How to Live Frugally on One Income
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So, you’ve decided to join the many Americans who’ve made the transition from living on multiple paychecks down to one.
You’ve let go of one income to handle more of your childcare or maybe to manage other family obligations.
Or perhaps you or your spouse has lost a job and now you’re wondering how to live frugally on one income? Is one-income living possible for your family?
You’re in the right place!
My husband and I lived on one small income for so many years; we have proven that one-income living is possible.
I only worked outside the home for a short time and later decided it would be better for me to stay home. I wanted to stay home and find a work-from-home job that fits my skills.
When we became a one-income family with one child, our gross income was between $25,000 and $35,000 per year. I only share these numbers to give you a frame of reference.
I know that some families, most especially those who have lots of existing financial obligations find it impossible to live on these numbers. But I also know that some families can live on even less.
But, if we had not been frugal and instead splurged our money at restaurants and stores, this income would not have been enough.
We’ve used so many money-saving tips and learned the magic formula to living on as little as $1000 to1500 per month. You can read our 50 best frugal living tips here!
I am not claiming it is easy to live frugally on a single income, but it can be done for most people. You just need to learn the best strategies for how to live frugally on one income that work for you!
Things to Consider Before Taking the Leap
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- Make a plan for an emergency fund
Going from two incomes to one can require some financial adjustments so it's important that you and your spouse create a plan of action.
While you may lose one income stream, the bills will continue to come. fPut your options on the table and decide on what best fits your anticipated new financial lifestyle.
To start with, you'll have to establish or beef up your emergency fund. You can read more about how I started an emergency fund with no money here.
Life happens, and you wouldn't want to get caught up empty-handed during an emergency.
When the roof leaks, the car needs a repair, or when you need to take a family member to the ER, you want to have some money on hand, just in case.
Otherwise, you might resort to taking on more debts, which is not ideal, especially now that you only have one income.
- Plan for debts and other financial obligations
If you still have debts to pay, make sure that you can still manage your financial obligations when your family income is reduced to one paycheck.
Come up with a new debt repayment plan that fits your new financial setup. Learning how to live frugally and pay off debt is essential so you can keep making financial progress even with limited income.
Finally, consider looking into your other financial obligations, such as insurance.
It helps to determine whether you need the same coverage, or if it helps to switch to a new policy or company where you can get ample coverage but with lower costs.
3. Create a new budget
If you used to live on two incomes, then your existing budget may not apply to your new one-income set-up.
Right now, you have different needs and priorities, so these must be reflected in your new budget.
Begin tracking and recording your expenses . Analyze your spending to determine how much you need to allocate in each category of your new budget.
Be realistic with how much you need and practice self-control so you can truly live within your means.
Related: 35 Best Cheap Living Tips
- Make the transition in stages
If you haven’t completely jumped into the single-income lifestyle, you could do a trial run first.
Give yourself two to three months of living as if you only have one steady income.This is a good opportunity to also put the money one of you is earning into that emergency fund or pay off a major debt!
This can give you ample time to see ifyour tight budget is working for you and if you can afford to live on one income very soon.
Something worth trying before you make the jump to a single income is to start cutting costs early, giving you a pretty good idea of how you’ll fare once you’re living on less.
You'll want to remember these tips! Be sure to save this article to Pinterest or bookmark this page so you can easily come back to it!
Strategies for How to Live Frugally on One Income
When you’re letting go of one of your paychecks, it means you’re going to lose hundreds or thousands of income per month. You need to focus your energy on areas where you can get as much money back into your pocket as possible.
Let’s start this list with frugal living tips that will help you save a lot of money!
- Downsize or move to a cheaper house
If you live in an expensive neighborhood, your house is too big for your family, or your rent/mortgage is too high, decide if these expenses are worth it.
If they’re not, consider downsizing, moving to a cheaper apartment (if renting), or selling your house and moving to a cheaper neighborhood.
If moving is not an option, here are a few things you can do to lower your housing expenses:
- Negotiate your rent (if renting).
- Refinance your mortgage to save money on interest rates.
- Rent out your extra space on Neighbor or Airbnb. See how much your property can make on Airbnb here.
- Get a roommate.
Downsizing may be a scary decision but when done right, it can help you save money on homeowners association fees, maintenance, property taxes, rent, mortgage, and so much more!
- Cut back on eating out
Do you constantly blow your money at restaurants? If so, start thinking about how you can cut back on this expense.
According to the Bureau of Statistics , the average American household spends an average of $3,365 on dining out per year. You could pocket some of that money by cooking more at home!
