You don’t have to turn your life upside down to save money — we’re diving into seven surprising but effective ways to hang onto your money without sacrificing your sanity.
Practice Energy-Efficient Habits
Can remembering to turn off your lights really save you enough money to make a difference? Maybe not if you only do it once. But over a year? The savings will shock you. Little things, like programming devices to turn on and off or switching out your old bulbs for LEDs, add up to significant savings and don’t require much effort to implement.
Exercise Delayed Gratification
“Just don’t spend more.” Gee, why didn’t you think of that? Probably because it’s not helpful, but reminding yourself to wait before spending is. Impulse buying is one of the biggest ways to spend money we didn’t even want to in the first place.
Put some space between the moment of impulse and the actual purchase. You’ll spend less, and if you still really want something, you can permit yourself to buy it after the cooling-off period.
Set Up Auto-Transfers
Automatic savings transfers aren’t little-known, but they’re certainly underutilized and much easier to set up than you think. It’s one of the simplest ways to move money into your savings before you even know it’s there, which is key if you’re the kind of person known to burn money the moment you have it.
Get Creative With DIY
DIY isn’t just for home improvement projects, and you don’t even have to be particularly handy to do it. You can make preserves and give them out as gifts. You can knit fun scarves and sell them on Etsy (or also give them as gifts).
This is a fun way to exercise some creative energy while saving money and sharing your talents with others. And while most people have something they’re good at, too few leverage it as a way to help further their financial goals!
Negotiate Bills and Service Rates
You don’t have to take your phone bill lying down. Many companies have wiggle room for you to negotiate your rates or at least offer you other deals to help you save. Many employees are trained to keep you as a customer, meaning they’ll go the extra mile if you mention you aren’t happy with how much you’re paying.
Improve Your Credit Score
Paying off your credit cards will help you save money. Interest is like a vat of quicksand that can suck out any financial progress you’ve made if you aren’t careful. Get ahead of it by paying more than the minimum balance whenever you can, as quickly as you can.
Unsubscribe From Retailer Emails
We’ll be the first to say that many retailer emails offer good deals that can help you save money, but that’s not the only reason they exist. Many are there simply to get you to spend more. So if you’re someone who just can’t say no to a discount coupon, it’s time to either move these to another folder or unsubscribe from them entirely.
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