Have you ever just thought … “What are the top 7 money tips I could do today that would completely change my life?”
Maybe you just want the best of the best money saving tips.
Okay … you’ve definitely wondered what you could do to finally level up your finances, stop feeling stressed and actually GET AHEAD with your money.
That’s exactly what we’re talking about today, and I’m sooooo excited to tell you the top 7 money tips that’ll totally changed our life and I know will change yours too!
If you’re ready to make drastic changes with your finances, then get ready for the best money saving tips below!
Tip 1 – Read ‘The Total Money Makeover’
Before I go further, I just need to say that Dave Ramsey could very well be my spirit animal.
When my husband and I first got married, one of our gifts was The Total Money Makeover. I wasn’t super thrilled about getting a book when I really just wanted a KitchenAid – but I made my un-grateful butt read it anyways. (side note: I still haven’t gotten my KitchenAid, despite having enough saved to pay for it now. It turns out you don’t need one when all you make is tacos.)
I didn’t realize that reading that book would completely change my life forever. (I know I’m sounding dramatic right now, but I kid you not, that book is a life-changer!
Reading the countless stories of families who had gained their financial freedom was inspiring and the best feel-good feeling that gave you the motivation to get your butt in gear.
And that’s exactly what we did!
We saved up $15,000 in 4 months, bought a new-to-us car and started saving for a house! Like, what?! Who thought you could be so financially prepared in your 20’s?
So, why is reading a book my first money tip?
Because when you hear other’s stories, it can help you with your own. Reading about other people that were in the same exact situation as you and how they overcame it, will help you reach your goals faster.
Get motivated and read The Total Money Makeover. And yes, you can get it here on Amazon!
Tip 2 – Create a Budget in 10 Minutes
You didn’t think I’d give you 5 of my best money tips without throwing in budgeting, did you?!
Now that you have your inspiration from reading this blog post, or The Total Money Makeover, it’s now time to create a budget.
Seriously guys – if you don’t know what you’re money is doing behind closed doors, how do you expect to control it?
Back in 2017 there was a study by Gallup that found that only 41% of Americans are actually using a budget. That means that OVER HALF of the US population is letting their money get away with throwing a massive house party, and you’re eventually going to come home and have to clean up the mess.
My husband and I were getting so frustrated constantly living paycheck to paycheck. That stuff is stressful! And not to mention the silent anger that we had (sometimes towards each other … or a lot towards each other) whenever someone brought up the finances.
WE WERE DONE – we were done feeling sorry for ourselves, being stressed all the time (I have enough other things in my life to stressed about) and wondering where our money went.
So we started a budget. And if you know me, you know that I want to get things done as fast as I can. So I started budgeting in only 30 minutes a month.
This was a GAME-CHANGER. We FINALLY knew where every dollar was going and we actually felt confident when we spent money instead of wondering if our card would decline.
Budgeting is one of my top money saving tips because it actually works with you. And you can totally customize it to what your family needs!
Here’s how I started budgeting in 10 minutes each month:
1 – Tracked our expenses for 1 month
Wait …. that’s not creating a budget! You’re totally right, but the very first thing you have to do is track how much you’re actually spending each month and put each purchase into a category. Categories such as housing, groceries, eating out, clothing, utilities, etc…
You can get the budget template I started with with in the Freebies Page.
2 – Create next month’s budget
After tracking expenses for 1 month and having all your categories, you can now use your budget template to fill in the expected amount you are planning to spend in each category for the month.
This takes me less than 4 minutes every month. Seriously. I do it on Instagram every month if you’d like to watch.
3 – Go over next month’s budget with your spouse, dog or iguana
You want to be on the same page (if your spouse is willing to budget with you). So before the month starts we’ll go over our expected expenses and see if there’s any category amounts we need to change and go over our goals for the coming month.
This takes us about 6 minutes each month. Coming to a whopping total of only 10 minutes every single month to start your budget!
Now, you’ve got to finish your budget (which only takes me a complete total of 30 minutes a month.)
