Pop quiz. (Don’t worry, there are no grades and no wrong answers.) Do you want to save more money to:
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a) Accomplish your money goals fast?
b) Find some breathing room in your budget?
c) Stop relying on credit cards for emergencies?
d) Add more security in your life?
e) All of the above?
Well, I’ve got some good news! No matter your answer, you’re about to learn how to save money with 23 tips you can start working on today—like right now. You ready? Let’s do this!
A budget is just a plan for your money. Think of it as a map to get you to your money goals. And you need a budget.
Because here’s the thing—if you do every single tip in this how to save money list, but you don’t have a budget . . . you’re playing yourself. You’ll end up accidentally spending everything you intentionally saved. Simply because you didn’t have a plan!
We’ve all been there, so let’s level up.
I need you to make a budget today to see where you are with your money—and then keep making one every single month to get where you want to be.
I’m not the only one who says ditching your debt is a top tip for saving money. But even if I was, I’d still shout it from the rooftops, because I’ve lived this.
My husband and I paid off $460,000 in debt. (You read that right.) And getting that weight off our backs and out of our lives meant first deciding to stop borrowing money. Because borrowed money, aka debt, straight up steals your income.
I mean look at how much money debt is taking from the average America each month:
Imagine throwing $1,240.76 toward your savings goals instead of your past. Every month.
Now look at your debt. What would you get back in the budget if it was gone? Paying off debt takes time and effort—but keep your eye on how much you’ll save and the freedom you’ll feel when you finally get to pay yourself instead of paying debt.
Sometimes the best way to save money is by setting a savings goal—a specific dollar amount with a set deadline. You can try the 100 Envelope Challenge and hit a $5,050 goal or use one of our savings trackers and fill in whatever amount you want.
Bonus tip: Be sure you know why this money is so important for you to save. Because remember—the stronger the why, the stronger the try.
Set up a direct deposit from each paycheck to your savings account. That way you don’t even think about the money you’re saving—you’re just saving.
Start budgeting with EveryDollar today!
And if you really want to get serious, use a separate bank from your existing checking account. I love using online banks for this! Out of sight, out of reach, less temptation to spend.
Hey, I don’t mind if you’re a brand snob about a few things. I won’t sit up here and tell you that Walmart Twist & Shouts taste the same as Nabisco Oreos. But please know a ton of name brands are exactly the same as the generic—except the brand name paid more for marketing. And that means you’re paying more for a fancy logo.
Try out generic brands of the basics for sure: medicines, staple food items, cleaning supplies and paper products.
The hardest budget line to keep in line? Food. The best way to save money on food? Meal plan. (Every breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snack!)
And build this meal plan based on:
Then make a grocery shopping list—and stick to it. For real. Say goodbye to wasted food and drive-thru temptations and hello to legit money savings.
Pro tip: Download my girl Rachel Cruze’s free meal planner and grocery guide for more tips, tricks and even printables to help you here.
If you want to save money each month, pick one TV streaming service. Just one. Then do a quick subscription audit and see what else you can cut. If that subscription or membership isn’t changing your life and you’d rather have that money in your bank account, cancel it! Remember, most of these cuts are just temporary while you get that cash stacked.
Listen, if you’re getting huge tax refunds each year, that means you’ve been loaning the government money every month without interest. I don’t think so—homie don’t play that. It’s time to adjust your tax withholding. Put that money back into your monthly budget.
Why is this a money saving tip? You could be overpaying or be underinsured. Both of those can cost you big. This is not an excuse to cut insurances, but it is an excuse to take our 5-Minute Coverage Checkup to make sure you’ve got the exact coverage you need.
If you’re looking for easy ways to save money on your electric bill, make a few tweaks to your home. Start with some simple things like taking shorter showers (notice I didn’t say fewer showers), fixing that toilet that runs continuously, washing your clothes in cold water, and turning the lights off when you leave a room. You’ll be shocked at how these small changes can really add up.
Get this—the average household spends about $3,639 on food outside of the home each year.4 That’s $303 a month! And you know some of that is spent going out for lunch at work. Pack your midday meal instead—it’s a great way to save money and eat healthier.
Pro tip: Check out these cheap lunch ideas for inspiration.
Are y’all ready for me to level up that last challenge? What if you stopped eating out completely? I know, I’m trying your life right now. But look—it’s not for the rest of your life, just for a while. You could pack that $303 into your savings each month and hit your goals way quicker.
