Figuring out money woes can really be stressful, what if we told you it could be solved easily and practically. No we are not going to suggest you crawl into a cave, throw on a paper bag/nap sack and live out your days. We are going to show you 50 awesome ways to save money now with these practical ready to use tips!
Apply the tips in this post and you can start seeing the benefits rather quickly. As soon as the following month of implementation, with a little brain reprogramming (the hardest part) and discipline you will see results. Which, means more money in the bank.
Lets get to it.
How To Save Money With These 50 Awesome Tips
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Run Your Credit Report:
This one is critical when it comes to saving money. Why? Because its the starting point to knowing what your financial health looks like. It will also go a long way in reassuring your credit information has not been compromised. You can get a copy of your report from the three major credit bureaus: Trans Union, Equifax, and Experian, once a year for free.
Your Credit Can Change Anytime. See your Current Score & Report Now with TransUnion®
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Have Breakfast At Home & Pack Lunch
We all know it can be costly health wise not to have the most “important meal of the day.” But, the cost can hit your bottom line as well. You may end up buying breakfast where it would have been cheaper if you made it yourself. Plus skipping breakfast can mean costly snack runs to the vending machines or stores. It also can lead to a bigger more expensive lunch.
Speaking of lunch, if you choose to pack your lunch on a weekly basis you can save hundreds of dollars a month. The real tip here is trying to meal prep the night before or even for the whole week the savings will blow your mind.
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Check Cell Phone Plan
Make sure to monitor your cell phone plan and check with your provider to see where you can cut cost. We were able to save over $20 a month on my plan. By removing the provider issued insurance on a old phone. It saved an extra $12 a month. You can easily find competitors that offer phone insurance for half of the provider’s price.
There were also some additional features that was part of the plan that we just didn’t utilize or need costing about $8 a month. The total yearly savings for the year equaled $240 bucks, with just one phone call to the cell phone provider. What could you do with an extra $20 bucks a month?
Your employer may offer savings benefits like 15%-20% off your bill depending on your provider, as well. Take advantage of these discounts.
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Negotiate Cable Bill
Nowadays do people even really need cable? There are so many options and choices I am surprised they are still in business. They get you with the internet, otherwise cable is pretty much unnecessary.
If you are stuck paying a high cable bill call-in to negotiate your plan. Remove premium channels that are not worth it or just too expensive. See if Netflix and Hulu accounts will better suit your entertainment pleasures. Keep in mind you still need an internet source. Check it out…
Netgear ORBi Home WIFI System
EERO Home WIFI System
Google Home WIFI System
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Save With FSA/HSA
Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account can be a little confusing when it comes to which one to choose, some of the rules, and how you can use them. These accounts are a great tax savings tools, especially if you plan on spending for medical purposes.
You can set money aside tax free during your employer’s open enrollment period for up coming medical expenses. Such as, new pair of glasses, co-pays, medicine, etc. The catch to the tax free savings is the expenses must be medically related.
FSA allows you to set aside up to $2,550 per individual, with pretax earnings from your check. If you have a high deductible plan you can qualify for an HSA, where you can set aside $3,350 per individual of pretax dollars. There other benefits and differences between these two accounts that will be discussed in future posts.
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Shop Car Insurance & Compare Rates
This is a pretty easy one here. I recommend running a car insurance quote every six months or so. New providers may have entered your market offering discounted rates to capture new business. Also, running a quote may lead you to realize an item negatively impacting your license has fallen off.
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Shop Home Insurance
Just to piggyback off shopping for car insurance quotes, do the same for your home. I recommend checking home insurance quotes on a yearly basis. Especially, if you have done some remodeling that may add to some safety features or that is environmentally friendly. These additions can lower insurance premiums and have long term savings. So don’t miss out.
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Surge Protectors
Surge Protectors are an easy way to lower the cost of your electric bill, while decreasing the amount of electricity your appliances and entertainment utilizes. The savings and gains are seen over time here, as you become more conscious of your energy consumption.
Add a couple of decent surge protectors that will conserve energy efficiently and plug in some of your major electric consuming items. For more savings power down multiple items with the flick of a on/off switch.
~Advice do not place refrigerator on surge protector that you plan on turning on and off. You have been formerly warned.~
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Be Wise With Credit
Credit and credit cards can be a “double edged sword.” Having good credit can really help toward savings and having bad credit can cost tremendously. Making sure you keep up with your credit payments goes a long way towards savings. Paying on time is one of the main factors that help determine your credit worthiness and responsibility to manage more credit.
Paying on time keeps your interest rates low, which means big savings if you have to use credit over time or ever want to make a big purchase like a house or car. Also, good credit may afford you rewards and benefits like 0% interest for X period of time. Clutch!
