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Saving money feels harder than ever here in 2025, but frugal people will always find a way to waste less, save more, and get the most out of every penny. Recently, frugal folks on Reddit shared their "weird" little habit that they swear by, and I'm definitely going to adopt a few of these myself. Here's what people had to say:
1."I suck at meal planning. I can't figure it out. What works for me is to double the recipe of the food I'm cooking and freeze half. Do the same every day with different food as long as it freezes well. On days I'm lazy or have no time, I have something to reheat."
2."I save water from boiling eggs and other things. I let it cool down and water the plants with it."
"Water from anything to water to plants! When I wash my fruit and veg, that water goes in a big pitcher and the plants get it."
3."I cut my own hair. I learned how to do it during the pandemic by watching YouTube. I even cut the back. I like my hair more now, actually, perfect cut every time."
4."I save $220 each year with monthly rubbish collection instead of weekly rubbish collection. Our city doesn't do free rubbish collection; it is handled by private companies. I make a conscious effort to make less rubbish. I'm sure I also save money by not buying surplus. That just isn't as easy to count. I save even the smallest leftovers. It can be a snack for later."
5."Saving napkins from restaurants to use instead of buying paper towels!"
"I used to save napkins for my car, so handy. However, I've cut down on my eating out so much that now I have no napkins."
6."I have an e-bike. Whenever I use it, I put away money that I could've paid if I rode public transportation. I know it still consumes electricity, but saving and putting away money in one habit puts less pressure on saving money."
7."Sun drying clothing and bed linen. The scent can't be duplicated (it's a unique scent that is nice to experience while falling asleep). And on hot days, things dry fast, so you can knock out a few or more loads if you just get that done rapidly."
8."Taking home any leftover food from breakfasts or luncheons at our school. I wait until the end of the day and take home non-refrigerated items like bagels, veggie trays, desserts, and unopened bottles of drinks. Also, every Friday, garbage bags full of day-old bagels come via our secretary. I make sure to have my gallon ziplock bags to take some home with me. I usually freeze them or give them to my son to take back to college."
9."I cut kitchen sponges in half since it doesn't require much extra effort to scrub the counter."
10."I use bread bags for my grandbabies' dirty diapers and to pick up dog poop instead of buying those little poop bags."
11."I use silicone mats on my baking trays instead of tin foil, and I have halved the amount of foil I used previously. I also use silicone freezer and lunch reusable bags and have almost replaced using Ziplock freezer and lunch bags altogether."
12."I make my own drawer organizers out of cereal boxes. My silverware drawer, office supplies, junk drawer, bathroom, etc., are all organized with carefully cut cereal boxes (and cracker boxes and brownie mix boxes, etc.) I saved like $100+ (and another bag full of plastic) by not buying drawer organizers."
13."Doing one or two ‘struggle meals’ a week (depending on the mood), like $1 meals: pasta aglio e olio, sausages with onion, etc. This cut definitely makes a difference. I have quite a few of these I came up with over the last few years."
14."I use a tablespoon of sugar and my drugstore face wash as a weekly exfoliator. Works as well as the pricey, fancy stuff."
15."I save all the little leftover soap slivers and mush them into one big Frankenstein soap bar. It looks weird as hell, but it works, and I haven’t bought soap in months."
16."Any time I use my credit card, I calculate the interest on the purchase so I can see the real price. Multiple people in my life make negative comments about it, but it severely cuts my spending and helps me to be more mindful."
17."Just use old clothes that you're gonna throw away as rags. Cut it up to the size that fits you. You can wash all the rags and mats once every few weeks."
18."Save absolutely every sauce packet, straw, napkin, and single-use utensil from takeout. When I throw parties, my guests usually use them. Sometimes I run out of soy sauce to make fried rice, and I’ll use up the 50 soy sauce packets I have lying around! Same with honey mustard for burgers, etc."
19."People shudder when I talk about it, but I buy markdown meat all the time. I either freeze it or eat it shortly after purchase. Never ever had a problem, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years."
20."I bake a lot and save the butter wrappers for greasing pans. It's so handy to have a nice square of pre-buttered parchment that I can pull out of the fridge!"
21."I don’t buy something unless I know what I’m going to donate to make room for it in my place. Everything has a place and I am at my item threshold, if I get any more things I’ll start to feel depressed and claustrophobic. Namely if I don’t have shelf space for everything to look neat."
22."After the pump for my foundation stops dispensing product I use a brush to scrape out whatever I can (you can use any long and narrow brush). I’ve been able to get several weeks' worth of product from this process. The same applies to lotions and toothpaste."
23."I plan meals and restocks around grocery store sales. The local ads and coupons come in the mail on Wednesdays, so when the discounts are big enough for items I actually buy, then that is what I cook for the week and/or stock up on. I’m talking things like eggs on sale for $.99, laundry soap coupons for $5 off, $3.50/lb off for bulk ground beef… not things like a $.09 discount on canned corn that will eventually expire in my cupboard. I also do a quick look around the house to make sure I am not buying something on sale when I already have six months’ worth of it in the freezer."
"I feel like this shouldn’t be considered 'weird,' but according to the reactions I’ve gotten from people, it must be."
24."I started unplugging things like my washer and dryer, stove, and power strips when not in use. I've noticed my power bill has dropped."
"I unplug and use power strips that have individual on/off switches for each plug — one also has USB ports, and it's really convenient. I've used them for everything electric for the last two years with a nice dip in my bill. (The exception is the microwave.)"
