When people look to trying to save money, they often look at big-ticket expenses. Things like your mortgage, student loans, or credit card debt often take precedence. This makes sense, as many see that as the largest opportunity for savings.
However, there are plenty of little places that you may be able to save daily. Though each of these items may only small savings, all of the items together could be significant savings. Here are a few things that may help you save money every day!
- Reconsider Your Coffee Habit
- Use Savings Apps
- Pack a Lunch
- Reconsider Your Commute
- Make it Harder to Make Impulse Purchases
- Make a Daily Budget
- Get a Smart Thermostat
- Track Each and Every Expense
How often do you pick up coffee on the way to work? Do you visit Starbucks or your favorite coffee shop every day, or even a couple of times every day? That expense can add up quickly. Here is a quick bit of math to let you see how:
Let's say that you get one coffee a day going to work at $3 (which is basically a black coffee at Starbucks). Take that $3 and multiply it by days in a month, and you get $90 a month in coffee. You could buy four bags of gourmet coffee for that amount and make it at home. Of course, if you get any fancy drink, your cost quickly goes up, even as high as $150. For that, you could by a specialty coffee maker and load it with gourmet coffee and you would start saving money within just two months.
There are special apps that track your spending and help you save. Basically, they just round up your purchase amount and deposit that extra change into a savings account. For example, if you buy something that comes out to $1.50, the app will deposit an extra 50 cents into your savings. Bank of America and other banks offer a similar kind of service.
If you want to invest that extra change instead of just saving it, you can use an app like Acorn or Stash. They help you save money the same way, but they deposit your money into an investment account instead. You likely will not miss the few extra cents you save per day, but it will add up quickly over the course of a year.
Bringing lunch to work instead of eating out is another great way to save every day. Generally, you are spending around $10 per day to eat lunch out. However, if you pack yourself a lunch, not only is it far cheaper, but it is usually much easier to eat healthily,
For example, spending $10 per day on lunch means you could be spending as much as $300 per month on lunches alone. That $300 is easily a month's worth of groceries for a couple, and very close to a grocery budget for a family. Eating out adds up quickly, so take the time to pack a lunch!
This may not be an option for everyone, but it is still worth considering. If you drive to work every day but are within walking distance, walk! Also consider public transit, as the cost of using that is often comparable to the costs associated with daily driving of a car.
Not only are you saving on gas, but you are saving on the wear and tear of your car. The longer your car lasts, the more value you get out of it. This is especially true if you have already paid off the loan.
If you find that you spend a lot of money on things you end up not even wanting or using, you may need to set up some roadblocks on how easy it is to make purchases. Maybe it is deleting your credit card information off of your home browser or sites like Amazon. Having to stop and put in your information gives you time to think and see if you really need what you are about to purchase.
You can also set daily spending limits on your credit or debit cards. Even better, leave the cards at home and only carry a certain amount of cash every day. You will not spend money if you literally do not have money on you to spend! These little roadblocks can end up paying dividends if you find yourself regularly impulse shopping.
You may not have a problem with impulse buying, but maybe you simply do not know how much money you can spend each day. This can cause you to accidentally overspend! Look at your discretionary spending in your monthly budget and divide it by how many days there are in the month. That should give you a rough idea of how much you can spend per day and still be in the black on your budget.
This can help you save money on your utilities while you are out and about. A smart thermostat can be controlled from your phone, which means you can alter the temperature in your home based on when you think you may arrive. Is no one home? Then raise or lower the temperature, whichever is closest to how it feels outside. On your way home? Adjust the thermostat before you arrive. This will save you a little bit every day in utilities, which will add up by the end of the month.
This will be a habit that you develop over time, but tracking every single expense can help teach yourself to think about each and every purchase you make. Applying rationale and decision making to everything you buy will help you buy less overall, and then things you do end up buying will be worth your money. You can track expenses in a spreadsheet, through financial tools provided by your financial institution, or even apps like Mint. All of these tools make it easier for you to make the best possible decisions you can make!
11 Ways to Save Money
Who does not want to save money? We all do! However, saving money is easier said than done. If you have tried to save money only to repeatedly fail, worry not! You probably tried to save money without reading this article! Silly you. Take heed to the following tips for saving money, and you will have a little extra cash in no time.
