60 Ways To Save Money
You’ve heard it a thousand times.
Saving money is essential to turning around your financial life and build your wealth.
But you’re probably thinking “Saving money in this economy? Impossible!”
And on the surface, it seems that way. Each paycheck that hits your bank account is eaten away by expenses increasing in both number and amount. Once those expenses take their claim of your hard-earned money, you’re left with almost nothing to save or invest.
How are your supposed to build a large amount of wealth?
Fortunately, you don’t need to take massive action immediately. There are almost endless small ways to save money if you put your mind to it.
Each money-saving tip won’t do much on its own; their true power lies in applying several tips to your financial habits.
So without further ado, here are 60 ways to save money, split up by category for your convenience.
General Saving Tips
1.) Build Your Emergency Fund
Your emergency fund is your last resort against financial turmoil. They are dedicated funds, typically stored in savings accounts, that are only used in emergency situations like
- Car accidents
- Property damage
- Hospital bills
- Emergency travel
Before you even think of building wealth, you need one of these in place. Without one, you’ll be forced to drown yourself in debt or worse just to get by.
We recommend having 3 months of living expenses in your emergency fund. You may want more if you have more dependents as more dependents increases the likelihood you’ll need to rely on your emergency fund.
2.) Create A Budget
Budgets are your financial blueprints. On top of that, they provide you a tool to analyze your financial habits so you can identify ways to improve.
Budgeting requires some data gathering. You’ll need your monthly income and to track your expenses.
Income is easy to track. To track your expenses, save every receipt for a month (a week works as well if you’re shorter on time) and use that to figure your budget.
Excel is a great tool to keep your budget. However, sites like Mint or Personal Capital automatically track your budgetary habits and show you a ton of other useful information like credit score and upcoming bills.
3.) Make A Savings Plan
The key to savings success is a long-term mindset. Think about what long-term savings goal you want to reach and make a plan to get there.
Long-term goals keep you motivated because achieving them is a huge boost for the ego. They give you a target to reach so you can measure your progress.
4.) Break Your Plan Into Small Goals
Long-term goals are fantastic savings motivators, but they can seem daunting. Breaking your goal into “bite-sized” short-term goals can make a seemingly-impossible task seem much easier.
Not only that, but hitting multiple small goals keeps you motivated. Each weekly goal you achieve builds momentum, making it psychologically easier to continue with your plan. Otherwise, you’d be staring 1 giant goal in the face; it can be easy to lose motivate when it takes a long time to achieve 1 goal.
For example, saving $40,000 over 10 years is a huge task. Rather than focusing on that big $40,000, break it down by week. All you have to set aside each week is about $84. Now that sounds a little more doable!
As long as you save that much each week, you’ll automatically hit your savings goal on time.
5.) Cash In On Coins
Coins add up much more than you think. It’s totally realistic to earn $50+ each year just by saving coins and cashing them in once a year.
Doesn’t seem like much, but the effort involved is almost 0. You could use your coin money as a holiday gift budget, to reward yourself, or you could just put it towards your financial goals.
Coinstar and similar machines can automatically convert your coins to bills, but they take a significant percentage as commission. Many banks will exchange your coins for bills/account credit for free, but some require you roll your coins manually.
Many apps, such as Acorns, round up your purchases to the next dollar and deposit that “spare change” into a separate savings or investment account. You won’t even have to think about saving your spare change.
6.) Save Early
The best time to start savings is as early as possible. This is because of a neat concept called compound interest. As you earn interest on your savings, it will be redeposited into your savings, thus increasing the principal amount.
You’ll then earn interest on that new principal. The cycle continues indefinitely.
See how powerful compound interest is? If you mess around with a retirement calculator, you’ll notice how large of a retirement fund you can build without making huge investments each paycheck.
That is, if you start as early as possible.
So enroll in your employer’s retirement plan if offered and seek out other savings/investment vehicles the moment you start earning a real paycheck.
7.) Automatic Savings
Saving money in this economy is hard enough, so why not outsource the physical saving part to technology?
In other words, you should set up automatic savings so you don’t have to think about setting aside the money.
Doing so takes away that slight psychological pain of storing away money you’d love to spend on something fun but wasteful.
Now, you can do this a few ways.
If you’re employed, add a savings account to your direct deposit and allocate a portion (such as 10%) of each paycheck to that account.
