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It’s a new year, which means new goals emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and FINANCIALLY! Most people are looking for new ways to cut back on their spending habits this year. We are for sure! There are always ways to improve that checking and savings account of yours. So let’s see how we can do that and share some things we did as well!
- Bring Lunch From Home. The average amount spent on lunch out during the work week is about $10 per day, which is about $50 a week, (if you work Saturdays, $60) which totals to about $240 per month. That can be your car payment, insurance, phone bill, cable bill, etc. That’s alot! Add it up for the 52 weeks in a year, that’s $3,120 that could be in your savings account which for 10 years can end up as $31,200. Now most people don’t think 10 years ahead, but in 5 years, you can have $15,000 in your savings all from just making a little extra food at dinner time to bring with you the next day! Same goes for doing take out. Invest in a slow cooker or instapot, crockpot, and cook a really good meal for the week that way you’re not tempted to order in all the time!
- Skip the Starbucks. Now I don’t know about you but I love my Starbucks in the mornings. However, they are a bit pricey! A typical Latte cost about $5 and change. Getting that everyday will be $100 per month. Again, that can be money in your pocket! Get yourself a Keurig, or a simple coffee maker and just make your own coffee at home and save the latte’s for a treat here and there. There are so many cute tumblrs for you to carry coffee in. Try to wake up a few minutes earlier and have your coffee, or make it to go.
- Cut out Cable. What do you pay in cable? $150-$200 a month? A little more because of extra channels? Now if you’re like us, we cannot be without cable. My Husband and I love our tv time and our shows. However, we switched companies and lowered our package by a handful, which then lowered our bill by a lot per month. We don’t need the extra sports channels when we can watch them on the regular FOX5, CBS, NBC, & ABC Channels just like everyone else does lol. So if you can, see where you can cut costs in your cable bill.
- Use Coupons. Obviously don’t clip every coupon you see. There are plenty of places you can get your couponing on! Besides the paper coupons, take advantage of the digital apps on your smartphone to help you save as well – Groupon, grocery store apps, 7/11 app, BP gas app to save money on gas even! You’d be surprised at which areas you can use coupons to become a more saavy shopper this year. Once you start couponing, it becomes a lifestyle where you form habits centered around saving on almost everything that is purchased.
- Buy in Bulks. If you don’t have a Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club membership by now, you’re really missing out! Buying in Bulks can really save you a lot of money and that’s the point of stores like BJ’s, Costco, & Sam’s Club. So buy items that will last you for a while and save you money in the long run. Being a family of 4, buying in Bulk really helps us a TON! We’re saving money per UNIT which adds up to real savings over time. So if you have a big enough family and space to buy in bulk, I’d say give it a try!
- Get rid of all credit cards and have only ONE! If you’re able to, really make an effort to pay off all your credit cards and narrow it down to just ONE MAJOR CARD! Easier said than done but when you think about it, the more credit cards you have, the more you’re gonna be tempted to use them with the same ole excuse, “I’ll pay that transaction right back.” That may be true and you may be really good with that, but in the long run think about how much money you can be saving not having to pay a credit card bill every month and interest, even if it’s the minimum amount. If you have like 5 credit cards and are paying a minimum balance on all of them, that’s still money that can be in the bank. We knocked out ALL credit cards at the end of 2019 and left only ONE for EMERGENCIES! We love nice things, but it feels great when you can get your nice things out of your OWN hard earned money and not credit! So cut those bad boys up and keep an emergency credit card.
- Dine Out Intelligently. You don’t always have to go to the fanciest restaurants and spend $400 each time. Granted, we all have our favorite restaurants we like to eat from the “hole in the wall” spot to the high class Bobby Flay owned restaurants. I remember when we would go out with our other married friends and it would be the most expensive places suggested to go to. We had a blast, and of course everything was delicious from top to bottom. But at the end of the night the bill is flippin $600 between all of us! After a while it was like okay, enough of this lol. It becomes a lot after a while and then you realize how much you can actually be saving limiting the high end restaurants. So now, each month, and each week(date night)we do go out to eat, but we go to the less expensive restaurants where our bill is no more than $50 total for two of us, and we keep the high end restaurants limited to ONCE a month or a very special occasion(anniversary, so forth) Restaurants are a fun treat that no one really wants to cut out of their budget, so dine out SMART!
