分类： Saving on Bills

COVID pandemic arrived suddenly and we all panicked including myself

Immediately people started to think how to save money during Coronavirus?

Those who managed to keep their work going on like Accountants and IT jobs noticed great savings without any efforts from their end

For myself, I noticed right away the before and after school programs are not paid anymore for my 2 kids plus all of my transportation

There are few affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you

In this post, I will discuss ways to save money during Coronavirus

Before I start let me ask you

Contents show

Why is it important to save money during pandemic?

Good question, if you are still having your job then corona pandemic is the perfect time to save money

But why? simply because you can’t tell if you would be able to keep your job

You also cannot predict if there will be another future time good for you to pay your debt or even push money to any small loan you have

You don’t have to worry about putting effort to cut many expenses as many things due to staying home will be eliminated

Take an example, the trip to gas stations, saving all the money for before and after school programs

Also buying clothes became completely unnecessary

Reduce your car premium insurance

When the pandemic started, I wasn’t sure when it is going end

I realized after 4-5 months of not going anywhere I can save on car premium insurance

It was easy to suspend one of my two cars and to change the way I drive my car

I saved 50% annually of my car premium insurance on the spot

Cut your hair at home

I was not planning to save money during Coronavirus

It happened out of my control as all hair cutters were forced to shut down

Actually I realized it isn’t about saving money but the haircut is no more different than the service I get at any hair cutter

Buy your items online

If you can buy everything online with no shipping cost so why you’ll go to stores

That became possible because all stores reduced the minimum amount to qualify for free shipping

If you know what you need to get then save money and reduce the risk of infection

Stick to a budget

It is a good time now to start creating a budget to save money during Coronavirus

You need to use a budget like the one from my product page as shown below to control where to direct all the money you saved from all the shutdown activities

It is important to control your extra money as without budgeting your income you can end up in debt

How could this happen? simply the idea of having a surplus after covering all expenses can lead to spending your extra money in unused products or services

Pay yourself first

Pay yourself first is a term I did not invent it but it is a well known one

Simply you deduct a percentage or specific amount from every paycheck

Why you do that? because you need to make sure you will be able to save

If you spend your income even with using a budget it may be out of control and you miss saving for the month

But if you save on every paycheck by asking your bank to automate transfer of certain percentage or specific amount then you guarantee you save no matter what

Transfer balance to 0% to pay debt

I always get every other months an offer to one of my credit cards to transfer all credit cards balance to one particular card with 0% interest for 12 months and sometimes 18 months

This would be useful if you are struggling with debt on your credit cards so you can consolidate all credit balance into 0% for specific time

That’s why I thought about building a tool that can help you control your debt

Plan your meals with shopping list

Nothing is better than going once per week to grocery store and buying all your needs

I realized by using shopping list app like AnyList I have full control on my groceries

The best thing about shopping list apps is that you can easily integrate with Amazon Alexa or Google Home

I love it because you don’t write your grocery shopping list

All you need to do is say the name Alexa followed by the grocery items you want to add to your shopping list

Buy generic brands

I always buy generic brands if I see them on the shelves

You won’t believe me if I tell you very few products I go with the original brands

Usually because the generic brands are either dilute or not effective as original

On the other side, I save money even if there was no coronavirus

Apply the 30 days rule

Anything you want to buy especially a big item put it back on shelf

Go home and wait for 30 days

See if you really have the same passion to buy it

If you are I won’t prohibit you

Keep your spare change in a jar

I know this trick is not going to save money in Coronavirus

But it can be a habit to practice all the time

Bring a jar and dump any coins you have in your pocket when you get home

Wait and see how much you will save after a year

Never be tricked by huge sales

To be fair I myself used to waste a lot of time looking at flyers

And recently with the rise of mobile apps, you can easily hunt discounts throughout all stores

Later I realized it is really a waste of money when you get tricked by any huge sales

Let’s say you woke up on up to 75% sales on shoes, do you really need to buy new shoe?