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Utilize Rewards From Cards
One of the more useful things and perks of credit cards/store card is big bucks you can save and earn through rewards. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you maximize its full potential to you. You can earn points for gifts, air mileage, cash back etc. Use a card that add value to your overall lifestyle and ones that will help you save and maximize benefits.
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Declutter & Sell
A great way to save and make extra money is by going through your closet and basement. There are sure to be valuable resell items that you no longer need. Selling these old items can earn you some quick cash that you may have otherwise thrown or waste away.
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Shop Off Season
There are great deals to gain and money to save by choosing to shop during off season. This works well when you are talking about clothing.
Trust most people will not realize or care if you are wearing an older fashion, as long as its clean and presentable.
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Travel Off Season
Huge savings here and working similar to the above tip. Traveling to your vacation destination during less popular vacation months can save you big bucks all around. Flights and lodging are likely to be less expensive than high travel/high vacation seasons.
Airlines, hotels, and businesses may offer great deals to make up for slowdowns and off peak seasons.
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Keep Cash In Your Wallet
With the direction of technology it almost seems like the use and need of tangible currency will be the thing of the past. Well, until that officially occurs I recommend keeping $60 to $100 in your wallet at all times. By having cash it may limit the use of credit cards or withdrawing from foreign ATMs and their high fees.
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Create Grocery List
When grocery shopping having a list of items you need will keep your cost down for sure and help you avoid splurging on unnecessary items. Think about how often you have gone shopping and spent way too much on things that were not essential.
Having a list helps you stay within your monthly grocery budget and prevent overspending.
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Manage Food Consumption
It is a hard task to measure your food and how much you consume especially if you have a big family. This will go a long way in conserving your budget on food expenses. Also the benefit of measuring how much you eat can add health benefits. Restaurant.com is a great way keep expenses down by utilizing their many different vendor certificates.
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Remote Control Appliances
Invest in a system that will help you manage your appliances and thermostat during peek time usage when you are not home. Technology allows us to put a lot of our appliances on remote to help be more efficient with energy and heat consumption. Ultimately leading to long term savings.
Plus, if you ever left something accidentally running you could check, adjust or turn off from your phone or laptop devices.
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No Credit Cards
As you may recall there are positives and negatives to having credit cards. Well not having credit cards at all will definitely help you avoid high interest rates fees. Getting to a point where you will never have to use credit card should be a goal for everyone.
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Coupons Are Back
This might seem dated but utilizing coupons has gotten some positive traction, if you are like the Krazy Coupon Lady, you know the saving benefits here. Although this can be some work and dedication when searching for the best deals week to week.
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Shop Sale Items
Buy items on sale as often as possible especially, if you are on a tight budget. There are always great daily deals on variety of items. Just be cautious not to buy sale items on pure wants even if it is on sale. That goes for shopping too frequently because of sales. This can be counter productive to this tip.
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Thrift Shop & Discount Stores
There are some great items that can be found while thrifting and that are not always used and old. This saving strategy can be an art and fun. Discount stores such as Dollar Tree and Savers, can add big savings to your household. For basic utensils, spices, and cleaning product go here first. At the Dollar Tree everything is literally a $1, easy savings at that price.
Find one in your neighborhood and if there isn’t one, become the franchise owner to one they are that popular.
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Price Match Everything
This tip can get a little tedious and in some cases will need a good deal of researching. But staying vigilant and organize will lead to money in the bank. Many stores like Walmart do honor price matches from competitors.
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Create & Stick To Budget
Tracking your income/expenses knowing where they go is a great saving strategy. There are many tools that are available to help reach your goals. Such as Personal Capital.
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Save For Retirement
No matter in what stage of life you are in or how much you make, start saving for retirement now. The cost you save in the future is immeasurable. It is important to create a nest egg now so you can retire. Creating enough of a savings to retire comfortable. There are also tax free benefits today you can earn by funding an IRA or 401K plan.
Depending on the retirement account you choose can mean taxes being deferred into the future or taxes being withheld in the present and no taxes in the future. Look for future IRA vs. Roth IRA differences and benefits post.
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Buy Insurance
Insurance is never valuable until you need it. Well don’t wait to be the person when tragedy strikes, you have to create GoFund me pages and borrow everywhere. Life happens and you should prepare for its uncertainty which will save you income and headaches, not so much the heartache. So I recommend buying life insurance it is relatively cheap if you take advantage while you are young and healthy. If you work at high risk job think about getting disability insurance that can replace your income for a time being while you recover. In case you are ever out of work due to work related reasons or accident.
