This post about frugal tips to save money for retirement contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclosure page for more info.
One of the biggest reasons people put off saving for retirement is because they believe they don’t have enough money to set anything aside. Suddenly, retirement is around the corner and they are looking for ways to boost retirement savings after a late start.
Wondering where you can find extra money to boost retirement savings, too? Today I’m excited to share a guest post from Robyn, the blogger behind A Dime Saved. Robyn’s motto is “A Dime Saved is A Dime Earned.” Robyn is an expert on saving money when your budget is tight.
Keep reading to see what Robyn has to say about how frugality can help when you are saving for retirement.
“To me, frugality is about more than just saving money.”
~ Robyn, A Dime Saved
To me, frugality is about more than just saving money.
It’s about being creative with the resources you have and not wasting funds you could put elsewhere. It’s about exploring other alternatives that may end up bringing you more joy.
If you are struggling to catch up your retirement savings, consider these frugal tips that will help you save more money to add to that retirement fund!
Don’t forget to put any money saved right into your savings. Don’t spend it on something else before you can save it!
Are you ready to get creative and save a little money? Try some of these awesome frugal tips to save for retirement!
Table of Contents
15 Frugal Tips To Save Money For Retirement
Become A Distributor For A Product You Love
Do you love a product so much you would be willing to sell it? Often, companies love when they have evangelist consumers. These consumers are so passionate about one product they are willing to be a spokesperson.
If you have a product you love, try reaching out to the company to see if you can become a distributor. Not only will you be promoting something you enjoy, but you will also be making money.
Don’t Forget Military Or Veteran Discounts
If you were in the military, there are a lot of opportunities for you to save. When going to an event or purchasing any product, ask the merchant if there are military discounts. More often than not, you may be able to save a little cash. Lowes offers a 10% discount on eligible items, all you need to do is sign up once, and you will save every time you shop there.
Check Your Local Credit Union For Discounted Gift Cards
Sometimes local credit unions sell discounted gift cards. Ask your credit union if this is a service they offer. You may be surprised to learn they have great deals on your favorite gift cards.
My local credit union sells 25-dollar Red Lobster cards for $20; it’s a great way to save a few dollars on a special night out or on a gift for a loved one.
Explore Coupon Books Sold By Local Schools
Coupon books are often overlooked. You have most likely had a student come to your home to ask if you are willing to purchase one. Take the time to look over the coupons and evaluate if buying one would be financially beneficial.
Ditch Your Cable Service
This may be a bit painful at first, but it will be well worth the change. Depending on what cable plan you have, you may be paying an arm and a leg for your service.
Just cut the cord and explore other options. Most streaming services offer a large array of entertainment selections and ways to watch movies for free. Save yourself the cable headache and some money.
Purchase A Cordless Weed Wacker
If you maintain your own lawn, you may want to consider purchasing a cordless weed wacker. This will save money on gas and oil.
Investing small amounts of money to be able to cut down on larger expenses (such as lawn care) can help you save in the long run. Spend some time researching products and techniques that will help you save on big bills.
Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
You may think negotiation is a hassle; however, you never know when you will get a good deal just by pushing back. Before making any purchase, do your research, so you are prepared to negotiate the best deal.
You can also persuade merchants with cash. Using cash can encourage retailers to give you a discount since they will not have to pay the credit card processing fee.
Buy Bulk Items On eBay And Sell What You Don’t Use
Consider buying an item you need in bulk and selling off the extra. Who knows, it might be how you start a successful eBay side hustle.
Are there countless items around your house you don’t use? Most people either donate them or throw them away. Before you put excess items in the trash, try selling them on eBay.
If you wanted the item at some point in time, so will someone else.
Unplug Electronics When You Leave The House
By keeping your appliances and electronics plugged into the wall, you are wasting electricity. So, before you leave the house, make sure to unplug as many as you can.
You may have to leave some appliances plugged in, such as your refrigerator. There are plenty of others that do not need to be plugged in and are just wasting your money and stealing energy.
Buy Green Coffee Beans And Roast Them Yourself
Did you know you could save money on coffee if you roasted the beans yourself?
This may take a little more effort, but your house will smell amazing, and you will save cash in the process. Freshly roasted coffee also makes a great inexpensive gift item.
Meal Prep With Your Family
Spending a day meal prepping and preparing your weekly meals not only saves you money but saves you time. Make a list of items you need at the grocery store, and then plan out your entire week.
