With the current state of the economy, we’re all looking for ways to save a few extra bucks here and there, even if we’re not ready to drastically change our lifestyle to save money. There are many aspects of our financial lives that we don’t have much control over or can’t easily change. We can’t make the food we buy at the supermarket cheaper, nor can we stop driving our cars even though the price to fill up leaves us with a bit of a surprise (although I can happily say that the prices are a bit higher ). appetizing than they were a few months ago!). We also can’t drastically change the amount of our paychecks that go toward basic living expenses like housing and taxes. However, we still have an opportunity to make minor changes to our weekly spending habits that can add up to considerable savings over time.
So if you’re looking to keep a little more money in your possession, here are 8 money-saving tips you can implement that won’t have a huge impact on your daily life. They don’t add up to huge savings on their own, but combined, they will start to add up to more than you might think.
8 easy ways to save money without drastically changing your lifestyle:
1. Use cash. When you only use the cash in your wallet to pay for purchases, you become much more aware of what you’re spending and it’s easier to stick to a budget. Determine how much money you need for a week for regular purchases and stick to that amount. It’s easy to lose track of how much we spend when charging items to a credit card or taking money directly from our accounts with a debit card, because we don’t have the experience of getting rid of cash, which keeps us more conscious and It helps to think twice before spending.
2. Only go to the ATM once a week and frequent your own bank. It’s best to get into the habit of only withdrawing money once a week and learn to budget for that money on a weekly basis to avoid extra trips to the ATM and ultimately additional bank fees associated with ATM withdrawals. It is best to use your own bank’s ATM to avoid any fees when withdrawing money.
3. Make your own coffee. You can save anywhere from $2 to $5 a day, depending on your preferred coffee drink, by making coffee before you head to work in the morning and taking it with you in a travel mug. Giving up the daily stop at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts won’t be lost soon after you kick the habit, provided you have a suitable alternative. Some coffee makers let you set your coffee the night before and will work on a timer so the coffee is hot and steaming when you’re ready to go, and the aroma will be a pleasant smell when you wake up. An additional advantage of adopting this habit is that you will be more ecological by not using disposable cups on a daily basis.
4. Avoid the vending machine. Snacks and drinks in vending machines have a high markup and are usually not healthy for you either, so you can save money every day by skipping them. Bring a healthy snack or two and drinks with you from home and you’ll have something to fall back on when you’re hungry and won’t feel deprived.
5. Brown bag from time to time. You don’t have to make a drastic change to your lunch plans to earn rewards. To start, pick just one day a week when you have some decent leftovers in the fridge and take them to work instead of going out for lunch. Forgoing just one lunch a week will save you $5-$10 per week. Doesn’t that seem like a lot? Over the course of a year, that’s $260 – $520. Nothing bad!
6. Visit the library. The library is not only an excellent source of free books, but you can also borrow music CDs and DVDs. If you usually only watch one movie a week and can find something worth watching at the library, that’s a savings of about $4-$5 a week. Make your own microwave popcorn and have a fun night in!
7. Invite your friends. Instead of meeting up for dinner and/or drinks, invite your friends over for a fun night and ask everyone to bring something. The main goal of hanging out with friends is to enjoy the time you spend together and you will continue to do so. If there is a group of people you see regularly, arrange to cancel gatherings at different people’s homes for a bit of a change.
8. Share magazines with friends. Instead of buying or subscribing to multiple magazines, which can be quite expensive, get together with like-minded friends and share your magazines. If you each get only one subscription, you can trade issues when you’re done. The added incentive of this money-saving tip is that it allows you to read magazines while they’re still fairly new, instead of having them piled up gathering dust. Don’t have friends to swap magazines with? Go to the library instead or spend some free time in a bookstore reading magazines of interest (most of the time you don’t read all the articles anyway, do you?)
As you can see, none of these money saving tips will have a major impact on the way you live your life. They don’t require a lot of planning or changing clothes, but once implemented, they will start to help you save a little more and spend a little less. And in these days of economic uncertainty, everything helps!