No matter where do you stand in your financial career, you always have good intentions when it comes to saving money. Everyone is keen to know about the ways to save money not only for himself but also for a better future for his kids.
Mostly, we find people struggling at the end of the month for not having enough money to deal with the expenses. That’s because they do not know the ways to save money. Resultantly they have not developed a healthy habit of saving money.
Why Should You Save Money?
You might be aware of the famous saying
“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned”
Saving money and cutting your expenses is extremely important for you. You may need this money in the future to fulfill your wishes and achieve your dreams.
You may have a dream to buy a newly furnished house, get a beautiful car, go on a world tour or any other such thing. But for any of your such wishes to come true, you have to plan today.
You will need plenty of money to fulfill your desires. Hence, to fulfill your dreams, you should start saving today.
Don’t Be Frugal
Saving money does not mean to become frugal and start skipping daily meals or coffee, which is your necessity. Instead, it means to learn the art of managing money wisely. By learning the art of managing money carefully, you can join the list of the wealthiest people in the world.
How can you Save Money?
To get the necessary motivation to start saving today, you have to realize that your future wishes are more important than your current needs. So, you have to develop a habit of compromising on current needs for a better tomorrow.
You will have to educate yourself that a new smartphone, TV, or any other utility is not important for me at this time. Instead, I have to save money to achieve my goals.
50 Ways to Save Money
Hence to provide you the necessary motivation and to chin you up, we have enlisted 50 ways that will help you to save money for yourself. If you adopt these methods, you can save a considerable amount of money for yourself.
It might appear challenging to get started, but sometimes taking one step in the right direction diverts the things in your favor. By making one right decision, you start getting the results you want. Resultantly, you can use it to fulfill your wishes and enjoy a happy life.
So, let’s discuss 50 secure methods that you should adopt to save money for yourself.
1. Start Cooking Food at Home
Eating homemade food is not only economical but also is healthy for you. Homemade food is nutritious and is free of unhealthy ingredients. So, if you start cooking at home and eat homemade food, you will not only save a considerable amount of money but will also enjoy a healthy life.
Dining out is not a good practice at all. The food you eat while dining out is not only expensive but also is unhealthy. You spend a massive amount of money when you dine out as a result of which your monthly balance gets disturbed.
So, instead of dining out regularly, consider saving that money and start eating homemade food.
2. Quit Smoking Instantly
Smoking is not only an expensive habit but is deadly, as well. Each cigarette you smoke reduces the span of your life significantly. So, what is the motivation behind smoking? What urges you to continue smoking? Nothing.
I can’t find even a single benefit that smoking has. Instead, it has numerous harmful effects on your health. In short, smoking is a terrible habit. So, quit smoking as soon as possible.
If you find it difficult, you can take the benefit of anti-smoking products. But your goal should be to skip smoking instantly. Quitting smoking will not only help you save a considerable amount of money but will also boost your health.
3. Pass on the Clothing
If you have more than one kids, then prefer not to buy new clothes for the younger kid. Instead, pass on your adult child’s clothing to his sibling.
Otherwise, a significant amount of your money will be spent on purchasing new clothes for each kid. Resultantly, you might get disturbed financially.
So, the best thing as a parent you can do is to avoid buying new clothes for each kid and passing on the clothes to the younger kids. That’s an ideal practice to save money as a parent.
4. Buy Home Utensils and Clothing During Sales
Whenever you plan to buy household utensils, clothing, or other items of your daily usage, buy them during the sale season. You will get the product at a much-reduced price when you buy it during the sale season.
Most clothing brands turn on sales at the end of the season. Ideally, you should buy clothes for yourself for the upcoming year taking full benefit of the sales.
That’s how you can save a considerable amount of money from your clothing and other household products.
5. Buy Products in Bulk
Whenever you plan to purchase groceries or other home utensils, always buy them in bulk. Prepare a list of all the things you need and visit a nearby grocery store to get it items in bulk. In this way, you will be able to get a discount on your purchases.
Ask the store owner to offer you a discount as you have purchased the products in bulk. He will consider your request.