In most cases, all of us get tricked buying things we don’t need because they are cheap

Choose affordable rent or mortgage amount

If you really need to save money to pass time till after coronavirus ends then you have to choose affordable rent or pay a mortgage that does not keep you tight

How would you know that? if you have a budget especially like my budget sheet I use

You can easily come up with percentages of all expenses according to your total income

Time for building an emergency fund

Nothing is better than knowing you can ready for any emergency that can happen out of your control like your car break and needs a repair

I always tell my readers to start building an emergency fund

It can be hard when you start but by using my free emergency fund saving plan below, this can make your life easy towards saving for your emergency

Plan for the Tax season

Once COVID pandemic started I realized I will get almost no refund in tax season

Actually the refund I get from before and after school program and commute to work are going to be dropped

I set my expectation on that and I diverted my payments towards increasing what I deposit in my retirement saving plan

By doing that you help compensate previous years and also you will get a tax refund

Cancel magazine subscription and GYM membership

Still want to keep your GYM membership during pandemic

Even if there is no COVID, you still can save money by buying the treadmill, dumbbells and Incline bench press you use at the GYM and use it in your basement

Also you can check if you can go to your local community center and see if they have these tools

Almost all community center have these tools

When it comes to magazines, ask yourself if you still read them

I am afraid you get your magazines and you look at the cover

You leave it sitting for long time and it ends in your recycle

Use major appliances on low peak and weekends only

As you may know during the day there are 3 rates of electricity charges

The cheapest one starts 7 pm till 7 am on weekdays while weekend is low peak all day

My question to you, can you adjust your schedule to operate your washing machine, dryer and washing machine during low peak period

This will save money all year and not during coronavirus only

Use LED bulbs and turn off unnecessary lights

When LED bulbs was released in the market it was so expensive

Right now LED bulbs almost the same price as regular bulbs

You will lose nothing buying all your bulbs as LED

But you will save a lot of money on your power bills

I really noticed a drop in my electricity charges when I changed all light bulbs

Use smart thermostat

Smart thermostat can do so many things more than you imagine

If you think smart thermostat has multiple daily programs to set

Not only that but some smart thermostat can adjust temperature automatically according to the weather outside your home

Also with the ability to control it from your mobile app and providing you with detail report of your daily, weekly and monthly consumption

Use coupons and cash back apps

I remember the old days of collecting all flyers to find coupons and discounts

Nowadays all mobile shopping apps can do this work easily for you

I encourage you to check these apps like Rakuten, MyPoints, TopCashBack, Qmee, ShopAtHome, Honey, Shopkick and Paribus as most of them give sign up cash bonus

For grocery shopping an app like Ibotta gives $20 bonus when you sign up while Fetch Rewards rewards you with $2 when you sign up

More apps like Receipt Hog, Cashout 51 and Storewards are grocery apps for you to check

You can also link your debit or credit cards and monitor what you buy with an pp called Dosh and get $5 sign up bonus

For saving on gas you can use GetUpside where it will give you 25 cents back on all gas receipts

Use cashback credit cards

I really love cash back credit cards where you earn cash by using your credit card buying specific category like grocery, gas or paying recurring bills

There are so many cash back credit cards that gives you 4% or more with annual fees

I applied for a credit card that gave me 3% on grocery, gas and recurring bills with a promotion of $60 annual fee and free supplementary card for spouse

You won’t believe it if I tell you that I made $756 as cash back for the first year

Cut cigarettes, alcohols and soft drinks

If not for saving money during coronavirus then it is for your health

Cut cigarettes and see how your lungs will improve

When it comes to alcohols I will ask you to reduce alcohol from daily habit to drinking in occasions only

For soft drinks, there is no significant proof that it is unhealthy but I know a friend who really started to lose weight just for cutting soft drinks

Join wholesale club membership

Joining wholesale club membership is up to you

You have to calculate if you will save money during coronavirus or in general

I will speak about myself as I used to pay $60 and I buy so many grocery items in bulk that are cheaper than supermarket

I tried to upgrade my membership to pay $120 and get 2% cash back where I collected $86 cash back which means my membership costs me less than $60 as if I paid $34

Reduce take away to special occasions only

I don’t need to tell you to reduce dinning out but also take away

Some families make it a habit to buy take away dinners as they are not ready to cook when they come back from work

Actually I am on the same boat like you but make a habit to cook 2-3 meals on weekend with big portion to eat them during weekdays

It is OK to buy take away food from time to time but don’t rely on that as your daily routine

Replace your cable with IPTV

When I first heard about IPTV I thought it is a bunch of useless channels

Since it is very cheap I said why I don’t give it as a try

Actually I did not need to buy the subscription as most of IPTV subscriptions allow you to get one day trial

In the end, I found I saved easily $60 a month for cable subscription

You won’t believe me if I tell you I pay $40 annually

Giving up your home phone

It took me a while till I realized there is no point of using a home phone

Both myself and my wife use cell phones so we can be reached easily

If you feel like you need just in case an extra home phone then it will be better to go for VOIP phone

