17 Tips for How to Save Money – Most Practical Approaches

1. Bid Farewell to Debt:

Monthly payments in debts are the biggest reason why you are behind on your savings. Debt takes a major chunk of your income, so you are left with only a handful of dollars that are barely enough for survival, let alone saving.

Therefore, you need to quickly eliminate your debts, and the best way to do so is via the Snowball method. Here, you will rank your outstanding debts from smallest to largest.

Then you will work on eliminating them one by one; once your smaller debts are taken care of, you will have more money saved up each month to take care of larger debts. Once all of your debts are eliminated, you will have a good chunk of money left to save.

2. Limit Grocery Shopping;

Do you know that an average American household spends around $7,203 per year on food and groceries? (USA Today) This translates to $600 a month, which is A LOT, especially if you want to save some bucks. It’s easier to just walk to the aisle of cookies, grab a pack of Oreos and couple it with a bag of chips and then top it off with some fun goodies at the cash register. 

However, you need to remember that these small expenditures can add up to a lot at the end of the month. You need to plan and budget  each week’s meals in a way that you have a good amount of money left to be added to the piggy bank. You can also get grocery pickup service (some of them are free) and avoid going to the store where you can get tempted to fill your basket with everything you see.

3. Cut Corners on Subscriptions that are Not Helpful to Your Bottom Line:

You might also be using a lot of different subscriptions ranging from Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix to Soundcloud and Spotify, along with some memberships like the gym. At the individual level, the costs for these subscriptions might not seem a lot, but if you couple all of them together, then it becomes a significant amount going out of your account on a monthly basis.

So either you cancel the ones that you don’t frequently use, or you can consider sharing these memberships with your family members or friends. The gist is, try to save as much as you can on monthly subscriptions.

4. Consider Generic Products: 

The only thing that is better about a branded product is its marketing aspect. From the box to the color printing and the expensive T.V. advertisements, companies spend a lot on bringing their product to the front. So they have to get this money back, which they do by charging higher prices from the customers.

So try using non-branded, generic items as much as you can from medicines to food items, Paper Products, and cleaning supplies, you can get them for a lot less than their branded counterparts.

5. Consider Saving Automatically: 

You can save money without even thinking about saving it, yup, you can do that! You just need to open a separate bank account, budget and set up an automatic fund transfer every month.

6. Use Extra Money Wisely:

If you get a bonus for completing that target your company set or if you inherit a good amount of money then instead of wasting it all on vacations and trips and whatnot, you can budget; put that money to good use.

That way, you can actually make some bucks out of that extra money.

Bonus Tip: If you get large tax refunds on a regular basis, you should adjust withholding tax on your paycheck to bring more money every month. You don’t want to give any extra money to the government than you have to.

7. Save on Energy Consumptions:

The average energy consumption in the U.S is increasing day by day, and with it, the monthly utility bills too. Energy Central Quoted; 58% of the energy produced in the U.S is wasted. On an individual level, you might not be wasting 58% of energy, and of course, it’s a general number, but you are definitely playing a role in it. So why not make a few tweaks in your lifestyle and take your electricity bill to a minimum?

You can do things like turning off the fans and lights in the rooms that are not in use, switching your halogen or incandescent bulbs with LED lights, and also working on the natural insulation of your home to reduce HVAC energy consumption.

All of these things might seem very small, but they can accumulate up to a good portion of money on an annual basis.

8. Consider Borrowing Instead of Buying: 

Maybe you need to work on your yard a little bit, and you are thinking of getting a tree trimmer, but do you really need to use it on a regular basis? NO! So why buy it when you can borrow it from a friend?

There can be a lot of things that you might be thinking of buying, but you won’t really use them on a daily basis. So you can always ask for your friends’ or relatives’ help and avoid paying for the things you don’t really need.

9. Avoid Eating Out:

Did you know that an average household in the U.S spends around $3,365 per year on food outside of the home? (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Imagine spending around $280 a month for food that you can easily budget and prepare on your own for less than half of this amount and eat in the comfort of your house.

