Have you ever been in situations where something always comes up every time you find ways to save money? You mean well and try to spend less, but life gets in the way – you need new tires for your car, the roof needs a fix, etc. And just like that, saving money becomes a thing of the past.
The truth is, you don’t have to wait for everything to line up perfectly before you find ways to save money. That’s because that day will never come. So instead, the best way to save money is right now.
The good news is that there are many straightforward and practical ways to save money. Here are 25 proven ways to do precisely that. These tips will help you tweak your spending and get you to save money in no time.
Top 25 Ways To Save Money
1. Record Your Expenses
The first step to finding ways to save money is to determine how much you spend. Then, when you get all the information, group the numbers by categories like groceries, gas, mortgage, etc., and total each amount.
Use your brand and credit card statements to ensure that there’s no mistake.
Here’s a tip: you can use a free-spending tracker to help you begin. Then, you can choose a digital app or program to help automate some of this work.
2. Cancel Automatic Memberships And Subscriptions
There’s a high chance that you have multiple subscriptions like Hulu, Netflix, gym memberships, and other trendy subscription boxes. If you don’t use any of the subscriptions regularly, it’s time to cancel them.
Don’t forget to switch off auto-renew when making purchases. You can always subscribe again, only if it fits into your budget. And for the subscriptions, you like to keep, try sharing with your family and friends.
Lots of streaming services like Hulu and Netflix allow you to watch movies with two or more screens. That way, you get to save, and everyone wins.
3. Find Ways To Reduce Your Spending
If your expenses are too high that you can’t save as much as you want, then it’s time to cut back. Look through your expenses and find the non-essentials you can spend less on. It can be dining out or entertainment.
Search for ways to save money on your fixed monthly expenses, too, like your cell phone. Here are some ideas to try out:
- Decide to eat out only once a month and find cheap places
- Use resources like community event listing to find low-cost or free events to decrease entertainment spending.
- When tempted to buy a non-essential item, wait for a few days. Then, you may be glad you didn’t make that purchase.
4. Don’t Waste Your Coins And Bills, Count Them.
Gather all the extra changes you get every day, send them to your bank, and put them in your savings account. Don’t deposit them in your checking account.
5. Buy Generic
One of the simplest ways to save money is to buy generic brands and avoid expensive ones. Most times, marketing is the only thing that makes popular products better. So, apart from the logo and box looking fancy, you get by with generic brands.
It costs far less for generic brands of staple food items, medicine, cleaning supplies, and paper products than high-priced brands. And they get the job done as well too.
6. It’s Time To Disconnect The Cables
Cable prices are rapidly increasing, and it’s no secret. For just a month, the average monthly price for cable TV is around $217, including fees. But, by the end of the year, you’ll be paying more than $2,600!
But the good news is that you can find alternative ways to watch your favorite movies or shows. For example, you can use streaming services and network apps.
But we recommend that you only sign up with the streaming service you’ll use. Don’t sign up for every streaming service, or you’ll end up spending more than the cable.
7. Save Money Automatically
There’s a way to save money without even thinking about it. You can tell your bank to automatically transfer funds from your checking account into your savings account each month.
If it’s difficult, set up a direct deposit where you automatically transfer $10 of each paycheck to your savings account.
8. Put Extra Income To Good Use
When you get any extra or unexpected income, spend it wisely. For example, if you have a debt, it’s ideal to use that additional funds to pay off your loans. It’s better than stashing the money somewhere.
If you don’t have any debt, you can direct it to your emergency fund. Whatever the case, you shouldn’t spend the money on luxury just because it’s extra money. If saving money is your utmost priority, you should put it to good use.
9. Limit Energy Costs
With a few tweaks, you can save money on your electric bills in your home. You can start by installing dimmer switches and LED light bulbs, fixing leaky pipes, etc.
Yes, you can also save money using energy-efficient appliances, but they’re costly. However, if you plan it into your monthly budget, you can save enough and pay cash for those improvements with time.
10. Unsubscribe From Emails
Email marketers know it’s hardly impossible to resist the 24-hour sale or exclusive coupon temptation. They’re good at what they do, so don’t take them for granted.
If you know you can resist the urge to shop when you see a special offer, unsubscribe immediately. You’ll save yourself from unwanted purchases, and you’ll thank yourself later.
11. Pack Launch
Did you know that the average household spends around $3,526 on food outside the home annually? That’s $294 every month! However, it may look like it’s not affecting your budget since you buy lunch a few times each week.
But you can save a lot of money if you pack a lunch and eat at home. Besides that, you can buy a week’s worth of groceries at the same price as two dinner meals out most times. So prepare your food at home and save money each month.
12. Ditch The Coffee Shop
We know how painful it is to skip your favorite coffee shop. We get you. But you can save money by making your coffee at home instead of spending $5 every day on coffee.
Of course, we’re not implying that instant coffee should be your only drink. But you can save money in the long run by buying a bag of local beans and brewing it at home.