- Cancel Subscriptions/Memberships. Have a gym membership and barely go? Magazine subscriptions, streaming videos, food services, the whole nine. I was only paying $10 a month at Planet Fitness and never went. Even though it was JUST $10, it was still adding up and being completely wasted when it could have been in my pocket. Go through every subscription you have even from the app store on your phone. Every dime counts! It’s pointless to pay for services you aren’t using. So eliminate them because that money would be of better use in your savings account!
- Build Your Savings Account Each Week. Let’s start with the bare minimum amount that you can take from each paycheck and put it in your savings. So if you transfer $25 a week, (which most of us can probably do) to your savings account from each paycheck, by the time you’re at the end of the year you’ll have $1300.00. In 5 years you’ll have $6500. If you can increase it, great! $50-$100 each week of course it’ll be more. Discipline yourself and set up your bank account to automatically transfer funds to your savings account each week or even a good chunk each month.
- Save Change and Dollar Bills. Get yourself a big water cooler jug, or just a big jar and put all your change or dollar bills from the end of each day and put them in the jar and wrap some black duct tape around the entire thing so you can’t get in it or even see it. Put a big enough slot at the top to put the change and bills in and that’s it. My Husband and I did this when we had a big event planned, and when we opened it, we had $4,000! I was surprised at how easy it was, and that was over the course of two years. So it CAN be done! Also, for those that don’t carry cash or change on them, there’s digital apps(acorn, digit, and so forth) for these things.
So hopefully you all can try these 10 ways to save money this year and be a wise economist. A penny saved is a dollar earned!
“Look everywhere you can to cut a little bit from your expenses. It will all add up to a meaningful sum.” – Suze Orman
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Amber Myers saysI always love to save! Coupons are some of my favorites, and the money saving apps. I hate buying items full price. I also try to watch how often we eat out even though I hate to cook.
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- Lauren says
I am all for cutting cable to save money. I did this a few years back and just kept Netflix and it was all I needed. Now there are so many streaming services and options that you don’t really need cable. It saved me so much money. I also love the one credit card tip, although this is so hard for me to do!
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes exactly! Hulu Live, a lot of others!
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- amberl.hurley says
Thank you for reading!
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- Amber says
We are pretty good at all of these except subscriptions and memberships. Those start getting out of hand! Need to go through them all and see what we can cancel. All those little $10 subscriptions add up real quick.
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes same here! Lol I subscribed for the free trial and before I knew it skyrocketed lol
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- Cristina Petrini says
Any idea of how to save, how to do it and how to do it is absolutely a wise idea to copy, and put into practice. Thanks for your advice.
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- amberl.hurley says
Thank you for reading!
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- Tara Pittman says
The little things add up quickly. It makes sense to cut back on small items like coffee
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes so true!
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- Jen says
Packing lunch from home is the biggest money saver for us. I also totally agree with cable! We don’t even look at TV that often so why do we have it lol! Have to work weekly savings in 2020 😁
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- amberl.hurley says
Lol yes! Thank you for reading!
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- Nyxie says
Great advice. I always try to bring my coffee from home and my own lunch. But I have to admit that I do like to treat myself sometimes.
- amberl.hurley says
Yes same here lol
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Great list of easy tips anyone can do!
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- Jennie says
We need to look through all of our subscriptions to see if there are any we can/need to get rid of. And we love using Qapital for saving money every week. They have lots of different options to set up a savings plan that works for you.
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- amberl.hurley says
Oh wonderful, thank you for reading!
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- Marie Phillips says
I have already done most of these and don’t even miss them! I will be canceling all extra subscriptions this month. Even thinking about giving up Netflix since we really just aren’t watching much anymore. Great list!
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- amberl.hurley says
That’s awesome! Thank you for reading!
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- Cindy Ingalls says
These are GREAT tips and I’ve used many of them. I financed a trip to Hawaii with the change I put into a huge change jar!
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- amberl.hurley says
Oh that’s great, see! I love that!
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- Krysten Quiles says
My husband and I are trying to be healthy and so we aren’t eating out anywhere near as much and it’s saving a TON of money for us! Who knew? Thanks so much for sharing this with all of us!
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- amberl.hurley says
That’s great Krysten, thank you for reading!
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- Jessica Joachim says
I am all about saving money! We ditched cable about 7 years ago and have never looked back! Coupons and bargain shopping are so important too and have really saved us so much.