Some of the strategies we use to avoid eating out include:
Meal planning. Plan your meals for the entire week, create a shopping list, and stick to it! Not only does this help you avoid eating out, but it can also help you avoid buying extra food you might waste. Meal planning is also a great strategy to help you follow a healthy diet, which benefits your body as well as your budget.
Putting an evening meal in the instant pot. Dump the ingredients in the instant pot or slow cooker in the morning and come home to a sumptuous meal later!
Meal prepping. Spend a few hours on the weekend prepping your lunches for the week. Having food ready in the fridge will help reduce the urge to eat out!
Related: 30 Delicious Instant Pot Dump Recipes
- Cut cable and save $50-100 per month!
We cut the cord over five years ago because we really could not justify this expense.
Instead of paying $50-$100 per month on cable TV, we decided to spend this money somewhere else by using streaming services like Hulu. We have been saving at least $800 per year!
If you want to learn how to live frugally on one income, you need to know that there are better and cheaper alternatives to cable.
Netflix is a streaming app you can use to watch lots of movies and shows for only $8 per month for a basic package.
There’s also Hulu which costs $5.99 monthly (Basic Plan) with the option to pay an additional $4 to watch commercial-free. And then there’s Amazon Prime which not only gives you access to thousands of movies and TV series for only $119 a year, you also get free cloud storage with your account.
Try the Amazon 30-Day Free Trial Here
If you’re convinced it is time for you to also cut the cord, follow these steps:
- Get a streaming device such as Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku or Apple TV. Except for the Apple TV ($150), most streaming devices only cost around $50.
- Select a streaming service such as Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and HBO. We switch between these services depending on which offers the movies or shows we want to watch.
You can skip using a streaming device, too, and just watch movies and shows on your computer! But I recommend getting one since it is more convenient and allows you to stream shows on your TV.
- Create a meal plan around cheaper ingredients
Creating a meal plan around cheaper ingredients can help you lower your food cost. For example, if avocados are expensive, find cheaper alternatives so you can pocket the extra dollars.
What I usually do is check out the store circulars to have an idea of what I can buy for the week that is cheaper. Then, I create a meal plan around the cheaper ingredients!
If you are new to meal planning or are too busy to create your weekly meal plan, there’s a cheap service called the $5 Meal Plan that can help you get started.
For only $5 a month, Erin from the $5 Meal Plan will email your weekly BUDGET meal plan with each delicious meal costing only $2 per person or $5 per family, thus helping you save money and time.
You can try their 14-day free trial here to see if it works for you. Otherwise, cancel your subscription before the trial ends.
- Find Cheaper Entertainment
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average American household spends $2,827 per year on entertainment.
Entertainment is a variable spending category that could take a hit if you want to learn how to live frugally on one income. It doesn’t have to if you know where to look for cheap entertainment.
Instead of spending top money on concerts, cinemas, and fine dining, you can still have the best of life without breaking the bank. Try free activities such as going to the beach or park, or playing sports at your town’s sports facilities which are often free to use.
Related: 40 Free Things You Can Do with Friends
- Do It Yourself
This is probably my favorite tip on how to live frugally on one income: learn a few simple DIY skills!
Learning basic car maintenance such as changing the oil, for example, can save you up to $120 per year.
We saved a lot of money by becoming our own carpenter, plumber, and gardener. You can save money by DIYing things such as:
- Pet grooming - $20-50
- Haircut – $10-$30 per salon visit
- Grass trimming- Save $50 per month
- Home maintenance such as cleaning the gutter
- Childcare – Thousands a year!
- Filing your taxes - $150 per year or more!
- Car washing - $100 per year
- Gifts
Before you hire help, YouTube the task first or do some quick research online. You’ll be surprised to find lots of how-to videos and articles online that will walk you through DIYing or fixing things.
You will not only save money but also learn skills!
- Use your spare time to make money
If you cut every expense from your budget but still can’t pay your bills, consider using your spare time to make extra cash from home.
The good thing is that nowadays there are lots of extra income ideas that you can do from home or online. Many online side hustle ideas are flexible and can be done on your own time!
I wrote a lot of posts about making money from home because it’s what I do and I love being able to make an income without leaving home.If you want to use your spare time to make money, check out the following posts:
- How to Make $100 Per Day Online
- 15 Tried and Tested Stay at Home Mom Jobs that Pay Well
- Legitimate Survey Sites to Make $300 Per Month
- Entry Level Jobs - No Experience Jobs to Make Money at Home
- 8 Real Ways to Make Money with Amazon
- Sell your car or use only one car
Do you really need more than one car? Maybe you do. But now that one of the family’s breadwinners stays home, it might make sense to sell one car, especially if you still have a car payment.
Not convinced? These numbers below might change your mind:
According to a recent report from AAA, it costs $9,282 per year ($773.50 per month) to own or run a new car.
