This post was generously contributed by Chief Editor Dan Sullivan @ SurvivalSullivan.com.  Be sure to check out Dan’s website for more prepper tips!

Ask anyone about saving money or living frugally and you’ll ALWAYS get an answer. It’s just one of those things that everyone seems to have an opinion of! However, you soon realize most of these tips are something you already knew or just variations of them.

Today, I want to give you a few tips and tricks to frugal living that (hopefully) you haven’t heard before. They are all related to prepping and survival so you’re not going to find trivial advice such as “don’t buy MREs, make your own and save money” since everyone knows that. So let’s get started…

Make your own PVC household items

How about you start easy and make a small towel rack? You don’t get to save that much (towel racks go for less than 20 bucks on Amazon) but we are talking about frugal living so every penny counts.

You will need PVC pipes, T connectors, pipe cutters, duct tape, tape measure, gravel and a permanent marker. Just by looking at this list you can see that you actually get to use some of the items you stockpiled in your bug out bag or around the house and… that’s awesome!  Check out more simple PVC projects around the home!

Learn how to sew

Sewing is mandatory when the world as we know it ends, anyway, so why not start practicing now? The benefit is that you can sew your own clothes when they start developing holes to prolong their lifetime.

Make your own detergent

There are lots of recipes for detergents and you can Google them all.

Walk whenever you can

Walking has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it saves you a TON of money on gas. On the other, it allows you to get into shape for Doomsday, which is an aspect that a lot of preppers neglect. Some of them are a little overweight so being able to walk with a bag full of groceries, for example, is a fantastic exercise.

Hint: you can put those veggies in your backpack to simulate a heavy bug out bag.

Always shop from a list

The funny thing is, a lot of preppers shop for entertainment, just like a lot of non-preppers shop in malls. The only difference is, they’re buying too many clothes while some preppers are purchasing too much food, too much gear or the latest and greatest gadget or gun.

It’s good to have a plan so you only buy the things that you actually need.

Entertain yourself at home instead of going out

You’ll be surprised how much money you save when you watch movies at home instead of paying for expensive cinema tickets (plus the popcorn and beverages).

The really sweet part is that you can gather some of your friends and neighbors to watch a survival or a zombie apocalypse movie with you so you all get to talk about it and see who is or might be interested in prepping. This will allow you to make friends in this direction and find worthy post-collapse allies.

Spend your weekends hiking, camping or at your BOL

This will allow you to practice your survival skills and keep you away from malls and supermarkets where you’d end up spending a lot of money. But when you’re out bonding with Mother Nature, it’s nearly impossible to do that (unless you have an Internet connection, of course).

Recycle your jeans

Jeans can be repurposed as pillow covers, bags, aprons or even slippers.

Make your own pepper spray

I wrote a list of all the DIY weapons you can make here but let’s focus on this one because it’s really easy to make. At the minimum, you will need chili powder, rubbing alcohol, a container to allow the mixture to sit overnight and a filter to make sure the powder doesn’t end up in your spray bottle.

Work out at home

There’s no need to pay for expensive gym memberships. A lot of stretching and bodyweight exercises can be done with no additional weights fromt he comfort of your own home. And if you do decide you need them, a pair of dumbbells is really cheap. If you want, you can even make your own kettlebells from cement and a PVC pipe!

Sell your house and move on a boat

This last is a little extreme but a fellow prepper has done it and he’s not regretting it. He sold his house and now lives on a boat that also acts as a bug out location. His expenses went down quite a bit as well.

Is this for you? Probably not, unless you’ve spent a lot of time at sea so it’s up for you to decide.