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Do you ever wonder why you can never save up enough money?
Maybe you have a tendency to throw away money without even thinking about it while other times you consciously know that you’re spending it recklessly on frivolous things.
30 Ways To Save Money & Cut Down Your Monthly Expenses
If you find you have trouble saving money on a monthly basis and don’t seem to know where your money is going, here are 30 ways to save money every day to help cut down your monthly expenses so you have more in the bank at the end of the day.
Combining some or all of these together can help you save hundreds or thousands of dollars per year!
1. Set a budget. Before you continue onto the list of ways to save money, the first thing you’ll want to do is set a monthly budget. Check out my printable finance planner or use a digital budgeting spreadsheet if you like organizing yourself digitally.
Digital Budgeting Spreadsheet
Printable Finance Planner
2. Cancel cable TV. Unless you like watching high definition sports or special channels, you can often find everything you need to watch online without paying hundreds of dollars a year for cable. Cut the cord and stream everything with your Internet connection or get a Netflix or Hulu subscription.
3. Be mindful of your utility bill. Utilities can be a big expenditure if you live on your own. Read here for my tips on 10 simple ways to save money on your utility bill each month.
Sign up with Arcadia Power and start automatically saving on your power bills each month at no extra cost to you. You’ll help support renewable energy projects while reducing your environmental impact and keeping more money in your wallet. Sign up today and get $5 off your next utility bill!
4. Negotiate a better cell phone plan. Negotiate with your cell phone plan provider or switch carriers if you find that you’re not getting a good deal for the price. Also be sure you’re using your phone plan to the fullest!
For example, if your plan comes with a lot of data that you don’t even use up most months, it’s probably better to downgrade your plan and pay less.
If you need help with negotiating your cell phone plan, check out Trim.
Trim will help you negotiate down your cable, cell phone, and internet bills with any provider so you can pay up to 30% less than what you are paying right now.
5. Walk instead of drive. If you’re going to a place nearby that is walking distance, save money by walking instead of driving. Doing this multiple times a month can save a lot of money on gas and you’ll get some extra exercise along with it.
6. Do you really need your car? Owning or leasing a car is an expensive way to get around because not only do you have to purchase the car and fill up on gas, you have to factor in car insurance, parking, car washes, and monthly maintenance.
If having a car is not absolutely necessary for you, it might be a betteroption to just get rid of it, carpool if you have multiple cars in your household, or call an Uber whenever you need a ride. Public transit is a great way to get around if you live in the city and don’t need to really drive to get to places.
Of course, if you live in a rural area where everything is super far away, a car is absolutely necessary and there’s really no way around it!
7. Earn cashback every time you shop. Did you know you can get free cash every time you shop? If you’re not getting cashback whenever you shop, you’re throwing free money down the drain!
Read more on how to earn back hundreds of dollars in cashback in myin-depth review and tutorial here.
8. Treat eating out as a luxury. Eating out is definitely a luxury with rising prices nowadays so try to limit the number of times you go out in a week. Learn to budget for your grocery expenses, plan your meals in advance, and cook more at home.
I recommend checking outEat At Home Meal Plansif you’re looking to create cheap but healthy meals.
This meal plan membership includesaccess to ALL 4of the following separate meal plans. The great part is you can mix and match depending on your needs and tastes.
1. Traditional – This plan is family-friendly and includes a variety of meats and veggies, and the occasional meatless meal.
2. Whole Food Plant Based– This plan places more emphasis on natural foods including vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. No meats, cheese, milk, fish, or eggs!
3. Slow Cooker/Instant Pot – This plan provides recipes that you can cook in your slow cooker and includes many Instant Pot recipes as well. (Bonus: It includes 1 week of Slow Cooker Freezer meals that are ready to eat in an hour!)
4. No Flour, No Sugar – This plan includes easy-to-prepare meals made from veggies and protein from whole foods with no flour or artificial sugars added.