You could also set up a regular automatic transfer through your bank. Each time your paycheck hits your checking account, your bank will automatically move some of it to a savings account on the transfer date.
8.) Use Retirement Accounts
Retirement accounts have many benefits. For one, they tend to come with tax benefits. 401(k) and traditional IRA contributions aren’t taxed, allowing your money to grow tax free until you’re ready to withdraw it as taxable income in retirement. Roth IRAs aren’t taxed in retirement, giving you a tax-free income source when you get there.
Retirement accounts also help automate savings. Employer’s will redirect a portion of your paycheck that your specify to your 401(k) or 403(b). You can automate deposits to other retirement accounts.
Oh, and employer-sponsored plans tend to offer free money through employer matches. Turning down free money really has no upside.
Again, enroll in your employer’s retirement account and seek out additional retirement accounts as soon as possible.
Food Saving Tips
9.) Bring Your Lunch To Work
Going out to lunch doesn’t seem expensive until you add everything up. If you spend $7 on lunch 5 days a week, that’s about $140 per month on top of whatever you spend on groceries.
You could spend 10 minutes at home creating essentially the same lunch for half the price. The savings will add up fast. You could even consider meal prepping to lower your costs even more.
And if you travel somewhere for lunch, you’ll save gas money too.
As a bonus, you’ll save travel time, allowing you to be more productive at work.
10.) Dine Out Less
It’s no secret that restaurants are expensive. Not just steakhouses, either; even fast casual restaurants jack up their prices because restaurants have lots of overhead to pay for.
Cutting down on your dining out saves a lot of cash, not to mention small time and gas money savings.
You don’t need to cut out restaurants completely. Try to cut just one dining out day from your schedule each month. That alone will save you a noticeable sum of cash without sacrificing the lifestyle you love.
11.) Make A Shopping List
It’s very important to make a shopping list if you’re looking to save money at the grocery store. Shopping lists encourage you to buy only what you need and help reduce distractions from all those delicious treats you shouldn’t be buying in the first place.
Thanks to the proliferation of mobile technology, you can make your shopping list on your phone! No more worrying about losing that little slip of paper.
12.) Meal Plan
Planning your meals ahead of time makes shopping list creation easier and eliminates distractions in the grocery store. Walking in with a laser focus on the ingredients you need speeds up your shopping trip too.
Meal planning is also useful for budgeting. When you know how much you’ll spend on food, you don’t have to track each meal as you eat them.
You don’t have to eat the same thing every day though; feel free to get creative and try cooking new meals!
Simply thinking about your meals ahead of time could save you hundreds.
13.) Unit Price, Not Total Price
Stores proudly display the pricing of their items, but that price tag doesn’t tell the whole story. You could actually be paying more for an item due to the unit count of that item.
For example, we have 2 coffee brands: X and Y. A tub of X coffee costs $10, while a tub of Y coffee costs $8. However, X coffee is 24 ounces and Y coffee is 20 ounces.
Doing the math, we find that X coffee costs $0.42 per ounce and Y coffee costs $0.45 per ounce.
You don’t have to do this math, though; stores list the price per unit on the price tag as well. Naturally, it’s quite small because the store is relying on you to be lazy. Look for the cost per unit (such as $ per ounce) and shop based on that.
If brand isn’t a high priority for you, then opting permanently for the larger but cheaper brand will save you a lot of money over your lifetime.
14.) Shop On The Right Days
Weekends are convenient for shopping, but you pay for that convenience with higher prices.
The cheapest days vary by product, but groceries are generally a bit cheaper during the weekdays since less people are coming in to the store.
In addition, stores tend to drop prices as products approach their expiration date. Be careful about what you buy, but if you time it right, you could save a few extra bucks
Lastly, keep an eye out for holiday sales on groceries. The spring/summer holidays are great example of this. Many stores drop their ground beef prices like an anvil prior to Memorial Day and July 4th as a “hook” to draw people in and sell them other items like buns and potato chips. In this case, you could snag a ton of ground beef and store it in the freezer.
15.) Don’t Shop On An Empty Stomach
Shopping on an empty stomach is a terrible idea if you’re trying to save money. You’ll be more tempted to buy things you won’t eat as well as unhealthy foods that can add to your waistline.
Avoid visiting the grocery store until after you’ve had a good meal. Doing so will squash the little voice in your head tempting you to buy those potato chips or that box of cookies.
16.) Drink More Water
If you want to nit-pick, you could say that water isn’t free; you’re paying for it either at the store or through a water bill.
