Thank you to Lexington Law for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.
Who doesn’t need to save money? I mean I know we do. With a toddler, a baby on the way, and just having general life expenses we are always looking for new ways to save money. Over the last few years we have done a few things that have really helped and today I am sharing them with you! These are 10 easy ways to save money that LITERALLY ANYONE can be doing!
10 Easy Ways To Save Money
- Sell Clothes Before You Buy Clothes: I made a rule for myself a few years ago and that was if I buy something new clothing-wise I had to sell something. I really don’t NEED any new clothes or shoes, but of course, there will always be things I want. I really utilize the local Facebook garage sale pages the most. I also use them for buying stuff for myself or the kiddos! In fact most of baby girl’s clothes were purchased there and MOST are brand new never worn. I also sell Liam’s clothes/shoes as he grows out of them. You can set your own price and usually people can come pick them up from you! It’s a great resource.
- Have friends over instead of going out: I’m at a place in life where I really don’t love to go out. Between having to pay for a babysitter and just the overpriced food and drinks it’s not for me all the time. But having friends over for dinners/game nights, that’s where the fun is! You can save so much money this way too!
- Make coffee at home: Probably where I am the weakest. I do try to make my lattes at home as much as I can but truth be told I still love getting them out. But if you are stronger than me at this it’s a HUGE money saver! Say your coffee is $4 a day that’s $28 a week or over $120 a month! In one year you can save over $1400 on coffee alone!
- Meal Prep/Plan/Use Leftovers: This is where our money-saving game thrives. We meal plan each Saturday for the following week. Then we grocery shop Saturdays and because we have meal planned we don’t buy tons of unnecessary items which is a huge place people waste money. Then we try to make enough during meal times for us to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Using leftovers is a great way to have yummy lunches without spend $8-$10 a day!
- Look for free events in your city/town: If you live in a big city or a small town chances are there are constantly free events. From holidays, to seasonal festivals, etc. These can be so much fun and such a great family activity!
- Save on electricity: I wrote an entire post about this so click here for the details. But there are services you can use, timers on lights, and amazing gadgets that really help you save money on electricity!
- Consolidate student loans: This is actually a big goal of mine for the fall. I have 3 student loans and plan to consolidate them this year to hopefully lower my payments and interest rates! This is a great way to save money especially if you have a lot of student loan debt. Lexington Law has a great post about this!
- Cut cable: We did this almost 18 months ago and never looked back! We were spending well over $100 a month on cable and instead cut cable, bought a Roku for a one time purchase and then pay $40 a month for YouTube TV where we still get local channels, most cable channels we watch, and sports. We also have Netflix and Amazon Prime.
- Use your library: If you aren’t using your library you are missing out! Not only on free books and movie rentals but also story times for kids, events, book signings by authors, lectures, and even free e-Books! Yes most libraries have e-books you can check out on an app just like you would buy on a Kindle!
- Negotiate: This is in so many areas of life! From interest rates, to medical bills, to prices of things you buy second hand, etc. If you aren’t negotiating you are leaving money on the table!
I hope you found these easy ways to save money helpful and that you will use some of them if you aren’t already. You could literally be saving hundreds of dollars a month these ways which in the long run amounts to thousands a year. This can be used to pay down a credit card debt or other type of loan which will in turn make your credit score rise. If you are looking to do this and you have any credit issues for sure check out the services Lexington Law offers! Or you could put all this extra money in savings to create a nice cushion or emergency fund for yourself!
What is one easy way you save money?
*all photos by Jenny Havens Photography
Great ideas, Neely! I always prepare my own lunch and go out for dinner only once a week – I find that helps me save a lot! I prefer being home anyway!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
This is a great list which is so practical and everything on it is achievable if you adopt the right mindset. The first point really caught my attention as so many of us literally can quite easily spend a fortune on clothing, buying new designer labels. Totally unnecessary and adopting your suggestion can save so much, if we are prepared to get disciplined and determined to save. Such a thought-provoking list that should challenge serious people to get serious about their finances.
I do almost all of these! We cut out cable a couple of years ago. Actually, our internet would have been more expensive if we completely cut it since we wouldn’t be bundling, so we have the very basic channels and that’s all I need. I don’t even drink coffee, so that saves us money! My husband and I both had our student loans paid off a few years after graduating, and always look for free events for us to go to for dates or as a family. And as a food blogger, I can attest to meal prep/planning making such a difference!!!
These are such great tips! I’m soooo bad with buying coffee!
Definitely student loans is a bigger kicker! As soon as I graduate from college, I want to pay mine off in less than 1 year because I don’t want it hanging over me.
I haven’t sold my clothes before buying new ones, but I have given some away to clothing charities. Maybe I should look into Facebook garage sales? I also cut cable about three years ago and don’t regret it!
These are all great ideas! For me, I do not like throwing food out so our left overs are always recycled into a totally different dish. Oh, and we also brew our own coffee at home. That saves us a lot of money!
Everyone needs to save. The problem is we don’t realize it until it’s too late. I do majority of these things and have seen significant changes in my savings. I love spending time at home and my family and I make it a priority. I used to not like leftovers, but lately I cook what I don’t mind eating again. These are great tips.
All great tips! Especially the first! People rarely think about reverse passive income. They want to make money, but they don’t stop to think about what they can be saving money on ☺️!
Love that first one so much! I always find myself decluttering my closet, so I need to work on that.
I love this! I just moved to New York City and I’ve been trying to figure out how to cut back on spending. I definitely need to start selling more of my clothes!
xo Logan
https://peculiarporter.com/