Also, if you’re in debt, this is the first luxury I need you to cut. And you won’t even have to skip out on your favorites. You know you can make more—and better—pizza at the house for way less anyway!
If you’re ready for Baby Step 4, see if your employer offers a 401(k) match. It’ll feel like free money, and it’ll help you get a jump on your retirement savings goals with every contribution.
When was the last time you shopped around for better cell phone deals? It’s time. See what other providers offer. Then take what you learn to your provider and see if they’ll give you a deal to stick with them. If not, and you aren’t in a contract with a timeframe . . . go ahead and make that switch.
Let’s be honest: If you’re in the midst of trying to pay off debt or save money, every month should be a no-spend month. Keeping a needs-based, no-fluff budget for 30 days at a time can save hundreds if not thousands for some!
Because that’s what a no-spend month is—you commit to cutting out those non-essentials for one month.
Just make sure you know your parameters from day one (what you will and won’t buy). And do yourself a favor: Get an accountability partner or have a friend take the challenge with you. It seriously helps.
Before you shell out the cash to pay for a new backsplash, bench or fancy light fixture, think about doing it yourself. Usually, the cost of materials and a simple YouTube search will save you a ton of money here.
I’ll be honest—your girl is not crafty in any way, shape or form, so I’ll probably just wait until I can afford to pay a pro. But if projects are your thing, check out this list of 10 home projects you can probably tackle yourself!
This one gets said so much some of you are rolling your eyes—but if you’ve got a big coffee shop habit, you can save big by becoming your own barista. And when you do go out for a treat, learn some coffee shop hacks so you aren’t paying full price for your fancy caffeine fix.
Before you click Add to Cart on that brand-new book, get yourself a library card! And if you’re more into audiobooks or eBooks, grab an app like Libby that connects to your library so you can check out those versions from your phone or tablet.
Step away from the plastic! Matter of fact, go ahead and take the credit and debit cards out of your wallet. If you really want to get serious about saving, start using the cash envelope system to practice mindful spending.
When you use cash, it activates the pain centers of your brain, creating more friction for every purchase. Simply put, when you spend cash, you feel it! And that helps you spend less—which means you save more!
When you’re learning how to save money, don’t even think about putting yourself in a tempting environment. We all have “that store,” the one that encourages us to get all spendy and stuff. For me it’s Home Goods. For you, it’s (fill in the blank).
Know it. Own it. Avoid it! And then, replace that shopping trip with something else fun like baking cookies with the family. That way you still enjoy yourself without risking those pricey purchases.
Use coupons. You can clip them from actual paper or click them in an app, but this is money just waiting to be saved. Don’t sleep on it.
Then go one step further and check out cash-back apps to save even more on stuff you’re already going to buy. (Just don’t get talked into buying things you don’t need because of a deal—that’s not a deal. At all.)
Let’s face it—with interest rates the way they are, for most of us, now is probably not the time to refinance. But keep this in your back pocket as a long-term money saver for later down the line if and when interest rates drop.
If you’ve got a 30-year mortgage, you’re spending a ton on interest over the life of that loan. A. Ton. Refinancing to a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage will save you thousands of dollars in the long run. Talk with one of our RamseyTrusted Real Estate Agents to see if a refinance is worth it for you.
But even if the numbers don’t work out for you to do a formal refinance, you can keep your great rate and pay off your mortgage early by simply treating your 30-year mortgage like a 15-year mortgage and upping your payments on your own.
We live in a world of instant gratification. Food from our favorite restaurants— boom! At our door in an hour or less. The show you want to binge—ready for you to hit play, now. The ads on social media say you need this, that and the other. And with the swipe of your finger, it’s at your doorstep. We’re a just a couple clicks away from nearly-instantly satisfying our desires for anything!
But if you’ll delay some of that gratification by using the magic of no or in some cases not now—you’ll save so much money, build better spending habits, and feel more contentment overall. Savings with a side of mental and emotional health? Hit me!
Saving money starts, ends and has everything in between to do with your budget. So make your budget. Right now.
Get all your income and expenses in there. Then start working through these tips. And all the money you save with all that work—stick it in the budget too!
Whether you budget already or not, check out EveryDollar. This is the budgeting app my family uses. EveryDollar played a huge role in helping us get out of debt, and it helps us set and stick to our money goals—one monthly budget at a time!