6. Ditch the Automatic Subscriptions and Memberships
Most of us buy the subscriptions of different platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, gym memberships, trendy subscription boxes, Amazon Prime, or any other.
What we do is that we never unsubscribe to those memberships even though we are not availing these facilities now.
It’s the right time to cancel all those subscriptions which you are not using currently. Furthermore, whenever you buy any subscription in the future, make sure to turn off “auto-renew.”
Otherwise, the company will automatically renew your membership and will deduct the amount from your connected bank account.
Contrarily, if you still want to use any particular membership, then start sharing your account with your family members or friends. You can charge some share of the monthly free from them.
Many streaming services, like Netflix and Hulu, allow you to share your account details with your family members or friends. That’s how you can save money.
7. Do not Take Debt
Debt is the biggest scam you may face while saving money. It almost steals your monthly income. Debt might appear to be good at the start, but in actual, it is the biggest obstacle to saving money.
You might be paying very higher interest rates on your Debt. Resultantly you will pay a large amount of your savings to get rid of the Debt.
So, pay more focus on cutting the costs and saving money instead of taking Debt.
8. Reduce Grocery Costs
While planning our monthly budgets, we separate a massive amount of money for grocery items. While walking in a grocery store, we start picking up things that we do not need.
It’s in our nature that if we are feeling hungry while shopping, we will consider buying more snacks or biscuits that we do not need. As a result of this, what happens is that our grocery bills increase.
So, before going to the grocery shop, make a list of the most important things that you need and only buy those products from the grocery shop. Prefer leaving your kids at home while going to the grocery shop. Otherwise, they would insist on buying plenty of snacks and chocolates.
9. Do not Shop on an Empty Stomach
It’s in the nature of a human that whenever he goes shopping on an empty stomach, he purchases more products than needed. Notably, he may buy more snacks, biscuits, or other eatables, which are not required.
The craving for food forces him to buy products that he does not need. Resultantly, his grocery bill increases, and he goes out of budget.
So, it is advised not to go shopping when you are feeling hungry. First, satisfy your craving, and once your stomach is filled with food, then go shopping.
10. Do not buy Branded Products
If you are conscious about saving money, then you should not buy branded products. The most appealing thing in a branded product is its marketing.
The packing, advertisement, and display of the product might be attractive and would gather your attention, but in actual it is a scam.
Brands play with your mind. They try to depict that their product is the best, but in actual you will find a similar product from the same store at a much reduces the price.
So, don’t be brand conscious, instead buy generic products which you will get at an economical price.
11. Cut-Down Electricity Costs
Electricity bills are a significant concern for everyone. A substantial amount of your monthly income goes to electricity bills. This cost has to be reduced.
By careful and sincere efforts, you can save a good amount of money from your electricity bills. It’s not that difficult. You have to fix small problems, e.g., turning off extra lights, installing LED bulbs, fixing leaky pipes, and avoiding to consume electricity during peak hours.
Purchasing new and advanced electrical appliances might be expensive, but when you consider its long-term effects, you will discover that its good to buy them. The new appliances consume less electricity and will save a good amount of money from your monthly electricity bill.
12. Repair your Clothing
It has been observed that if there appears to be any minor defect in the clothing, we skip wearing it. For example, we might not wear a shirt because of its broken button, or we may toss the pent because it has a hole in it.
That’s not good at all. Spare some time to sew the damaged part and continue using that clothing. If you kept on buying new clothes just because of some damaged part on your shirt or pent, you wouldn’t be able to save money.
Hence, the best solution is repairing the damaged part of your clothing and continue using it. If you are uncomfortable to wear that at work, still keep it with you, and you can wear it while working at home.
13. Avoid Eating Fast Food
Instead of eating fast food, start consuming homemade healthy food. Not just because fast food is expensive, but it is unhealthy as well. Any junk food should be ditched.
Fast food is convenient to get but comes at a considerable cost. Eating junk food leaves a harmful effect on your health. So, ditch the habit of dining out at fast-food restaurants.
The best alternative is to hang out with your friends and spend time at a coffee shop. There is no need to waste your money at fast-food restaurants.