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- amberl.hurley says
That’s great to hear, thank you for reading! Keep up the great work!
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- Tamara says
We’ve been working on this here – with cable bills and also the way we heat our house. In New England, it can be a problem!
One funny thing is that I totally skip Starbucks to save money, but never in January, because I still have so many gift cards there from Christmas. That’s the only way I can afford it!Reply
- amberl.hurley says
Oh I hear that! Gift cards are the best!
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- Kay says
We have saved loads of money since working from home, no travel costs and no coffee/ lunch out!
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- amberl.hurley says
Oh that’s perfect!
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- Marissa says
These are great, practical tips! Along with coupons, I use several rebate apps, like Ibotta, Fetch, ReceiptPal and more to get cash back almost every time I shop. Sometimes it’s a little rebate, but it all adds up!
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes for sure. Those are really good!
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- Adriane says
GREAT tips! I started skipping the starbucks probably two years ago and wow does my tummy feel better as well as my wallet. I didn’t realize how much I was spending per month! And I started buying in bulk although the price tag up front scares me sometimes. It sure pays off though!
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- amberl.hurley says
Hahah glad to hear it and thank you for reading!
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- Cindy Nico says
I am always looking for ways to save money. Thanks for these incredible tips.
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- Candace Hampton says
This made my heart happy! I love business and finance, so this speaks to me. I love how attainable these are, and they will really work. You just have to have a little discipline 🙂
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes absolutely, thank you for reading!
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These are awesome tips to save money. I really don’t like eating out anyway as I feel that I don’t always get good value for money from most restaurants. Only as a birthday treat and even then I get the most food for my money.
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- amberl.hurley says
Thats okay! You’re saving money lol. Thank you for reading!
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- Grace Jakobsen says
A penny spent is definitely a dollars earned. Thank you so much for these awesome tips.
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- amberl.hurley says
Thank you for reading, Grace!
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- Maria Yakimchuk says
Great tips. I have to say when we cut cable 5 years ago, I was so against it. But now, I don’t miss it at all. We have streaming services and I don’t waste my time randomly watching something. And definitely going through and eliminating subscriptions that are not in use is a great way to save money.
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- amberl.hurley says
That’s great! Thank you for reading, Maria!
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I urge my husband to save his change whenever he goes out. It’s important and little goes a long way.
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- Milica says
Skip the Starbucks hahah Lucky for me we don`t have it where I live. Truth to be told their coffees are a bit overpriced.
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- Lily says
Great savings tips. its all about money management and making sure you are putting finances away in a savings account.
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- Angela Campos says
These are all great tips! I need to cancel some of my subscriptions that I waste money on.
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- amberl.hurley says
Thank you for reading!
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- Theresa Dickerson says
I honestly have been struggling with this as a graduate student but your tips actually seem doable and not overwhelming. I can’t wait to share with my friends!
Xoxo, Theresa
http://www.blessedbrilliantbeautiful.comReply
- amberl.hurley says
Yea they’re pretty easy to do. Thank you for reading!
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- Madi Rowan says
These are great tips! And I’m happy to see that I’ve already been implementing quite a few of them! I find the biggest way to save is to cut down on dining out! It’s definitely nice to eat out every once in a while, but SO much cheaper to cook at home! Thanks for sharing!
-madi xo | http://www.everydaywithmadirae.com
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- Cyndi Buchanan says
I really need to get better about doing these things. The little things really add up. Time to go cancel my gym membership I never use.
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- amberl.hurley says
Oh yes! Lol thank you for reading!
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- Christine says
Great tips! Cutting out cable and buying in bulk have been huge money savers for us
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- amberl.hurley says
Yes I believe it!
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- Krizzia Scollon says
Thank you so much for your tips! I’m really trying hard to save money this year!!!
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- Rikki Ridgeway says
I already do most of these tips, and they really did help save so much money. My goal this year is to pay off as much debt as I possibly can. I’ve already paid off one HUGE account, now I’ve just got a couple smaller ones to pay off.
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- may palacpac says
Love this practical list! Lots of relevant ideas, like cutting off subscriptions and the cable. (We just did that!) So hard to get rid of Starbucks, though, but I seldom visit nowadays. But you are sooo right about that one.
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- ivana says
I should stop with oshopping every week, that is the only way i will save money. Btw, love your tips xoxo
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- amberl.hurley says
Lol the shopping is a killer. Thank you for reading!
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