You can do this! Starting today, you can save more and spend less by using these 23 tips to make 2024 your best year with money yet.
Saving money can seem like more trouble than it's worth, given the relatively small sums yielded by trimming expenses by a few dollars a week here and there. But take those savings and invest them, even conservatively, and that belt-tightening promises to deliver thousands of dollars over the long term.
The potential payoffs increase more dramatically still if you also shrink some ongoing expenses that are often mistakenly treated as if they were fixed; insurance premiums, for example, or cable bills. In the short term, cost-cutting moves can also immediately help offset the rising costs of living due to inflation.
This article offers 15 suggestions to cut your expenses—daily, monthly, and annual moves that fairly painlessly deliver savings—as well as a way to supercharge your savings with your employer's money. For most of these moves, we calculate the proceeds from socking the savings away for 25 years and assume your money will earn a fairly conservative return of 5% compounded daily. If those long-term figures don't boost your commitment to save, nothing will.
Daily Savings
1. Brown Bag It
A sandwich at a deli near work can cost $5 to $10 a day. That might not seem like much. But over a year, spending that every work day puts your annual expenditure into four figures. If you instead bring food from home, you can feed yourself for half as much. If you invest those savings—an average of $35 a week, or about $1,820 a year, you’d have saved $94,749 after 25 years.
2. Brew Your Own
A cup of decent coffee at a premium shop can easily run from $2.50 to $4 or more, and that usually won't buy you a latte or other specialty drinks. Buy just a single cup every day and you’ll be spending between $625 to $1,000 a year—in after-tax money.
Then consider that a pound of good coffee at the same store costs about $15 and brews at least 30 cups of coffee. If you brew one cup a day at home, instead of buying one at the store, you'd spend about $125 a year. Total savings: $500 to $875 a year, and more than $45,000 with our lifetime calculation.
3. Join Supermarket Loyalty Programs
Signing up as a loyal customer at a major food chain can allow you access to member-only specials and sometimes to manufacturers' coupons, too.
Whole Foods offers an especially rich program for those who are members of Amazon Prime, its parent company's premium membership (which costs $139 a year but delivers other perks, too).
Prime members qualify for deep discounts on dozens of sale items at Whole Foods stores every week. (Recent examples for New York City: Boneless skinless chicken breast, $7.99 a pound, down from $9.99. Organic blueberries, $3.99, down from $4.99.) A shopper who heavily buys Prime specials could probably save $25 a week on groceries. That adds up to $1,300 a year, compounding to more than $67,000 over that 25 years.
Costco, which sells goods at wholesale prices, offers memberships at a variety of price points that come with a satisfaction guarantee. The Executive level, which costs $120 per year, offers you 2% annual rewards back on select purchases up to $1,000.
4. Score Senior Discounts, Perhaps Sooner Than You Think
Many merchants offer big discounts to those 65 or older, but some give you the discount if you’re as much as a decade younger. For example, at age 55 you qualify for 10% discounts at Arby's (10%), TJ Maxx, and Michael's craft-supply stores. Discounts that kick in at 60 include Ben and Jerry’s (10%), Sonic Drive-In (10%), and Piggly Wiggly grocery chain (discounts vary by location).
5. Get Student Perks
Full-time students qualify for a host of freebies and discounts. Food-chain offerings include Chipotle (free drinks) and Domino's (20%).
Retail discounts include Amazon Prime ($5.99 a month for 4 years), H&M (20%), and American Eagle (20%). Technology and telecom discounts include Apple (Education Pricing on much of its hardware, at varying discounts), Adobe Creative Cloud($19.99 a month), and Spotify (a $4.99/month student bundle that includes Spotify and Hulu with ads).
Saving money is only part of it. When you invest savings, you can at least double your returns over 25 years, due to the power of compounding.
Monthly Savings
6. Charge It to a Cash-Back Card
Maximize your credit card benefits by putting as many regular expenses as you can on a credit card that offers generous cash-back rewards: Groceries, gas, utilities, restaurants, everything you can think of. Make sure, though, that you pay off your credit card bill in full at the end of the month. Paying interest on a balance will wipe out any rewards you’d have earned, and probably more.
A family could easily charge $2,000 a month on a rewards card. The Capital One Quicksilver Rewards Card, for example, pays 1.5% back on every purchase. That works out to $30 a month, or about $19,000 over 25 years. The Citi DoubleCash card pays 2% back.