14. Avoid Buying Expensive Gifts
Presenting gifts to your loved ones is an ethical norm. Offering gifts are the best way to express your love for someone. But it’s not necessary to buy expensive gifts to express your love.
While buying a gift, you should value your love and feelings for your loved ones and not money. So, the ideal practice is to make gifts at home. You can make cookies, snacks, cakes, fresh-baked bread, or any such thing and present it as a gift to your friends.
To leave a powerful impact, you can make scenery by yourself and present it to your friends. They would love it and would value your efforts and time that you have put in making that special gift.
15. Reduce your Cell Phone Costs
Probably you are one of those people who are spending a considerable percentage of their monthly income on cell phone bills. To save money, you should instantly cut back your cell phone expenses.
Get rid of expensive data plans and costly call packages. If your network company is not providing economical packages, do not hesitate to shift to some other network.
It may require some research, but as an end product, you might save some money for yourself. So, when your goal is to save money, reducing phone bills must be on your list.
16. Conduct a Research before Buying Products
Whenever you plan to buy any product from the market, do not rush to buy it. Instead, conduct proper research before purchasing anything. Analyze the market prices and make a comparison.
Ask for discounts because you never know until you ask about the availability of discounts. If there is a possibility of negotiation, do it. Ask the vendor to reduce the cost as much as possible.
After making a thorough comparison buy the product that is best in quality and most suits your budget. This market research will help you save some money.
17. Spend Less on Entertaining Your Kids
Do not take your kids to an amusement park or a playland very often. Parents spend a massive amount of money on entertaining their kids. They take their kids to treat them in parks or playlands where a good amount of money is spent on playing useless video games.
Such entertainment activities are costly, and they do disturb your budget. So, you should educate your kids and make them realize that they should compromise on their current luxuries for a better tomorrow.
Contrarily, you can indulge your kids in other healthy activities, which are not only economical but are also suitable for your kids — for example, painting, drawing, sketching, and many others.
18. Stop Watching the Movies in a Cinema
Watching the movies in a cinema that, too, with the entire family is an expensive treat. When you have a set goal to save money for your wishes to come true, then you will have to stop compromise on your luxuries.
Watching a movie in a cinema might be an entertaining option, but it comes at a considerable cost. So, instead of moving towards a cinema you should watch that movie at your home.
You can turn your TV room into a mini cinema. Invite your friends and family members and entertain yourself at your own home. That’s how you can save money as you won’t have to buy a ticket for each family member.
19. Buy Used Equipment Instead of New When Possible
When you plan to buy any new item for your household use, do not rush to buy a brand-new item instantly. Instead, conduct some research to find a product that is slightly old but meets your requirements.
Many shops sell used equipment at a much-reduced price. Keep visiting these shops regularly. If you are smart enough, you will comfortably find an appliance that meets your requirements and is available at a very economical price.
So, you can save money by buying used items instead of going towards brand-new products.
20. Do not Visit the Shopping Malls
Most of the time, we visit shopping malls to entertain ourselves. But what happens is that we end up buying products that we do not need.
The beauty of the products and attractive display urges us to buy products even if they do not need them. That’s why window shopping is a significant risk, especially when you are on a budget. So, engage yourself in some other healthy entertainment instead of going into the shopping mall.
The best way to avoid visiting shopping malls is to buy the products from a local store. That’s how you won’t be spending any money in the shopping malls.
21. Think Again and Again While Buying
Whenever you visit a shopping mall or a local shop to buy anything for yourself, think again before paying the amount. Whenever you pick up a product and plan to pay for it, stop for a while and think back, do you need this product?
If you can satisfy yourself and you realize that you need it, then go for it. Otherwise, you should put it back.
You might have got attracted by the beauty of the product which forced you to buy it. Otherwise, you didn’t need to buy it. So, careful thinking before making the payment can help you save money and get rid of purchasing useless products.
22. Eat Two Meals in a Day
Eating two meals a day is not only economical but is healthy as well. We have developed a habit of skipping breakfast, whereas breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day.
