So many of us need easy ways to save money right now don’t we?
Whether we’ve lost a job or income or are struggling with debt or the costs of a new baby or are just worried about what the next year will bring and want to put as much in an emergency fund as we can, we know we need to save money fast but it can feel so hard to actually do it, right?
We’re crazy tired and stressed and with money leaking out in a hundred different ways we can feel so overwhelmed we end up doing nothing, burying our head in the sand and feeling worse and worse about ourselves
Now most financial advisors will, at this point, tell us firmly to sit down and write a budget covering all our costs and stick to it.
But for many of us this doesn’t help.
Trying to budget overwhelms us more.
What we really need to do first is find super easy ways to save money and to do them today. And tomorrow. And the next day.
And some of the easiest ways to save money are to cancel and downgrade loads and loads of the services we’ve signed up to over the years that we don’t use or don’t need or just can’t afford.
I’ve got a big list of them here you can start taking action on right now without having to wade through your bank or credit card statements because trawling through them is guaranteed to get lots of us into an even bigger do-nothing-panic-cycle!!!
So if you need easy ways to save money, start working through this list. Not all of them will be relevant to you. It doesn’t matter, find one that is, focus on it and do it: get it cancelled or downgrade it, stop the leak.
Then focus on another one and stop that leak.
If we tackle one of these easy ways to save money quickly every day, we can within just a fortnight or at least a month stop most of our stupid leaks. We’ll then have much simpler finances plus more head space and confidence to:
- Write & stick to a budget
- And think about some of the big changes we may need to make to enjoy a sustainable life without the burden of debt going forward.
I really hope this big list of easy ways to save money helps you to take action to cut spending and build your financial confidence.
For more support do check out my other simple tips on how to live frugally and cut spending drastically. This list of 101 things to stop buying can really slash your weekly grocery bills.
50 Easy Ways To Save Money
Our aim with this list is to cancel or downgrade a service and stop a money leak every day. Taking action daily then becomes a habit and the wonderful thing about habits is the more we do them, the easier they become. So don’t worry about which order you tackle these money savers, just scan the list, find one and do it.
Then move onto the next way to save money.
And then the next.
We will hit obstacles and complication but focusing on one financial leak at a time will make it much easier to solve them.
So let’s start saving money by cancelling or downgrading a whole load of these one day at a time.
Travel & Leisure
If you’ve suddenly lost your job or an income or facing an emergency then do look as soon as possible at any big travel or leisure plans you have made and see if you can cancel them or sell them on :
- Holiday bookings
- Theatre tickets
- Sports tickets
- Sports season tickets
- Cinema membership
Phones & Communication
Most of us keep spending more and more on phones and communication without noticing just how much of our budget goes on them.
We all need phones of some sort but there’s a lot of fat in most of contracts that can be cut and if money is very tight it is possible to cut right down on these :
- Cellphone data usage
- Cell phone contract
- Cable TV
- Landline – do you really need it any longer
- Broadband – could you share with a neighbour you trust?
- Zoom – if you’re paying for it downgrade to the free service
Media
There is huge amounts of free media content out there so none of us will really go short if we quit paying for these every month :
- Netflix
- Audible
- Spotify & music services
- Magazine subscriptions
- Newspaper subscriptions
Discount Clubs
It is easy to think we are saving money through discount shopping clubs but psychologically they encourage us to buy stuff we don’t need. The truly easy way to save money is stop buying things we barely use.
So take a good hard look at any of these you are forking out for every month. Do they really save money?
- Amazon Prime
- Shopping clubs
Software
It is also easy over the years to end up paying for multiple versions of different software when we only need one or can get it for free. It may only be a little going out every month but over a year it can be £50-£100 we could put to use to pay off debt or put in an emergency fund:
- Anti-virus – we only need one!
- Software – e.g. Office, graphics software
Finance
We don’t always buy financial services because they make good financial sense. We also buy them as a status symbol. Have an honest look at your financial services and see if you would be better off by downgrading any:
- Premier banking
- Premier credit cards
Insurance is obviously very important but it is possible to end with duplicate cover for some things. Check whether these are already covered by your bank account or home content insurance and if they are consider cancelling:
- Travel insurance
- Mobile phone insurance
Beauty Products
We get into the habit of paying for some beauty treats every month or so just because it is what we have always done but by just investing a little time in learning these life skills for ourself we can save hundreds a year:
- Hair cuts
- Hair colourist – embrace your grey hair or go for super low maintenance highlights
- Manicures
- Pedicures
- Beauty subscription boxes
Fitness
None of us need to spend money to get fit or lose weight. It costs nothing to run in the park and many of us would benefit more by just walking a mile every day:
- Personal trainer
- Gym membership
- Diet clubs
Food & Drink
There are all sorts of extremely frugal food tips that truly can save us money on food and drink but one of the quickest, easiest ways is to cut out any of these subscriptions or regular orders for which we pay an enormous premium only for half of it to go to waste:
- Vegetable boxes
- Meal plan & recipe boxes
- K Cup coffee subscriptions
- Wine club
- Coffee clubs
Home & Garden
Our big fixed costs in our home like rents or mortgages can’t usually be reduced quickly but many of us have smaller amounts of money going out every month for things in our home we could do ourself or don’t need. Together those smaller amounts can add up to significant savings:
- Cleaners
- Ironing services
- Dry cleaning services
- Dog walkers
- Car wash & valeting
- Flower subscriptions
- Product protection
- Extended warranties
Hobbies
It’s not great to cut back on things we love doing – or to cut back for our kids – but when finances are tight or go down hill suddenly the best thing we can do for everyone’s well being is to cut back quickly on discretionary spending so we don’t get into debt or further into debt. And there are all sorts of creative ways we can enjoy hobbies for free …
- Music lessons
- Dance lessons
- Baby classes
- Tennis club
- Ancestry sites
- Golf clubs
- Craft box subscriptions
- Gaming sites
Mobile Apps
It’s super easy to lose track of paid apps we have signed up for that are on annual auto-renewal but can actually be cancelled easily. Each of them may only cost £2 or £3 a month but if we can cut 3 or 4 or those fast we can save another £100 to pay off debt or save for emergencies:
- Gaming apps
- Brain training apps
- Weather apps
- Language apps
- Organiser apps
- Gambling apps
Every day we take action and cut a service we don’t use or don’t need or just can’t afford we stop one of those leaks, simplify our finances and give ourselves the confidence to build a budget for a life we can actually afford and enjoy.
I really hope this list of easy ways to save money helps you take those quick actions that can make such a difference to our lives. Do let me know how you get on.
And for more ideas onhow to live frugallydo check out my other posts:
- 75 Energy Saving Tips
- Simple Frugal Life Skills
- Debt Free Living Ideas
- Extremely Frugal Food Tips
- 101 Things To Stop Buying
- How To Make Saving Money Fun
And if you’re a Pinterest fan, do follow mythriving frugallyboard. It’s cram full of more tips on cutting spending, budgeting, paying off debt and enjoying a frugal life.
Photo: Glass jar for money on white background by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0