But it’s much more inexpensive than any other drink and proper hydration does wonders for your health.
Being healthy can save you a lot of money, but we’ll get to that later.
17.) Make Some Leftovers
Whether you plan your meals or not, try to cook much more than you plan on eating that night so oh have leftovers the next morning.
Doing so saves you money by removing the temptation to grab lunch from a restaurant. You’ll also save some time as you can just grab the leftovers out of the fridge on your way out the door each morning.
It’s worth noting that many of the more inexpensive dishes are conducive to leftovers. It’s much easier to have leftover stew or pasta than it is to save some filet mignon.
If you can, make yourself a regular meal plan (as we mentioned before); it’ll help you iron out your schedule as you’re guaranteed to have leftovers available each day.
18.) Buy In Bulk
Buying groceries in bulk saves you tons of money, especially on items that change frequently in price.
Buy perishable items that require freezing in bulk while prices are low and toss them in the freezer. Defrost them as needed.
Consider getting a membership to a store like Costco. The prices might seem high, but that’s because they sell you much more of each product than your typical grocery store.
If you buy a lot of groceries, the membership fees at Costco and similar membership stores are well worth it.
Other Shopping Tips
19.) Seek Out Coupons
Coupons save you plenty if you spend just a little time seeking them out. They aren’t just good for groceries; all kinds of stores and businesses hand out coupons to draw in more customers.
Turning couponing into a habit can lead to some serious savings over time. You can find them in the mail, in stores, online, or through mobile apps.
If you want to learn more about couponing, check out the article we linked above.
20.) Use Cashback Sites/Apps
Did you know you can earn money just by shopping? Cashback apps and sites like Rakuten and Shopkick will reward you in cash or points redeemable for cash just by shopping through their site or app.
These sites only take minutes to sign up for and they’re user-friendly. Thousands of deals and tasks are offered so you have countless ways to save money while shopping.
Most of their deals are for online shopping, but there are plenty of in-store rewards for you to earn too.
You were going to do that shopping anyways. Why not earn some rewards for it?
21.) Loyalty/Rewards Programs
If you aren’t already a part of your favorite store’s loyalty program, you’re missing out on a lot of discounts and free stuff.
These stores reward you for being loyal to them by giving you an incentive to return, so why not take advantage of it?
Many retailers, especially clothing stores give you a huge one-time discount if you open a store credit card. Wait until you have to make a big purchase, then open the credit card to knock your final price down a ton.
Just make sure you’re responsible with your new credit card. Don’t dig yourself a hole you can’t escape from in the name of saving money.
Stack these rewards programs with cashback rewards from shopping apps and you’ll be saving wads of cash each shopping trip.
22.) Watch For Subscription-Based Services
When juggling a ton of bills and using auto pay, you’ll inevitably lose track of something you no longer need but still pay for.
We’re talking about subscription-based services.
Netflix is a big one. Many subscribe to Netflix, never use it for any number of reasons, yet pay for it just in case they want to use it.
This is also true with product-based subscription services like Dollar Shave Club. You may sign up thinking you need certain products but find yourself with leftover products each time you get your next package. You could easily cut down the items you get in each box and save a little each month.
Some people simply forget they’re subscribed to subscription-based services at all. Streaming services (like Netflix) are easy to forget about, especially when they’re only $10 a month.
But cram together just 5 of those subscription services and you could be losing a whole $50 a month. Simply auditing your subscription services and cancelling the ones you don’t use could earn back that night dining out that you cut earlier!
Entertainment Savings Tips
23.) Seek Out Free Activities
College students will have an easy time finding free events because campuses are full of them. Good for them, because money is hard to come by as a student. Free movies, games, recruitment events, social events, sporting events, and more ease the financial burden for college students trapped on campus.
Free activities aren’t hard to find if you aren’t a student, though! Meetup.com is a great source of free activities. People meet up in groups for all sorts of reasons on there.
You could also check out free street events like art fairs and certain cultural celebrations. Some cities even host free music festivals in public areas.
There are almost as many free activities as there are paid ones, you just have to look for them.
24.) Identity Discounts
Keep your ID with you at all times when you’re going out for fun as you could be eligible for discounts. Movie theaters commonly offer discounts to seniors, military members, and students. Restaurants and similar businesses frequently offer discounts as well.
