55 tips to saving money.
Let’s face it – we could all use a little extra money. It doesn’t seem to matter how much we earn, there’s always one more thing we’d like to buy.
If you want to save money, there’s no getting around it – you have to put in the effort. The good news is, it’s not a lot of effort. It’s just knowing what to do and when to do it.
Some of the below tips are obvious. Some you may have heard of before. Some might be just what you need to hear and some you may never have known about. But one thing’s for sure, you will learn something, by reading through these 55 tips to saving money.
I realize we’re all busy people and this is quite a long article, so I’m going to cut out all the waffle and get to the point, because this is, after all, why you’ve clicked onto this particular piece of writing. So, let’s get into it.
55 tips to saving money:
1. There’s something to be said for “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” If we eat healthily and exercise, most of us will spend less time and money, visiting the doctor and on the doctor’s prescriptions which follow. The benefits of healthy eating and exercise, are well known to all these days.
2. When buying clothing, wait until end of season sales, as well as end of financial year, and new year sales.
3. Another great area, is buying during ‘Black Friday’ sales times. You can get all sorts, from household items and clothing, to white goods and technology. Even courses you might wish to study are often priced down during black Friday sales.
4. One simple and basic idea is to have your hair cut less frequently. If you get a har cut every 6 weeks, book it in for 8 weeks.
5. If you can’t do your nails yourself, also leave those nails for one more week and go less frequently to get that manicure.
6. Bulk buy your groceries. These days groceries have prices marked, per unit (per gram, millilitre, etc) and it’s easy to work out which size is cheaper. Supermarkets have tried to complicate things, by making items of odd weights; like tins which are 440 grams. But take it to the one gram and you’ll see on the price ticket, which is the better buy.
7. Don’t waste groceries. If you’ve purchase it, use it. Throwing food out, is as good as throwing your money away. Buy what you need and use what you buy. This is easier to do, if you have a menu plan and stick to it.
8. Don’t buy pre-packaged food. It’s often expensive and quite often it’s not hard to make the food yourself (the flavour is better too, when you make it yourself). If it’s pre-made and in a box, or a jar, you’re going to pay extra for it.
9. When it comes to school lunches, if you find you have to buy certain items of pre-packaged food, buy large bags and separate into smaller bags. Chips are great for this. Instead of buying the 6 packs. Buy the cheaper, larger pack and separate into six freezer, or zip lock bags. Zip lock bags are a more expensive way of doing this. I like to use the cheaper freezer bags and tie the ends. If you have a number of children, this works well for a cheaper alternative snack. Cheese and crackers can also be done this way. The same can be done for sultanas, rather than the small boxes, buy one big bag. You can reuse the smaller boxes, if you want, by refilling them with sultanas from your bulk purchase.
10. If you have the space, grow your own herbs. Herbs are easy to grow and are a little pricey to purchase. You don’t need a big garden, just grow a few of your favourites.
11. Shop in a lower economic area. Usually there’s an area in your local district, which has a lower socio-economic town. These areas almost always have cheaper stores, which cater to that.
12. Buy what’s in season, or what’s on sale, at the grocery store. Don’t over buy and keep in mind, use by dates.
13. Cook in bulk and freeze the meals and you’ll save not only money (using less electricity and water to cook and clean), but you’ll also save time, pulling those meals out, when you need them.
14. Don’t use the clothes dryer, unless absolutely necessary. Whereas the dishwasher uses less water and is more efficient than hand washing, a clothes dryer, uses a lot of electricity. Hang your washing on the line.
15. Find a wholesale butcher and bulk buy your meat. This is a definite money saver.
16. Reduce all subscriptions to only one. Do you really need 3 magazines every month, or 3 social streaming networks? Perhaps you can piggy-back off someone else’s network. Often the streaming networks allow other uses. Take advantage of that.
17. Reduce and eliminate all credit card debt. Pay a little more each month, than the minimum payment. As you begin to save more, this will become easier to do.
18. Throw your gold coins into a jar and bank the money. You won’t miss it. We tend to work with what we carry and if you don’t carry it, you can’t spend it. Those gold coins can add up fast, when you use cash and not debit cards.
19. Speaking of working with what we carry – stop using debit cards. It’s too easy to lose track of what you spend. Instead, take cash out and work with that and then you’ll know exactly what you have to work with. It’s easy to forget the coffee we purchased 3 days ago and the dinner out with friends the other day and then, at the end of the week, you wonder where your money went. If you work with what you have, you’re more accountable to what you’re spending.
