Saving money does not have to be hard. I was able to save my money and pay off around $40,000 in student loan debt. You can save money to lower your budget, pay off debt, and increase your savings too. Here are a few practical ways to save money efficiently.
Ways to Save Money on Food
- Buy groceries in bulk. You may be able to save per item this way.
- Bulk cook your meals. This can save you money because you are less likely to waste ingredients.
- Make your food at home.
- Know which grocery stores have the cheaper items.
- If you eat out, bring a coupon.
- Create a menu plan before you go grocery shopping.
Ways to Save Money on Insurance
- Ask if you can qualify for any further discounts.
- Shop around for the best insurance rates.
- If you are confident that you can save money, raise your deductibles. You can raise it from $500 to $1,000 and save some money. I’ve seen some people have $0 deductibles who are wasting a lot of money.
Ways to Save Money on Transportation
- Know when to buy airfare. Certain days are cheaper, and flying on certain days are cheaper.
- Do you really need all of that car insurance coverage? When you have car insurance, there are usually a lot of extras in there, such as towing, rentals and so on.
- Determine how many cars you really need. Cutting out one car can lower your transportation expenses significantly.
- Know where to buy gas. Near my house there is a gas station that is almost always 20 cents cheaper than everywhere else. It’s not a large savings, but I don’t even have to go out of my way to go to this gas station, so I might as well go there.
- Get your tires rotated. Tire rotations are cheap and can really extend the life of your tires.
- Get an oil change. You might not need one every 3,000 miles though.
- Clean out your car. Extra weight can mean worse gas mileage.
- Buy a better air filter. Some air filters have a lifetime warranty and can also improve your gas mileage.
- Know when to buy a car. There are good and bad times to buy.
- Use public transportation to save even more money.
- Ride your bike. If you already have the bike, then everything else after this is nearly free (except for bike maintenance of course).
Ways to Save Money on Personal Items
- Ask for generic drugs.
- Buy store brand. When it comes to medications, store brand is almost always identical to name brand.
- Buy clothing when it is on sale. Clothes almost always go on sale.
- Buy second hand. There are many second hand stores that carry the latest styles.
- Take care of the clothing that you buy. Washing something incorrectly can cost you money because you may have to buy the same item again.
Ways to Save Money on Your Home
- Keep your furnace in good condition. Have someone check it if you do not know how.
- Buy efficient windows if yours are no longer efficient. If you have old windows, then you may just be throwing money away because cold air is just flowing right inside.
- Buy the house that you need. Do you really need 8 bedrooms when there are only the two of you?
- Shop around for the best interest rate. 1% difference in an interest rate can be a big difference for your monthly mortgage payment.
- Before you buy, know what the property taxes will be like. There were many homes that we were thinking about buying until we saw how much there property taxes were. A similar house at the same price would only have taxes of around $3,000 per year, but some houses that we found at the same exact price had taxes of nearly $7,000 or $8,000 each year.
Miscellaneous Ways to Save Money
- Keep track of what you spend. If you are not good with your budget and always spend more than you make, then you need to closely keep track of what you are spending.
- Start a budget. Make it realistic and know exactly what you are spending in each category. You will probably be surprised.
- Little amounts add up. If saving an amount such as $200 per month seems too high for you, aim for something such as $50 per week. A different mindset can help a lot.
- Don’t spend money on interest. Remember to pay your bills.
- Avoid ATM fees. Look online to see where you can use an ATM for free.
- Check to see if you are allowed any discounts. If you belong to any organizations, then you may be able to get a discount on certain items. We receive a 20% discount on our AT&T bill, which is nice and it only took 5 minutes to do, and that was over 5 years ago.
- Save your coins. Throw all of your coins into a jar and empty it out after it is full.
- Before you buy something, think about how long you have to work in order to actually buy it. Is that $100 dress worth hours of your time?
- If you are a bad credit card spender, then leave your credit card at home and only carry cash.
- Round up. Each time you spend an amount such as $1.33, round up to $2.00 and save the rest.
- Before you buy something, put it down and think about it while you are shopping for other things on your list. If you still want to go back to it, then maybe you should buy it.
Ways to Save Money when Having Fun
- Find a coupon before you go out. There are entertainment books available in most cities with many coupons.
- Look for free festivals in your area. In many cities and towns, there are plenty of them.
- Go for a bike ride.
- Camp out instead of staying at a hotel.
- Use Netflix instead of cable.
- Visit the library. You can borrow books and even the latest movies at some libraries.
- Look for free tickets. For many events, you can find free tickets being handed out.
- Do a secret Santa this year instead of exchanging gifts with everyone. Buying just one present instead of 10 can easily save you money.
- Have dinner at a friends instead of going out to eat.
- If you go out, drink during happy hour.
- Watch amateur sporting events instead of professional ones.
- Watch a movie early in the day instead of at night.
- Have a babysitting group if you had children.
- Buy season passes. Yes, the upfront cost may be high, but you may be able to save a lot of money as well.