Other great advantages of the Eat At Home Meal Plans include:
- Meal plans provided at the beginning of the month so you’ll have time to plan and minimize shopping trips
- 15-minute meals for super busy nights
- Color-coded lists so you can swap out ingredients or whole meals when needed
- Printable recipes for easy cooking
- Printable menus which are perfect to hang on your fridge or near your calendar for easy viewing
These will help you save time so you don’t have to think long and hard on what to make at home and it’ll keep you focused on staying healthy and within your budget. Definitely check it out!
9. Ditch cash and use a credit card that gives you rewards instead. I know…this might sound totally wrong and like really bad advice from the surface. But this is actually a pretty awesome way to save a lot of money and earn rewards for buying things you already do.
If you’re a person who always pays your credit card bills on time, you’re great at controlling your finances, and you’re debt-free, this is a great way to earn rewards every day that you don’t get if you’re using cash!
Plus, it’s an easy way to build up your credit score if you ever need to apply for a mortgage or any loans in the future.
10. Wait for sales when you want to shop. Try not to buy items at full price if you can wait until stores have sales. Sometimes you will buy an item one day at full price and the next week you will find that it has gone on sale!
11. Complete a no-spend challenge. Spending a lot of money frivolously on clothes, bags, makeup, and shoes can drain you of your finances. Having no spend days, weeks, or months can be a great way to get into the habit of spending less and saving more as well as practice self-control. No spend days are also a good cool off period to really think about whether or not you really want or need that item.
If you think you’re up for the challenge, here are 10 tips to help you get through a shopping ban.
12. Cancel your gym membership. Unless you go to the gym multiple times a week and fully make use of your membership, sometimes having a gym membership can be just a huge waste of money.
A lot of times, people sign up for hundreds of dollars a year in hopes of motivating themselves to go to the gym only to end up going a handful of times! If that sounds like you, you might be better off saving your money by working out at home or outside.
13. Declutter your home and strive to be more minimalistic. Buying stuff, in general, gives us instant gratification but we end up wasting a lot of money on useless things we don’t really need. Not only that though, we also end up cluttering our houses with a ton of junk! So think hard before you buy something and try to lead a more minimalistic life.
Here are 100 things to get rid of from your home right now.
14. Find Groupon deals. Ever want to do something fun with your friends? Or maybe you want to have a nice spa day where you get a nice massage and get your nails done. Make sure you check out your local Groupon deals because they always have a ton of things to do at a discounted price. Also check out Stubhub for cheap tickets to games, concerts, and more!
15. Borrow from the library instead of buying books. If you love reading, one of the best ways to save money on books is to stop buying new books and borrow from your local library instead.
16. Bring your lunches to work. Eating out at lunch every day if you work at a 9 to 5 job can be a big waste of money. Limit the number of times you eat out during the week by meal prepping and then saving them in the freezer so you can just conveniently take them out of the freezer and bring them to work the next morning.
17. Stop buying bottled water. Do you ever buy cases of bottled water for the convenience when you go out? Stop doing that! Invest in a water filter instead and then refill aBPA-free glass water bottleevery time you go out. It’s an easy way to save money and it’ll help the environment too!
18. Cut down on alcohol. Alcohol is definitely not cheap whether you’re getting a drink at a bar or drinking at home. Reducing the amount of alcohol you drink will definitely make your wallet a little happier!
19. Skip the appetizers, desserts, and drinks. Do you really need to add that expensive drink and dessert to your meals when you go out? You can save a lot of money when you eat out by skipping out on appetizers, desserts, and drinks and just ordering an entrée and water.
20. Be mindful of your grocery and household shopping habits.Since we’re living in such a digital age, there’s no excuse not to get the best deals right at our fingertips!
Taking advantage of weekly deals, rewards programs and making sure to always use cashback apps such as Checkout51 and Drop are great ways to save money whenever you shop.
Read more onmy top tips on ways to save money on groceries each month and my 7 favorite shopping phone apps to save money.
21. Cut down on Starbucks coffee. Instead of buying expensive lattes and sugary drinks every day at your local coffee shop, make your own coffee or tea at home in the mornings.