You can find all the details of how we budget in only 30 minutes a month over here.
Even just starting your budget and being aware of where your money is going will make ALL THE DIFFERENCE. And it only has to take 10 minutes!
Tip 3 – Automate your Savings
Every month we would have the best intentions of transferring money into our savings. And you know what happened every month?……..
It never got transferred.
We forgot, or decided to just spend it on something else since it was already in our checking account.
That obviously wasn’t going to work. So we had to come up with something that made us put the money in savings.
I’d like to introduce you to the beauty that is AUTOMATION.
Automation is simply setting up a savings account and having the bank manually transfer money into it from another account on a specific day every month (or every two weeks, or every other month, however you’d like to do it!)
We started automating a specific amount every two weeks into our savings account. Since we’re each paid every two weeks, the money was automatically transferred once that paycheck hit the account.
That way we didn’t even know the money was there, and didn’t feel like we were missing out!
And I want to remind you guys —
Small changes make the BIGGEST impact.
Transferring $25 every two weeks is $650 by the end of 12 short months. Do you know what you could do with an extra $650? You could finally pay off that remaining balance on the credit card, use it for a fun getaway weekend without the kids or even completely fund your Christmas!
Start by automating a small amount each paycheck or each month, then increase it as you go.
How do you set up automation?
1 – Open a new savings account
Open a new savings account with a SPECIFIC savings goal in mind. Whether that means, putting it towards a specific debt payment or using it for a trip.
2 – Set up the automation with online banking
If your bank actually kept up with the times they’ll have online banking and you can set up the automation yourself.
Determine the amount you want to save, then set the date you want it to be transferred from your checking account every month.
You can also call your bank and have them do it. Tell them the same thing from above, how much you want transferred into the savings account and what date each month.
3 – Watch the money stack up
Have you guys heard the new song by Liam Payne, Stack it Up?
There’s a line in that song that is a major truth bomb:
” So if you wanna stack it up, man, you gotta work for it Ain’t nobody gonna be doin’ it for ya”
Automating is LITERALLY DOING IT FOR YOU. It’s still your money, but one day you’ll wake up, look at your account and realized that it HAS stacked up.
And thanks to this awesome money saving tip you can now book that all-inclusive trip to Cancun!
Tip 4 – Have an Emergency Fund
I’ve worked at a dental office for a few years now and it is honestly heart-breaking to see these adults, well into their 40’s not able to pay $100 dollars at an emergency visit.
Guys, emergencies will come up. It’s not an if, it’s a when. Your emergency may look a lot different than mine, but we’re still going to have them.
So, how much do you save for an emergency fund?
Dave Ramsey recommends starting with a minimum of $1,000. I strongly agree that $1,000 is a great place to start.
Now that you’re starting to automate your savings you can easily save up that $1,000 for an emergency in a separate savings account. This is to be used in a REAL emergency.
Getting the brand new iPhone is not an emergency.
The best part? If for some absolutely crazy, not-likely, reason that you never use your emergency fund that’s just more money you already have saved for retirement.
It’s a win-win situation!
Unless you don’t have an emergency fund. Then you lose. (just kidding) But seriously. Please have an emergency fund.
Tip 5 – Get Rid of your Car Payment
You know those parents who buy brand-new cars for their kids’ 16th birthday?
I don’t either.
When I turned 16 my parents bought me a car that they paid $1,000 bucks for. Because I was super naive back then and thought it was super affordable to get a car, I convinced my parents to let me buy my own 2007 Jetta VW.
My thoughts exactly were, “It’s only $250 a month for a new car, why doesn’t everyone have a new car?!”
I then realized that it really wasn’t that affordable and I actually had to make payments EVERY SINGLE MONTH on it. Silly me.
Every kids dream is getting a brand new car until you grow up and realize that you actually have to drive. And that sometimes driving really sucks.
But you know what sucks even more? Having a car payment.
You know what’s totally unnecessary? Having a car payment.
WHAT?!
Did you know that you don’t actually have to have a car payment and you CAN purchase a car just with what’s in your bank account?