7. Shop for Home Telecom Service
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Most areas have more than one company that provides cable TV, Internet, and landline services. Sometimes there’s a big price difference between them. Don’t be shy about switching, or calling your current provider and threatening to leave—a move that may yield some offers you won't find on the website.
You could also drop your landline, for modest savings, or your TV service. Cutting cable or satellite TV is more ripe for significant savings, especially with the arrival of web-based cable substitute services such as YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV.
However, these services tend to be money savers only for those who want to downsize their channel array. You can ditch paying for TV entirely by spending $40 or so on a new antenna that allows you to receive pristine over-the-air digital broadcasts of the major networks, and often other programming, too.
Don’t be surprised if you save more than $40 a month by switching—or at least reducing—your home telecom service. The potential 25-year benefit: $25,000.
8. Consider Switching Mobile Services
If you're no longer under a contract with your carrier—and you're not paying off your phone—you might be able to switch to a less expensive network without having to buy a new phone. For example, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon phones can generally be used interchangeably.
Verify compatibility for your specific phone with the carrier or by using checkers such as this one from Whistleout.com. You should also consider coverage in your area and compare extra features such as free video services and data rollover.
If those check out, though, the savings can be substantial. For example, a plan that costs $10 less a month than your current one would deliver a savings benefit over 25 years of more than $6,200.
9. Shop for Electricity
In many states, you're allowed to buy electricity from energy service companies (ESCOs) separate from the company that brings the power into your house.
These alternatives often have lower rates than the utility company. For example, companies that charge as much as a penny less per kilowatt hour than the utility company could save you between $5 and $10 a month depending on how much electricity you use. While it might not sound like much, that could add up to roughly $3,000 to $6,000 over 25 years.
Start by finding out whether your state is deregulated and researching the companies you could use. Be cautious before signing up for an alternative provider, however. Companies may charge early termination fees, require contracts, offer attractive introductory rates that then rise, and impose other provisions different from the public utility you may use now.
Whether you will find savings depends on how carefully you choose your plan. A 2016 study in New York State found that "general residential and small commercial utility customers who took service from an ESCO paid approximately $817 million more than if they had continued to take commodity supply from their local utility."
In 2022, the state's Public Service Commission took action against four ESCOs for various violations of consumer protection regulations.
10. Pay Less in Bank Fees
Look beyond the balance on your bank account statements and you may be rudely surprised at the number of fees you're paying and what they cost you. A few smart practices can help limit these, including withdrawing cash only at fee-free ATMs, carefully coordinating your available funds with any checks you write to avoid costly overdraft fees, and using credit cards and free P2P payment apps like Venmo to reduce your need for cash withdrawals.
If high fees remain a persistent issue, consider making a switch. If your current bank can't offer options to reduce your fee burden, turn to an online-only bank. With lower overhead than brick-and-mortar banks, these institutions often have no monthly maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements and pay a higher interest rate on savings accounts and certificates of deposit.
Some community banks and credit unions offer the same lower-fee, higher-rate advantages of the online-only banks while also allowing the option to meet with a banker face to face.
Average bank-fee figures are difficult to come by. The most recent data we could find—a 2022 report from MoneyRates based on 2021 data—listed average fees for monthly maintenance, overdrafts, and ATMs that add up to $49.32/month, or $167.40 per year.
However, there are many no-fee checking accounts and those that offer reduced fees, depending on customer usage. Over 25 years, an account that costs half of the average account would earn you about $4,000 in savings.
Annual Savings
11. Reduce Your Insurance Premiums
Review your homeowner’s and auto insurance policies at least every year for changes that could save you money. Even if you don't opt for an entirely new carrier, a host of moves can help you reduce premiums. For example, consolidating all the policies you hold with one company typically earns a discount of between 5% and 25% on each.
If you're insuring an older car, its optional collision and comprehensive coverage may no longer make financial sense if the maximum claim payout (the vehicle's value minus your deductible) drops to 10% or less of the total annual premium for those two coverages. And for almost any insurance policy, increasing your deductible almost invariably reduces the premium—and, of course, your financial risk.
Whether or not you change coverage, shop around for your insurance, since premiums can range widely, particularly with auto insurance. The national average monthly auto insurance premium is $207 a month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Reducing the premium by 10% would save about $226 a year, adding up to about $12,000 over 25 years.
