We often overspend on unnecessary things because we lack certain habits or strategies. A user took it to the forum, and asked “What are some simple things you do that save you a lot of money?”. Here are the top responses.
COOKING FOOD
“Make your lunches ahead of time for work. Eating out all the time costs a lot of money after a while.”, said one user.
“Cook as much food as you can at one time. Put on a podcast and fill your oven with roasted veggies, sautee stuff on two burners, but some rice on another burner. Do dishes while you wait.
In as much time as it takes to make one meal, you can have lunch and dinner for a few days. You’ll waste less money on eating out and waste less money on stuff going bad before you can use it.”, said another user.
GRATING CHEESE
“I grate my own cheese. I can buy a block of it for cheaper and it makes a ton of cheese. Plus no artificial fillers”, said one user.
DRINK WATER
“Drink water at restaurants. Some of them charge you $2 or $3 for a soft drink. Let alone if you want anything else to drink. Water is super cheap or even free. Obviously eating out is expensive in its own right, but if you want to save a couple of bucks, this is a good first step.”, said one user.
PRICE PER VOLUME
“When you go grocery shopping, don’t look at the price. Look at the price per volume. Just because they have a bigger bottle of olive oil doesn’t mean you’re getting more for your dollar.
Do this even with retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club! The only thing math has taught me that has actually benefited my day to day life properly.”, said one user.
“It’s also worth making a point that it’s not worth buying more just because it’s better value. If you don’t need the extra, don’t pay more for it. There’s no point buying an extra 2 liters of milk that you’ll throw away just because it’s 20p/l cheaper.”, said another user.
STAYING FULL WHILE SHOPPING
“I have a sweet snack before shopping for groceries. That way I don’t buy a bunch of snacks. Saves me money and helps me lose weight.”, said one user.
NOT PAYING MEDICAL BILLS ONLINE
“NEVER pay your medical bills online. Always pick up the phone and call them and ask them to check for ‘adjustments’. See, there are secret discounts that the billing reps can check for that the automated system typically misses.
Things like ‘If you pay your bill in one shot we’ll knock off 20%’ type of discounts. You can save BIG money!”, said one user.
MINDFUL SHOPPING
“If I’m ever tempted to buy something, I ask myself the question of ‘Do I need this or do I want this?’. If there’s ever a shred of doubt that I need something, I don’t buy it. Also very helpful for minimizing buyer’s remorse.”, said one user.
CHEAPER GYM
“If you have a gym membership, consider switching to a cheaper gym. I recently switched from a really nice gym with all the bells and whistles (pool, sauna, etc) to a MUCH cheaper gym. Although it has none of those things and is much smaller, it has everything I need and I’m not paying $300+ a year.”, said one user.
SAVINGS ACCOUNT AT A SEPARATE BANK
“I used to just have a savings account at the same bank as my checking account. Then I noticed that I tended to only keep the money in there until I wanted something, then transfer it right back to checking and spend it.
So I shopped interest rates around a little, and set up a high yield savings account at a separate bank. This savings account is through an online bank, and they let me set up automatic transfers that I scheduled for every payday.
I also have a debit card for it, in case of emergency, but that stays at home. Now that it takes actual effort to transfer funds out, more money stays in my savings account.”, said one user.
CARRYING YOUR OWN TEA
“Taking my own tea into work. £2ish for a box of 25 tea bags that’ll last me around a month vs £1 a cup from the canteen. I see colleagues also bring their own coffee in.”, said one user.
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.