In all seriousness, there’s a huge unspoken epidemic that is having a car payment. It’s NORMAL to have a car payment. It’s NORMAL to pay a ridiculous amount of interest each month on your vehicle. It’s NORMAL to have massive amount of debt just for transportation.
Well, I didn’t want to be normal.
Did you know that the average monthly car payment in the U.S. for a new car is $530 and $381 for a used car. (According to NerdWallet.)
And on average you’re spending an extra $1,000 + just on the interest alone.
That’s your whole emergency fund!
We decided to get rid of our car payment and eventually traded UP finally getting the vehicle that we’d been dreaming about!
The real question is, how do you get rid of your car payment?
1 – Pay it off ASAP
After deciding we didn’t want to be normal and would like to be more intentional with where our money is going we paid off our car ASAP.
Now, we didn’t have a lot left on it so we paid it off pretty quick. And we put every single extra penny towards it.
Any cash we got back from Ibotta, that I made from Rev or we had leftover at the end of the month went straight to paying off the car.
If you can pay your vehicle off within 18 months then it may be worth keeping (as long as you stay focused for those 18 months).
2 – Trade down
Sometimes it comes to trading in your vehicle and moving down in car for the time-being. Check Kelly Blue Book, see what your car is worth and work on selling it fast.
Whatever you make from a trade-in or selling yourself, use that amount to purchase a car WITH CASH. No loans, use what you got from selling your car.
What if you’re upside down on the vehicle?
Check the Kelly Blue Book, see how much you need to pay the difference. If you owe $25,000 and your car is only worth $20,000. Focus on saving up (using automation) that $5,000 and pay it down fast.
3 – Use Dave Ramsey’s $5,000 car principle
This was introduced to me in his book, The Total Money Makeover. (The same book from tip #1 that will change your life.)
The concept is you sell your car and buy a beater for $1,000-$3,000.
As you drive that beater car around for another year or two (no doubt being petrified that your neighbor will see you pulling out of the garage in it) you save up another $5,000.
Now, go trade that car in and take your $5,000 you just saved and you have an $8,000 car.
Drive that one around for another year or two (feeling a little more confident in stopping at the mailbox in this one) and save up another $5,000.
Then trading in again for a car up to $13,000. You get the point.
You have now successfully avoided all that interest that would have cost you double what the car is worth, and you actually OWN it.
Think of how awesome it’ll be when you’re driving down the road and wave to your neighbor in the car that you OWN. You’re not borrowing it, it’s actually yours.
No more icky payments month to month. Sure, you may have to drive some crappy cars for a few years, but I promise that people don’t judge you on your car as much as you think they do. (trust me, I’m telling myself that just as much as I’m telling you!)
But Kenzy, there is NO WAY we could save $5,000 in two years let alone one!
How much is your car payment now? My guess, anywhere from $200-$400 a month.
Get rid of your car. Just sell it, use that cash to start on your $5,000 car journey. Heck, you may even have more than $5,000 and start out at $10,000.
After you sell your car and find something you can pay for cash, you just continue paying yourself however much your previous car payment was. If your payment is $400 right now, you just continue paying yourself $400 until you reach another $5,000.
This is probably one of my favorite money tips – it’s something so out of the ordinary to not have a car payment. Do you think you can do it?
Tip 6 – Open up a Roth IRA
What does everyone look forward to the moment they start working?
Retirement.
All the things you’re planning to do when you retire. Like go back to work because oops, you found out you that social security isn’t actually enough to pay for all your bills.
If you’re just planning on social security then you can for sure plan on finding other ways to make extra money, because $1,300 isn’t going to cut it. (Yes, that is the average social security check.)You’re definitely not going to be doing any site-seeing using that check when you retire. Unless you want to drive for Uber.
What can I do to boost my retirement so I can travel to Cabo and take my whole family to Hawaii? I’m so glad you asked!
Start investing in a Roth IRA. This is like an extra savings account with max interest. With an interest of 8-12% you can bet your bottom dollar that investing early will return some pretty pennies for you (and a retirement that you can actually enjoy!)