Buying lunch a few times a week might not seem a big deal, but it accumulates to thousands of dollars at the end of the year. If you are in a job where you need to spend the noon or evening out of the home, you can always pack lunch. There is no need to eat at the nearby restaurant or the hot dogs stand.

Not only will you eat homemade healthy food, but you can save a few hundred bucks a month pretty easily.

10. Leverage Coupons and Discounts:

Most of the time, when you shop from a grocery store or a mall, you don’t even know about the discounts and coupons they might have. So it is always a good practice to ask for them and save a few bucks.

You can also ask them about any specific discounts available to students, seniors, military persons, retirees, AAA members, or handicaps.

11. Leverage the Retirement Savings Plan: 

If your company offers a retirement plan like a 401 (k) match and you haven’t taken advantage of it, then it is time that you talk to your H.R. department and set up the account. However, you should always wait until you are free from any kind of debt and have six to eight months of funds available in case of any emergency.

12. Invest with a Credible Financial Planner

Such as Boracchia Wiviott Wealth Partners, or ask us about our new partnership for DIY subscriptions. You can email us at information@bwwpllc.com or call us at (425) 625 – 8943

One of the most practical tips for how to save money is to work with a financial advisor or financial planner. Invest a sum of money on different financial assets through their guidance. From stocks, bonds, currency exchange to commodities, and cryptocurrency, there are a lot of financial securities that can be traded for handsome profits.

You can save some greenbacks for a few months and then invest that money with the help of a financial trader and watch it multiply. You can then use the money to either take a vacation, buy that new car you’ve been eyeing for some time, or just put it aside for a rainy day. Start your a custom financial plan and budget  journey today!

13. Reduce Phone Bill:

If your monthly cell phone bill is close to your monthly grocery expense, then it is time to put a cap on it. Check your monthly call records and see where you call most, try to find an alternate route to connect with them like via Whatsapp calling.

You can even get rid of the expensive data plans and phone insurances that come with it and adopt online calling.

14. Adopt a DIY Lifestyle:

Shelling out bucks on getting light installation, house painting, or fixing little issues in your home does provide you with convenience, but it also puts a dent on your overall budget. So why not take these matters into your own hands (pun intended) and DIY?

Just find the materials you need for a particular task with the help of your trusty friend; Google, and buy them from a nearby hardware store. You can find tons of guides on literally any kind of task you want to perform.

15. Avoid Coffee Shops:

I know it hurts to not spend $5 on a latte every day on your way to work, but you will be spending $150 a month if you just drink 1 cup a day, which we know is not the case. If you are even a moderate workaholic, you might be shelling out several hundred dollars per month on coffee alone.

Now we are not asking you to stop drinking it, that’s nearly impossible. We are asking you to make it at home. Get a coffee machine (under $500), an insulated mug (under $100), and you will pay $600 in fixed, one-time cost. Now you just need to budget your coffee spending to $50-$100 a month for coffee beans, and you can brew your own fresh coffee at home.

16. Hit The Library:

Are you a bibliophile? Do you love reading new books and expand your knowledge base? Maybe you just want to have some good time venturing into the world of fiction, or maybe you want to get ahead in your career by consuming as much information as you can like a sponge.

And that’s a good thing, but you don’t really have to order books from Amazon or other stores every time you need something to read. You can always visit your local library and see if they have that book. You can just rent it out for a few weeks or month, pay a few cents or a dollar, and save money on buying a new one.

17. Organize a Garage Sale:

Over time in our lives, we accumulate a lot of things that we don’t really need. From a crystal vase that you once found at an antique shop or the vintage violin that you received from your uncle, there can be a lot of clutter in your house that needs to be taken care of.

By organizing a yard sale or selling that stuff at a pawn shop, not only can you have a good amount of money saved up, but you can also lead a minimalistic lifestyle with less clutter and more space.