Some discounts only work on certain days, though. Check ahead of time to make sure you’ll be eligible for a discount when the time comes.
25.) Hit The Movies On A Tuesday
In a similar vein to shopping on the cheapest days, movie theaters tend to drop ticket prices lower during the week. Most theater price their tickets lowest on Tuesdays.
Tuesday isn’t always the cheapest day. However, you can generally expect Sunday-Thursday tickets to be cheaper than Friday and Saturday.
26.) Ask For Discounts
Believe it or not, many discounts can be earned just by asking, especially in movie theaters. Contact them and ask if they have any discounts because chances are, they have some discounts that they fail to make the public aware of.
Sometimes, you can get an unofficial discount at certain places that don’t traditionally offer discounts just by asking. This isn’t uncommon with military members. Some places don’t officially offer military discounts, but many employees and managers give them to military members and their families anyways.
It never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is no.
27.) Go To The Library
Libraries have excellent selections of engaging books to read. More libraries are offering e-books as well, allowing you to borrow books from the comfort of your own couch.
Not everyone’s a big reader, though. That’s totally fine because libraries tend to have digital entertainment in the forms of CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, and even video games.
Oh, and libraries offer classes in various subject as well. You could learn a cool new skill and have fun while doing it!
Ok, libraries aren’t truly free….
But they’re funded with your tax dollars, so you may as well make the most of them.
28.) Volunteer At Events
Volunteering at events gains you free admission to those events. Sometimes, you can score additional free or discounted passes for family and friends as well.
These events could be music festivals, cultural celebrations, or other events. It’s quite realistic to enjoy the even while still working for your free admission.
Check out event websites or reach out directly to see what kind of benefits you’d gain as a volunteer.
29.) Make Your Own Fun
You know what they say in kids’ cartoons: anything is possible (including saving money) as long as you use your imagination.
So when all else fails, why not make your own fun? You could play sports, host a game/movie night, hike/bike the local area, have a picnic, and the list goes on.
Many of these are free. Some may involve small expenditures, though. For example, hiking costs nothing (unless you count hiking boots/clothes).
On the other hand, a movie or game night will run you a few bucks. You’ll need movies/games and snacks/drinks.
But this is much cheaper than going to a movie theater or an arcade.
Your imagination is a powerful tool for saving money!
Banking And Credit Savings Tips
30.) Move Bank Accounts For Better Rates
Just because you’ve been with a bank forever, doesn’t mean you’re getting the best rates and perks.
It may be time to shop around for a new bank, especially if you’re currently paying a monthly fee to keep your current accounts open.
Everyone has different priorities, but its safe to say you want to look for banks with the best balance of high interest rates and low fees.
Many banks also offer signup incentives. These include signup bonuses (usually upon establishing direct deposit) and favorable interest rates.
Commit to your new bank, though; moving away from your new bank too soon could cause the bank to rescind your bonuses, rendering all that time you spent moving banks wasted.
Moving bank accounts is a little more complex than picking up your cash and moving it somewhere else. Read our article to learn how to move banks with as little headache as possible.
31.) Consider An Online Bank
Online banks are becoming increasingly common as technology progresses.
Most online banks have amazing interest rates relative to traditional banks. They complement these rates with very simple and inexpensive fee structures.
How are they able to do all this?
Online banks have a lot less overhead, as they don’t have to hire as many employees nor do they have to run any physical branches.
Oh, and since online banks are 100% digital, their tech and security is usually top notch. Not only does this give you peace of mind, but it saves you time traveling to the bank.
Time is money, after all.
32.) Set Bills To Autopay
Autopay is one of those tools that saves you time and soothes the psyche. You don’t have to think about clicking the “pay” button and watching the money move out of your account when your bills are on autopay.
There are also financial benefits, the main one being you’ll never miss a payment. This’ll save you on late fees and keep your credit score intact.
Some lenders will even give you a small discount if you enroll in autopay since you’re slightly reducing their risk of missing a payment. Navient, a large student loan servicer, offers this discount to grads.
33.) Pay Your Full Credit Card Balances
Inflation may be a silent killer of your money, but interest is a more blatant one. Not many debt instruments have higher interest rates than credit cards.
Paying down large credit card balances will hurt at first, but those financial wounds will heal as you save hundreds each month on interest.
Also, your credit score will improve when you bring your total balance across all your card down low enough. That’ll save you on interest (and bestow other benefits upon you) in future debt situations.
