2018 was the year I went down the FI rabbit hole. I can’t say that my husband and I were big spenders before I found Mr. Money Mustache’s blog. We were already debt-free and had savings well into six figures. But (and stop me when you’ve heard this before) we were making a lot of mindless purchases without realizing how quickly small expenses add up. I was shopping at a high-end grocery store, and buying too many groceries. At one point, we even started calling the crisper the “rotter.” And lack of planning resulted in too many bought lunches during the workweek. After reading about frugality, I knew we could do better and I challenged myself to become a frugalino.
In 2018, we made a series of small changes that have added up to thousands of dollars. I put together this list not with the intent of bragging about any of our creative frugalling. After all, this is all pretty obvious stuff. But standing back and looking at this list just makes me feel jolly! And one thing I’ve come to appreciate is that we all arrive at FI principles at different ages and stages of life. So, who knows? Maybe my list will help some newbie frugalinos in 2019 and beyond.
- I closed my chequing account with RBC and opened an account with a no-fee bank, Tangerine. Savings: $60/year
- I stopped buying books and got a library card.
- My husband and I consolidated our cell phone plans with Rogers. Savings: $50/month.
- I started buying gas exclusively at Costco. Hard to tabulate the savings here, but their prices are consistently $0.05/L cheaper than my previous go-to gas station. If you have a 50L tank and buy gas every two weeks, that’s a savings of $65/year.
- In terms of my driving, I made my trips count. I also simply slowed down. Not enough people talk about this one.
- I got a cash-back credit card. We went with the Capital One Costco Mastercard and we just received our cash-back cheque of $96. (I’m sure there are more lucrative cash-back cards around, but I wanted a Mastercard because that’s the only processor accepted at Costco, where we do a fair amount of our shopping. The only other cash-back Mastercard I’m aware of is the Tangerine card, and I’ve heard mixed reviews there).
- Previously I was paying around $8/month for my prescription medications at Shoppers Drug Mart. They have a high dispensing fee! I switched to Costco and now I pay zero.
- In terms of grocery shopping, I started shopping from the weekly flyer of my local discount grocery store, No Frills. Most months, I can get our grocery bill down to $500. But this point is beyond just changing stores. Before I became a frugalino, I used to base my meal planning on the question, “What do I feel like?” Now I base it on, “What are the good deals and what interesting meals can I make with them?” It’s honestly a lot more fun this way!
- I bought a hilariously expensive bread machine and started making my own delicious frugalino bread. I haven’t broken even yet but promise to report when I do!
- After some gentle persuading, my husband cut out his mindless Amazon purchases (games, movies, comics) that, some months, added up to as much as $400.
- I got out of my crappy 2% MER mutual fund and opened a Questrade account. I now invest exclusively ETFs and follow the model portfolios by the Canadian Couch Potato, for the most part.