You pay using VOIP phone less than $40 annually which is around $3 a month

Consider buying used items

First, I am a big fan of Facebook Marketplace or an app called Nextdoor

This advice is not about saving money during coronavirus

But it works for me all the time

Actually it became a trend for me by selling and buying many things there

One day I was looking for a piano, I went and searched Facebook Marketplace and I found so many sellers offering their pianos for free but you arrange the pickup

Actually I thought what if I own a truck and move around neighbors checking these pianos and carrying those in good conditions

You would be able to sell them easily later on

My point is there are so many things sold there with a fraction of its original prices

Know the difference between your needs and wants

I know I discussed it so many times before but I would like to mention it again

Are you still confused between your needs and wants

Your needs are any thing that keep you alive like your shelter

I mean the place you live in represented in your mortgage or rent

Your transportation and your essential food

Anything other than that can be categorized as wants

Make money with side hustle and kill time too

I heard so many real stories for people who were able not only to save money during coronavirus

But to make money too in time of pandemic

Pursuing a side hustle made them able to make side income and kill time too

Some people decided to sell ready made meals where they take the orders on Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor

There are others who offered to walk dogs or to babysit toddlers

It doesn’t matter what you know or do you just need to put yourself in front of those who need your service

Find cheap gas stations to save money

I know it is obvious if I tell you to fill up gas from the cheapest gas station

Question is where you find cheap gas near you as price changes daily

I have two gas stations nearby where one is always cheaper than the other

But this is not the case all the time as gas price is fluctuating many times a day

Anyway I found an app called GasBuddy where it lists all the gas prices near you

You can also combine it with an app called GetUpside where it gives you $25 cents on each gas fill up

Join 52 weeks money saving challenge

Have you read my previous post about 52 weeks money saving challenge

It is a fun challenge to take and you won’t regret it

Simply it is a money saving challenge for an entire year

You start your year by saving $1 on the first week and then you increment it by $1 every week till the end of the year where you will save $52 on the 52^nd week

You can do so many variations of this challenge like reversing the challenge and save the highest amount of $52 on the first week and decrement it as you go forward

Or you can mix one week high and one week low amount – it’s all up to you

Do you need to know how to save money when you’re broke?

There is no hidden secrets or information

You just need to be disciplined and inclined to improve your financial condition

Perhaps you may not be aware of all below advices

Once you know them what is left for you is to apply what you’ve learnt

There are few affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you

That’s why I will discuss below how to save money when you’re broke

Contents  show 

Stick to a budget

I believe budget is like a compass to your financial destiny

By using a budget you will be able to analyze where every dollar is going to

Creating a family budget is something very easy to build

But if you are lost and not sure from where to start then read about how to budget your money

To make it even convenient, I have made hard work easy for you by creating my best budget planner as one of my products

Pay yourself first and automate transfer

Pay yourself is a simple term which means to ask you bank to cut an amount or percentage from every paycheck to your saving account

Or whatever you agree upon with your bank as all banks can easily customize this automatic transfer for you

Work on getting out of debt

If you are wondering how to save money when you’re broke

I will tell you a surprise by paying off your debt

Perhaps your debt occurred due to many reasons like medical bill or due to gambling

Deferring your debt will put you in a financial trouble as interest accumulates every day

You are not fighting against your loans but also against accumulated interests

I love the below debt tracker which helps people nail down and pay debt easily

Buy generic brands

I really don’t understand those who buy organic food – I am not against them

Seriously not only I never buy organic but also I give it a try to many generic brands

There are so many generic brands in grocery stores cheaper than original products

If I try any generic brand and it is good – I add it to my money saving list

Practice the 30 days rule

If you see a big ticket item and you want to splurge money on

Try the 30 day rule or method

Simply put it back on the shelf and leave the store

Wait for 30 days and ask yourself if you still want to purchase it

Use a jar for your spare change

I know this may not save money when you’re broke

But it will make you caring about money

I remember walking with someone who purchased coffee with cash

It happened that few dimes and nickels fell off his hand

I waited a little bit as I though he didn’t notice

Then I told him and he didn’t take any action

I crouched down and collected his coins and handed back to him

It was so embarrassing as he refused to take them back

He told me he wouldn’t put an effort to pick up change

I didn’t know what to do?

Should I put them in my pocket, I kept them in my hand till he left and took them

If you think there is an alternative solution, let me know in the comment

I can’t through them back again my hands won’t obey me

Don’t be fooled by any sales

Imagine you visit a mall and your eyes fall on an incredible sales

Question to you, do you really want this discounted item?

