We all desire to save money, by any means necessary, and if it involves denying ourselves a few pleasures to achieve that most of us would definitely go for that. The List below will show you the 10 Best Ways to Save Money in your day-to-day life.
1. Clear your debt.
It goes without saying that if you want to start saving, one of the first things you need to do is
clear your debt. Your debt is obviously gaining interest and the earlier you clear up your debt
the faster you can save.
2. Tracking your spending
Tracking your spending is a great way to help you start saving. Creating a budget to track
how much you are spending will help you to understand what is using up most of your finances and will easily help you to get rid of unnecessary items that take up most of your money. Asking yourself if what you would like to purchase is a want or a need will go a long way in helping you track your spending and in return help you to save.
After you have a clear idea of what you spend monthly or weekly because you are tracking your expenses, including saving in your budget will help. Including a specific amount of money in your budget that is allocated to savings will keep you on the right track to creating a healthy saving habit.
3. Cutting on unnecessary spending
is a sure way to ensure you are saving. Cutting back on eating out and preparing meals at home will greatly reduce your expenditure, saving you a few important bucks.
4. Setting saving goals
Setting saving goals is one of the best ways to help you save money. You can start by
visualizing or even writing down what exactly you want to save up for, how long it will take you to achieve it, and how much you need to put aside will, this will help give you a clear understanding of how to utilize what you will have saved up.
5. Understand your financial priorities
After paying up your bills and spending on other expenses, your priorities will guide you on how to save. If you would like to buy a house in a few years’ time, you can start by saving a few years before to help you stay disciplined so that in a few years you can comfortably achieve your goal of buying a house.
6. Stop Smoking
No, it’s certainly not easy to quit, but if you smoke a pack and a half every day, that amounts to nearly $2,500 a year you can realize in savings if you quit. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of Americans who smoke cigarettes is now below 20 percent for the first time since at least the mid-1960s — join the club!
7. Spend to Save
Let’s face it, utility costs seldom go down over time, so take charge now and weatherize your home. Call your utility company and ask for an energy audit or find a certified contractor who can give you a whole-home energy efficiency review. This will range from easy improvements like sealing windows and doors all the way to installing new insulation, siding, or ENERGY STAR high-efficiency appliances and products. You could save thousands in utility costs over time.
8. Put a spending limit on your card
A great tip for saving money fast? Set a limit to how much you can spend on your credit or debit cards. This stops you from overspending and encourages you to reassess your daily expenditures in advance. Many banks offer this service.
9. Cut back on rent
Cutting back on rent is one of the quickest ways to start saving a sizeable sum of money each month. If you currently live alone, one of the easiest ways to do this is to choose to live with a roommate. This immediately halves your rent, and if you choose to live with two additional roommates, you’ll pay roughly a third of what you’re currently paying.
So, if you’re currently paying $1300 a month for a three-bedroom apartment and you get an additional roommate, you’d save $650 a month. If you decided to live with two people, you’d save around $870 a month. That’s nearly $10,500 a year!
If you already live in a shared apartment, consider swapping to a smaller room. Rent rates are usually calculated in accordance with the size of the room being rented, so you could make some significant savings each month. What’s more, it may also encourage you to downsize, which could mean making a bit of extra cash by selling your unused items.
10. Cancel any unused subscriptions
Subscriptions are a money-making dream for a lot of companies. This is because once a customer subscribes to their service, they’re more reluctant to cancel their subscription even if they hardly ever use it.
This, in large part, is due to the sunk-cost fallacy. When applied to a subscription service, the sunk-cost fallacy means that canceling a rarely used subscription is hard, as you’ve already paid so much money for it. Therefore, canceling the subscription would mean accepting that all the money spent on it up until that point has been wasted. But, by delaying canceling the subscription, it still feels like there’s a chance the service might eventually be used.
In general, though, few of us ever fully use our subscription services to their fullest. So, it’s more cost-effective to cancel any unused subscriptions now, rather than hold out for a time when you may hypothetically use it.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the best ways to save money fast?
- Create a Budget. Budgeting is the first step to saving money
- Cut Spending. Next, comb through each spending category to determine where you can cut back the most
- Earn More
- Change Your Lifestyle Habits
- Switch to a Better Savings Account
- Curb Impulse Buying.