samsung s6
And I've always been a samsung girl and they're going to be releasing the s10 soon. So it's really old
It still works fine. It does the job and most of all it's super cheap
And I also have a very limited data plan because I don't need a lot of data
I don't stream movies outside of the house. I don't use social media
So all in all my phone is only a couple of euros each month
Next is having an intentional wardrobe. Now, before I went minimalist
I used to spend a lot of money on clothing and accessories. It was my biggest indulgence
It wasn't that I was buying especially pricey things
But I just bought a lot and it added up
There was a time when I spent around two hundred dollars each month on clothing and
right now, this just seems crazy to me. But that was what I did
So being intentional with your wardrobe really helps. A few things that I do:
I only have about 30 hangers in my closet and when they are full that means that I have to get rid of something first
If I want to buy something new and this really helps me to think before buying something
Another thing that I do is I go out for specific items
So I'm not randomly going out shopping for clothes anymore, which I used to do a lot
But let's say I noticed that I need a new pair of jeans
I just go out and find a new pair of jeans
And once I find a pair I like I just go home
So changing this habit from buying random clothes that I find hanging around
To searching for something specific and then leaving. The rest has really helped me to save a lot of money
Next on a money saving tips list, is bringing your own bottle of water when you go out.
And you may have heard this one before but it just makes good sense
Whenever I go out
I just bring my own water instead of buying bottled water or bottled drinks. Better for your wallet, better for the environment
Number five is a great tip if you want to save money and that is to use sales wisely and use them to your advantage
Now you may have heard minimalists say that you should avoid sales, but I don't think that's necessarily a smart thing to do
So what it comes down to is using the sales your advantage now
Let's say there there's a purse and it's 50% off and it is now
$30 if you didn't need a purse to begin with then it's not a good deal
Because you're still spending $30 a purse that you didn't feel the need to buy in the first place, but for me
I only have one purse and
after a few years of daily use it gets old, it gets worn out, and let's say that this was happening and I was
scouting for a new purse. Then buying it on sale would actually make sense. Now an important note here
This also doesn't work if you start to buy things that are more expensive because they're on sale
So for example, I would never buy a purse that's
$200 even if it used to be $400. I would however buy a purse that's
$60, so if I can get that purse for $30 then I'm actually saving money
So if you want something or need something and it can wait a few months, then wait until you can find it on sale somewhere
I do this with a lot of my purchases. I'm thinking maybe half or more than half
So this way I do end up saving a lot of money
Alright number six is that I don't own a car. And this is a choice I made because it's possible for me and I totally
realize that this is not a realistic option for some people. It totally depends on your situation
But even then, there may be things that you could do to save money.
For me where I live there is excellent public transportation and I can use that to get to most places
I also own a bike and I also just walk a lot.
I do spend money on public transportation, of course, but still that's way cheaper than
buying a car, keeping up with maintenance, and spending money on gas and parking and insurance. I don't have any of that
The only thing is, I don't really like to use public transportation at night. It's still relatively safe here, but
Sometimes things do happen and going at night would kind of be scary for me
So if I have to be somewhere at night and I can't get a ride or just simply ride my bike there
I might spend money on a cab. But again this happens very little and the costs don't go nearly as high as owning a car
Now if you need your car for work
Or you need it to get around and you don't have access to public transportation
like we have here, which I know is the case in a lot of places, then getting rid of your car is
not an option. But there may be things that you could change if you are willing to save money
anyway
Maybe you could see if you could carpool to work or maybe you could park your car a bit further away where there's free parking
Or maybe you could just use your car a bit less and don't use it for the short
distances
If you want to, there may be things that you could change to save money and if this tip is not for you then that's
okay, too.