It might sound incredulous, but it does make sense when you think of the depreciation cost.
According to the study, cars lose an average of $3,759 per year in depreciation costs, which accounts for the largest ownership cost.
Then, there are also other expenses to account for such as:
- Insurance: $1,222 per year
- Tires: $150 per year
- Maintenance: $792 per year
- License/ Registration/Taxes: $687
You can read more about this study on the cost of car ownership here.
- Invest in yourself
I always believe that one of the best investments you can make is to invest in yourself. By this, I mean investing to upgrade your skills to make money from home. If you can’t work outside the home anymore but you have an extra hour or two every day to make money, you could invest in education to learn new skills that make money at home.
I invested in a few resources to learn how to make money, and fortunately those investments paid off after a while. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to be able to invest in yourself. In fact, you can find free resources online and on YouTube. For affordable courses, Skillshare is my favorite place to go online.
- Remove unnecessary expenses
If you want your new smaller budget to work, the first place you should be looking at is your own expenses. List your expenses and determine whether they are necessities or just “wants.”
Obviously, necessities are expenses you can’t live without such as water, energy, and transportation, and “wants" are expenses you can live without such as new clothes and vacations.
When we lived on one small income, I rarely went shopping for “wants”, and if I bought anything, it was something that I truly needed. I learned how to live with less and enjoyed living simply, even finding happiness in giving away stuff we didn’t use, such as extra clothes, kitchenware, and personal items. I was surprised to realize that I was spending money on unnecessary stuff or for my “wants.”
That said, look closely at your expenses and I bet you will find more and more unnecessary expenses as you adjust your budget and simplify your lifestyle.
- Avoid going out with the Joneses
We probably all have "expensive" friends. Unfortunately, no matter how much you love them, going out and spending mindless with them may not align with your goals if you're trying to live frugally.
Remember that going from two incomes to one involves a lifestyle change, and it's difficult to live frugally if you are always with extravagant people.
Other Useful Tips on How to Live Frugally on One Income
If you really want to learn how to live tolive more frugally on one income, you also have to recognize the importance of having a "no saving is too small" attitude.
Remember that no matter how small the savings, they can easily add up to an overall positive impact on your finances.
I have outlined below a few money hacks and frugal living tips you can use to scale back on a few expenses and save money every day!
More Money Posts:
- 51 Extreme Frugality Tips for the Super Frugal
- Left Hand Itching: Is Money Coming Your Way?
- Cheap Laundromat Near Me: How to Find Cheap Laundromats to Save Money
- Use Swagbucks to get your Starbucks coffee fix at $0
Learning how to live frugally on one income might give you the impression that you can only enjoy your coffee at home. After all, those $5 lattes and cappuccinos do add up.
But if you can't resist the pull of coffee, but want to get it for free, then learn how to get free Starbucks gift cards! There are plenty of ways to earn free Starbucks gift cards and one of my favorites is using apps like Swagbucks.
To earn free Starbucks gift cards through Swagbucks, you just need to complete small and short tasks, such as:
- Watching a short commercial
- Surfing the web through their proprietary browser or extension
- Going shopping with your account linked to their app
- Answering surveys to help brands improve their products
Do these mindless, often effortless tasks and you canbe earning gift cards that'll get you branded coffee for zero dollars.
Related: Swagbucks Review
- Save up to 15 percent on regular purchases through Amazon Subscribe and Save
We all know the old trick: make a list and stick to it. I think this is essential and I swear by it. But did you know that you could also save more money if you opt to have your purchases delivered to your doorstep through Amazon Subscribe and Save?
This is a program that allows you to purchase everyday products from Amazon, like coffee, cleaning products, kitchen towels, etc., at a pre-determined recurring interval such as weekly, monthly, or every three months.
Amazon lets you save up to 15 percent on these purchases and even provides the convenience of having the products delivered to your home. And since you won't be making multiple purchases at the store anymore, you also save money on gas!
Load up your cart with Subscribe and Save here.
- Save at least $50 per month by not buying bottled water (save the environment, too!)
It costs at least $50 per person per month to drink water from a bottle and more for large families. You can save a lot of money by investing in a good water filtering system at home and a reusable water bottle.
Drinking more water is also good for your health!
- Buy fresh in-season produce
Buy in-season produce to freeze, pickle, or can,for future meals.
- 15. Save up To 40 percent on your online purchases (Receive $10 FREE today)
When you shop online and do it through cashback online portals like Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates), you could earn up to 40percent cash back from your purchases.
Since you would be purchasing anyway, why not go through this simple and quick process and earn some rebates? It's also great to keep Rakuten running in the background as a browser extension so you get alerted to great deals each time you go online shopping.
