“The Half Rule” – The Frugal Hack I Live By

[Good morning, friends! Got a fantastic guest post for you today that’s got me reconsidering all kinds of habits over here! It comes from Amanda Grossman over at Frugal Confessions, and hopefully it gets you rethinking some of your routines too 👊 Take it away, Amanda!]

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I’m about to introduce you to a rule of thumb for frugal living that I started using about ten years ago.

It has saved me countless amounts of money.

And to be honest, there aren’t many sacrifices (none, in some cases).

It is called The Rule of Half.

I wish I had found it in my early 20’s when I could actually use it!

It will help you fight inflation. It will reduce your grocery bill without you having to stop buying the products you love.

And you will start having money left at the end of the month.

Although it cannot be used for everything, it can be used in more situations than you think.

Are you ready for it?

What is Partial Law?

The Half Rule means reducing the amount of product you use in the middleand seeing what is happening.

Does it still work as it should? Then save it to a new, partial level. Do you need to add more to it? Keep doing it.

You’ll likely end up using less than you used to, which means you’ll buy a less expensive product (and save money).

I started playing with this ten years ago. and I can’t tell you how much money it has saved me (without buying generics or going out).

You see, I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I think we all use too much product.

And there are three main reasons for that:

• Manufacturer’s Recommendations are Strong: The manufacturer’s recommendations often ask us to use more product than necessary.
• Habits are Hard to Break: We have made a habit of using a certain amount of product, and it is difficult to change habits. (J$: This is me!! I need to work on this!)
• Product inflation is a real thing: We are facing product inflation, when we think of getting the same amount of happiness from something, we need to use more of it (has anyone increased the size of their Starbucks to be bigger, for example, to get the same level of happiness that they used to get in the long run?).

I tested this rule by cutting through my usage:

• Shampoo
• Laundry detergent
• Dryer sheets (I cut them in half so they don’t have a bad effect on them decades now)
• Cooking oil (start using an oil mister instead of pouring)
• Restaurant food (I usually take 1/3 to ½ home for lunch)
• Bagels for breakfast (I started eating half a bagel at home, instead of a whole bagel)
• Starbucks order size
• Glass stovetop cleaner
• Tape (if wrapping gifts)

And those are just the easy ones to start with.

[TIP: to save even more money, pair this Half Rule with my Bank It! Saving Money Challenge.]

Why is the Half Rule So Effective?

If you change a few things here and there, or something with a slowly amount, it doesn’t really show up in your bank account.

It’s not enough to make you want to keep doing it.

By cutting your spending in HALF, you immediately see a change in your income.

Imagine you have to buy 10 products part often – that’s a big change in the way you spend money.

And these are the current prices?

Yes… you will notice.

It starts an unusual saving effect – one that you can control.

[TIP: you could then use your extra savings to get one month ahead on your bills!]

A Specific Example of Where This Pays

Most of us don’t want to look closely at how we use products, because it has become a habit.

And habits can be hard to break.

I am no different from you in this.

But many times, the money we need to increase savings is spent on our habits.

For example, I love Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint. I use it to create a foaming hand soap in each of our bathrooms.

I have been filling half of the bottle with inexpensive peppermint soap, and half with water.

I can’t even blame this one on the recommendation of an angry manufacturer; when I finally looked at the instructions, I realized that I was supposed to use 1 part soap to 3 parts water.

It was just me (product inflation? A trend? Not really sure).

I changed. Now, I buy refills of Dr. Bronner several times.

Ka-ching!

If you bring awareness to the way you use a product, you can make a difference.

Is the Law Part of Everything?

Again, this rule does not apply to everything.

But I would argue that it works a lot more than you would think at first.

For example, you can’t fill your gas tank halfway and still drive the same number of times to work.

Never, ALWAYScut the prescription in half.

And you won’t catch me eating ½ of one serving size of yogurt.

But why waste your money on a day of toothpaste the size of a worm in your mouth when a pea-sized amount recommended by the dentist will do just fine?

Take a few products, cut your usage in half, and see if anything changes. You might be surprised. I know I was.

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Amanda L. Grossman He is a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), Recipient of a 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant for his child finance program, The Mt. Everest Money Simulation: A Kid’s Educational Adventure, and founder of Frugal Confessions and Money Prodigy. You can read more about Amanda here.

// Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
// The soap and daddy link are Amazon affiliate links

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