Life insurance can save your family by protecting income if there is an unexpected loss of a breadwinner. It is an unfortunate reality but people die and we still have to carry on. We strongly recommend term life since its affordable and realistically you do not need insurance for your whole life (Whole Life Insurance). The coverage should be for the period of your life that you maybe most vulnerable, for example when you have young children and/or a mortgage.
Any other type of insurance whole, universal, variable, etc. tend to be overly expensive, offering savings and investment benefits that are not much better than banks.
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Manage Lifestyle Creep
Yes it is a “thing”… What exactly is lifestyle creep? It is when your lifestyle begins to change because you have come to some additional money; or an expense decrease affording you to save extra money. Due to this change your expenditure and lifestyle typically increases. Tip here is to manage your new source of income with care whether you know this money bump is coming or not! Do not splurge or divert from established budget or goals, allocate the funds to savings or debt. Enjoy yourself as well, I am sure you earned that raise, bonus, or whatever led to your good fortune.
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Buy Used
Buying used items can be a very cost effective way to putting more money back in your pocket. Sites like Craiglist and Ebay are good options to finding pretty much anything you need. Used doesn’t always mean old and useless, you will be surprised the value you find at times.
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Auto-Pay
Set it and forget it. Have payments come out directly from your bank account to avoid missing payments and incurring late fees. Some companies offers savings benefits for going paperless and setting up auto-pay.
Caution: although this is good strategy to save, you need to make sure your payment account is well funded to support these payments. Otherwise, this strategy will have an adverse effect and cost you more in fees, if accounts are overdrawn.
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Shop Early & After Holidays
As they say “the early bird gets the worm” and this concept applies to shopping. There can be some great budget friendly and steals for early shoppers, especially in regards to appliances. How about shopping after holidays…. Find deep discounts on Xmas items, Valentine items, Easter items, etc. for next years gifts ideas. This strategy can help limit offset cost when these holidays roll around, also you eliminate stress and time spent finding gifts.
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Collect Loose Change
Seems more of a hobby than a way to add to your bottom line but, every… ah penny literally counts. Have some fun here. No need to pick up every penny and nickel you find on the street. Create change jar or better yet a swear jar. You can even setup your own “keep the change” jar similar to BOA. Trust me at the end of your set goal period the amount you save/put away may surprise you.
Our heavy cash users will really benefit here.
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Shop Generic
Medicine and prescriptions can be very costly, especially if you are having to fill prescriptions regularly. Save money by substituting to the generic brands. Typically the ingredients are normally the same as the company brands, but to always make sure speak with your pharmacist, if you have concerns.
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Self Maintenance
The cost of mani/pedis, trips to the barber shops, massages etc. some would say are “necessary” but, at the same time luxury expense. Monitor these expense or do it yourself and see how much you save in the course of a few months.
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Carpool Or Us Public Transportation
If you are able to carpool and minimize your work expenses do it. There are many costs that come with having a traditional job. Removing the need to use your car everyday and alternating with a coworker or fellow commuter can save big time. Utilizing public transportation is always a good option to saving and maybe cheaper than driving.
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Consolidate Debt
Reorganizing your debt is good way to lower interest rates and possibly payoff debt quicker. You can save money here, but you must be discipline. The point of consolidating is to payoff debt and possibly lowering monthly payments. Be extremely careful not to take on any new debt this defeats the purpose. Be sure your debt consolidation agreement actually helps you save and not extend debt longer. Look at the structure and term of your consolidation agreement. Make sure it makes sense for you.
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Checkout City Events
We are so used to equating spending money to having a good time, that we regularly fail to realize how much free events that are all around us. Its really is as easy as checking out your city calendar to find all types of date night, family themed, and fun events that are taking place. A lot of the time these events are free or not at all expensive. Enjoy!
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Rent Instead of Buy
This tip is more about not rushing to take on debt that you may not necessarily be ready for. The age of buying your dream home at super affordable prices are almost gone. Save here by knowing and understanding your limitations and rent, if you have to. Build your nest egg and than buy the home of your dream.
Of course when your finances can support it comfortably and you are itching to own your first property I recommend investing in a multi-family income property. No more than four units to keep it from being classified as a commercial property. This is good way to earn income too, while investing. The only thing is weighing the possibility of managing tough tenants.
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Don’t Touch Retirement Funds
Guilty of this one and learned the hard way. Your retirement is for savings for your future self, it is not your personal loan option.
Save on your income now by earning tax free benefits in a IRA or employer 401K plan. Some employers will match up to 4-6%, so take full advantage. As mentioned saving for the future now will definitely cost you less when it is time to retire.
