There are lots of ways to save money, but some will take more effort than others. You can’t just decide to start saving money one day and expect it to happen overnight; you have to make an actual plan with specific steps you’ll take every single day. If you’re ready to start saving and have some ideas about how you might do that, here are some tips for getting started:
Make a budget to keep track of your spending.
Budgeting is the most important step to saving money. It’s also the easiest way to start, and you can do it in just a few minutes. To create a budget that works for you, write down all of your monthly expenses and income, then find out how much of your income is left over after paying bills. This number is called discretionary income—the cash available for fun stuff like going out or buying new clothes!
To make sure you’re saving enough money, track how much money goes into each category (e.g., rent) by writing down every single dollar that goes into it on your spreadsheet or budget app for at least three months (six months is better). You might be surprised by how much some categories add up!
Automate your savings and investing.
The more you can automate, the better. Automate your savings and investing—and not just for the sake of saving more money. Automation allows you to spend less time on tedious tasks and devote more of your energy toward things that truly matter: like raising your kids or playing with them at the park.
Automate your bills and taxes so you don’t have to worry about late fees or fines from not paying on time, as well as automatic payments into retirement accounts (such as a 401(k) or IRA) so that there are no gaps in between contributions.
Consider using an app to help you save money.
- Using an app to help you save money is a great way to get started. Apps can help you save money by helping you track your spending, setting goals for the future, finding deals and coupons for things that you need and more!*
Don’t spend on impulse; give yourself time to think about purchases.
Don’t buy on impulse.
You’ve seen that one before, but it’s so important that it bears repeating. If you’re serious about saving money, don’t just follow these tips and then go back to your old habits. You have to change how you think about spending altogether—and that means not buying things on a whim without giving them any thought or consideration at all.
If something is worth buying, it’s worth thinking about first. The same goes for when deciding whether or not to buy something: if there is any possible way for you to get the item for free (say, by finding someone who has one), then don’t even consider paying full price for it!
Save for the future without the mental burden of thinking about it every day.
Set up an automatic savings plan. To save more money, you need to be consistent with your savings habits. So set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account as often as possible—every week or every month, depending on how much money you can afford to set aside at once.
Set up a recurring transfer to your savings account. If you have a regular paycheck that comes in every two weeks, try setting up a recurring transfer of $100 per paycheck right into your savings account on the first of each month—so $200 total by the end of the month! Then when it’s time for paychecks again, use those funds for other things (like paying off credit card debt). This way there’s no mental burden on yourself because if something unexpected happens and there isn’t enough money in checking but plenty available in savings then no problem—it’s just happening automatically without any thought from yourself whatsoever!
Use a savings app like Stash or Digit AI assistant apps like Digit will help automate these transfers even further by transferring any excess cash from checking accounts into their respective user-controlled “savings accounts” (which are really just bank accounts) instead of letting that extra cash sit around unused until next payday rolls around again whereupon they’ll likely spend it all back into checking again anyway!
Use the “rule of 72” to estimate how long it will take for an investment to double in value.
You can use the rule of 72 to estimate how long it will take for an investment to double in value. The rule is based on the idea that 72 divided by the interest rate equals the number of years it takes for an investment to double.
In other words, if you earn 6% interest on your savings account, then 72/6 = 12 years—your money will double in 12 years. If you earn 10% interest on your savings account, then 72/10 = 7.2 years—your money will double in 7.2 years (you’ll see this number as “72×”).
Review bank fees and consider switching banks if yours are too high.
If you’re like most people, the bank fees you pay probably add up to hundreds of dollars a year. One of the easiest ways to save money is by switching to a bank with lower fees and avoiding those extra charges altogether. One way to do this is by comparing the rates of different banks and checking their websites for information on their account requirements before signing up. You should avoid banks that charge high annual fee rates or require minimum balance levels in order for your accounts to remain free from service charges. Banks also often charge monthly maintenance fees for checking accounts, so be sure your new bank doesn’t have any hidden costs in addition to its advertised ones before opening an account there.
When shopping online, use cash back or price match guarantees wherever you can find them.
When shopping online, use cash back or price match guarantees wherever you can find them. Cash back is a percentage of your purchase that you get back in the form of a gift card. The best sites will offer several percent in addition to a flat dollar amount, so check out multiple websites before making your final decision on which one to use.
Price matching guarantees are when stores will match the price of an item at another store (or even another website) if it’s cheaper there than it is at yours. They typically require that the other store has been selling the item for at least 14 days and will only match prices from authorized retailers—so be sure to check both the policy and the retailer carefully when considering these offers!
With or without coupons: It doesn’t matter! Either way, cash back and price matching guarantees can save you money without coupons.*
Ask for cash back at the register rather than store credit cards that charge interest or have annual fees starting at $30 or more per year (depending on which card you get).
- Ask for cash back at the register rather than store credit cards that charge interest or have annual fees starting at $30 or more per year (depending on which card you get).
- Don’t get a store credit card.
- Don’t get a credit card with an annual fee.
- Don’t get a credit card with interest! It’s free money to them, but it can cost you hundreds of dollars in profit if you don’t pay your balance off each month and end up paying the interest rate charged by your bank on your revolving debt balance every month instead of just making minimum payments until they raise the rates again sometime next year when they’ll change them again…and so on, until eventually, you’re paying $20+/month in interest charges just because they can legally do it; this is known as “predatory lending”.
If you’re worried about identity theft, consider freezing your credit reports
Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.
Conclusion
The best way to save money is by spending less on your essentials and putting the rest into savings or investments. If you’re trying to build up some emergency funds, set a goal for how much money you want in the bank before spending it all on something else (or just use our handy rule of 72). That way, when there’s an emergency like a flat tire or unexpected medical bill — or even just an unexpected drop in interest rates — you’ll have some cash on hand instead of going into debt unnecessarily!
