Do you struggle to with finances? Are you looking for easy ways to save money? Here are our top money saving tips to help you out.
Managing your finances is one of the hardest aspects of adult life. This is especially true when it comes to saving money. Saving money gives you freedom, flexibility, and security when the rainy days roll around. It also ensures your loved ones are taken care of.
Saving money is even more important when you’re dealing with unprecedented events. The recent pandemic is the perfect example of why saving money is crucial. In this article, we’ll share 10 practical tips that'll help you save money and cut down on your monthly bills in 2024.
Before Saving, Start Budgeting
Before we get into the saving tips, let’s go over some quick budgeting tips. Budgeting your money is one of the best ways to ensure your bills and necessary payments get covered while still allowing you to put aside money and focus on your financial goals.
A simple way to create your budget is to follow the 50/30/20 rule as described in Credit Karma and other financial sites. It’s a simple method that doesn’t go into too many overwhelming details. Instead, it focuses on three main categories:
- needs
- wants
- savings/debt
Needs can be categorized as anything that you absolutely must cover:
- rent
- bills
- food
- car payment
- health insurance payments
- and similar
Wants are things that you don’t necessarily need, but choose to spend money on:
- takeout
- Netflix subscription
- entertainment
- and similar
Lastly, the savings category is any money you put aside that you want to save for paying off debt faster:
- future house down payment
- building up your emergency fund
- and whatever else you want to save money for
By following this method, you’ll be putting 50% of your income towards your needs, 30% towards your wants, and the remaining 20% towards your savings or paying off your debt.
This approach works well for people who are new to budgeting. But if your paycheck isn't big enough to cover all your expenses from the allocated 50%, there are other budgeting methods you can try.
10 Money Saving Tips to Help You Reduce Bills In 2024
Below, you’ll find 10 money saving tips that'll help you build up your emergency fund and start you on a path towards financial security:
1. Track Your Spending
While budgeting is important, you won’t get very far without knowing how much you spend and where you spend your money. It’s important to track your spending. This is one of our top 5 tips for saving money.
You don’t have to invest in a complex piece of software or sign up for an app. All you really need is a simple spreadsheet with two columns. In one column, add all the money that’s coming in. In the other column, start adding all your expenses.
Make sure that you’re including all the bills, recurring expenses, one-off payments, and even smaller purchases. Don’t forget to go through your credit card and bank statements so that nothing slips through the cracks.
Once you’ve listed all the things you spend money on, you’ll be able to uncover hidden money-saving opportunities. For example:
- If you buy lunch every day, maybe you could start making your lunch at home?
- Or maybe you signed up for a gym membership and completely forgot about it, yet the money is still coming out of your account?
Use the list as an opportunity to evaluate each expense and find cheaper alternatives, at least until you’ve built up your savings.
2. Set Up Automatic Savings
Talk to your bank about the possibility of setting up automatic savings transfers. Each time your paycheck gets deposited to your bank, transfer a certain amount into savings. You don’t have to start big — even a $10 regular transfer will help you to start building up your savings.
Another way to go about this is to use a card like Revolut or an app like MoneyBox that'll round up your spare change and add it to your savings.
Revolut acts like a prepaid card. You can only spend what you put on it, but you can set up a “vault” that gets funded by regular automatic transfers and rounding up the spare change.
MoneyBox is an investment app that lets you invest money as well as earn interest on your savings.
By automating your savings, you won’t have to think about it and even small amounts will add up over time.
3. Ask for a Discount
As the old adage goes, “if you never ask, you’ll never know”. Consider the services you use on a daily basis.
Some of them, like your internet service provider, change up their package structure quite frequently. Call them up, thank them for their service, and ask if they've got a better plan they can offer you. It won’t take but five minutes and you could end up walking away with a smaller bill.
Similarly, if you’re at the store, ask them if they've got any discounts available. You could also ask if they've got a rewards or loyalty program you can join, especially if you shop there regularly.
4. Opt for Eating in
As I’ve already mentioned, if you’re used to buying lunch every day, consider making your lunch at home, at least for a while. Similarly, if you get take out or eat out, consider temporarily changing your habits. Opt for home-cooked meals.
Not only will you save money in the long run, but you’ll also know exactly what goes into each meal you prepare.
