Saving money is one of the best life decisions anyone can make anywhere. It is an essential habit everyone needs to inculcate. However, many Americans find this habit difficult to imbibe into their lives. It doesn’t have to give you a hard time, there are simple ways you should know how to save money every month.
Here Is How To Save Money Every Month
1. Cook Your Own Meals
Cooking your own meal at home is always cheaper and in fact, much healthier than dining out. The stress of having to go through the preparation is often the worry of many. But there are ways you can meal prep healthy meals to cover you for a period of four to five days.
While eating out is easier and a quicker approach to have your daily meals, be informed that the average household in America spends a whopping $3,500 eating out annually.
That is pretty much! You’ll save so much if you get your own meals prepared yourself. And since that is why you are reading this article anyway – to find how to save money every month – then you should consider the cheaper option of having your meals which will help you cut down on outrageous meal expenses. You are really not going to give way to a $5 to $20 night at Chili’s or a couple after-work happy hours deprive you of your core priorities and values.
2. Meal Plan
As an extension of the previous point, you’ll need a meal plan to save yourself the stress of cooking everyday and thrice daily. Meal planning will help you to follow strictly your grocery budget. You will also be able to purchase your groceries in bulk which would help you save some more cash, especially if you do generic store brand shopping.
3. Do Your Minor Home Repairs
You do not have to involve professionals all the time when it comes to some simple home repairs which you should be able to carry out yourself. Some minor odd jobs like fixing your dryer, installing your dishwasher, and changing your car filter. And there are much more you’ll be able to learn on YouTube. You will in fact get access to step-by-step guide on fixing a few things at home.
4. Reuse Old Clothes
Consider ways to make use of old clothes again. Instead of just throwing out those clothes in trash, they could serve as cleaning items in the house. You can use your old-shirts to wash your car. You can convert your old jeans into other fashion fabrics such as a purse. There are lots of DIY videos you can take advantage on YouTube to guide you on this.
5. Wash Your Car
Save up to $30 by doing your own car washing. When you start to do this, you’ll find out how easy it can be. Aside from this, you’ll also find out a lot more about your car when you wash it yourself. You may also want to draw the support of a family member or a neighbor who also benefits from the use of the car to get it washed.
6. Do Your Yardwork
If you are really considering how to save money every month, then you should find ways to achieve this yourself. Instead of hiring someone to do the jobs, look out for tasks you can get done all by yourself to put some more cash into your wallet.
Mow your grass, rake the leaves, shovel snow, haul the refuse to the dump, wash your vehicle in the driveway, picking up your pet’s poop!, etc. There are people who hire other people to pick up their pet’s poop. It’s funny, but you should really do this yourself harnessing garden tools that will avoid skin contact with the wastes.
7. Do Your Home Maintenance
There are lots of home maintenance efforts around the home which you can get done yourself without needing to pay anyone. People often toss out several hundreds of dollars doing their home maintenance. This fee may also involve stuff you do not directly have control over, such as homeowners association fees and property taxes. However, you can bring down the expenses by doing some achievable ones all by yourself.
8. Grow Your Vegetables
You will save a lot from growing your own vegetables. Beyond just the money you will be saving, you will also be more assured of the quality of vegetables you’ll be consuming. Create a garden in your backyard and let the vegetables have their way there. This will effectively cut down your grocery bill.
9. Create Your Own Gift
Instead of giving your sweetheart that expensive gift, you can try to create something which they will still appreciate very well. You can create an inexpensive gift basket or a photo collage of times you shared together. This does not mean that your special person doesn’t deserve expensive gifts, but since you need to save some money every month, you should allow this fly occasionally to save some cash.
10. Borrow Or Share Items
Many personal belongings are not healthy to be shared with other people, but there is stuff you can still borrow from friends or neighbors instead of getting a new one.
One-time Items, or stuff you do not regularly need which can very well be shared should be considered to save some money for yourself. If you think your neighbors do not mind, you can get some garden tools from them to work in your garden.
11. Go For Quality Rather Than Quantity
When you purchase items that will still be available and useful after a long time, you will be able to save some cash that would have been spent on replacing those items in a short-term use. Going for quality stuff will serve you for a long time and save you money replacing them
12. Negotiate Your Rent
Many people are not aware that they can negotiate their rents. Yes, you do not have to pay what your landlord or prospective landlord says. Negotiating the fees will help you save some money that would have gone with payment of rent every month. Sign a reduced lease, pay your rent in advance, or offer to carry out some physical work around in return for a reduced rent pay.
13. Acquire Your Groceries Directly From Farmers
Instead of visiting the grocery store for every little thing you need, you can visit local farmer around you to acquire some fresh vegetables and fruits at reduced prices. This move is a sure way to cut down on your regular grocery expenses.
14. Cut Your Hair Yourself
You do not have to pay a barber every week if you prefer skin cut and can do it yourself. You can put that money into your savings and do the haircut yourself and for members of your family. It is likely that you also have a member of your family who can handle the haircut, and do it for everyone else.
