What are some tips and tricks to save money day-to-day?
When it comes to budgeting, at least in the big picture sense, the key elements are making a budget, identifying your core needs, and trimming away the little stuff you don’t need. We’ve talked about these steps in some detail in our Budgeting Tips.
The above are general tips to help people make a plan, it’s a big picture view of getting finances under control. But what about the little day-to-day stuff? What are some common ways people can help themselves save money?
There are a few key tips people can try to keep themselves on track:
- When you go out somewhere, have a plan. Whether you’re going to the mall, the grocery store, on-line shopping, or going out with friends, make a budget for the day ahead of time. Select a limit you feel is within your means and plan to stick to it. Maybe you can afford to spend more, but where people usually get into trouble is impulse purchases.
Make a list of groceries you need before going to the store and only buy things on your list. Don’t start filling up your cart with snacks and impulse items. When you go shopping for gifts or stuff for you house, go with a specific list and only buy items on that list.
When people visit shops and malls or online marketplaces they tend to get caught up in the moment and buy things they didn’t plan to get and probably didn’t need. Make a list and a budget before you go out to avoid over spending.
- Try to identify areas where you regularly spend money where you could substitute in another, less expensive approach. Do you buy a lot of new clothes? Consider second-hand stores. Do you eat out for lunch frequently? Make meals on the weekends and take leftovers to work. Do you buy a lot of coffee at places like Starbucks? Buy beans and brew your own coffee at home and put it in a travel mug. Do you go to the theatre a lot? Consider getting a streaming video service and watching movies when they become available online.
- Seek to cut back on vices. Most of us have a few vices, a few special treats we enjoy. Some of us like drinks out with friends, some buy chocolate, some of us like Sunday drives. This things are all fun and they all cost money. Doing these things gives us a chance to blow off steam and relax, but can put a strain on the budget. Doing these activities half as often allows us to still enjoy our hobbies while cutting the costs in half.
- Often times we buy little things, small items which hardly cost much in the moment, but little things add up when they become habits. Try to identify things you repeatedly buy but do not need. For example, a friend of mine used to buy two cups of coffee a day. Each cup was probably only $5. So it hardly seemed worth thinking about. However, two cups a day meant he was spending $10 each day. He worked about 250 days a year, so spent $2,500 on coffee each year. Over the span of a decade he was spending about the amount he’d need for a new, low-end car.
The same principle applies to higher end phone plans we don’t fully utilize, video streaming subscriptions we rarely watch, bottles of wine to enjoy on the weekends, and desserts when dining out. Try to be mindful of the little things you buy but don’t need and see if you can weed out these habits.
I find the hardest part of budgeting day to day is impulse control. The big picture stuff can take a while to sort though – making a budget, identifying things to cut, and sorting out how much money to save – these take time, but are relatively straight forward tasks, usually not subject to whims.
The tricky part is when we’re out in the world. When we’re shopping, visiting friends, visiting restaurants, or browsing items online – those are the times when our impulses can take over. The next thing you know, you’re the proud owner of aisle 3 of the grocery store! You can counteract your urges to buy unnecessary stuff by having a firm budget and a list of items you want before you leave home. Make a mini plan for the day – everything you think you need to buy – then don’t buy anything not on the list. “I’ll just get this one little extra thing,” is how your budget starts to crumble.
Remember, if you didn’t plan to buy something – if it’s not on your shopping list – then don’t buy it. Sticking to your plan will save you money almost every time you get groceries, stop for lunch, visit a mall, or go out with friends.
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