How To Save Money: 29 Easy, Actionable Tips

Believe it or not, learning how to save extra can be tough but not impossible. I’ve been there and so do many folks. You are not alone. To put things in perspective, a $1,000 emergency can put individuals in debt.

But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and that it doesn’t take a lot to achieve what you want to achieve.

In this post, you’ll learn how to save extra now:

• on a tight budget
• on groceries
• for a house
• and so many more

The reality is, all of us have different situations that call for different solutions on saving money and getting out of debt isn’t always the solution.

Don’t believe that there are shortcuts to learning how to save extra now. That said, there are easy ways to save money that you can start from day one.

 

Daily money-saving tips

Sometimes, all it takes is a few money saving tips to get more into your bank account. No kidding on that. Here are some of them:

• Start with manual savings actions. Simple things like collecting your change and putting it in your bank account can make a difference. You can also use cash (instead of credit cards) for transactions to watch your spending.
• Plan meals. Avoid impromptu meals that may mean buying meals from restaurants or eating out. You can easily serve a meal for under $1 when you do meal planning. Some great meal planning options to limit how much you spend include $5 Meal Plan and PlateJoy.
• Stay at home. To avoid temptations, don’t go out. You’re more likely to go to stores, restaurants, start eating out, etc. and spend money.
• Map out your destination. Whether you’re heading to the grocery or running an errand, plan your trip. Small savings in gas can make a big difference in your pocket.
• Map out major purchases. Go for sales, clearances, and markdowns for big purchases before going to a store. If you find the need to purchase big ticketed items, wait a day or two to limit buyer’s remorse.
• Buy in bulk. When it makes sense, buy in bulk as it could save you more in the long run since bulk items come with a discount.

No-brainer saving tips 

Where’s the best place to start saving money and do it quite fast? It’s with doing normal things like what you are already doing now.

Believe it or not, a lot of folks tend to overlook this simple idea. They tend to focus on getting rid of debt, cutting out some luxuries, etc. that they forget that there’s cash in what they normally do.

Here are some ideas you can use in order to save extra cash, free Amazon gift cards (learn more free Amazon hacks here), among others.

Consider the following. They’re worth it:

• Take paid online surveys. Share your opinions on entertainment, politics, life, etc. and get paid. The best survey sites to make additional from are Survey Junkie and Survey Club. One even made over $600 in 10 days (see image above).
• Use this app for everything. Whether you’re watching, shopping, reading news, browsing or something else, get paid to do those with Swagbucks. As a fact, I made over $1,500 in just a few months. That money is now deposited in my emergency fund account.
• Cut your expenses automatically. Sure, you have all these subscriptions you don’t need but have forgotten to cancel. Also, you may have services you wish you could cut cost from. You’ve tried everything with no luck. Now, Trim app can do those for you. Trim will analyze your spending, find subscriptions or entertainment to cancel, negotiate your expenses, among others. Last month, subscribers saved over $1,000,000 with Trim. See Trim review here. 
• Stop by a store. There’s an app that will pay you to literally stop by a (grocery) store. It’s called Shopkick and it’s FREE. You might as well use it when you visit a (grocery) store to buy groceries, clothing, or something else

Click here to sign up for:

Survey Junkie   |   Survey Club   |   Swagbucks    |   Trim    |   Shopkick

 

 

Long-term money tips

Saving and making additional over the long run – such as building an emergency fund, funding your vacation fund – doesn’t happen overnight. That said, you would be able to start saving for these goals now.

Here are also some ways to save or stash funds for the long term that people keep on overlooking. Make sure to jot down notes.

Consider the following. They’re worth it:

• Track spending. Start tracking your expenses now to get a better idea as to where your funds are going. You’ll see your net income after expenses just by doing this. You can use apps like Qapital to help you with tracking your finances.
• Pay off your debt. If you have debts that can’t be paid off right away, try to pay more as much as possible. This way, your credit card interest decreases faster than if you only pay the minimum amount. You can also consolidate your debt with a personal loan like SoFi and Prosper and with a much lower interest rate.
• Refinance your mortgage. Now, could be the best time to get a lower interest rate on your mortgage. Take advantage of this and save a ton both in the short and long run.
• Plan ahead. Make a plan to save for your retirement. It’s never too early to do that. Having a plan is the most important and the first step towards long-term financial success. You can start with Acorns with cents, Fundrise for real estate investing, among others.
• Set up an automatic payment to your 401K. Make saving for future automated. This way, you save first before you spend.