- Make a Budget
- Refinance Your Mortgage
- Use Receipt Apps
- Take Advantage of Cash Back and Special Offers on Credit Cards
- Open a New Credit Card
- Open a New Checking Account
- Pay Off High-Interest Debt
- Quit Smoking
- Consider Solar
- Properly Insulate Your Home
- Stop Eating Out
One of the most impactful things you can do to save money is making a budget. When you see how much money you make and where your money is going, it makes it easy to exercise some spending restraint. Especially if you are spending a lot of money on eating out, Starbucks, or other expenses you do not have to be spending.
Are you a homeowner? One of your largest expenses is likely your mortgage. Did you know that you can renegotiate your mortgage to get a better interest rate, which not only will lower your monthly mortgage payment, but it will also save you money in the long run.
Refinancing a mortgage is not for everyone. You may already have a great rate. It may be the case that the cost of refinancing a mortgage will not save you money in the long run. Be sure to carefully examine your options before refinancing your mortgage.
There are a lot of apps that will reward you with cash for purchases you are going to make anyway. Apps like Ibotta just require you find a matching offer (for example, cashback on Pepsi), and they will deposit cash into your account. You can use your balance for gift cards or, if you prefer, deposit directly into a Paypal account.
Other apps like Receipt Hog will give you money just for uploading a receipt, regardless of what you happened to buy. It takes longer to earn rewards, but you earn rewards for literally any receipt purchase.
Many people like to use their credit cards as their primary method of spending. If you have a good cash back card, this is a great way to automatically save on every purchase you make. Cashback rewards vary depending on the card, and they often will specialize in certain categories, like travel or gas.
On top of these cashback rewards, many cards offer additional offer savings within the card. For example, Chase has special offers with certain retailers that must be "activated" before they can be redeemed. If you happen to use these retailers already, it is a great way to easily save on purchases.
Even outside of cashback rewards, simply opening a new credit card can offer fantastic savings. Most credit cards offer some kind intro bonus that far exceeds their normal cashback offers. For example, it is not unusual to save $500 on $3000 worth of purchases if they are made within a specific time frame, usually within six months. That is 15% cashback! If you do not have a credit card or are dissatisfied with the one you have, this is a great option.
Just like how credit cards offer intro bonuses, many new checking accounts do the same thing. However, instead of how much you spend, these are usually based on associated a direct deposit of a certain amount. These bonuses can frequently be several hundreds of dollars!
Paying off debt is a great way to save money, though you may not feel it at first. If you have credit card debt or student loan debt, not only are you paying on the money you borrowed, but you are also paying interest on the current balance. Especially with credit cards, where your interest can be 25% or higher, you could be paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in interest while not even touching the principal.
Paying down debt will save you a boatload in the long-term of your finances. Not only does it free up money in your budget, but you are no longer wasting money on interest payments.
Smoking adds quite a bit to your expenses. Not only do you have to worry about the actual costs of cigarettes, but being a smoker can make a lot of things more expensive. You can be charged higher premiums on health insurance, higher premiums on life insurance, and not to mention that you are more likely to have health problems, resulting in higher health costs in general. There really is no to habitually smoke, especially if you are trying to save money.
If you own your own home and plan on staying there for the long-term, transitioning to solar power can save you a lot of money, especially if you live in a place where it gets really, really hot. Generating your own solar energy is free, and some electric companies will even pay you for the electricity you generate and put back into the grid.
If you have high utility costs, it could be due to poor home insulation. Especially if you live in an older house, it may be worth getting a home inspection to see how good your insulation really is. Poor attic insulation, improperly sealed windows, and leaky doors can all be costing you a bundle. Depending on the kind of work you get done, you may even qualify for a government grant or special loans to help you with these home improvements.
This requires planning and willpower, but cooking at home can save you a bundle in expenses. This is especially true if you are feeding a family, as the total cost of meals increases significantly per person when you order take out. If you struggle with cooking, consider some of the following tips:
- Meal prep your meals all on one day.
- Use appliances like an Instapot to take advantage of hard to cook meats or meals that usually take a long time.
- Plan weekly meals and buy groceries based on what you want to eat instead of going to the grocery store and trying to decide what you want
