How Much Money Can You Save as a Freegan?

I often get asked the question of why I’m a freegan. There are countless reasons with compounding benefits. Undoubtedly, one of the top reasons would be to save money.

Saving money feels great. It’s always been hard for me to feel good after buying something. When people say they love shopping, it’s so strange to me. It pains me to overpay or be stuck in a situation where I have to pay a lot to get out of it. I try not to be cheap on others, but I’ll be cheap on myself all day long.

Saving money isn’t just about growing wealth. Buying something usually means I’m contributing to emissions, water waste, and exploited labor for something that will end up in a landfill; something I probably won’t get that much use out. Something I can probably find, buy used, or do without and have my life completely unaffected. Excuse my french, but there is just so much shit we don’t need. Go into any thrift store and you will see a lifetime supply of clothes for a small village. I digress.

The data

I came across an article from Business Insider, “What average Americans spend on groceries every month in 22 major cities”, which gave me an excellent framework to estimate the money saved by eating freegan. To estimate the average grocery budget in various cities, they used the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Surveys. The data covers the most recent period of 2016 to 2017 and reveals average annual expenditures for consumer units in 22 major metros across the U.S.

The results

In 1st was Seattle, where the average person could expect to pay $498/month on groceries and $913/month on total food (groceries, food delivery services, restaurants, snacks, etc). In 22nd, the Dallas-Ft. Worth average monthly spend for groceries was $286, while the average total food spend was $547.

In the middle of the pack at 10th was Chicago, where I live. The average grocery spend was $376/month while the average total food spend was $680/month.

If we assume that you eat purely freegan for an entire year in the U.S., you could save anywhere from $3,432 to $5,976 on groceries and between $6,564-$10,956 on total food! In Chicago, eating freegan saves you around $4,512 on groceries and $8,610 on total food. Eat freegan for a decade and you might just save over $80,000 dollars!

I must admit those numbers seem way too high. It’s hard to imagine most people I know spending close to that, but then again my sense of reality is probably quite skewed. When I was consistently buying groceries, I remember it being closer to $150 a month, or around $2,000 per year. Granted, I shop more frugally than most people. I do like to eat out and it’s good to socialize with friends, though I estimate that I eat out a modest three times a month. So probably around $2,500 on total food per year.

More than food

This is only considering food. This doesn’t consider biking, thrift shopping (or just not shopping!), finding furniture, and all the other ways you could replace buying new with finding freegan. People may scoff when I go to lengths to save $2 bucks here or $8 bucks there, but as demonstrated above, little things really add up.

Maybe I’m a frugal bastard, but I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I’ve accepted and embraced who I am. I don’t like wasting money on stuff that isn’t good for the planet and the people in it. I’d rather live in accordance with my values.

Someone once asked me what do I want to do with the money I’m saving up. As you may have guessed, it’s definitely not to buy things. Experiences and travel are one area I will spend on. Otherwise, I want to use my money for good, whether that is investing in companies that are helping humanity and the environment or donating a portion of my income every year to lift people out of extreme poverty. There is much more than money that can be saved.