Tip number seven is meal planning
I used to go to the grocery store and just buy the same things every week and figure out what to do with them later on
And now, my boyfriend and I take some time to plan out the next four or five days and then make our shopping list
accordingly. And when we do this, we also take into consideration the discounts that are available for that week
So let's say there is a discount on cauliflower then we make sure to include things on our list that have cauliflower
This way it can be strategic with my meal planning and eat things when they are cheaper
And we also don't have to throw away any food that has gone bad because we didn't get around to eating it
If I could only share one tip with you in this video
Then I would make it this one
Because I think this one has made the biggest difference for me when it comes to saving money and that is cutting out impulse buys
Actually thinking about things before you buy them makes the biggest difference
So if you're in the store and you see something you like
Just take a picture and go home and think about it for a few days
I used to buy maybe two three four things on impulse
Every time I went shopping and they were never really big things,
but they did add up. And I noticed that I am a sucker for these beautiful
displays in the store. And it makes me want to buy something. And now whenever I get into a situation like that
I just snap a picture I go home and I notice a couple days later, I don't really want it more often than not
Next tip is vacationing in your own country or somewhere relatively close by. Now the Netherlands they are a small country
so I only have to travel by train about three hours max and
I'm totally across the country and the scenery is different there that people are different and it's just a lot of fun
So we only travel abroad every few years
for example
We been to Iceland and Japan a couple times and we loved it and we'll probably go visit there again
Within every few years, but our usual vacations
we just spend them somewhere close by or relatively close by or even just staying at home and doing fun day trips.
Of course this totally depends on your preferences and your priorities
Maybe you love traveling the world and you figured out a way to do it on a budget and that works too
Next step is to exercise at home
Now unless you do things like swimming or tennis, for example, they're kind of hard to do at home
But for me things like yoga or interval training or even going for a hike or for a run
I can do all these things without paying for a gym membership
And I also don't need any expensive equipment or expensive sporting gear
There are many videos on YouTube with workouts using just your own body weight and trust me they are
challenging enough. So this is a great way to save money and still get in a good workout
Number 11 cancelling subscriptions and memberships that you are not using or not using enough. I have cancelled most of them
I only have Netflix and Spotify now and these are choices that I made because I really enjoy using these services a lot
So if you're spending money on something every month then take a moment to think. Am I really getting my money's worth?
Am I really using this often enough?
And these monthly automatic payments can be kind of tricky because they're easily
overlooked. But it really adds up when you cancel them
Next tip for saving money is to say first and spend later
So if you know roughly how much money you need to get through the month
Then you also know how much money you will have left to save and instead of waiting until the end of the month
To save whatever is left
It really helps to save that money first and just make do with whatever you have left for the rest of the month
For me this way
I save a lot more money than if I'm just saving whatever I have left at the end of the month and
As you get more used to minimalism as it becomes more and more your natural lifestyle
You will buy less and less things and this way you can even bump up your savings incrementally
number thirteen
you know how people often say that they have trouble finding a present or a gift for a
minimalist for your birthday or for the holidays
Well, I usually ask for gift cards
And since I never can think of a physical item to ask gift cards were great for me
So I usually ask for gift cards
from stores that I know I go to at least a couple times a year for things that I need and
then, whenever I do, I can just use my gift card and this way I save money that I was going to spend anyway
Now, of course, you could just also ask for cash. It's basically the same principle
But I don't know. It's just I don't really like to give cash or get cash from someone, I think gift cards are way more fun.
Lastly because of our minimalist lifestyle we can make do without a big apartment or a big home or any pricey storage units
Because we don't own a lot of stuff. So our stuff doesn't take up much space
We live in a one-bedroom apartment now. Granted, the living room is quite large, but it's just enough room for us
We don't need a bigger home or extra storage
Living expenses are for most people their biggest expenses
So if you can find a way to live in a smaller place or in a more affordable neighborhood or city
Then you can actually save a lot of money
And of course, this is depending on your lifestyle your family size
But if you have so much stuff that you have to buy a big place for it or if you have to buy extra
storage, then downsizing might be a really good idea to end up saving some serious money. If you enjoyed the video
You know what to do. And of course, don't forget to subscribe. I post videos like this every week
I will see you all soon. Have a great day. Bye bye