5. Shop Store Brands
Another of our top five tips for saving money is to shop store brands. When it comes to groceries, we all have brands we know, love, and buy. But when you’re buying a brand name, more often than not, you’re paying for that brand name.
Consider buying store brands instead of brand names. You’d be surprised by how little difference there is in taste or texture. And in some cases, the store brand might even be made by the big brand name you regularly buy.
For example, the applesauce sold under the Great Value store brand is actually made by Musselman according to the Hip2Save blog. And it’s actually ~$3 cheaper when you buy the store brand.
Shelfcooking.com says that you should always opt for a store brand when you’re buying cooking staples such as:
- flour
- boxed cake mix
- rice
- pasta
- beans
- and similar
The same applies to paper products such as paper towels or basic cleaning supplies such as baking soda.
Doing so could save you $20 or more each week on your grocery bill.
6. Take Advantage of Technology
There are plenty of financial ways to use technology to save money. For starters, check your browser’s extension store and look for money saving extensions.
Extensions are a great way to find deals and discounts on your next online purchase. Look into apps like:
Another way to take advantage of technology when you shop is to use the incognito mode in your browser. When you’re done shopping, simply close your browser window and your entire shopping and browsing history will be deleted.
Since most websites track your activity online, going incognito ensures that they won’t be able to see what you’ve looked at. This means that there's less chance of companies showing you a higher price based on your spending habits and purchase history.
7. Switch to Yearly Billing
For some services, it could be worthwhile to look into the possibility of yearly billing. Often when you multiply the monthly payment, you’ll find that you’re spending more by paying month-to-month than by paying for the entire year upfront.
This is often the case for many online subscriptions that are used for business purposes. For example, accounting apps such as QuickBooks Online or cloud storage subscriptions and web hosting are often cheaper when you pay for the entire year.
Again, you don’t have to make the switch immediately for all the apps you use. But you could start slowly and transition the payments one-by-one to a yearly subscription.
8. Go Through and Collect Loose Change
At the end of each day, go through your wallet, bag, and pockets. Collect any loose change you find and put it in a jar or an envelope. Then, make a habit of doing this every day. At the end of the week or a month, stop by your bank and deposit the loose change into your savings account.
It’s a small thing you can do to build up your savings fund when you’re just getting started or if your income is limited at the moment.
9. Have a No Spend Day
Consider dedicating one day a week where you spend no money at all. It'll force you to plan your purchases more carefully and make you reconsider the way you spend money. Plus, it builds up your self-discipline too.
For example, you don’t have to make a meal from scratch every day. You could have a day of the week where you eat leftovers or bring coffee in a thermos mug from home instead of buying it in your usual coffee shop.
10. Cut Unnecessary Subscriptions
If you’re looking for easy ways to save money, look at your existing subscription list. We often subscribe to services we don’t use to its full potential. So, that should be your starting point. Don’t forget to go through any subscription boxes or memberships as well.
Most of these services have auto-renew turned on by default, which is great when you don’t want to be bothered with making payments manually. But if you’re trying to save money, those subscriptions won’t help you much.
Log into each service or website that offers a subscription box and turn off the auto-renew option. Or, if you aren’t using the service at all, cancel it right then and there. You can always sign up for it later on.
Save on Digital Assets With Envato Elements
Another way to save money is to find ways to spend smarter. Envato Elements is the perfect example of how you can spend smarter when it comes to your business and digital asset needs.
Envato Elements is a subscription-based marketplace that makes sense. For a low monthly price, you get unlimited downloads of:
- simple PowerPoint themes
- photos
- fonts
- and other resources to use in your next project
It’s the best value for your money! With unlimited downloads, you can try out a bunch of creative ideas at no extra cost to you. With the premium design assets, you’ll not only save time, but ensure that all your documents and marketing materials look polished and professional.
If you just need a single digital asset, you can make a one-time purchase at GraphicRiver.
Start Using Money Saving Tips Today
Saving money might seem hard, but it’s crucial if you want to ensure you've got a sound financial foundation.
You've just learned how to save money using are best tips. From cutting down on eating out to eliminating unnecessary costs, there are plenty of money saving ideas to make your money go further.
The tips shared in this article should help you start saving money so you can cut down on your bills in 2024. Good luck!
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