There is nothing like the convenience of grabbing a meal on the go, but it is even better when you save money by prepping your own food to take with you.
Related: 8 Brilliant Ways To Lower Organic Food Costs
Check Out DSIRE For Frugal Tips To Save Money
If you love the planet as much as I do, you will love this website. DSIRE gives you public resources and programs to help you figure out ways to save the environment as well as your pocketbook.
Check out the DSIRE database to see if any of the incentives and rebates may be feasible for you and your family.
Try A Zero Spend Day Or Week
There are plenty of money challenges out there designed to help change negative financial habits and increase savings. If you want to start small and build up to a bigger challenge, try not to spend any money for a day. Then increase it to two days. You will definitely see where you need to cut back. This can help you formulate a really good budget.
Hot Frugal Tip To Save For Retirement: Switch To Cash
I love using cash for my daily spending. It also has a really big perk: cash allows you to get discounts. There are many service providers who will offer a hefty discount for paying in full and in cash. Keep some emergency cash around so you can take advantage of these deals.
It also has been proven to help you spend less. By witnessing your cash leaving your wallet, you are likely to re-evaluate all of your purchases. After all, who likes giving away their hard-earned cash?
Discover Free Activities In Your Area
I love taking my kids to a movie in the park or a local festival. There is so much to see and explore and so many things to do without spending money. If you live near your grandkids, then do free activities with them – they will love it! Arrange to meet friends at free parks or events, even if it’s not the type of places you usually frequent- it will be a new adventure and free!
Look in your local paper or online to find the best free events around the city. You never know where it will take you.
Using Frugal Tips To Save For Retirement
If you are playing catch up with retirement savings, you may have to get a little creative to save money now so that you can live well later. Earning and saving as much as possible, along with being creative with your money, are the best ways to boost retirement savings.
Starting to save for retirement late in life does not mean you cannot retire! It means that you need to be a bit more creative with your saving strategy.
As you can see, being frugal isn’t just about saving money; it’s about exercising your creativity. These frugal tips will help you free up more cash to put into retirement savings.
Final Thoughts On Frugal Tips To Save For Retirement
Thank you, Robyn, for sharing these helpful frugal tips to save more money for retirement! Readers, be sure to check out Robyn’s blog for more awesome frugal living tips! It makes sense to be frugal where you can when you’re trying to catch up retirement savings, especially after a late start.
Discovering the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) community opened my eyes to the many creative strategies for boosting retirement savings. As Robyn noted, being frugal doesn’t mean depriving yourself. Instead, spend on what’s important to you, like an environmentally friendly compostable phone case.
Spend to reflect your values. Cut out purchases for things you don’t care about. Find creative ways to spend less. You may be surprised by how much extra money you can put into retirement savings once you do this.
Great post! Living a more minimalist lifestyle, meal planning, having a bigger goal in mind and having no-spend weeks helped me to save a LOT! Thank you for sharing these tips, they are super helpful!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, Dora! It’s great to hear you’ve had success with some of these frugal strategies to save money!
Your ideas are absolutely genius. I like the idea of a zero spend day – easier said than done some weeks tho!
Rosie
Thanks for reading & commenting, Rosie! The zero spend day is challenging, but it can be a super effective way to practice thinking outside the box to save more money.
Love this, especially the coffee beans idea!
Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it, Graham!
Love this post, there are so many ideas I can take away. I like the idea of no spend days and I had never thought about becoming a distributor, much food for thought.
Thanks, Lou! Yes, Robyn shared some great frugal tips that can free up money to invest in retirement. Glad you enjoyed the post!
Awesome and informative post! I have been learning a lot from your blog. I agree with cutting out cable service. I honestly have not needed it for years! We pay for internet and it supplies us with access to any channel or streaming service if we need it. I think cable was too many channels that I honestly don’t watch and expensive too. Thanks for sharing the great ideas in this post!
Aw, thank you so much, Shyla! I really appreciate your kind comments! We don’t pay for cable services in our house, either. I’d much rather direct that money into catching up retirement savings!
After reading your advice on unpluging electronics when you leave the house, it got me wondering, don’t your electrical sockets have switches to turn them on and off? If not, how come you don’t? It’s super useful to just have a switch to turn the sockets on and off.
