People around the world have one major financial goal in common: save more money. Living a frugal lifestyle and cutting overall living costs is something that unites us all, regardless of the country we live in.
While Americans also prioritize putting money away, others nationalities are better at it. According to GoBankingRates, the top five countries that save the most money are: Slovenia, Morocco, Sweden, Sri Lanka, and South Korea.
Frugal people from around the world shared their best frugal tips on the subreddit r/Frugal from their cultures that people in the United States can use. These are 16 of their best money-saving tips.
“Most highly specialized cleaning sprays don’t exist outside of the US. You don’t need 7 different sprays for every surface in your kitchen/bathroom.” – Ajreil
“Buying a whole chicken and breaking it down is cheaper than buying pre-cut pieces. For millions of families breaking down a chicken is just part of shopping day.” – Ajreil
“Buy produce when it’s in season and cheap, then pickle/dehydrate/ferment it to preserve it for the winter. Many cultures prepare 6+ months of produce during the summer.” – Ajreil
“Line Drying clothes in the sun rather than use a dryer bc it’s not standard to have a dryer in most places around the world. I set this up on the balcony of my American home and it preserves my clothes and saves energy!” – krickitfrickit
“The big one is having multi generational households, it’s a far bigger savings than anything you can list.” – Dismal-Bee-8319
“I moved to Ireland and the way most people heat their homes here is to have the boiler turn on with a timer in the early morning for about two hours (eg 4-6am). This way the house is warm in the morning, then by afternoon the houses are oriented towards the sun and warm up that way. By the time the heat wears off in the evening, it’s time for bed. We had oil heat and radiators in Connecticut before this, a colder climate but the same system except with thermostats instead of timers, and I’m shocked how little oil we actually burn here. We filled our tank in April and the supply company said most Irish homes wouldn’t have another delivery until after Christmas.” – breadit124
“In the hot summers, when I wake up I open my living room window and have a fan pointed towards out and turn it out the highest setting and then I open the bedroom window (my place only has 3 windows). What happens is with the fan pointing outwards instead to the inside of the house it is drawing out the warm/humid air from inside the house and pushing it outside and the other window is drawing in the cool air. Within about 1/2 – 3/4 of an hour I can reduce the humidity level in my place by about 10% and lowering the temperature by 2-3 degrees depending on how hot it is inside and cool outside or how long I have the fan turned on.
I do this until about 9am when it starts warming up then turn off the fan, close the windows, close the blinds/curtains and my place is nice and cool inside all summer doing this every day. It is very noticeable just how much cooler the inside my home especially when I go from the outside to the inside. For my bedroom, to sleep, I have a ceiling fan above the bed.” – Rexzies
“Buying whole chickens is actually more expensive for me here in the US. I used to do it in the 90s every month when I got groceries, but something changed and it was actually cheaper to buy rotisserie chickens or bogs of frozen thighs from the restaurant supply. Now? I buy Costco rotisserie chickens and break them down every month. Kind of like I used to, but pre-cooked.” – EducatedRat
“Not constantly buying stuff? Americans really don’t understand or appreciate just how much nonsense we buy. In 2022, U.S. household final consumption accounted for 34% of the world’s total, when we’re only about 4% of the global population. Part of it is the average US household does have more income than households in other parts of the world, but we use that to just buy loads of utter…..sh*t.” – hyperside89
“Not a ton of single use disposable things in the kitchen like – cleaning wipes (use rags), paper towels (use rags), ziploc bags (use reusable tupperware), clingwrap (put the thing in bowl with a small plate/lid on top).” – considerfi
“We cooked pasta by bringing the water to boil and letting it cook for a minute. Then stirring a few time, covering the pot, taking it off the heat, and letting it sit for about 10 minutes. We did this because cooking gas was expensive. It was important to avoid opening the lid too early because it would let out the heat that was needed to cook the pasta.” – Mission_Sir_4494
“Eat more canned and dried fish. People in Mediterranean countries and in Latin America and the Caribbean eat dishes made with canned fish such as tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel, herring and different varieties of dried fish regularly. It’s cheap, high in nutrients, versatile and widely available.” – Clear-Taste-7178
“In France, I buy laundry shavings, dissolve them in hot water and have laundry detergent. I bought some for €50 2 years ago and I only used 50% of the shavings. It also works for washing lots of things, from floor to ceiling. For softener, I use vinegar. Same for the dishwashing machine. And I don’t have a car, I only travel by public transport (metros, trams, buses, trains, carpooling). Finally, I buy a large part of my fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and fish from local producers (it costs me less, it’s better, and I prefer to pay them for their work). All this can be quite common in France, but also in other countries I imagine.” – Puzzleheaded_Ear1950
“Cook at home. We make every meal at home, family of 5 and both parents work full time. Do a weekly shop and take the time to cook all meals from scratch. But then, eating out in Norway is very expensive. Make sure to have little to no food waste.” – Bookkeeper_Best
“While showering we don’t let the water run while we put soap all over our body. And showering everyday is not always a thing. To shower, 3 steps. You wet yourself. Stop water and use soap. Rinse the soap. Done. I still don’t get how one would run the water while putting soap on: doesn’t it rinse the soap before it has had time to be on your skin and actually clean you?” – theelefantintheroom
“Plug in air fresheners, spray air freshener and scented dryer beads. Unnecessary spending and potentially harmful for the health of your family. What are you breathing in when you spray those chemicals? Open a window. Wash your floors. Smoke outside. Put blankets down where pets sleep and wash them regularly. So many things we can all do instead of spraying artificial crap into the air we breathe.” – Canadasaver
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