Now, most recommend paying off the card with the highest rate first. That strategy works great for many debtors.
Some need an extra push, and the Snowball method does just that. The Snowball method entails paying off the debt with the smallest balance first to get that mental rush of achieving a goal. You then move on to the next smallest debt, and rinse and repeat until your debt is gone.
The Snowball method is all about momentum.
Whichever method you choose, stick to it. You’ll be glad when your credit score is healthy and your bank account is growing.
34.) Negotiate New Interest Rates On Your Debt Or Complete A Balance Transfer
Your interest rates aren’t always set in stone; it’s totally possible to negotiate a lower rate.
Victory loves preparations, and rate negotiation is no different. Bring up your payment history and loyalty to the company for more persuasion power. Have your credit score handy as well.
Remember: the worst answer you can get is a no.
If you try and fail to negotiate a lower rate, you can always try again down the line. But in the meantime, think about transferring your balance to a new card with a lower interest rate.
Many credit card companies actually offer credit cards specifically for balance transfers. They have 0% APRs for up to over a year, which could save you hundreds or even thousands in interest if you’re deep in debt.
See if your current card company has any balance transfer cards and think about applying if they do. If they don’t, you can always get one from a different company.
35.) Avoid New Debt Unless Absolutely Necessary
Don’t take on debt unless you absolutely have to. New loans that aren’t buying an appreciable asset like a house will just weigh down your budget with more expenses and eat up your money through interest.
This doesn’t just apply to loans, either. In fact, credit cards make it very easy to bury yourself in a mountain of debt. Limit credit card use to only essential items you would’ve bought anyways so you don’t get carried away. Lock them up if you have to.
It gets a bit murky with auto loans. You generally need a car to get by in the modern world, but you don’t need your dream car. Don’t take out a fat loan for a nice BMW just because the bank gives you the option. Shoot for under your budget to minimize extra debt.
Avoiding new debt will also keep your credit score high, as you’ll reduce the amount of hard inquiries on your credit report. It’ll also help you qualify for mortgage and lower interest rates on those mortgages, saving you even more.
36.) Opt For Shorter Loan Periods…
You have to make many decisions when taking out a loan. One of these decisions is how long you want the loan term to be.
Shorter loan terms tend to come with lower interest rates as you’re statistically more likely to pay the whole thing back. Interest is basically a furnace you shovel your money in to (as you gain no benefit except preventing collection from knocking on your door), so anything that reduces overall interest is financially useful.
Also, like we just said, your debt will be gone much sooner.
37.) But Sometimes, Longer Loan Terms Are Better
Interest rate is an important consideration, but it’s more important that you can afford the monthly payment at all.
Let’s use a car loan to illustrate this.
Think about the two extreme ends of this scenario: if you buy a car outright, there’s no need for financing and thus no interest.
So shouldn’t everyone buy cars outright?
Well, not many people can afford to buy a functional vehicle outright. If they could, there’d be no need for financing in the first place.
At the other end, you’d have infinitesimally small monthly payments with a high interest rate, but they’re spread over a long period of time.
Now, to dial that back to reality. Let’s say you can choose between a 3-year loan that requires a $500 monthly payment and a 6 year loan that requires a $280 monthly payment. Your budget is $510. That 6-year loan will leave you with a large financial cushion, even if the interest rate were larger.
Not to mention you can leverage those savings to generate a higher return than you interest rate by investing it into something.
It all comes down to cost/benefit. You have to analyze the situation and determine how to save as much as possible while still being able to comfortably afford the debt.
Of course, you can reduce this need to take a longer loan by simply getting a cheaper car/house. Life’s not that simple, though; sometimes, the more “expensive” debt (in terms of interest) is a better choice.
Health Savings Tips
38.) Go To All Your Checkups
Going to the doctor’s can be a pain (well, the dentist can be even more of a pain), but these simple checkup appointments are critical to keeping you in good health, which we all know is good for your wallet.
Keeping up with your preventative health appointments helps you catch potential problems like disease or injury before they happen, saving you time and money on future procedures.
But if money doesn’t convince you, think about this: one slightly painful dental checkup every 6 months can keep you from ever needing something as “fun” as a crown or a root canal.
39.) Buy Store Brand Over-The-Counter Medication
Store brand products tend to be among the cheapest, and OTC medication is no different. In fact, many OTC drug formulas are the exact same regardless of brand name.
You are quite literally paying extra for a different logo if you opt for anything but the store brand.