Consuming a healthy breakfast provides the necessary energy required for the day. It significantly decreases hunger and keeps your stomach feel, reducing the craving for food throughout the day.
Hence, to enjoy a healthy and prosperous life, you should consume two meals in a day. One being the breakfast and other during the evening.
In this way, not only will you enjoy a healthy life but will also save money for yourself.
23. Use Public Transport
Using public transport is an ideal way to cut down your daily expenses. You might have your car, but if you use it daily to go to work, then it’s not good.
You will be spending a significant amount of your salary on fuel. So, to save money, use public transport to go to work.
It might be challenging to get started, but once you develop a habit of using public transport, you will get used to it. Resultantly, you will be able to save a good percentage of your monthly salary that previously was being spent on vehicle maintenance and fuel.
24. Pack Homemade Food while Going on Trips
When you plan to go on a tour with family or a friend, take homemade food with you. Get some snacks or healthy food prepared at home, pack it in a box, and carry it with you.
Otherwise, you will have to stop during your trips, finding a decent place to eat, and paying hefty bills. Neither will the food be healthy, nor will it be economical.
So, instead of eating unhealthy and expensive food at the restaurants, get food prepared from your home while going on trips.
25. Use Credit Cards to Make Payments
Using credit cards to make payments is an excellent way to save money. Many credit card companies offer a cashback of 1% to 5% on each transaction you make.
Conduct some research to find the best provider that offers a cashback on the payments you make.
Moreover, many credit card companies also offer discounts on various tickets and stores. So, by using these cards, you can save a good amount of money for yourself.
26. Take the Benefit from the Cashback Sites
A cashback site is a site where you can earn cashback on your spending. Typical offers are from 1% to 5% cashback.
The procedure is quite simple. You have to sign up on these sites and purchase the products that you need through their website. As soon as you purchase through these sites, you will get a cashback that will range from 1% to 5% (sometimes even more than that) of the payment made.
So, it’s a perfect practice to buy products from these sites and avail cashback for each payment you make.
27. Avail the Sign-Up and Referral Bonus
Many sites offer a bonus for signing up on their platforms. Ebates is such an example.
Ebates is a cashback site that offers a sign-up bonus of $10, which you can avail by opening an account on their platform.
Moreover, you can also earn by referring their site to your friend. For example, if you refer your friend to sign up on Ebates through a unique link, you can get a bonus of $25 as soon as he makes a purchase.
So, to avail the bonus through these cashback sites, sign up to their platforms, and enjoy your savings.
28. Use the ATMs of your Concerned Bank Only
Whenever you want to withdraw money using an ATM, always use the ATM concerned with the bank in which you have your account. You may have to travel some extra distance to locate such an ATM, but it’s necessary to do so.
When you use ATM of some other bank, you get charged about $2 to $3 for each withdrawal you make. It might appear to be a minute amount, but it gets converted to a significant amount if you use the ATM regularly.
Hence, when it comes to saving money, you should give importance to save each penny that you can. So, to do so, use ATM concerned with your bank only.
29. Pack Lunch while Going on a Picnic
If you develop a habit of packing food from home while going on a picnic, you will not only save money but will also enjoy healthy and nutritious food. It might take some extra effort to prepare and pack the food, but as a result of these efforts, you will be able to save some extra bucks for yourself.
Moreover, if you do not take food with you, you will have to pay a considerable amount for buying lunch for your family, and it will disturb your budget.
Hence, it’s always good to pack food when going on a picnic or any other recreational tour.
30. Prepare a Budget Sheet
To manage your monthly budget efficiently, either prepare a budget sheet yourself or get it developed from a professional. Add all your expenses in that sheet and compare it against your total monthly income.
Use this budget sheet to analyze your expenses and find methods to reduce them. Develop strategies to save money by lowering your costs.
This budget sheet will help you to increase your monthly savings by cutting down your expenses.
Hence, if you use this budget sheet wisely, you can save a significant amount of money at the end of the month.
31. Eat Less Meat
Eating more meat is not only expensive but also is terrible for your health. When you are saving money to achieve something big, then you have to compromise on your eating habits.
