saving money

31 Experts Weigh in on Ways to Save Money

save moneyDo you look at your savings account and wish you had more money in it?  Don’t worry, that’s a normal reaction.  I don’t think we can every save enough money because the more money we have the better off we are.  Right?

If you want to save more money take these easy tips from the money experts:

Debbie @ 1 Hour Impact: Often, the single best place to start improving our finances (and our life) lies in CHANGING our ATTITUDE.

Elizabeth @ The Reluctant Landlord: Buy a house, that has a rental apartment or rent out the individual rooms. This allows you to reduce your mortgage payment close to 0 while you are launching yourself.

Rob @ Dough Roller: Reduce investment costs. Examine your 401k, IRA and taxable accounts to make sure your expense ratios are low. They should average less than 20 basis points. Oh, and fire your expensive investment advisor.

Andrea @ Smart Money Chicks: Always break a dollar, 5’s and 10’s. Then save the change and singles.

Michelle: Hide the credit card and take off auto-fill for credit cards on your computer. You would be surprised how much my laziness has saved!

Jessica @ Every Single Dollar: Save all of your change in a cup/jar. You’ll be amazed at how much it adds up.

Kate @ Cashville Skyline: Automating your savings with each paycheck is the easiest way to ensure you’re always paying yourself first.

Grayson @ Debt Roundup: Treat it like a monthly bill and then pay your savings interest if you miss that monthly payment. It’s a great motivator.

Jim @ Wallet Hacks: Negotiate EVERYTHING. Start with fixed bills, like your cable bill.

Lee @ Bald Thoughts: When you have debt, make a payment as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the due date, to reduce the interest you pay. If possible, round up your payment to accelerate your payoff.

Derek @ How Do I Money:  Here’s my tip: “Save money.” That’s it.  No joke.

LaTisha @ Young Finances: Set up a small recurring transfer into your savings account, then use your online bank capabilities to hide the savings account from view. Out of sight, out of mind!

Alaya @ Hope and Cents: Creating a new budget every month (and following it of course).

Joseph @ Peer Finance 101: 20 tips here but my favorite is ‘turning your budget upside down.’ Instead of saving what’s left after taking your expenses out of the budget, take something out for saving first. That way, if you don’t have enough at the bottom of your budget, you’ll be forced to cut expenses instead of forgoing saving.

Whitney @ Whitney Hansen Coaching: Meal prep once a week. This weekly habit has my grocery bill down to $150 per month and prevents last minute lunch stops because I “forgot my lunch.”

Zina @ Debt Free After Three: Re-examine your insurance coverage. I just changed our coverage and saved us about $30 a month – or $360 a year. Not bad for a 15-minute conversation.

Robert @ The College Investor: My favorite from the last year was swapping all my light bulbs to LED bulbs. Cut my power bill by over 50%, which is over $75 per month.

Amanda @ Amanda Abella: Shop around on the spot. For example, it was cheaper for me to buy 12 months worth of contact lenses from my eye doctor because I got a discount from them for buying in bulk and then they offered an additional 20% discount because of my health insurance. I was checking online prices on my phone while at the doctor’s office and after crunching the numbers realized it was cheaper to get it directly from my doctor. Had I not done that I probably would have assumed it was cheaper to buy online and spent an extra $80.

Louis: I think Costco travel has helped me the most…. Saved hundreds on car rentals, and you get a 2nd driver for free. That plus the Amex premium rental insurance. Easy and a big difference in vacation spend.  Costco also has great customer service and good return policy, so you can’t loose with them.

Nick @ Side Hustle Nation: Defer non-essential spending 30 days. You may realize you lived a perfectly happy existence without that item over the last month and don’t want it that much after all.

Erin @ Broke Millennial: Name those saving accounts!

Carole: Don’t shop as an activity; don’t go to the mall, get rid of the idea of “wanting stuff”. If there is something you NEED to buy, go directly to a store that has it, buy it, and leave.

Toni @ Debt Free Divas: Get frugal with fitness.

Doug @ The Military Guide: Here’s a niche post for the U.S. military readers: saving money as the spouse at home when your service member is deployed.

Michelle @ Shop My Closet Project: Find the “Free.” I stopped going to my gym and now exercise with the November Project which is basically like Corepower but done outside around your town and is free! I’m meeting great people, get a killer workout, and saving money. There are a ton of ways to rock free you just have to do some research.

Valerie @ Valerie Rind: Use the app Digit – it’s free and painless!

A.J.: Direct deposit a chunk of my paycheck directly into a savings account, so it never even hits the checking account. Out of sight, out of mind.

Christine: We use PAPER money when we buy things, then when we get a $5.00 bill as change, it get’s put in a different envelope for VACATION. We usually have a $2-3,000 vacation a year as a direct result of using CASH. This is because most people over spend when using any form of plastic (debit cards included).

Krik @ Innovative Wealth: If you want to save more money, you have two choices, earn more or spend less. Since saving has it limits and earning more does not, you should focus your efforts on earning more. If you cannot make more at your job, find ways to do side projects and put that money aside into a savings account.

Susan: Use the library. Don’t buy books, magazines, movies or newspapers. They are all free at the library. That and so much more.

Todd @ Financial Mentor: Underlying all these tips is one key principle – you must value freedom more than lifestyle – so that you experience saving money as a positive goal instead of sacrifice. The truth is every dollar that passes through your hands gets spent either way. The only question is what you spend it on. Is it freedom or lifestyle? Do you value life experience, or stuff?

 

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