So the next time you need Ibuprofen, don’t get Motrin. Go buy your favorite grocery store/supermarkets brand of NSAID pain relievers.
40.) Get A Discount On A Gym Membership
Healthy employees are good employees. Companies know this, so they’ll procure a company gym membership for their employees to use. If your company has one of these, then you can attend a gym for less.
Insurance companies also give discounts because healthy customers won’t cost the company as much in insurance payouts. Some insurance companies offer up to 30% off select gyms. It’s well worth a few minutes of investigation to see if your insurance company will reward you for sweating it out regularly.
Now, gyms come in all shapes, sizes, and offerings, so don’t think you have to join a hardcore powerlifting gym to save on insurance premiums. Just grab a membership to a gym in your area with the discount and start saving on insurance!
41.) Or Workout At Home
Gyms have plenty of space and equipment for exercise, but you can get a satisfying workout in without leaving your neighborhood.
For resistance training, there’re all manner of bodyweight exercises like
- Pushups
- Pullups
- Squats
- Burpees
If you need the equipment but don’t want the membership, you can invest in barbells, dumbbells, a bench, a squat rack, and a pullup bar for a few hundred to a little over $1,000. Sounds like a lot, but durable equipment will pay itself off over a long enough time period when compared to the constant gym membership billing.
And then there’s cardio. You can get the heart pumping through activities like
- Jogging
- Running
- Hiking
- Biking
- Swimming
And more.
Even walking is good exercise. Studies have found that walking just 20 minutes a day can burn fat, build muscle, lower your risks for heart disease and diabetes, boost your memory, improve your mood, and generally prolong your life. It’s also very low-stress and easy on your joints.
42.) Cut Your Drinking And Smoking Habits
Both drinking and smoking are bad for your health and your wallet.
Let’s talk about day-to-day first. Drinking every night adds up. Your morning hangover will make work more difficult, causing you to miss out on potential raises and promotions.
As for smoking, it’s easy to become a pack-a-day smoker. Smoking a pack a day can cost you well over $100 extra a month, not to mention the cumulative time you spend on smoke breaks.
Now, for the long-term. Each one of these habits contributes to many tragic and costly health conditions.
Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to various liver conditions, some cancers, and of course alcohol poisoning.
Smoking is also linked to many types of cancers. It’s also been found to increase risk of heart disease, diabetes, and plenty of dental problems.
These diseases are terrible and affect millions of people’s lives, but they also drain your bank account.
On top of the long-term health risks, there’re insurance costs precisely because of these risks. Insurance companies want healthy customers, so they’ll charge riskier customers more to hedge against the risk of insurance payouts.
Home Savings Tips
43.) Watch Those Utilities
Modern amenities like air conditioning and lights are nice, but they gobble up your savings if you aren’t careful.
Perhaps the biggest contributors to your utility bill are your climate controls. You can reduce your reliance on these no matter the season.
In the summer, open all your windows and stick fans in them. Make sure you have one fan pointing in and another pointing out; what this’ll do is pull air into the home and push it back out, which creates better circulation. Since heat rises, put your outward-facing fans upstairs to keep hot air moving out.
Before winter hits, make sure your home is properly insulated. Once the snow arrives, reduce your reliance on that heat by bundling up more. You can always add more layers!
Electricity is easy to save on. Just turn off your lights and electronics when not in use. Turning off your light will marginally increase your A/C savings as well, as even lights contribute to your home’s warmth.
Same with water. Don’t take 45 minute showers, even if it’s freezing outside. That’ll cost you both in water and in heat.
Your wallet will thank you if you shorten your showers.
Being mindful of your utility use takes little effort and you can start doing it today.
44.) Shield Your Home From The Elements
Continuing with our discussion of utility savings, there are a few things you can do to weatherproof your home during each season to further save on heating and cooling costs.
No matter the season, check walls, windows, and doors for cracks or holes and seal them up immediately.
During the summer, close your blinds on the side of the house where the sun is (you’ll want to use your fans on the other side of the house). This alone will keep out a fair amount of heat.
When winter hits, open those blinds back up so the sun can help keep your house warm.
45.) Lower Your Water Heater Temperature
Did you know that you save 5% on your water bill for every 10 degree decrease in water heater temperature?
You can lower you water heater temperature to as low as 120 degrees without noticing anything and save a ton of cash.