How to save on a low income

Not everyone has funds to save. Truth be told, many earn low income or live in a single-income family that can restrict one’s ability to save extra money. Find more on how to do no spend weekend challenge here. 

Here are some of the ways you can use to save cash and to learn how to live cheap:

16. Tackle the high-interest debt first

Interest payments are like free cash you give to companies. That’s why it’s a great idea to start tackling these debts to save in the process.

Do you have a card debt or other forms of credit that charge you high fees and interest? Start from there.

Start prioritizing your debt so you know which ones to tackle first, second, and so on. As you move forward with paying these debts off, avoid making anymore debt.

Here are some ways you can do to deal with debts:

• Credit card debt is like a disease that doesn’t go away easily. So are impulse buys.

For those who are ready to start saving fast on their credit card debt, I recommend Tally.

Why? Tally is your credit card debt concierge that helps you save money, manage your cards, and pay off debt faster.

• Student loans are no joke not to mention the over-the-roof interest rates, which sometimes are higher than mortgage rates.

If your student loans keep you from saving money, you may be able to refinance to a lower rate and a shorter term. With a short term and lower interest rate, you’ll end up saving a whole lot of money.

SoFi, a top student loan refinancing issuer, is known for that. With no hidden fees and prepayment penalties, it helps you save thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

Click here to find out how to save with SoFi.

17. Re-evaluate your charges

To save on a low income means focusing on your expenses.

Expenses are money killers. That said, most of us pay those and don’t pay attention to what we get or what’s included in those.

One of the things you need to do is pay attention to the charges on your bill. Dissect them like a frog getting dissected during a Biology class.

Call your bill collectors if you see a thing or two that’s off and if you think you need to downgrade your services. Ask yourself how much of these products and service/services you use and if you can get away with not having those or just a little bit of those.

You can use this list of apps like Charlie, Trim, and Cushion to help you evaluate your charges automatically. They do all the legwork and you just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy while they negotiate on your part.

You can also scout for the same list of products and services from other sources and see if you can get the same level of benefits for lower rates.

18. Start cutting your discretionary items

When it comes to saving money, the first ones that should go or get slashed are your wants. These could include entertainment, travel, leisure, and restaurants.

Believe it or not:

There are so many ways you can entertain yourself without shelling out so much money. Want to hang out with friends? Invite them for a potluck. Want to travel to a specific destination? Travel on the non-peak season.

That said:

Slashing these expenses can be temporary. Once you’ve saved enough money, you can always go back and splurge on your wants. Or you can splurge on those fun stuff from time to time to give yourself a budget break.

 

Creative ways to save with a hustle

There’s a point that no matter how much you squeeze your budget that you can’t simply save even a few dollars. That happens when your income just doesn’t do it.

So, what do you do? When this situation happens to you, it’s time to increase your income. Here are several hustles to earn some on the side:

19. Get to work

There’s no better way to earn money and make a living than to get a job or just a part-time job to supplement your current income.

You could talk to your boss for a pay raise, overtime hours, or additional regular-paid hours.

If you’re looking for a job, look for something that you can do during your free time. Maybe look for a weekend-type job or night job.

20. Get a hustle or two

Side hustles could make you a lot of money per week or so. Period.

These hustles could be your part-time job and can be something you can do just for a couple of hours.

When looking for great hustle ideas, try to focus on the ones that are of interests to you. When you do this, you’re likely to succeed and make money than just trying the ones out of a whim.

Here are some ideas to earn a living and that can help you get started:

• Offering your services. If you are great at graphic designing, administrative work, or something else, you can offer those online and make money. The best platform to do it is through Fiverr. You can use that platform, too, if you’re trying to figure out what services you’d like to provide.
• Delivering foods. Going to the grocery stores, buying your lunch food, among others can be time-consuming. Believe it or not, a lot of individuals have their food delivered, and those shopping delivery folks can get paid up to $18/hour + tips. How’s that sound? Check out some delivery food apps like DoorDash and Instacart.
• Blogging. Sure, it will take a few months to make money, but once your blog starts making money, it could continue to help you earn money month after month without putting too much effort. Look at me. This blog makes me over $30K and I only touch it for 5 hours/mo. Try blogging now for just $2.95/mo – that’s less than a Starbucks coffee.

