How to be Frugal in South Africa- 6 Easy frugal tips

If you are considering a frugal lifestyle and are getting frustrated because all the information on the internet about frugality is not applicable to South Africans. Everything seems to apply to Americans or Europeans, from the coupons to credit points. All the advice are just for the 1st world people.

Then worry not. I’ve got you.

I have compiled a list of frugal habits that a South African, with an average income, can adopt today.

Firstly, what is frugality?

Frugal is being careful and economical with money. It is essential to think through your expenditure. It is being intentional with how you spend your money and weighing your options/expenses to the value of items. It is a critical part of your spending.

I know you are probably thinking “Girl, I do that already! I don’t have money to waste”.

The truth is you probably do.

 Unintentionally.

Some expenses can be avoided, and frugality encourages a mindset that allows one to do so. Most of the things that you spend your money on, you can do without. Constantly the media makes you believe you need things that you don’t.

Secondly, why you need to be frugal?

In an economy like ours, it is no brainer that we need to manage our costs more than ever before. The South African economy is steadily declining, with more people out of jobs every day. It is crucial to spend less and save more. It is no longer a matter of choice, rather it is a necessity and with a frugal lifestyle, it is easier to save. 

Frugality affords one the room to save money and invest. It encourages a debt-free lifestyle. I have also written a full article on the benefits of frugality. Do check it out 

Here is a list of frugal habits you can adopt today

1. Understanding money

Frugality is about being intentional about how you use your money and the best way to be intentional about money is understanding money. Money is finite. It is a limited commodity.

Understanding how much you earn and how much you are spending is important.

You are probably thinking “well of course I understand how much I earn. I get the payslip and bank notifications”.

While that is true, understanding money is more than just knowing your income. It is understanding what your income can get you in the market. What you can and cannot afford. It is understanding the value of your money and knowing that money is limited.

Being frugal means getting the best value for as little as possible.

2. Reason with yourself

This habit will require that you be brutally honest with yourself. To cut all the excuses and be introspective. And will probably take time to get used.

Whenever you are about to buy something, ask yourself “Why do I need this?” and honestly answer that question. If you truly need it then proceed to ask yourself “can this be substituted?”. This will not eliminate unnecessary expenses, but it will also combat compulsive spending.

Through this exercise, you will realize that you either do not need whatever it is you wanted to buy or you can substitute it with something that you already have or something that is cheaper.

You need to constantly ask yourself these questions in order to be intentional about your money. You will be more aware of where and how you spend your money. You will also spend less which will leave you with more money to save.

You also need to ask yourself why you want to save money in the first place. Constantly remind yourself why you need to save money. I believe there is a reason you are reading this article.

3. Track your spending

I can never stress enough the importance of tracking your spending. You need to know where your money goes. Audit your accounts. Do three months of tracking your expenses. Know where your money goes. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you spend on something until it is written down for you.

The other day I realized that for the month of October and November I spent approximately R900.00 on groceries excluding toiletries, each month. I live alone. I am a student, on budget. I can’t afford to do this, yet I did. It was through tracking my spending that I realized I spent more on take-outs and beef than I should have.

And that’s why you need to track your expenses. There are a lot of free tools online that can get you started. Use them. You can also keep you till slips and go through the four days before payday.

You can also go through your banking app. Some apps, like Capitec banking app, do this for you. It shows your income and your expenses and where your money goes

4. Budget

This goes hand-in-hand with tracking your spending. After knowing where your money goes, budget on where you actually want it to go.

Often, people mistake writing a list of items you will buy with budgeting but that is just one facet of budgeting. It doesn’t cover all of the budgeting.

Do write that list and go through your list at least thrice. Check if you have everything you need written down. Remember to reason with yourself. Remember to also account for all your expenses, your insurance, and your installments should be part of your budgeting. Know your debts. Know how much you pay to who. It is also important to account for your income. Account for the difference between your earnings and your spending.

What are you going to do with that difference? Is it a surplus (income is more than expenses) or a deficit (expenses exceed income)?

You can also use the 70/20/10 rule. The rule is: you spend 70% of your net income, i.e the amount in your bank account after deductions (UIF, Medical Aid, Tax), on everything, you absolutely need such as groceries. You invest/save 20% of your net income. And spend the last 10% on personal growth. The principle is easy to follow when you have a substantial income.

5. Meal plan before grocery shopping

If there is one habit I struggled with when starting as a frugal, it is this one. It used to infuriate me to no end when I listened to youtube videos and read blog posts about meal planning before grocery shopping.

I buy groceries for the whole month, how was I expected to plan meals for the whole month. Was that even possible? The answer is yes, it is possible.

You do not need to know exactly what you will be eating on the 18th of the month. Just be able to estimate. You know your family and the usual portions each family member consumes. Try to estimate how much you will need of what to last the whole month. Compare the previous months.

While you are at it, go through your fridge and pantry. Know what you need to refill, what you still have, and what was a waste of your money. Some items you don’t need to buy every month.

For example, I come from a family of tea lovers. My family drinks tea any time of the day, every day. Tea is an item that is always on the grocery list. However, during the initial stages of quarantine, my sister bought more than enough tea (it was cheaper at the time) to last us for three months. If we didn’t often go through the cupboards before grocery shopping, we would have bought tea out of habit and incurred an expense that could have been avoided

6. Invest

Whenever I tell people to invest, they think I want them to buy stock or have thousands of monies to buy a farm or property or something as expensive. But that is not it. You don’t need millions to start investing.

There is no amount of money that is too little to save and invest.

It is the seemingly insignificant twenty Rands, thirty Rands, & forty Rands that you spend at random adds up. And if instead of spending them you actually invested them, you would see the difference they make.

As I mentioned before, I am a student. There isn’t much to invest when you are solely dependent on student allowance but cutting unnecessary costs and being frugal help.

Banks such as Capitec and FNB make it easy to deposit those twenty Rands into savings account through their banking apps.

My advice: Use them

Conclusion

If you put your mind to it, you will be able to. Remember frugality is not about denying yourself the luxuries of life, it is about cutting meaningless costs to afford the extravagant luxuries you have always dreamt of.