15. Request For Discounts
Even if you are not given a coupon, you can still request for a cut or discounted prices over purchased items. You will be amazed by how much you would have extra after receiving discounts over your regular purchases, and that is even in areas you least expect. Even when you request at hospitals and pay in cash, you will very likely be offered discounts.
16. Hang Your Wet Clothes To Dry
Harnessing dryers may be faster, but then, you could save some cash by just hanging out those washed fabrics on a clothesline. It is a very cheap approach to get your clothes dry and suitable for pressing.
17. Abandon A Bad Habit
If you are a frequent smoker, you may want to do an account of how much goes into this habit every month and see what you could be saving by quitting it. Besides, you should also consider the long-term effect on your health and how much will be eroded from your pocket by making a decision to nurture the habit. So, quit it! Even if this would require a gradual, deliberate effort.
Do you also take so much soda? Why not opt for consistent water instead? Water has all the required health benefits your body needs.
18. Save Money By Reducing Taxable Income
Take advantage of deductions. Make contributions to your retirement accounts that are deductible or consider increasing amounts that are sent to flexible spending or health savings accounts.
19. Avoid Paying Extra
Are you going for a flight? Be timely, and avert the extra fees of first class. if you are renting a car, avoid incurring extra insurance fees if your own insurance covers it. There are some engagements you can have on the phone rather than meeting the person one-on-one and spending more on transportation.
20. Save On Electricity Use
It is very likely that your electricity consumes a lot every month and it takes the biggest share of your monthly utility bill. How can you cut down on your electricity bill? Consider unplugging appliances that aren’t in use. It is said that these appliances consume a small amount of power even when not in use but are left plugged. Turn off lights that are not in use and adjust your thermostat to help hog less power
21. Save On Transport Costs
According to The BLS, a typical American household in 2019, runs up $813 as expenses on transportation every month. This includes payments on car and gas. You may consider purchasing a used car instead of leasing or buying a new one. Also stick to the recommended maintenance of your car for smooth running, handle simple car repairs, reduce your speed and hard braking to reduce gas consumption, walk or ride a bike when possible.
22. Save On Cell Phone and Internet Services
Staying connected with friends, family, and customers is not free. The BLS estimated an average monthly fee of $99 incurred by American households in 2019. Save by applying for automatic payments and paperless billing, use your phone for a longer period instead of keeping eye on new models in the market, look out for unneeded features that may be consuming some dollars, and consider cell phone providers with lower prices.
Over your internet services, you can consider saving cash to purchase a modem or router from an internet service provider, shop around for quality at reduced costs, and consider reduced speed that works nicely and with reduced charges.
23. Insurance
An average consumer in the United States uses up to $200 and even more every month on cars and homeowners insurance. The Insurance Information Institute recommends a way to cut down on your insurance costs, by shopping around for coverage and obtaining quotes from up to three insurers. You can also explore discounts such as ones from bundling policies from insurers.
24. Cut Out Recurring Bills On Monthly Memberships and Subscriptions
It is easy to make subscriptions and activate memberships and forget them while they keep eroding valuable amounts from us every month, especially since they are automatically done through your bank or credit card accounts. You should consider cutting out those unneeded expenses by sifting through your account statements.
You may be incurring a gym membership fee of up to $75 monthly when in actual fact you haven’t been to the gym after over a year. It may also be a video-streaming signup you did.
25. Cut Down On Giveaways
You may be the type that likes giving out a lot to others. But this habit is very likely costing you so much every month. While it feels great giving out things to people, there are tendencies that this habit can be easily overdone. You may want to consider more creative and frugal gifts. You may consider the gift of time instead or unused household items that are still in good condition.
26. Buy Less Of Items That Can Get Spoilt Easily
When going for your groceries, you should consider cutting down on things that can get spoilt easily, or that may get bad even before using them. Consider either buying less of them or cutting them out totally.
27. Don’t Allow So Much Cash Sit idle In Your Checking
Instead of allowing so much cash to sit idle in your checking, why not put them to use, invest, or put them into savings account that yields better? Put your money to use. This decision, when wisely taken, will make your money grow.
28. Don’t Stick To Brands
It can be a bit funny an tricky trying to stick to a particular brand which a lot of people do. And many who do, do not do this for any reasonable reason, aside the generic habit they have developed towards the brand. But in reality, these products aren’t really better than other alternatives.
29. Save On Hobby Spending
It can be tempting dishing out so much on the latest video games, comic books, and so on. While it is not advised that you cut out spending on your hobby totally, you may want cut down on the money going into it. Save some cash and you’ll have more cash to push into other things.
30. Create A Budget And Adhere To It
While this may seem an obvious tip on how to save money every month, it is still an habit many do not inculcate into their daily lives. By keeping track of where your money is going will help you discover a lot of ways and areas you can cut costs and save some more money.
These 30 ways give you different approaches on how to save money every month. You should also look into your regular monthly budgets and find out more ways to save money for other things every month.