21. Claim all your eligible business expenses

While there are some strict tax details regarding hustles – like your estimated quarterly taxes – there tax benefits that can be had with your hustle, which can you help you save money in the process.

When you have a hustle especially when you do it from home, you can deduct a lot of expenses you have as business expenses. This allows you to reduce your tax liabilities.

Believe it or not:

A lot of entrepreneurs miss out on over 74,00 pages of deductions in the tax code. So, if you want to learn the ways to save money the legal way, this is where you have to look into.

 

Ways to save money on a tight budget

In 2008, the Federal Reserve Board indicated that 40% of American can’t cover a $400 emergency expense. That’s disheartening.

When money is tight, it’s so hard to see a light out of the day. We almost always think about what can be done to squeeze our budget and make ends meet.

Saving money on a tight budget doesn’t have to be difficult and complex. Here are some ways to save when money is tight:

22. Trim down every category just the right amount

When money is tight, the best thing you could do is to trim out what you don’t want. That’s true. But there another side of the coin, that is, even when you’re just getting by, you still want to save money.

The best way to do it?

Find ways to save a few bucks per budget category and put that money towards emergency funds or your savings. Do it in the next few months until you can no longer trim money in those categories.

23. Take advantage of online deals

Almost everyone does their shopping or shops online. To be more precise, 79% of Americans now shops online regularly. But not everyone looks for discount, promotional code, or coupons to save money fast. That’s a mistake that can be corrected.

In fact, Statista projects that about 136 million people will become digital coupon users by 2018, and up to 145 million by 2021. So, if you are going to buy online, you might as well take free money while shopping.

Here are my favorites sites cash back, coupons, and online deals:

• Shop At Home: Save up to 40% of each dollar you spend.
• Ebates: Just like Shop At Home, you can take up to 40% in cash back for your purchases. Ebates also features in-store cash back if you don’t feel shopping online.
• MyPoints: Save up to 40% using this site. Most of its notable stores include Target, Amazon, Walmart, and Ebay. You’ll also obtain $10 sign up bonus when you sign up today.

24. Take the landline out

Who needs landline when you’ve got a cell phone to use, right?

On average, landline costs around $25 per month.

That’s $25 that you can easily cut when you have cell service to use instead.

This means you can save money fast to the tune of $300 per year just by cutting your landline service.

25. Look at your food bill

A good place to look if you’re trying to cut some expenses out and build your savings is by changing the way you eat.

You can reduce your trips to your favorite restaurants. If you eat out everyday, you can easily save at least $30 per week from not doing that.

If you don’t eat out that often but buy a lot of convenience foods, you can start buying raw materials and cook from scratch.

26. Keep savings separate

When you’re saving money for a house, keep your money in an account not easily accessible.

You can create a whole new different account dedicated to your housing fund. Don’t touch it. Even better, don’t think about it and just think that this account is off-limits no matter what happens. Just continue on putting money in it.

Believe it or not:

A lot of people have a hard time saving money because they put all their money into one account, and spend it whenever they want to, and not even track their funds.

To avoid this problem, keep your savings in a separate account.

27. Make savings automatic

One of the best ways to save money fast for a house is through automated savings.

When you’re receiving a paycheck, direct deposit money to your dedicated saving accounts, and the rest goes to your regular checking account.

This way, you’re automatically saving money without even thinking about it or doing anything about it. You won’t even notice you are putting money in it until you look at your account.

As the saying of other personal financial expert goes, pay yourself first.

28. Get a hustle or a part-time job

There’s only so much you can save with your current salary. Sometimes, in order to save up more money, you have to get a hustle or even a part-time job.

Some hustles like taking paid online surveys through Survey Junkie and Survey Club, blogging, and freelancing can be done from home.