20. And again, speaking of working with what we carry – as soon as you get paid, transfer a few dollars into your savings account and DON’T spend it. Even if all you can manage is $5. Put it where you can’t touch it and let it mount up. You won’t miss a small amount, like $5 and you’ll work with what you carry, so you won’t need it. $5 doesn’t sound like much, but it is a place to start and you can save more later, as you reduce your debts.
21. Pay cash for your car. Once you’ve freed up your debt, keep saving what you would have been paying on debt and even if you need to start with a car not of your dreams, pay cash and buy the dream car later, when you’ve got a healthy bank balance.
22. Maintain your car. Keep services up to date. The car will last longer, if you keep it well maintained.
23. Take advantage of ‘cheaper Tuesday’ sales. Cheaper Tuesday is a way for stores to bring in extra sales, on what would otherwise be a quiet day for them. Most people shop towards the end of the week, after they get paid. Cheaper Tuesday encourages shopping in that early part of the week. Hair cuts and nails are good for cheaper Tuesday’s. If not, you can ask. Never pay full price for anything, if you can help it.
24. Try “Meatless Monday.” Once or twice a week, make a meat free meal. This will save you loads, over the course of a year. You can make soups, vegetarian dishes, and dishes with legumes, pasta and vegetables. Remember you’re buying seasonal vegetables, so this exercise won’t be futile, because you’ll have saved money, buying in season. Meatless meals can be extremely inexpensive and tasty.
25. Download a petrol app. This will show you the prices of petrol in your area and you can choose to buy at the cheaper pricing end.
26. Walk, or cycle to work and to the store, if you live close enough. Exercise, it’s great for the mind, body and soul.
27. If you do need to drive, make sure you do all your errands while you’re out. Don’t make extra trips to town, costing more petrol and wear and tear to your vehicle.
28. Purchase your larger products (TV’s, white goods, furniture), at mid and end of year sales, where you’ll have more bargaining power.
29. You can also purchase white goods seconds (meaning slightly damaged, or scratched). These seconds bring in greater discounts. If the scratch is where it won’t be seen (like a fridge that’s recessed into your wall) all the better. You’ll get the item cheap and you won’t even see the scratch.
30. Haggle the price, on everything. Most stores will give you a cash discount. 5-10% on smaller items. 15-25% on larger. And if you’re really good at haggling, you can get up to 30, 50 and even 80% off (although 80% is quite rare). If there’s an out of store sale (meaning the sale is held somewhere other than the stores location, like a pavilion or warehouse), often the owners don’t want to take the items back to the store unsold. It’s here that you’ll get your greatest discount.
31. You’ll save a lot of money if you can do home repairs yourself.
32. It can be time consuming, but use that water tank in the back yard, for your plants. Why pay for tap water, when water has been freely obtained and is sitting in the tank.
33. Be mindful of all water use. Shorter showers can save another few dollars every month. Load the dishwasher and washing machine to capacity, every load. It’s cheaper to use these items once, than more frequently.
34. If it’s not in use, turn it off. All the items in our home which run a light, or power of any kind, if you don’t need it on, turn it off and save on your electricity.
35. Put the heater/air con on a lower setting, as this won’t use as much power to run the appliance. You just need to be comfortable, not overly hot, nor cold.
36. Look for areas you can cut your spending. Can you get a cheaper phone plan, or utility and insurance? Can you wash your own car, instead of paying for it? Be wise with your money and look for ways to save.
37. Take on an extra hour/shift at work and save the extra pay. Perhaps you can mow your neighbour’s lawn, for a few extra dollars. Don’t spend the money you make. Save it.
38. Cigarettes, fine dining, gambolling, alcohol and even take-away/fast foods. Touchy topic for those who spend a lot on them. This list isn’t about cutting out all your fun. Money is actually quite flexible, once you begin to have some, and you’ll already know in your heart if you’re overspending in any of these areas. Instead of spending all your resources, give yourself a limit and stick to it.
39. We’ve all heard it before, but I’m going to say it anyway; bought lunches and coffee at work can cost a fortune, if you’re doing it every day. It doesn’t take a lot of preparation to bring your own from home. Or you could pull out one of those freezer meals you made earlier (see note no.6).
40. Op shopping doesn’t just have to be for the down and out. You can save quite a bit of money shopping for second hand clothing and used household items.
