Small Ways to Save Money Every Day

When most people think of saving money, they think of taking drastic steps to change their lifestyle and save as much as they can. And doing that isn’t bad or wrong. Sometimes, depending on your financial situation, making sweeping changes can be a very good idea.

However, there are many small things that you can do that will help you save money as well. While the amount you’ll save from doing any one of these small things usually isn’t very large, several small savings certainly add up.

Here are a few things you can do in your daily life that can help you save money.

Planning your meals doesn’t just help you save money, it also helps simplify your life and could very likely improve your health. At the beginning of the week, write down what you’re going to eat for the entire week. This helps you save money because you’ll hopefully be cooking at home more by using this strategy, plus planning will help you avoid wasting food.

A good way to take this method a step further is to look into your fridge and pantry before you make your plan and see what you can make using things you already have. You can then check out flyers for your local grocery stores and use the items that are on sale to supplement your ingredient list. Using these two methods together can hep you save even more.

Saving money for emergencies is important, but it’s something that a lot of people don’t do. Some don’t do it because they don’t consider it a priority, others don’t because they think it’s too difficult, and many don’t save because they don’t think they have room in their budget. However, automating your savings can help make it a lot easier to save.

Most financial institutions allow you to schedule automatic transfers from one account to another (such as from a chequing account to a savings account, for instance). If you set this up to happen once, you can save money every month without doing anything. You can even have money move accounts automatically whenever you get paid, so the money never hits your chequing account. Soon, you won’t even remember this is happening and you’ll learn to live off of whatever you have in chequing.

Even if you can only save a small amount each month, this can make a big difference.

Shopping online is very easy. You can click, tap, and spend a large amount in just a few minutes. One way to prevent yourself from overspending online is to remove saved credit card numbers from shopping sites. Most websites let you save your credit card number in your account to make it faster to check out. By removing this information, you’ll have to go get your card every time you want to make a purchase. This extra step will help you avoid impulse shopping and be more mindful when you’re shopping.

Almost everyone has different recurring expenses, such as music or video subscriptions, automatic monthly shipments, gym memberships, and various other expenses. Look at the subscriptions you have and see which ones you could do without. Reducing these monthly payments can help you save money.

You’ll also want to look at your bank and your credit card accounts. Are you paying monthly fees for your bank account, for instance? If you are, these small charges add up over time. Talk to your bank and ask them what you can do to reduce or eliminate these fees. If they’re not willing to work with you, consider changing banks.

Set your thermostat a couple degrees cooler in the winter and a couple warmer in the summer. You’ll barely notice the difference, but this can save you a decent amount of money in your monthly utility costs.

Coupons can help you save on your weekly grocery shopping. Check out local flyers, coupons you get in the mail, and websites and apps dedicated to couponing. By using coupons on items you’re planning on buying anyway, you can save quite a lot. Just make sure you’re buying things you would have bought anyway, and that you’re not buying unnecessary items because you want to get “a deal.”