I’m fully aware that no one wants to be talking (or even thinking) about retirement. But the fact is, depending on when you retire you can have another 20-30 years of living to do!
Basic details of a Roth IRA:
- you can put up to $6,000a year of your after tax money into it
- It grows and grows and grows on high interest – while you still contribute every year
- Once you hit 59 1/2 you can start pulling money out of it (tax free) for whatever you feel like
For more details on a Roth IRA you can check out the full, detailed post.
If you’re not taking advantage of a Roth IRA you NEED to. It’s so so easy. I don’t care if you’re just putting in $100 to begin with. Do it, and do it soon.
The longer you wait the less you have. Make your money count (and then watch it double every year in an IRA).
Tip 7 – Eat Avocado Toast, and Buy the Laundry Detergent (Change your Mindset)
Now to our very last money tip (and one of the best … okay, okay they’re just all good!)
One of Dave Ramsey’s most famous quotes is:
” Live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else.”
– Dave Ramsey
This is one of the quotes we lived by as we were getting our financial life together. We were already living paycheck to paycheck (or so we thought.)
Just over 3/4ths of US is living paycheck to paycheck. And we were part of that same statistic.
When we finally decided enough was enough we resorted to doing whatever it was that was possible to get our act together and stop being stressed about money ALL. THE. TIME.
I started searching all the ways to save money and kept coming back to living extremely frugal and making your own laundry detergent and stop buying coffee. I don’t even like coffee (I know, total minority) so how was that going to help me?
What I thought was that you had to give up everything you enjoyed in life to actually have extra money in your checking account. And the fact is – that’s so far from the truth.
I hated making our laundry detergent just to save two dollars. I was more miserable than before and had such a scarcity mindset. I continually thought that I had to hang on to every single penny with a clenched fist or I wouldn’t ever make it back.
Truth is – you will make more. And that was the key for us. Finding ways to MAKE MORE while reducing the things we didn’t care about.
We cut our spending significantly on subscriptions we didn’t know we had, switching insurances, and being more intentional about where our money was going by using the cash envelope system.
Sure, we worked on not eating out as much but what helped us the most was side hustling. Making extra to pay off that debt, fund our emergency fund and eventually go to Cancun.
We were also so much smarter about our money – if we couldn’t afford it right at that second (with cash) we didn’t purchase it. Nothing went on a credit card.
Being extremely frugal for the rest of our lives sounded miserable. And you certainly don’t have to!
Recap:
Here was the top 7 money tips that’ll change your life today:
1 – Read ‘The Total Money Makeover’. This was the biggest game-changer for us and helped us finally start our financial freedom journey.
2 – Create a budget in 10 minutes. Budgeting doesn’t have to take hours. I choose to do it in only 30 minutes a month. You can create your budget in under 10, think you can find 10 minutes to spare today?
3 – Automate your savings. This took us from $0 to $1,000 real quick and once you set it you totally forget about it. It’s the top actual money saving tip that everyone forgets. Until one day you wake up and your emergency fund is fully-funded!
4 – Have an emergency fund. You’re going to have emergencies. Even if it’s just a flat tire. Just do it, start with $1,000.
5 – Get rid of your car payment. Don’t be normal and experience the outstanding feeling of OWNING your car. Stop giving away your money to the banks.
6 – Open up a Roth IRA. Retirement will come whether you’re ready for it or not, I’d rather be ready. A Roth IRA is the key to funding a wealthy retirement.
7 – Change your mindset. Stop thinking scarcely (frugal is the only way of life) and start thinking abundance. You WILL be debt free, how much money can you make next month to help you get there?
It’s not as hard as everyone thinks to be financially ahead in life. It can take a little bit of effort at the beginning, but you’ll come out so much further ahead.
Share below what money tip (or tips) you’ll be using! We’ve done all 7 of these money saving tips (and still do) and have seen the biggest financial impact in our lives. I’m excited to see yours!