Are you only getting discounts for paying in cash so the person you’re paying can fudge the books to avoid paying tax on the money? We don’t get discounts for paying cash in the UK, so normally a service that wants cash payments instead is normally doing something dodgy. You have no buyers protection if you pay cash in the UK
You bring up some excellent questions, Unwanted Life. It’s important to be mindful of these issues, but since we’re in the USA and you’re in the UK, some things are different. For example, our electrical wall sockets do not have on/off switches built in, but I don’t know why. I agree that would be a useful feature!
Also, it’s common in the USA for some businesses to offer a cash discount, or a discount for paying for the whole year vs. paying month to month. It saves on administrative and billing costs for the business. For consumers, it’s a chance to save a little money (although you have to have the cash to pay the full amount).
For example, I pay my car insurance for the full year and get a discount. Not every place gives a cash discount – when buying a new or used car from a dealership, the car dealership would rather have customers finance their purchase, so the dealership can make more money. However, if you pay cash and have a receipt, you still have full buyer’s protection. Nothing shady going on, but thanks for bringing up these points to discuss!
Great ideas! We are in the middle of a no spend week, which is easier said than done! And we ditched our cable last month and I don’t miss it. Thanks for these tips!
Glad you enjoyed Robyn’s frugal tips for saving money, Sue! The no spend week is a great challenge! We ditched cable over 20 years ago and never looked back.
Such a helpful post – I’d never thought about bulk buying on eBay, for example. But negotiating is a big part of what I do, after all, if you don’t ask… !
That is great that you are already skilled at negotiation, Lisa! It’s a muscle that gets stronger the more you use it, I think. You’re right, it doesn’t hurt to ask. That first inquiry could be the beginning of a successful negotiation, resulting in a lower price. Be sure to add the savings to your retirement fund! Thanks for reading & commenting.
These are some really good tips, especially taking advantage of discounts and meal prepping xx
Thanks, Della! Like Robyn, I’ve found that cooking meals at home and prepping lunches for the week really makes a positive impact on the budget! So glad you stopped by!
Amazing post and ideas to save money, awesome and creative tips..
Thank you, Under Flowery Sky! It was great to have Robyn share some frugal tips for saving money. I’m glad you found some useful tips!
Great tips! I’m always trying to look for student discounts, and I love planning meals for the week ahead 🙂
That is very smart to be watching out for student discounts, Caroline! Start putting the money you save from student discounts into a retirement account (like a Roth IRA) now while you’re young. It’s amazing how small amounts can compound into a huge nest egg over time.
Those are all some great tips!
I do the unplug and no spend ones sometimes and for books, your library (now with ebooks too) is my best friend!
Great post!
You’re already using some great frugal strategies for saving money, Esther! I love my local library, too!
Love all these tips and really want to try going for a week without spending! Also, coupons would be such a great thing for me, they don’t use them much in the UK that I know of. Thanks for sharing x
Thanks, Cristina! Interesting how the use of coupons, cash discounts, etc., vary from country to country. Good luck trying out a no-spend week. All of these frugal tips can be played like a game. Try them out and see which ones work for you. Set aside the money you save in a retirement account.
I really love this statement: “ It’s about being creative with the resources you have and not wasting funds you could put elsewhere.” I really agree with that and try to implement it in my life. I had no idea credit unions sold discount gift cards. I’m going to look into that!
Wonderful, Alison! Getting creative with your money and spending on your values can have a huge impact on your present and your future. Yes, credit unions offer some pretty cool services. Thanks for reading & commenting.
These are some great ideas and tons here I hadn’t even thought of or considered!
Thanks, Jenny! Hope this gives you a jumpstart on creative ways to save money. Start saving for retirement now with some of Robyn’s frugal tips and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your retirement savings grow!
Thanks for sharing these great tips! Meal prepping is a really good idea – it makes the work week so much easier too!
Yes, meal prepping really does make the week flow better! Things are so much easier when there’s a plan in place, or some food items prepped that can be thrown together quickly for a great meal. Thanks for reading & commenting, Raji!
I’m a long way to retirement, but these tips are great and some of them I can put in place already! Thank you for sharing them x
It will get here before you know it, Simona! It’s great that you plan to put some of these frugal tips to save money into use now.
We’re all about saving money. We go to lots of free attractions. I also love senior discounts (I even posted a blog post about the best senior discounts in Las Vegas).
Thanks for sharing your money-saving experiences, Retirestyle Travel! There are some amazing free activities available out there!