12. Use Apps to Help Track and Save Money
A rise in both the number and the quality of personal finance apps has made it far easier to know from your smartphone or computer where your money is going, and to help you save more painlessly.
Take one of Investopedia's top personal finance apps, which is free. All-in-one resource Mint will help you create a budget, track your spending, connect all your bank and credit card accounts, and remind you of all your monthly bills.
13. Enroll in Your Employer’s Retirement Savings Program
The closest thing to free savings is the matching contributions many employers offer for company-sponsored 401(k), SIMPLE IRA, and other salary deferral feature plans. Employers who offer the perk typically add up to half of your contribution to the plan.
If you're hesitating to join the company plan, then, you're losing out on not only the benefit of tax-deferred retirement savings of your own but on having those contributions supercharged by your employer.
An example illustrates just how much you can leave on the table by not participating. It's an especially conservative example since it reflects a modest income that doesn't rise over time, as many employee salaries do.
Alana makes $31,000 per year working for ABC Company, which agrees to make a matching contribution to employee 401(k)s of 50 cents on every dollar, up to a sum equal to 6% of each employee's compensation. If Alana contributes the full 6%, which totals $1,860 a year, ABC will top it up with an additional $930 (50% of $1,860).
That makes a total (employee plus employer) contribution of $2,790 a year, or $232.50 a month. Even invested as per our (conservative) formula, those contributions would create a fund totaling about $145,000 after 25 years. The employer contributions alone would have yielded roughly $48,000 of that amount. Free money indeed.
There is a limit on the annual contributions you can make to a 401(k): $22,500 for 2023 and $23,000 for 2024. People 50 and over can make an additional catch-up contribution of $7,500 for 2023 and $8,000 for 2024. For IRA accounts, the annual contributions can not exceed $6,500 for 2023 and $7,000 for 2024. Individuals aged 50 and over can make an additional catch-up contribution of $1,000 for 2023 and 2024.
14. Refinance Your Mortgage
Much of the monthly mortgage payment for most people comprises interest costs. Even in an environment of rising interest rates, refinancing a mortgage can deliver huge savings, under the right circumstances. For example, you may have improved your credit rating and are eligible for a loan with better terms.
As an example, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a $100,000 principal remaining with an interest rate of 9% has a principal and interest payment of $804.62 a month. That same loan at 6.625% reduces your payment to $640.31—for a monthly savings of $164.31.
Those savings, over 25 years and invested at 5%, including the one-time cost to refinance (between 3% and 6%, or between $3,000 and $6,000 for our example), would result in a lifetime benefit of at least $100,000.
Reducing your interest rate not only saves money but increases the rate at which you build equity in your home.
15. Optimize Timing for Big-Ticket Purchases
Substantial savings are possible if you're willing and able to wait for seasonal sales and clearances on big buys. Those optimal times fall into two basic categories.
The first are major holidays, almost all of which are now an excuse for retailers to hold "sales events" of some kind. The end-of-year holiday season is the best example, beginning with Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving.
Carefully researched, Black Friday buys can often, though not invariably, be the best of the year, especially in electronics categories such as TVs and computers. Categories featured in the sales on holiday weekends include appliances on Memorial Day, furniture on July 4th, and mattresses on Labor Day.
The other major sale opportunity is to snap up older items as this year's models begin to arrive, or as seasons end. Buying last year's stock does, however, mean selection may have dwindled and you sacrifice acquiring the latest features and technology—but those advances are fairly incremental given the maturity of most big-ticket categories.
Optimal categories and times to take advantage of model-year and seasonal changes include cars in October and November, grills in September, and winter sports gear and clothing in March and April.
You can save money by putting expenses on a cash-back credit card, but only if you pay the full balance at the end of the month. You can also save by switching to a cable or mobile phone provider offering lower rates.
Many retailers offer senior discounts to people 65 and older. Depending on the merchant you may be eligible for a discount as soon as age 55 so it pays to shop around.
You can save money on groceries by joining a loyalty program. For example, Amazon Prime members are eligible for discounts at Whole Foods.
The Bottom Line
Chances are slim that you'll want—or be able—to take advantage of all of these savings strategies, and your gains from them will surely vary if you do. Still, it's inspiring and impressive to total the take from all the strategies we outlined.
Collectively, they'd deliver a nest egg after 25 years of about $524,000. And they'd do so, for the most part, with fairly minimal hardship. You could even get better at sandwich-making than that guy at the deli.
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