Hence, to save money, do not eat meat more than twice a week. In replacement of that, eat more vegetables and fruits.
Vegetables and fruits are not only economical but are also good for your health. They are highly nutritious and leave a substantial impact on your body as compared to meat.
So, to enjoy a healthy life and save some bucks for you, eat more vegetables and less meat.
32. Use Your Bonuses Wisely
You might get a bonus from your company for performing well at the job. Whenever this happens, use your bonus wisely. Do not get over-excited. Stay calm and think carefully before spending your bonus amount.
Mostly, what happens is that we get excited when we get a bonus and spend the amount on our friends or family by treating them. That’s not good.
Instead, you should either save that extra amount for some accidental use. Do not waste all your bonus amount. Try to invest the extra money in a business if possible.
33. Use Price Comparison Websites
Price comparison websites allow you to compare the prices of the products that you want to purchase. Their goal is to help you in choosing a product that best meets your requirements and is economical as well.
Either you want to buy car insurance, credit cards, or a broadband bundle, there is usually a wide variety of products available, ranging from the cheapest to the most expensive rates.
So, you should use these websites to compare the prices of the products you wish to purchase and then buy the one that most suits your requirements.
34. Pay Expenses in Advance
Usually, we pay all our expenses monthly. For example, the rent of a house, gym membership fee, or the car insurance fee are paid every month.
But if you pay these expenses annually instead of monthly, you can easily save a significant amount of money. The owners are willing to offer discounts when you are ready to pay the amount in bulk.
So, when you plan to use any utility for a longer duration, pay the expenses or rentals yearly instead of a monthly basis.
35. Don’t Get attracted to Discount Offers
Undoubtedly buying products at discounted prices is an excellent option, but sometimes you might get duped by these discount offers. You may think that I should buy this product even if I do not need it because currently, it is available at a discounted price.
That’s not a good practice. You should only buy those things which you need. Do not buy useless things, getting attracted to the discount offers because you will have to pay more amount for these things. Resultantly, your budget will get disturbed.
36. Sell the Products that You Do not Use
You might have many items at your home that are useless for you. But these items might have significance worth for someone else. So, gather all such things which you do not use at your home and sell them.
For example, an extra chair, a table, a TV, or any such thing that you are not using should be sold out. If you analyze carefully, you will find that you have a lot of clutter in your home. So, the best thing is to sell out all these items and generate some money from it.
37. Skip the Vacation tours
When your objective is to save money, then you will have to compromise on your luxuries. You will have to skip your family tours, especially during vacations.
During vacations, you are much prone to spending money. Your family would ask you to plan a tour, but you have to convince them that it’s not good.
Convince them that we are saving money for our better future. If they still insist, then you can plan a hang out for them in your city.
That’s how you can have fun as well as save hundreds of dollars.
38. Do not Buy New Books
Reading books is undoubtedly an excellent habit. If you are fond of reading books, you might be habitual of buying new books now and then. Well, it’s not a good idea.
Before buying a new book, do consult the nearest library to check if that book is available there. If yes, then borrow it from the library.
Moreover, you can also find plenty of books on the internet. So, instead of spending money on buying new books, try to create a digital library and develop a habit of reading books online.
39. Borrow (Don’t Buy) Products that you need for a shorter Duration
If you need any products to perform a particular task, then do not buy them instantly. Especially if you need that item only once, then prefer to borrow it instead of buying.
For example, you may need a juicer to entertain your guests. So, instead of buying a new one from the store, you can borrow it from your friend or a neighbor for a few hours.
Later on, return it to them. In this way, you will not have to spend money on buying items that you do not use regularly.
40. Unsubscribe to Marketing Emails
We all usually receive emails daily, which target selling particular products. When we are subscribed to these emails, we might get tempted by the product and purchase it even if we do not need it.
Sometimes special discount offers may urge us to buy a product that is not even needed. So, to avoid this temptation, unsubscribe to these marketing emails.
In this way not only, you will resist buying useless products, but also your inbox will be less cluttered.
