Adopting a frugal lifestyle is one of the best decisions I could have made. At the time, I became frugal because I wanted to save more money and pay down debt.

Now I choose to continue living a frugal lifestyle because I want to. Frugality allows me to control my spending, utilize all my resources, and eliminate waste.

I now spend and save more mindfully, and I’m content with what I have.

People often confuse frugality with being cheap and that’s not always the case. When you hear the word ‘frugal’ you may think it involves penny-pinching and depriving yourself of the things you really want and need.

If you’re thinking about improving your finances, I’d highly recommend adopting a frugal mindset. Here are a few ways to become frugal and not feel deprived.

Identify Your Values

Identify your core values is the first step if you want to become frugal and not feel deprived. Frugal people spend and save according to their values and doing this can actually make you feel more in control of your money.

When you use your money to prioritize what’s important to you and spend less on what isn’t important, you’ll actually start feeling more fulfilled. To determine your core values, ask yourself what you’d buy if money was no object. Also consider the items, experiences, and activities that bring you joy then ask yourself why you like them.

Generate a list of values, then change your budget to accommodate them. For example, I value a good education for myself and my son along with things like travel, healthy food, creativity. As a result, I don’t feel deprived when I spend money on these values or if I need to save money for them.

Cut the Easy Expenses First

When you become a frugal person, you’ll likely need to cut a few expenses and make a few sacrifices. The good news is that you can start by cutting expenses that are easy to get rid of first.

For me, I realized that paying certain bills and having certain experiences didn’t really bring joy to me. So I was willing to cut or reduce the unnecessary expenses in my budget without feeling any guilt.

I happily cut out expenses like cable, my gym membership, my pricey cell phone bill, name brand clothes, and IKEA furniture.

The things that brought me happiness and fulfillment were the ideas of becoming debt free, traveling, spending time with my friends and family, and getting outside. So naturally, that’s what I directed my money toward.

Brush Up on Your Skills

One of my favorite aspects of frugality is that it motivates you to be thrifty and resourceful. I never considered myself a handy person, but that’s because I had become accustomed to paying for convenience and having people do things for me that I could have done myself.

Outsourcing can be taken too far which is why it’s great to think about insourcing what you can to do so you can keep expenses low. Insourcing can be great if it doesn’t require too much time and allows you to master a new skill.

By taking a more DIY approach, you can still get the things you want done, and you’ll probably be more appreciative if you do it yourself.

Practice Gratitude

The dictionary definition of deprivation is: the damaging lack of material benefits considered to be basic necessities in a society. In other words, people over exaggerate when they use the word.

For people who don’t like frugality and fear it can lead to deprivation, there’s a good chance they are focusing more on what they don’t have instead of what they do have.

When you focus on being grateful for what you have, you spend a lot less time and energy worrying about what you may lack. If you pair gratitude with improving your skills and being resourceful, it will be hard not to wake up feeling grateful and content each morning.

Don’t Forget About Fun

If you want to become frugal and not feel deprived, make sure you remember to budget for fun. Frugal people don’t just sit in the house all day penny-pinching.

They travel, dine out, pay for entertainment, etc. However, they also just prioritize free and affordable ways to have fun and may use their skills or resources to spend less on those expenses.

Check out your local library or park district. Research free events in your area. I was pleased to find out there’s a free weekly comedy show in my area, a local baseball team with regular games, and a $1 classic movies playing in the beautiful theater downtown.

Do you consider yourself a frugal person? If not, have you considered doing any of these things in order to become frugal and not feel deprived? Let us know!