It seems like frugal living gets a bad reputation these days. It’s started being associated with being poor and not actually having enough money to make it through the week. However, families don’t need to be poor and be lacking in order to be frugal. Some of the best frugal living people out there have enough money to live like the rest of their friends, but they choose not to.

At this point in the year, most people have completely fallen off their new years resolutions and saving money is at the back of most of our minds, especially with summer quickly approaching. I’m a huge fan of starting things like money saving challenges at this time of the year because it adds a little added reset to a time that is usually a little unorganized.

One of the hardest lessons I have ever had to learn was how to stop spending money you don’t have. I’m a chronic spender. It’s one of my biggest flaws. I’ll go into a store to buy some gluten-free bread (anyone else allergic to gluten and wanna be buddies? email me!) and I’ll leave the store with 10 things I didn’t need.

Over the years of running this website I’ve done a ton of research on frugal living and intense saving money ideas. Recently, I’ve had a couple emails come in about the differences between being frugal and just being downright cheap and it got me thinking what really is the difference between frugal vs cheap?

When readers ask me what my favourite ideas for a side hustle is, I often suggest things like blogging, proofreading, and transcription, because these can be done anywhere, by anyone. I often don’t mention how to flip furniture because it has some limitations. However, this is a side hustle that made me $300 for only 4 hours work.