9 Easy Actions When I Need a Frugal Reset (and I’m Raging Against the Machine)

Tired of $7 coffees and eye-watering grocery bills? Here’s my frugal reset with 9 actionable ways I’m saving money today.

A budget doesn’t save money.

Gosh, I wish it did, because I love fiddling with spreadsheets.

But reality: a budget is a tool for tracking how much I’m spending and saving.

Or not saving, as the case may be.

To save money, I actually have to, you know, not spend it.

With costs going up and AI swallowing my work, not spending is getting harder and harder (and I love AI – it’s a bit of a toxic relationship).

I can’t fix the chaos of our current world, fix the housing crisis, inflation, and everything else, or turn back time, but I can pretend to have a modicum of control when I put neat little numbers into neat little boxes in neat little spreadsheets.

Here are eight ways I make those numbers neater and less in the red.

1. Coffee. Sweet, Sweet Coffee

Coffee is my one weakness. (Besides books. And chocolate).

And while coffee from your local feels indulgent, it’s keeping people in jobs, right?

Right?

But $7 for a flat white? Yeah, that hurts.

(April 2026 – marking the date to see how far the price climbs. In 2024, it was $4 a cup!)

I’m not above instant at home, and with a splash of milk, it costs me around 60c per cup. That’s a huge saving. I still have the occasional coffee out, but it’s an immediate way to save money.

Just one takeaway cup a day, five days a week, adds up to $35 a week. Or over $1800 a year. And that doesn’t include the occasional muffin to go with it.

So sorry, coffee, love of my life, you’re the first thing to go when money is tight.

2. Get on the Blower and Make a Few Phone Calls

TL;DR: Negotiate the price of bills by making a few calls.

Or use a comparison site, I guess, and just switch. But sometimes it can be easier to negotiate in person. I promise.

Apparently, I’m a ‘Xennial’ (don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up).

It means I can make phone calls like a raging Gen Xer, and hate every moment of it like a Millennial.

Flashback to talking to a boy on a rotary phone with the cord stretched as far away from the kitchen as possible, where everyone was listening in.

Again, I didn’t make up these sweeping generalisations, I’m just perpetuating the stereotype. Anyhow…

Sometimes you’ve just got to talk directly to a human to get stuff done. Butter them up with kindness, then hit them with the wavering voice of real emotion.

(Salespeople are trained to do this to us; why not use the same tactics back?)

Armed with a steaming hot cup of instant, I make a few calls to negotiate lower rates on bills. I’ve successfully talked down my mortgage interest rate, insurance without switching, energy bill, telco and our council rates (we were on the wrong tier, so this was just an error correction. Still, if I hadn’t made the call…).

But my friend is the queen – she negotiated her rent down.

You can’t do that by scrolling through Canstar. But it’s pretty good for comparing other bills.

Shopping around doesn’t land immediate money in my pocket, but I’ll feel the savings when the next bill comes around.

3. Cancel Subscriptions

Ah, subscriptions, the bane of the modern lifestyle.

I did another subscription audit recently, and I’m too embarrassed to tell you how many we, as a whole family, have accumulated.

Because, truth is, I don’t want to watch another bloody Marvel movie. But the fam isn’t as taken with the British Madame Blanc Mysteries as I am.

I mean, a middle-aged woman running off to France to live her best life while solving mysteries – what’s not to love? I’m there in spirit, if not in reality.

And just like everything else, prices are going up. The last time I updated this article, Netflix was $12 a month. Now it’s $21 (2026). That’s a big difference.

And all those subscriptions and cost rises add up. So slashing subs means immediate (at least, next month immediate) savings.

But superhero movies can go first.

4. When You Wish Upon an Amazon List

I know: Amazon is all evil-billionaire energy. But it’s hard to beat the price and the convenience.

I’ve been making a particular point of NOT shopping on Amazon, sticking to local, only to go crawling back, because I can’t find what I need.

Like 25-watt lightbulbs. Not a thing anymore, at least not in store (and I’m not talking about LEDs – this ill-thought-out lamp of mine needs 25W incandescents).

Anyway, my shield against impulse buys is a wish list. Not necessarily in Amazon – I just thought the title was catchy. I used to use Evernote for everything, but when it got too expensive, I switched.

For a wish list, I use the free Google Keep notes.

Instead of whipping out the old credit card, I force myself to open Google Keep and type it out first. It’s like a digital purgatory for my impulses.

It’s amazing how often those ‘must-haves’ turn out to be ‘why on earth did I think I needed a kimono? Step away from the cart…’

This two-minute hack, along with the rule, ‘never shop online with wine,’ has saved a ton of money.

