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17+ Ways to Save Money Right Now
- Choose a no-fee bank so you can save money and don’t have to pay banking fees. I know it might seem like a pain to switch banks, but believe me, the “little” fees aren’t worth it! I did the math comparing how much I had saved over 10 years from banking at a no-fee bank to one of my clients who was at her bank for ten years and paying fees and the difference was $5640! That’s money you’re literally throwing away that you don’t have to be!
For Canadians, I recommend Tangerine & Simplii Financial as no-fee banks. For Americans, I recommend Ally and Capital One 360.
- Cut cable and opt for Netflix or get a Kodi/Android box.
- I am a very avid reader and I love the feeling of buying books. But I love even more, borrowing books from the library and using the Hoopla or Overdrive app (in just the past 3 months alone, I have saved $170 from using my library, that doesn’t even count the audiobooks I’ve listened to on the Hoopla app!)
- Call and negotiate your credit card interest rates, even getting them reduced from 24% to 19% or 19% to 15% or lower can make a big difference on the interest that you end up paying!!
5. Save money on groceries and eating out by using cash. You take out cash twice a month, once at the beginning of the month and once in the middle (if you are paid on the 1st and 15th, if you aren’t you will take cash out when you are paid). I am a HUGE fan of this and do it personally as well as all of my financial coaching clients do it too! I have also written a blog post here that is dedicated to helping you save hundreds of dollars on groceries a month. Set a budget for your groceries and eating out for the month and be really intentional about sticking to it.
6. Have money come off of your cheque automatically before it is deposited into your account to go into a retirement account or a non-RRSP account so you are saving money each month. Once the money hits your account, it can be really difficult to put it into a retirement or savings account, but if you have it done automatically you get used to having a “lower” amount in your account and it is easier to live off of this amount, while also contributing to your retirement and savings goals!
Other Content You May Find Helpful:
- Should You Use Your Savings to Pay Off Debt?
- How to Stay Motivated When Paying Off Debt & Saving
- My Top 6 Money Mistakes I’ve Made, That You Can Learn From & Avoid
- 11 Ways to Save Money on Groceries
- How I Saved $50,000+ so I Could Leave My 6 Figure Career
- How I Made Over $9000 Just by Selling Things I Already Had in My House
- How to Make Saving Automatic & Easy
- How to Plan Your Finances for an Entire Year (in under a couple of hours)
- Why You’ve Failed at Budgeting in the Past & How to Finally Succeed
- 9 Things You Are Spending Way More Money on Than You Think
- 3 Real Reasons You Are Overspending & How to Overcome It
- 7 Ways to Shift Your Environment to Earn More Money
7. Don’t use your credit card for everything, switch back to using your debit cards until you have debt paid off and you’ve really taken back control of your finances. Something I find commonly holding many people back is that they use their credit card for everything or for a lot of their expenses because they can earn points but then when it comes time to pay their credit card, it isn’t that easy! Something I want you to know is that if you aren’t paying your credit cards off in full each month, you aren’t actually earning those perks, you are paying MORE for them! The credit card companies are smart and they make things often seem better than they are, unless you are really using them to your advantage, but if you are having trouble paying them, you aren’t the one coming out on top.
8. Switch from Apple Music/Spotify Premium/Sirius Radio to using the free version of Spotify or make yourself YouTube playlists. I personally do this and I have no problem at all with it!
9. Save money on personal grooming by using aesthetics schools for waxing, hair cuts, colors, nails, etc. I have done this for hair cuts and waxing and I was really pleased with the results AND it was only a fraction of the cost!
10. Evaluate if your monthly subscription packages are really worth the cost or if you would rather use that money for something that gave you greater joy! (ex: Fun Fit Fab, Bark Box, etc)
11. Set a budget for gifts BEFORE holidays and birthdays and before you go shopping! If you haven’t already decided before you walk into a store what your budget is going to be for the gifts you are purchasing, you are likely going to end up spending way more than you want to, because you haven’t decided ahead of time that you will stick to a certain amount. Consciously decide this before you start looking at gifts!
12. Look at the apps that you are paying for. Ask yourself, do you really need the paid versions or can you use the free versions instead?
13. Save for travel monthly, even if you’re not going anywhere right now or even for a while, so it’s not a big expense at once you’re trying to figure out how to pay for. This way, you won’t just end up putting it on a credit card and carrying credit card debt because of your travel, but instead of you can pay for the trip all up front!
14. When you travel, use Airbnbs instead of hotels to save money on your accommodations.
15. When it comes to purchasing new clothes, something I absolutely LOVE doing is purchasing second-hand clothing. There is nothing wrong with wearing previously loved clothes and it can help you to cut down on your clothing costs by more than 50%! I use Facebook clothing buy/sell groups in my area as well I have bought clothes from my friends who were the same size and I paid a fraction of the price and more of the clothes had barely been worn. I am never too good to pass up second-hand clothing!
16. Entertainment is something that can add up quickly if you don’t pay attention to it. Set a budget for your entertainment each month and check in with it as the month progresses to see where you are at.
17. If you receive any magazines in the mail can you instead read articles online?
If you are having difficulty organizing your finances, figuring out a budgeting system that works really well and planning your upcoming months so you know a much greater picture of your finances, I encourage you to read more about my “Cash Flow Confidence” Program.. As a financial coach, I have helped many of my clients through this session to do just that and more.
Want to find out where you really stand financially? Click “Cash Flow Confidence” Program.
Click here to download my Realistic Budget template!
I am very active on Instagram, follow me here for more financial tips & tricks: http://instagram.com/mandyythomas (@mandyythomas)Do you have any questions or anything to add? Leave me a comment in the comments below and I will respond back to you!
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