Making your coffee or tea at home can cost as little as 10 cents to a dollar something compared to shelling out $3-6 drinks when you order a drink at Starbucks. All of the savings add up real quick! Just don’t forget that it’s okay to splurge every once in a while!
I recommend aKeurig machineif you’re looking for an affordable coffee maker.
22. Sell your junk. If you’re decluttering your house, don’t just dump your junk out that you think you no longer need. It might be easy to just throw things out or donate them, but you bought those things with your own money, so at least try to recoup some of the funds.
Sell off your old belongings to someone who will treasure it while minimizing your belongings at the same time. Sell your clothes on thredUP and eBay and make some extra cash!
23. Buy long-lasting, quality products when it makes sense. Want to spend less money over time and save time as well? You might feel like you’re spending a lot of money to buy a more expensive item at first, but it’s actually better than buying cheap things that don’t last.
Although it might cost more when you first purchase a higher quality item, it’ll help you save money in the long run because you won’t have to constantly buy another item to replace your old one. You’ll also save timefrom having to research and going out to buy a replacement.
Of course, be picky and choose items to buy that are more expensive only if it logically makes sense! If you know that you’ll get a lot of uses out of it, then it’s probably a good idea to invest in something more expensive. Otherwise, take a look at tip #24 below.
24. Buy products at a discount when it makes sense.Not everything you buy needs to be expensive if you know its purpose is to only last you temporarily. I love going to the dollar store to purchase items at a discount when it makes sense.
25. Bundle and negotiate your insurance rates. We all have to pay insurance in life whether it’s car insurance, pet insurance, home insurance, tenant insurance, and etc.
Don’t be afraid to shop around and get quotes from multiple insurance providers so you can get the best deal. If you have more than one type of insurance, a great way to get a discount and save a lot of money is to bundle them all together under 1 insurance provider.
26. Set up an automatic savings fund. Making sure that you budget your finances properly is so important if you want to save money.
A great way to save a certain amount each month is to join an automatic savings program where the bank automatically withdraws a set amount from your paycheck into your savings account each time.
This way, it’s totally automated so you won’t even see the money taken out and have the urge to spend it. It’s a great way to trick yourself into thinking you have less money to use so you can save more.
27. Stop paying bank fees. Are you still paying hefty bank fees just to keep your savings or checking’s account open? You’re throwing money down the drain each month that you could be saving if you are. Use Cushion to get a refund.
28. Shop around for travel deals. Looking to book a trip with family or friends? Try to shop around with different travel agencies to get the best deal. And if you book last minute, sometimes you can get really great deals!
Buying Groupon getaway deals, booking an Airbnb, or checking out Expedia discount deals are great ways to save money on accommodation.
29. Shop at thrift stores. If you’re not too OCD about buying second-hand clothes or furniture, shopping at thrift stores can be a huge money saver! Some things are barely worn or even brand new and are priced at a much lower cost than the original retail price.
30. Learn to have DIY pamper days. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to pamper and groom yourself nicely. In fact, it doesn’t have to cost very much at all!
If you constantly needto get your nails done, get your hair cut and colored by a professional, get a professional spray tan and so on, that’s definitely going to cost you quite a bit of change to upkeep.
Instead, learn to enjoy painting your nails by yourself, cutting and coloring your own hair. Just by doing those few things, it can save you hundreds of dollars that you would otherwise be spending each month.
Conclusion
And there you have it – 30 tips that you can follow to save money and cut down your expenses each month so you have more in the bank! I hope you enjoyed this post.
Don’t forget to check out my other posts on how to save money and make extra cash:
- 7 Awesome Shopping Apps That Helped Me Easily Save Over $500
- Save Money Every Time You Shop Online And Get A $10 Free Giftcard
- 13 Easy Ways To Save Money On Groceries Each Month
- 10 Simple Ways To Save Money On Utilities Each Month
- 10 Tips On How To Survive A Shopping Ban
- 50 Fun And Frugal Date Ideas To Save Money
- How To Save Money With Fetch Rewards
What are some things you like to do to save money each month? Share with me in the comments!