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Plan Your Family
Trust me we know life happens and certain things cannot be planned. If you are able to do this one tip you can save a fortune. Being prepared and having your life in order prior to having a family minimize unforeseen costs. Which allows you to plan better and lead to long term savings. Having a family is extremely expensive deciding when to have one should mean you are in a good place financially.
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Take Advantage of Work Benefits
Employers nowadays have all sorts of benefit programs that can help you save. Be sure to signup and take advantage. They may offer discounted movie tickets and we know the fortune it cost to take a family of four to movies, yikes. Savings towards your cell phone, commuter pass, etc. Employer health saving benefit programs can offset the cost of health insurance. The point you spend a lot of time at work and most employers offer benefit and savings programs that can help you save. So max out all benefits at work you earned it.
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Buy Used Vehicles
Cars are not investments. One of the most costly expense you may have and the depreciation precipitates as soon as you leave the lot. Value lies within higher luxury models or the refurbished antique models. Buying an older car can save you on insurance premiums, city tax, and lower sales tax.
A basic oil change in some of the newer vehicles can run you 3x to 4x the normal price and this applies to maintenance as well. Of course you do run the risk of having maintenance issues with an older vehicle. Honestly, new vehicles can have issues early on as well. Fortunately, my experience with used cars has been solid.
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Stay At Home Date Night
Your significant other will appreciate the time and effort you took to plan and cook a homemade meal. The change of page of the typical dinner and movie night out will be welcoming. Get the bonus points by, accomplishing a romantic night-in while, managing the budget. You wallet and household with thank you for it.
If you and your significant other or family frequently go out to dine, designate a day or two as date nights/stay-in days. Watch the savings rise.
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Hangout With Friends Less
We are social people indeed, but that does come with a cost and if you are trying to stick to a budget. A night out with guys will definitely hurt your goals. Scale back the nights out to a couple of times a month. Limit buying rounds as well, your friends will understand and should support your goals.
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Get A Side Hustle Or Another Job
Adding more income to your bottom line is always a sure bet to helping you save and paying off debt. There are so many options to earning extra cash. Check out some work from home options here…
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Pay Bills On Time
To avoid late fees, bad credit, or poor report with your creditors make it a habit to pay your bills on time. Fees and poor credit report will negatively impact your standings and ability to obtain credit and loans. Which means higher interest rates and fees. Also the ability of not obtaining loans, that maybe crucial to raising capital for business or managing money. I recommend paying bills a week in advance to avoid missing due dates and auto-pay.
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Pay Yourself First
Paying yourself first may sound counter-intuitive in regards to making sure all your bills are paid and your creditors are satisfied. Setting aside $50-$100 every pay period, if you can, will create a natural “just in case fund.” Do this before you pay anything! Note: choose any dollar amount that is comfortable for you and that makes sense. This amount is not part of your savings or emergency fund.
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Shop Better Banking Institutions
Banks are not the number one option we recommend storing your money, when it comes to savings. With all their minimum requirements, low interest rate, and fees the value is just not there. So checkout other options that can give you better returns on your money. Checkout online banks, money market accounts, IRAs, the stock market (potential of loss due to volatility here).
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Review & Adjust Goals
Not only is it important to set goals/budget as we have mentioned, but reviewing goals is equally important. Knowing what is working and not working with your ever changing lifestyle will help you save money and tailor your saving strategies. Recommendation: look at your goals everyday. In terms of your savings strategy check monthly and readjust as needed.
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Learn The Money Game
The education system did a poor job of teaching how money and finances work. It is no excuse, to not take the onus and learn for yourself and future. The information and knowledge is out there just search for it (Or continue visiting this site, shameless plug).
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Self-Develop
Piggy backing off of tip #47 a bit. Develop yourself its never to late to learn, grow, or change habits or behaviors that maybe costing you. Read a motivational ans self -developing books. It is amazing how many people stop reading once they finish formal education. The more knowledgeable you are the more money you can earn and/or save.
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Invest In A Financial Adviser
Financial advisers can be expensive, if you are in the position to use one they can help really help your financial future. If you don’t yet have the funds to seek professional advice do your own research as there are a lot of free material out there. Using people who are more knowledgeable than you are in a certain field is smart, especially when it comes to money and investing. You should never take this challenge alone.
Recommendation: shop around for adviser that fit your need and that make you comfortable as one adviser may not fit all.
Well, there you guys have it my 50 awesome ways to save money some obvious, practical, and unconventional methods. But really, when it comes to saving money any method that shows results is fine…
Please let me know some of the methods that you apply when it comes to putting cash back into your wallet. Or which one of the 50 items on this list you liked the most?
Thanks for stopping by.