41. Get rid of the Cable
We are indeed spending a significant amount of money to pay the cable bills. Moreover, these prices continue to rise. On average, a person pays about $100 a month as his cable expenses. That’s a significant amount.
So, when your goal is to save money, you should cut your ties with the Cable. It’s necessary for you as it will result in saving a significant amount of money at the end of the month.
Moreover, Cable isn’t the only option to watch your favorite shows. You can easily switch to alternatives such as streaming services or network apps.
42. Rent Out Your Home
If you are already living in a rented house, then try shifting to a house with minimum possible rent. However, if you own a house, then there is a special deal that you can make.
You can rent out the house you own at a higher price and find a home for yourself at a lesser rental. Although it’s a bit challenging, it can help you to fulfill your dreams.
You can easily save a significant amount of money even after paying the rent of the house you live in because you will get a massive amount in the form of rent from the house you owned.
43. Rent Out Unused Space of your House
If you find it challenging to rent out your house, then there is another option that you can consider. You can rent out the free space or rooms that you have in your home.
Suppose if you have an extra room in your house, then take advantage of it by renting it out either for the passengers or the students. Make sure to furnish the room and provide all the necessary facilities.
You can charge your client based on the duration for which he wants to stay at your house.
44. Use Fuel-Efficient Cars
Before buying a new or a used car, pay attention to check its fuel efficiency. A reliable and fuel-efficient vehicle can save hundreds of your dollars.
Conversely, if your car consumes too much fuel, you will spend a significant amount of your monthly income on its maintenance and fuel expenses.
So, while purchasing, make sure that the car is not only luxurious but also consumes less fuel.
45. Don’t buy Magazines or Newspapers
You might have subscribed to newspapers or magazines which reach your home daily. Neither do you cancel that subscription, nor you bother to read that newspaper. Resultantly, you are paying for a service without taking any benefits from it.
So, there is no need to buy the newspaper daily. Even if you want to read it, you can easily find it online by visiting the website of the news agency.
So, there is no need to spend any amount on buying newspapers or magazines.
46. Develop a Habit of Fixing things Yourself
Try to fix things yourself. There are many household tasks that we come across on a daily basis, for example, fixing a leaking pipe, repairing a malfunctioned switch, changing the fan’s capacitor, and so on.
You must try to perform these tasks yourself. Nowadays, it’s not difficult to perform these tasks. You can easily find video tutorials that will help you to perform these tasks. Watch those tutorials, and you will be able to resolve the daily household issues efficiently.
The idea of hiring a person to perform such tasks can turn out to be a costly one. So, do them yourself.
47. Learn the Art of Negotiating
Most of us are reluctant to negotiate about the price while purchasing a product. As a result of this, they end up buying a product at a higher price.
Whenever you want to purchase a product, try to get it from the shop that offers discounts. Even if there are no discounts available, try to negotiate the price with the owner of the shop.
Don’t be reluctant, instead convince him to offer a discount to you as you are his regular customer. Who knows, you might end up buying the product at a much economical price as a result of negotiation.
48. Rent Out Your Parking Space
If you have some extra space or a garage at the front of your house, you can rent it out as a parking space.
Many websites allow you to rent out your empty driveway or garage to motorists who need a place to park. You will have to pay them for advertising your space on their website.
Once people find it, they will start parking their vehicles at your place, and you will get paid for that.
49. Buy Generic Medicine
If you ever fall ill, do not spend too much on buying expensive medicines. The formula and the ingredients of most of the medicines are almost identical. But you might be asked to pay more for a particular brand.
So, do not get brand conscious; instead, always buy a generic brand of medicine. You will get it at a much-reduced price as compared to the branded medicine.
Still, we recommend you consult your pharmacist before taking the final decision.
50. Start Investing
Last but not the least tip to get benefited from money is to start investing it. Investment is the most important and valuable idea to increase your money.
Investment has much more power than saving. It helps you to reach your goals much earlier as compared to savings.
Moreover, the earlier you start investing, the better it is. You can undoubtedly make hundreds of thousands of dollars more if you start later.
So, sit with entrepreneurs, ask for suggestions from them, and start investing. That’s the best way to grow your money.