These are some really accessible points and I’ll be looking into them — thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for reading & commenting, Molly!
Great tips. Earlier you try to save money better it would be for your retirement.
That’s true, Jenisha! The good news is that if you are behind in saving for retirement, with a little creativity, you can still catch-up.
These are great tips. I could never ditch cable TV though. Haha
Funny, Jamie! We gave up cable TV over 20 years ago & don’t miss it!
I love the fact that you said that for you, frugality is about more than just saving money. I love the tip about having a zero spend day. I spend a lot all the time so a no spend day would be fantastic. I also love the one about unplugging electronics when we are not around. It’s funny how much money can be saved by switching off appliances when they are not in use or when we are not around. Fabulous post.
Thanks for the feedback, Ruth! Yes, Robyn shared some great tips. It helps to make saving money fun with a challenge like zero spend day. So glad you enjoyed the post!
This is a great post! I love that you stated that being frugal is more than just saving money! I agree. I wouldn’t say that I’m frugal at all but I do like to focus on purchasing intentionally. I’ll be starting to save for retirement next year so these are great tips! Thanks for sharing x
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
That’s great that you’re starting to save for retirement soon, Lynn! The sooner the better, so you get in on the magic of compounding. Intentional spending is everything. I like to spend on the things that are important to me and slash the rest. Cutting out mindless spending is a good way to find extra money to add to the retirement account!
This is a really informative post Kathy, thank you so much for sharing Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
Glad you enjoyed the post, Elle! Yes, Robyn shared some great money saving tips. Thanks for stopping by!
Unplugging electrics is so important. My parents taught me this and it really does save and I try to save any way I can. Coupons also are great.
Thanks for the money saving tips, Headphonesthoughts!
Great guest post! All of these are great tips to live on less than you make! Thanks for promoting how to save better!
Living on less than you make is one way to divert more money into your retirement account. Another way is to earn more! The bottom line is to save as much as possible for retirement, even after a late start. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Luxurytraveldocs!
These ideas are great and most are fairly easy to implement! Thanks for sharing!
Finding easy ways to save money is a great place to start when trying to add funds to our retirement accounts. Thanks for reading & commenting, Tim!
I love credit card rewards points but there’s no denying I would spend less if I stuck to cash. I think it’s past the point of no return for me though!
Haha! Yes, Impersonal Finances, we really feel the sting when handing over cold, hard cash. As long as you pay your credit card bill in full each month and don’t carry a balance that makes everything cost more due to interest…
These are great tips. This past year we “cut the cord” and it has saved us more than expected. Every little bit helps.
Definitely agree that every little bit helps, My Hollywood! We haven’t had cable TV in over 20 years, lol.
Great tips! I’m always looking for discounts and ways to save more money but I seem to struggle so much. Im definitely going to try a few of these out.
Hopefully some of these tips will help out, Seriah! Let us know which ones you try and what impact they had. Thanks for stopping by!
Such great tips you have shared here. It’s so important to save for retirement, although I’m many years away, I am still thinking about my future and putting money away each month.
Thanks, Jordanne! What’s really amazing is that if you save not while you’re young, and then stop saving later, you’ll still end up with more money than someone who put off saving until they were older. That’s the power of compound interest!
These are some great tips! I’m all about using the money you do have carefully and wisely so it benefits you in the long run.
Absolutely amazing tips for some extra savings. I totally agree on the point of “switching to cash” when you see your money going from your hands makes you cautious.
It’s a great list. The plugging off electronics is one of the most underrated I must confess. Gotto get that going. But I can never stop cable! It’s too addictive. 😀
– Ramya
These are great tips! Something that I have done is signed up for a private pension with my workplace as they match my contribution. Saving for retirement while I’m still young has meant I already have a bit saved. Thank you for these tips, I hadn’t thought a lot about this! Em x
Great tips! Thanks for putting them all together in one place.
Almost all of these are things I’ve never thought of before, and my husband and I are pretty frugal people! It’s interesting to see what has helped others save money. Thanks for sharing!
Great post! I love these ideas, I think they can also be applied at any time of life 🙂 I consider myself frugal but I could definitely do more! Thank you for sharing x
Fab tips! I’m very far off retirement at the moment but I don’t think it’s ever too early to start saving. I love using ebay to sell on unwanted items and I love the idea of a no spend day or week – that sounds like such an eye opener! Thank you so much for sharing x