Greenbacks. Moolah. Dinero. Cheddar. Money. Whatever you want to call it, saving some of it is important for setting up your future and making sure that you have the financial resources to buy a house, get health insurance, and make any of the other purchases you need to live a comfortable and stress-free life.
Like most things in life, saving money is a lot easier said than done. For a lot of people, trying to build up a solid savings account seems like an uphill battle when you consider all of the monthly bills and unexpected payments that come with normal life.
No, saving money isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on it completely. You don’t have to move into a tent in the woods and live off the land to start spending more frugally. You also don’t need a super high-paying job to watch your savings account grow steadily month by month.
Regardless of your current financial situation, a few simple habits and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference in your savings account. None of the tips on this list require any earthshaking transformations. In fact, once you implement these tips into your life, you probably won’t notice any difference at all.
You can still spend money on the things that bring happiness into your life. These tips to start saving money are all about eliminating unnecessary expenses.
Plan Your Meals
In any budget, food is undoubtedly one of the biggest expenses. However, many people end up wasting a huge portion of the food that they buy. In the United States alone, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted every year.
Aside from the fact that it’s a shame to waste food when there are starving people in the world, wasted food also means wasted money. So what’s an easy way to save yourself a ton of money while also helping to reduce your carbon footprint? Stop wasting food!
Start by planning your meals out for every week. Get a piece of paper and a pen and write out what you’re going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.
Pick meals you know you’ll eat and keep your menu as simple as possible. You don’t need seven unique gourmet breakfasts for the week. Just plan for oatmeal or yogurt with a couple of different topping options to stave off boredom.
For even more cost savings, try to pick meals with overlapping ingredients. That way, you can buy, say, a cheap pack of bulk chicken to make chicken alfredo one night, fried chicken the next, and chicken tacos after that.
When you go to the grocery store, buy only the ingredients you need to make those meals. By doing so, you take the guesswork out of grocery shopping. You won’t end up buying a bunch of tomatoes that sit in your refrigerator only to get moldy without ever being touched.
The cost of a few rotten vegetables may not seem like a lot, but it can really add up to a significant amount of money over a whole year. Plus, by reducing your food waste, you’ll not only be saving yourself some money, but you’ll be helping to reduce the environmental impact of farming and preserve the food supplies for people who need it the most.
Avoid Convenience Stores
There’s a reason they’re called “convenience stores.” They’re everywhere. They’re always open, and they’re usually the easiest option when you want to get anything that you need. But all that convenience doesn’t come for free.
Convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Circle K, Cumberland Farms, Speedway, or whatever your local chain is charge between 10% and 54% more than supermarkets for the exact same products.
Simply going to a supermarket instead of a convenience store could drastically cut your spending, even without making a single change to what you’re buying.
If you find that you’re always running to the nearest 7-Eleven for a bag of pretzels, get a bunch of bags of pretzels from your local supermarket to keep in your house for when that craving hits.
If you’re one of the 23.5 million Americans who don’t live within driving distance of a supermarket, online grocery shopping services can connect you with affordable, healthy products that are delivered directly to your door.
Cut Your Utility Costs
Everyone knows the basic ways to cut down their utility expenses. Turn the lights off when you’re not in a room. Don’t leave the air conditioner running when you’re out of the house. Unplug your electrical appliances when they’re not in use. While these habits will help, the difference can actually be fairly small.
If you really want to see some significant savings, making some minor repairs and improvements around the home will yield better results. One of the best ways to do this is by weatherizing your house or apartment.
Put weatherstrips on your windows and a door sweep under your door to stop hot or cold air from escaping your home. This simple fix will dramatically reduce how much energy your heating and cooling system is using.
If you have a water heater in your home, consider getting it insulated to reduce heat loss by up to 45%, reducing the energy required to heat your water.
Likewise, sealing your power outlets and light switches is a great way to shave dollars off your utility bill by plugging these sneaky sources of heat leaks.
While most of these repairs are easy enough to do on your own, you can also hire a professional if you’re not big on DIY projects. Either way, the cost will be worth it in the long run.
Say No to Interest
If you have a credit card and you think you’re pulling a fast one on your credit card company by leaving a huge credit balance in your account every month, you’re dead wrong. Every dollar of credit that you have unpaid is a dollar that you’re getting charged interest on. With the average credit card interest rate in 2021 being right around 16%, that’s no insignificant amount of money.
For instance, if you have a $2,000 credit balance right now with an interest rate of 16%, that’s $320 in interest you’re going to have to pay if you let your balance sit there for a year without paying it.
What’s the solution? Pay off your credit balance! Before you invest your money in stocks or cryptocurrencies, or before you go out and buy yourself a new pair of shoes, you should make sure that your credit balance is entirely paid off.
If you’re unable to pay off your credit balance all at once, stop using your credit card and put as much money toward it as you can each month until it’s completely gone. If you let your credit balance sit unpaid, it’s going to keep growing and growing and costing you more and more money.
Use Money-Saving Apps
This tip is primarily for people who do most of their shopping online. If you find that you’re making most of your purchases through your phone, you should look into getting money-saving apps like Rakuten or Ibotta.
Now, most of the time, these money-saving apps are a waste of time. However, Rakuten and Ibotta are pretty reputable and can actually get you some great cashback deals at a ton of different online stores. If you can get 3% cashback every time you buy something from AliExpress, why wouldn’t you?
Other individual stores have their own apps that offer cash back as well. For instance, if you do a lot of online shopping with Target, you should definitely download their app and reap their cashback rewards.
For this to actually translate to savings, however, make sure you only use these to buy things that you already planned to buy. Shopping sales or earning rewards only pay off if it’s for things that you would have bought regardless of the sale or cashback deal. If you’re buying something that you don’t need just because it’s discounted or comes with a special offer, you’re not saving money, you’re just spending it.