After all, do you really need water above 120 degrees for regular activities? Unless you can stand showers in excess of that temperature, you probably won’t need your water all that hot. 120 degrees is still plenty for cleaning dishes and whatnot as well.
46.) Learn To Get Handy
Things break. It’s inevitable. Hiring handymen to fix things in your home is always an option, but like with your car, you can save some cash by learning to be handy yourself.
Some DIY home improvement projects involve your utilities. Teaching yourself how to repair these will save you money on utilities (as we already discussed) as well as on a handyman.
47.) Garage Sale!
Everyone’s got plenty of junk they don’t need lying around the house.
Spend a weekend searching your house too to bottom for old stuff you don’t use. These could be clothes, books, electronics, or really anything; One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as they say.
Garage sales are no longer limited to your neighborhood. Sites like Craigslist, eBay, and even Amazon expand your customer base across the entire world.
There are some sites specifically for selling items, especially electronics. Gazelle is one of the best of these sites; they handle everything including wiping your data; all you have to do is ship it to them if you agree with their price.
Selling stuff is not technically saving money, but you are clearing out space for new stuff and making money while you’re doing it.
In our opinion, that’s a pretty good deal.
48.) Refinance Your House’s Mortgage
Have you been a responsible homeowner, paying your mortgage on time every month? Investigate if you can refinance your mortgage.
If you don’t know what refinancing is, it’s essentially a way to lower your interest rate.
Your lender will look at your current credit score, mortgage payment history, and similar data to determine your new loan terms.
A strong credit score and a perfect payment history will almost certainly land you a lower interest rate, which will save you thousands of dollars over the remainder of your mortgage.
Since your interest rate is decreasing, the proportion of your monthly payment that consists of principal will increase, thus increasing the rate at which you gain equity in your home.
This equity is a great fallback for emergency situations, as you can take out larger home equity loans.
49.) Rent Out Rooms In Your Home
Rarely do people ever buy a home with the exact amount of space they need. If you’ve got unused rooms in your home, you’re sitting on a relatively passive income stream. Start renting them out!
Airbnb is an excellent way to start listing rooms in your home for sale. Creating an account doesn’t take long, and they have plenty of safety measures in place.
Going on vacation? Consider renting out your entire house! You can charge a lot more and maybe even cover a mortgage payment.
Check up on your landlord or homeowner’s association’s rules on renting out to others. Sure, you can try to sneak under the radar, but the consequences for being caught doing so tend to be steep and monetary in nature.
Transportation Savings Tips
50.) Don’t Skimp On Preventative Maintenance
Paying for preventative maintenance is a pain, but you know what’s worse? Forking over thousands for a major problem that could’ve been prevented with simple routine maintenance.
Don’t skip your oil changes or tire rotations just because they cost money and a little bit of time.
That includes smaller tasks like keeping your tires full.
51.) Learn About Cars
Preventative maintenance is important, but you can save even more by learning some car basics. Learning about how your car works makes it easier to understand what mechanics and technicians are talking about.
If you know what you’re talking about, you can negotiate prices downwards for some things and avoid “accidentally” agreeing to additional purchases you didn’t want to make.
But its not just enough to learn about how your car works; you should teach yourself how to perform some of the preventative maintenance.
Teach yourself how to change your oil, fill your tires, wash your car properly, and you’ll be saving plenty of cash and time at your dealer or repair place.
52.) Get Repairs Done ASAP
Many drivers get in minor accidents that appear to only be cosmetic damage. Many times, they’re wrong; some of this damage that only appears cosmetic could actually be a ticking time bomb for your car.
For example, you might crack your bumper on a snowbank and deal with the ugly marks because it’s not causing any immediate issues with the vehicle.
A few months down the road, though, maybe pieces of your bumper start falling off until one day, the whole thing does. That will cost you a lot.
Maybe even more critical to take care of is the brakes. They’re the only things that stand between you and a terrible (not to mention costly) accident.
53.) Focus on Fuel Efficiency
Luxury cars make for a very relaxing commute during the week, while sports cars are great fun driving down the backroads on the weekend.
Too bad they aren’t more fuel efficient.
Both types of cars have larger engines and aren’t built with fuel economy in mind, so both of them will cost you a small fortune in gas. Also, many higher-end sports cars require higher-octane gas, which is more expensive than the gas you might fill up your Ford Focus with.