13. Check Your Local Library First
If you decide to buy a brand new book, first check your local library to see if you can borrow it. Most libraries have digital copies and audiobooks of your favorite books, and you even rent them. It’s an excellent way of reading your books without spending much money.
You can check sites like BookDeal.com, Thriftbooks, Alibris to find the best deals.
14. Take A Break From Vacations
We know how vacations are essential. But if your priority now is to save money, a vacation should be the last thing to think about. So instead of taking a vacation at Fiji Islands with your family, try touring your city.
Aside from saving you thousands of dollars, you can explore your neighborhood and find exciting places you never knew existed. It’s one of the best ways to save money.
15. Sell Everything You Don’t Need
You can sell everything you don’t need and can let go of your financial future. For example, if you have tons of used or old textbooks collecting dust, you can sell them online and get some cash.
If you sell the vintage chair, crystal vase, old books, etc., you’d be shocked at how much clutter you have in your home. And the money you make can make a huge difference in your finances. You can even use the money you get to pay down your debt.
16. Start A Side Hustle
If your priority is saving money, then you need to go out and make more money. It’s possible to earn an extra $1,000 every month and direct it to your monthly savings. Then, regardless of your work status, you can find a job that works with your work schedule.
You can be a freelance writer, voice actor, sell things online or even make money with photography. However, don’t spend thousands of dollars on an unproven venture if you want to save money.
The goal is to make money and save, not to sink in new expenses.
17. Get Out Of Debt
It’s a fact that the more debt payments you have, the less you can save. So if you want to find ways to save money, you need to get out of debt.
The quickest way to do that is to use the debt snowball method. With this method, you pay off your debts from the smallest to the largest. Now, it’s intense, but the snowball method focuses on behavior change rather than numbers.
When you get rid of your debt, you can direct the money to your savings goals.
18. Start Investing
If you want to find ways to save money for a long-term goal, consider investing. However, before you start investing, you must have at least three months of living expenses in your emergency fund.
Consider this: let’s say you invest $2,000 every month in an index fund with annual earnings of 10%. So you can get approximately $154,000 after five years.
However, if you put that $2,000 into a savings account with 2% annual earnings, you earn approximately $126,000. That’s a difference of $28,000 over five years. In other words, don’t just save money; invest it.
19. Ditch Your Auto Release
When it comes to saving money, some people won’t give up their expensive cars. And that may be okay as long as it doesn’t put your financial plan at risk. However, if your utmost priority is to save money, it’s better to buy instead of lease.
Ideally, it’s better to buy a reliable used car you can use for a long time. And that’s because when you finish your auto loan payment (if applicable), you won’t have any car payments.
However, you can never own your car with leasing. You’ll forever direct your monthly payments toward an asset that keeps losing value. Try lease exchange services such as Swap-a-lease and Lease Exchange App if you want to get out of a lease.
20. Save More Money With Technology
Finding ways to save more money can be time-consuming. However, technology can help with that. For example, you can decrease your monthly utility bills by using Bill Shark or BillFixer.
Maybe you have subscriptions you’ve forgotten about. You can use TrueBill to find and cancel unused subscriptions. If credit card debt is preventing you from saving money, consider Tally. Using technology is the quickest and easiest way of fishing out ways to save money.
21. Use Money-Saving Browser Plugin
Another smart way of saving money is using a free browser plugin that automatically applies promo codes and coupons to the purchases you make. For example, you can use Honey, Amazon Assistant, or Rakuten.
Of course, there are numerous plugins out there you can choose from. You can take a few minutes to find the ones that work best for you.
22. DIY As Much As Possible
Why pay someone to fix your light when you can do it yourself? If you spend lots of money on cleaning services, decide to save that money and clean the house yourself. A simple YouTube or Google search can save you lots of cash on your home project.
But, if, for some reason, you can’t do it yourself, you can ask your neighbor or friends to help you out. You can even let the kids help, and when you need to do any work, you can borrow from your friends, instead of buying it.
23. Use The 30-Day Rule.
The 30-day rule is highly effective against instant gratification. As you probably know, instant gratification dampens financial momentum. So before you make an unnecessary purchase, wait for 30 days. If, after 30 days, you don’t need or want the item, you save the money.
24. Shop With A-List
One of the easiest ways to save money is to use a list when shopping. This is particularly helpful if you struggle with impulse buying. You can easily overspend if you don’t have a list. Making a list can help you save money and avoid waste, especially when grocery shopping.
25. Cancel Your Gym Memberships
2020 has shown us that we can do most of the same exercises you do at the gym at home. If you don’t need lots of high-quality equipment, cancel your gym membership and save money. You can find numerous free fitness apps that offer plenty of exercise ideas without spending money.
Conclusion
If you’re searching for ways to save money, remember to think outside the box. The tips outlined in this guide can significantly help you. But we also understand that everyone has a different spending habit. So you can come up with ways to help you save more money. So start by tracking your spending. That will help you trace the source of your money leakage. Then you can use this guide to help you solve them.