Part-time or work from home jobs can be of great help, too. If you get a part-time job, take that opportunity to earn more and save more. Don’t let the money you earn be a way for you to spend more.

29. Go back to the basics

Remember the days when you were able to live off based on what you needed and not what you wanted?

Go back to that time, and you’d be saving a ton of money.

The truth is, differentiating between needs and wants can be tough. We, people, have been accustomed to getting all our wants and tell ourselves that we need them.

Here’s a trick: Cut out thing out at a time. Let’s say, cut ‘going out to the movie theater’ expense line and find out how you live without it. If you are ok, then, that’s a want. Then, continue with another expense line until you cut as many expenses as you can.

Best yet, cut out the biggest expenses and go from there.

30. Keep your budget lean

To save on a low income means keeping your budget in control (i.e., the basics of saving money). Take control of how much you spend.

Choose the categories you want to put some little luxuries in, and keep the rest of your budget as lean as it can be. You will need to compromise and/or sacrifice to make your budget work. That’s just how it goes.

You can splurge on things when you don’t have enough income coming in.

Here a tip: Learn how to spend in moderation. Don’t go overboard when there’s no need to do it.

31. Find an alternative to your needs

We’ve gotten so used to having all the needs that we tend to forget that there are cheaper alternatives to still get our needs.

Do pick up your grocery items at Walmart? Maybe you could try BJ’s Wholesale or Costco to buy bulk and save money. You can even use coupons and coupon apps to save more money.

You could buy generic items than branded ones, which most of the time are cheaper but are of high-quality.

You could also wait for big holidays like 4th of July and Thanksgiving to buy what you need at steep discounts. Or ask your family and friends or even go to Craigslist and yard sales to see products that you need at very low costs.

32. Get at least three quotes before you buy

To learn how to save additional money fast is to always ask for three quotes before making a final decision.

That’s true for big purchases.

Remember that everyone literally wants your business and will do everything to give you the best price.

Make sure that when you talk to suppliers or business that you tell them you’re getting quotes from different businesses as well.

This money-saving tip almost always guarantees you get the best price.

 

How To Save Additional Money FAQs

These are the basic questions and tips people ask when it comes to saving funds. Believe it or not, a lot of people keep on asking these questions, and that’s why I put this together for your access:

What is the 30 day rule?

When you feel the urge to buy something – whether it’s shoes, food, or something else – tell yourself to stop. Take note what this item, the store where you found it, the price, and the date. For the next thirty days, be ready think about this item.

After thirty days, if the urge is still there, consider buying that time.

What is the quickest way to save money?

Here are some ways to save quickly:

• Get paid for sharing your thoughts online
• Tackle the high-interest debt first
• Keep your budget lean
• Find an alternative to your needs
• Get a hustle or two
• Use coupons when they make sense
• Use money-saving apps
• Take advantage of online sales
• Consider cash for purchases
• Do not increase spending when you get a raise
• Set up automatic transfers

How can I save $1000 fast?

Here are some 5 easy ways to get used to in order to save $1,000 quickly. These are small tweaks you can do now, and save some funds in no time. Be ready to take some notes:

• Negotiate your expenses – $200 savings (Use apps like Charlie, Trim, and Cushion)
• Get a hustle or two – $300 savings (I made this money on my third month of blogging)
• Cancel subscriptions – $100 savings (Use Trim for this)
• Start a meal plan – $300 savings (Use meal plans like PlateJoy, Gobble, or $5 Meal Plan to help you save money on food)
• Use cash instead of credit – over $200 savings (save on interest payments especially when your balance is in thousands)

How much should you have in savings?

According to Bankrate, here’s how much you have to save for each age category:

• By age 30, your savings goal should be $66,470
• By 40, it should be $277,728
• By 50, it should be $596,538
• By 60, it should be $643,792

 

Final Thoughts On How To Save Fast

Saving a good amount of money day after day isn’t a walk in the park. That said, once you start doing things to save you money, things would become much easier and saving would become second nature.

There’s no better time to do it than now. Even when you’re just saving a dollar here and a dollar there, that makes a big difference now and in the future.

Do you have any other family savings techniques that will help you learn how to save fast? How much did you save using these techniques? Start saving money today and get used to using these tips now.