Most fuel efficient cars can run on the lowest octane gas, and of course, they get great gas mileage (which also helps the environment). And with current technological trends, many fuel efficient economy cars are surprisingly fun AND comfortable.
Obviously, you need to be currently in the market for a new car in order to get a fuel efficient vehicle. You can’t just up and decide you want a fuel efficient vehicle if you already have a car.
Still, there are some fuel efficient driving tips you can use for the time being.
One way is to scale back on hard acceleration. Putting the pedal to the floor may be thrilling, but your car consumes a lot more gasoline when you do that. Ease up on to the accelerator if you’re starting from a full stop to save some gas.
When you’re driving, try to maintain a steady speed. This will minimize the extra gas your car needs to get back up to speed. Make use of cruise control on empty roads, but turn it off and maintain your speed manually in heavier traffic.
Avoid hard braking. Slamming on the brakes causes your car to rapidly downshift in gear. Lower gears require more engine revolutions (revs), thus drawing on more fuel.
Braking properly also prolongs the life of your brakes. You’ll be able to wait longer before getting your brakes changed, saving you even more money.
Other issues caused by hard braking include suspension wear and potential tire damage. You could even end up in an accident via some rear-ending you if you brake too hard too often.
54.) Use Public Transit
City-dwellers can save a fortune on all those car expenses by ditching the car entirely in favor of public transit.
If you live in a large city, you’re bound to have access to an expansive bus system. Grab yourself a bus pass and start using it if you want to save on car expenses.
Vacation Savings Tips
55.) Book Your Flights As Early As Possible
Airlines will raise ticket prices as a flight gets closer thanks to simple supply and demand.
Unless you’re extremely spontaneous by nature, make sure to plan your vacations as far ahead of time as is realistic. You’ll get cheaper flights as well as peace of mind from having a confirmed booking.
56.) Purchase Your Flight On A Sunday
For whatever reason, flights tend to be cheapest if you wait until a Sunday to buy them.
You may forget to buy your flight on a Sunday, though, and it’s not always worth it to wait until the next Sunday. If that happens to you, avoid buying plane tickets on a Thursday or Friday, as tickets tend to be the most expensive on those days.
57.) Depart On Thursday or Friday
Know how tickets are most expensive when you’re booking in a Thursday or Friday? Turns out that departing on either of those days is much cheaper.
Again, we aren’t sure why it’s cheaper. But you may as well take advantage of lower prices for Thursday and Friday departures.
So to maximize your savings, book a Thursday or Friday flight on the earliest possible Saturday you can.
58.) Consider An Airbnb
Traditional hotels are quite expensive and don’t offer much choice for travelers. Airbnb changed all that when they stepped on the scene years ago.
Airbnb has tons of great listings for any type of vacation. Looking for a relaxing beach getaway? Book a little beach shack on Airbnb.
Or maybe you’re headed to Vegas for some big city nights. You could find an amazing penthouse to split between you and some friends for only a few hundred dollars.
Airbnb also has an Experiences feature. Hosts can create personalized tours and other events to offer to you as a guest. Experiences are quite unique since they’re from the perspective of a local, yet they’re still affordable.
59.) Get Groceries Instead Of Dining Out
Food is a huge vacation expense to consider. Restaurants are already expensive enough, but they’ll raise prices even more if they’re in touristy areas.
If you can find a decent accommodation with at least a kitchenette, you should jump on it right away. Cooking yourself meals at home could save you tons, especially if you’re traveling with family.
Many hotel rooms don’t have kitchens, so Airbnb will again come in handy if you’re looking to save money on travel dining.
Grocery shopping can make for its own little vacation activity too. Save money while getting out of your hotel room next vacation!
60.) Complimentary Breakfast
Next time you find yourself in a hotel when you’re traveling, find out if they offer free breakfast.
If they do, you obviously should grab some.
Hotel breakfasts tend to be pretty limited compared to a restaurant; however, they tend to have all the basics like bacon, sausage, eggs, cereal, pastries, and coffee.
Use this opportunity to stuff yourself full. Try to grab some extra for later, but don’t make a scene while doing it.
Get to the hotel breakfast early. Since they’re giving it away, they don’t make a whole lot. Get down to breakfast too late, and you might be going hungry until lunch.
Saving Money Isn’t All That Hard
Woah, we’re at the end of our list of ways to save money. Hopefully, you found some valuable insights into your own spending habits by reading this list.
Start applying these little by little in your daily life, and you’ll watch the savings add up.