Rakuten has paid me over $160 for my Amazon purchases! You can read my Rakuten Review here.
- Rack up FREE Gift cards from your regular purchases
If you want to keep earning points and rewards from your spending without having to exert much effort, then it's best to keep the Drop app up and running. It's essentially an app that links to your credit or debit card.
Once you get the app linked to your account, Drop will compile your points and allow you to redeem them as gift cards when you've reached a certain threshold. This app doesn't cost you anything, yet it lets you earn points that translate to more money and more savings.
Related: 11 Genius Walmart Hacks to Save Money
- Save up to 85 percent by going generic
Generic pasta, cereals, cleaning products, cheese, condiments, and other products are significantly less expensive than branded ones. You may be surprised you can’t tell the difference between store-brand and name-brand items!
Try generic medicines, too. According to the FDA, which tightly regulates generic drugs to ensure they meet the same quality standards as name-brand medications, the price of generic drugs is 80-85 percent less than name-brand medicines.
- Indulge in cheaper vacations
Is vacation taking the backseat now that you want your family to learn how to live frugally on one income? You can always make a compromise.
Go on holidays, but make sure you don't go overboard with the spending. In fact, you can still enjoy your vacations and have fun. Save a couple of dollars by opting for non-hotel accommodations such as rental properties listed on Airbnb and booking.com. You might also consider going local and pocket the airfare fee.
- Spend $0 for internet
I’ve learned a lot of cool tips on how to get free Internet legally. If you are in the US, try these zero-cost options to get an internet connection and save at least $50 per month!
- Cut gym membership; exercise without paying a dime
According to data from Statistica, 67percent of people (US) with gym memberships never use them and that, on average, the rest of the gym membership owners go to the gym only twice per week. Are you one of these people? Unless you really use your membership, I recommend replacing your membership with free fitness activities.
Monthly spending for gym memberships ranges from $30 to $100+ per month, depending on where you go. Eliminating this expense could help you save $500 per year easily.
- Buy discount gift cards
Using discount gift cards when eating out is a great money saver! For example, if you frequent Applebees, buy a $25 restaurant gift card online through sites like Swagbucks to save 20% or more!
- Practice preventive care
Statistics show that in 2006 alone, healthcare expenditures were over $7000 per person. Moreover, according to Consumer Healthcare Product Association, on average, U.S. households spend about $338 per year on OTC products.
We can avoid many of these expenses by practicing preventive care. Schedule regular checkups and practice healthy habits to avoid medical expenses. Preventive care also extends to your vehicles to avoid unneeded expenses.
- Save your spare change automatically with Acorns
Acorns is an investment app that helps you save and invest your spare change without thinking about it. Think of saving your spare change in a piggy bank–Acorns is the digital version of the piggy bank.
If you spent $3.80 for a coffee using the credit/debit card you linked to Acorns, Acorns will see the transaction and transfer the spare change of $0.20 to your Acorns account. When your account hits $5, Acorns will withdraw the money and invest it.
If you find it difficult to save money, Acorns is a cool app to use to trick yourself into saving money.
You can read my Acorns Review here.
Related: How to Invest and Make Money Daily
How to Live Frugally on One Income and Still Be Happy
Some people question how to live frugally and be happy because they believe they need all the income they can get to buy happiness. There's nothing wrong with that, but when your life takes a different turn, and you have to survive on one income, then you have to make do with what you have, be more creative and resourceful, and at the same time, find happiness with what you have.
Living on one paycheck can be radically different than what you were used to, but it isn't as bad or as hard as it seems. It may take some adjustments, discipline, and perhaps, a healthier and more positive mindset.
Yes, living on one income has its trade-offs, but the less you stress about it and the more you strive to make your circumstances work, the more you'll realize that you can be frugal without beingt cheap, and still be happy.
I would love to hear from you!
Do you have tips on how to live frugally on one income? What are your favorite frugal living tips to thrive on a single income lifestyle?
Summer @ LivingLifeThrifty
Thank you so much for these great tips. My husband and I have always tried to live on one income and use the others' income to reach our financial goals. It is amazing how much you can do when you work together as a team. This is truly how you WIN with money!
Jenny @ Our Inconvenient Family
Excellent ideas! We too live on one income for our family of 6! It is not culturally accepted to do without things now, but it's a decision we have never regretted!
Jane
Hey Jenny!Thanks for stopping by! Same here! It's been one of the best decisions we made for our family!
Alex Endrich
Some really great points here! Imagine if you implemented these on two salaries, and invested the saved money! What a great outcome that would be!
Steven
This post has been a great help to me as a first time blogger. I will be working on adding some of these things.