5. Keep Calm and Meal Plan

Grocery prices are a hot topic at the moment.

Up up, prices are up (has the ACCC confirmed what we all know?).

And prices have continued to soar since that thing that happened in 2020 – remember way back then?

Now there’s that other thing happening in 2026, and that stuff that we can’t name but all rely on, but probably shouldn’t. And that argy-bargy shit going on between a bunch of decrepit old men, who should also not be named.

And to top it all off, some bloke El Niño is on the way again, bringing more drought (a lot of places are already in drought)…

So yeah, grocery prices are pretty eye-watering.

Obvs, meal planning doesn’t fix any of the above stuff.

And because I can’t fix the above-mentioned tools, I’m focusing on one tool within my locus of control.

It’s no secret I love meal planning – I wrote a whole book about it.

It’s the single best tool I have for choosing budget meals and not wasting food. Because if we’re having veggie tacos with sour cream, you better believe we’re also having stroganoff to use up the sour cream.

Meal planning also reduces cognitive load, and we all have a lot of that these days. And sparing a few brain cells might mean we can all go all French Revolution on – you know – everything.

6. Fakeaway the Takeaway

I live three minutes’ walk from Red Rooster and Dominios. Sometimes, convenience comes at a cost.

Because when the day is long, and the winds blow from the north, our budget takes a hike…down the street. To her door.

But a quarter chicken and chips is waaay more expensive than a chook and spuds at home, especially when you times it by four.

The intention to cook, however, doesn’t negate the dreariness of long days and the messy kitchen and the urge to escape to France with a bottle of chardy.

So, I’ve embraced my inherent weakness, and I now stock our freezer and pantry with easy meals that are almost as convenient as following my nose to BBQ chicken.

If the stars have aligned and my chakras are all balanced, I might also stock the freezer with homemade easy-to-reheat meals and meal-prepped dinners.

Or we have frozen pie and chips. Or peanut butter two-minute noodles, YouTube style.

Either way, I’ve let go of perfect to embrace alternatives that might not make it to Instagram, but save us from a Rooster run.

7. Love the Leftovers

I made lunch yesterday from leftovers that legit looked like dog food.

I mean, it was the most unappetizing thing I’ve ever made.

But oh.my.god. It tastes so good. And not just because I skipped breakfast.

It was some leftover fried sausage meat – you know, the cheap stuff that comes in a roll – leftover refried chilli beans, and some browning, leftover avo.

You can imagine it, right? Brown mush in a bowl. 100% flavour.

Food in the bin = money in the bin. Using up leftovers creates a whole win-win-win situation: reduces food waste, saves money, easy, fuss-free meals in the future.

And maybe a creative new dish that is flavourful, cheap, and keeps you regular.

8. Fill the Tank with Water

If only cars ran on water (although I’ve heard they can run on sunlight – fancy that!)

Anyway, I’m talking about my tank, not my car. After a ton of cheap, cheap instant caffeine, it’s time to switch to rehydration.

A friend’s husband, who works at a water company, once went into great detail about how Australia has the best tap water in the world, unless you’re out whoop whoop (trust me, a mate of a mate says so), I’m confident that I’m filling my tank with premium.

Even in 2026 (April, at least), a bottle of water can cost more per litre than petrol, especially if it’s a brand-name and it’s been refrigerated.

So if I’m out and about in the Queensland heat, taking my own water = instant savings. And if I forget? Instant regret.

We use stainless steel water bottles, but refilling a cheap Woolies-brand plastic bottle is lighter to carry.

9. Make the Library My Second Home

Treat time!

A trip to the library is more than just books. Although for me, the books are the major drawcard.

And borrowing instead of buying not only saves me money, but it also keeps clutter down (although my aging eyes do prefer the big print on the Kindle).

Libraries offer so much more than books. There you will also find:

• magazines & newspapers (real and digital)
• music CDs & DVDs (real and digital
• audio books (app or CD)
• kids toys
• puzzles
• games
• free workshops
• free kids’ activities like story time
• free online access to movies, documentaries, eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers and more

They’ve just built a new one down the road, and it has a podcast recording booth, meeting rooms, a cafe, quiet study spaces, co-working spaces, and a whole host of other amenities.

Can you tell I’m in love?

The library is the absolute best, top-tier place for frugalites.

These eight money-saving tactics aren’t world-changing. But they’re easy to implement – even talking on the phone – and have an immediate impact on my bottom line. They fall within my locus of control and give me a sense of control in a world that seems to be spinning out of control (yes, I just used that word three times in a sentence on poetic purpose).

What are you doing to keep expenses down or not letting them balloon too much?