41. Reuse, recycle, revamp. It’s often a cheaper alternative and the ‘shabby-chic’ look is quite popular these days.
42. Before purchasing an item, ask yourself if you really need it. Sometimes we shop to fill a void; loneliness, or depression. Window shopping is just as much fun and if you don’t need yet another pair of shoes, or another handbag, don’t buy it.
43. If you’re finding you really do want to shop and window shopping just doesn’t cover it, try your local antique store. At least you’ll be buying something which should appreciate with time, rather than depreciate. A word of advice here though; do a little homework before you purchase and make sure you’re getting good value. Antique dealers usually have their stock at retail prices, which means you might just be paying top dollar. Research the item, before you buy it.
44. Keep holidays to an affordable budget. Later, when you have good savings, go for a more expensive holiday if you feel you have to. In the meantime, it can be quite fun to ‘rough it’ a little. Definitely don’t holiday, if you have to use the credit card to get you there.
45. Plan your outings, with budget in mind. If you are on holiday, have day trips that don’t cost a lot. Look up on line, free things to do, in the area you’re staying and this will minimise the cost of your holiday, but still give you freedom and fun things to do.
46. Some inexpensive motels have kitchenettes. Instead of having all your meals out, while on holiday, challenge yourself to cook something simple and nutritious from the kitchenette. It can be a lot of fun.
47. Try, dare I say it; camping. If you really don’t have money and really do want a holiday, camping (even glamping) is a fun and cheaper alternative, to booking rooms.
48. Once you have savings, look for the best interest rates. Try for a bank which compounds daily, rather than monthly, as the rate of return is greater.
49. While you’re putting your savings together, look for and learn ways to invest your money. You may be starting out small, but if you stick to it, you’ll eventually end up with a large account and you’ll want the best return on your money. Shares, antiques, coins and stamps, plus a myriad of other ways to invest, means you don’t need a large amount to invest, you just need to know where to invest. But, pay off all debts first and free up your cash.
50. We can spend a fortune on cleaning products, which just sit in our cupboards, taking up space. Use what you have and then purchase (usually at the hardware, for best value) one or two bulk cleaning items. It’s much cheaper to buy it this way, than all those fiddly little spray bottles from the supermarket. Bunnings hardware stores have a spray and wipe refill, which gives you ten times the amount, for almost the same price as the supermarket’s spray and wipe.
51. Shop online. By all means, price in store, but you want to take advantage of every price saving opportunity. Online shopping has become very popular and you can often bag a bargain, if you know where to look.
52. Christmas and birthdays, can show big depletions in your bank account. Set a budget, for gift buying. Start early and take advantage of sales, discounts, and bargain prices. Often, not a lot of thought goes into how much one should spend at these times and without a budget it’s easy to go over-board. Keep your budget real (affordable) and keep to the budget you set. It’s all too easy to get carried away, during gift giving seasons. Know what you want to spend and don’t go over it.
53. Do you really need a pet groomer, or can you do this yourself, even if only half the time?
54. While we’re on the topic of pets, when it comes to pet food, the cheapest isn’t always the best. Neither do you have to buy the most expensive. Do your due diligence and work out value for money. Tinned pet food, often is made up with water and biscuits can be made from mouldy rice. This isn’t so much a saving’s tip, except with diligence you might find value and minimal cost, without sacrificing the health of your dearly loved pet.
55. Read books on saving and investing and click on other internet sites, to learn other methods, which I may not have covered here. There’s plenty of ideas, floating around. Look at it as a fun challenge, rather than a boring chore and you’ll soon see dollars in the bank.
I’m sure you’ll find other ways to save, once you begin to search for them. Money is quite flexible and you can choose in what areas you’d like to save and what areas you really don’t want to change.
You may even find it fun, to accept the challenge and bring your debts and spending into line and under control.
If you follow these tips, you’ll change yours and your family’s, financial future and that’s an exciting prospect.
Your future is determined by the action you take today. Do the work. At the end of the day, are you going to say, I wish I had, or I’m glad I did?
For more of Alexandra’s written work on finances, investing and becoming debt free, see:
https://www.amazon.com/Alexandra-Grose/e/B08HXDGFKL%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Alexandra Grose - A photojournalist and author for over twenty years. Writing is her passion and her dream and helping others achieve their dreams, through her written work, is Alexandra's greatest aspiration.
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