Most probably you don’t but you get them because they are on sale

I was at Costco one day and I noticed winter jackets were on big discount

It was a great temptation to me as I love jackets but I have already 5 jackets

I took me some time to resist buying it although it was very cheap

But it is about the concept itself

What about you in that situation?

Choose affordable rent or mortgage amount

Unfortunately nobody knows before going for a mortgage or rent what is the percentage of they pay according to their total income

I am confident you won’t be able to answer this question if you don’t have a family budget

Any budget especially excel comes with percentage feature to help you calculate your spending percentage for each category

Build an emergency fund

Like an anchor to a ship

Emergency fund is an anchor for your financial life

With emergency fund you set aside a personal saving amount in an easy to access account without the need to sell or liquidate this account to cash the amount

This emergency fund will protect you from any debt but how?

Simply if you encounter any emergency around your home with your roof, your pipes leaks or rusty, wet basement, your car breaks or whatever

You will have to put yourself into debt to fix this urgent issue and pay the debt later

But it would be better to pay your urgent thing from your emergency fund

The below printable is one of many pintables under ultimate budget binder

Setup a plan for the Tax refund season

If you are like me who prefers to contribute to your RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) in Canada or IRA (Individual Retirement Account) in U.S

You will be receiving a refund from Government during your tax season

Use your tax refund to save money if you’re broke

Cancel magazine subscription and GYM membership

All households have either GYM membership, magazine subscription or both

For magazines, think about it if you really read those magazines

Or you take them from your door steps and leave them on table then to the recycle

And for GYM membership, are you really using all sporting tools there?

You can get a treadmill at home and it will do the same job for you

Use major appliances on low peak and weekends only

Don’t think that this advice is useless

If you’re looking for how to save money when you’re broke then consider operating your major appliances on low peak and weekends only

You will save a lot and if you’re not aware major appliances are dish washer, washing machine and dryer

Oven is also one of the major appliances, to be realistic it is hard to use your oven during the low peak only

Use LED bulbs and turn off unnecessary lights

Regular bulbs use 5% of its energy to produce light and the remaining is heat

By using LED bulbs say goodbye to this wastage as LED uses 75%-80% less energy

Definitely you will be saving money if you’re broke

Don’t take this advice lightly and practice turning off unnecessary lights

Use smart thermostat

I underestimated how efficient smart thermostat is until I installed one and tested it

You can’t imagine what smart thermostat can do for you to save on your heat/cool bill

Like programming it to switch off automatically during certain time of the day

And being able to control it from your mobile plus adding future vacations timelines

Smart thermostats are not expensive so if you’re broke and need to save money

I recommend you to replace your regular thermostat with a smart one

Use coupons and cash back apps

Nowadays mobile apps replaced regular flyer coupons

So you have a chance of not missing any coupon

Beside coupons, there are so many mobile apps that reward you with cash back

Like Rakuten where you get $10 bonus when you sign up

Also couple of similar mobile apps like MyPoints, TopCashBack, Qmee, ShopAtHome, Honey, Shopkick and Paribus

And for grocery apps there is Ibotta that rewards you for grocery receipts and gives you $20 as sign up bonus

Fetch Rewards is another similar grocery app and gives you $2 bonus when signing up

Again there are couple of competitive mobile apps to Ibotta like Receipt Hog, Cashout 51 and Storewards

Another mobile apps that track your purchases by linking your debit or credit cards to the app like Dosh – sign up and get $5 welcome bonus

You can save money on gas too by downloading an app called GetUpside as you will collect 25 cents back on every gas receipt

Use cashback credit cards

I love cashback credit cards as I make money while shopping for my daily expenses in my budget

At the end of the year on renewal date you collect cash back a good one

You have to do your homework and look for credit cards that give you cash back on specific category

I have a master card that gives me 3% cash back on restaurants so I use that only if I buy any take away food

Also most of the big stores have their own credit cards that maximize their cash back when you use their cards to pay for your shopping inside their stores

Plan your meals with shopping list

How many times I go to grocery store during the week just to pick what I forgot from my last visit

Not anymore with the shopping list app like AnyList

Also I have it integrated with Amazon Alexa

I ask Alexa to add my grocery item to my shopping list and it goes there

When I visit the supermarket, I go through the items on my shopping list

Use your leftover dinner for lunch at work

If you’re keen to know how to save money when you’re broke then stop buying lunch at work

Each day buying a lunch will cost you from $10 to $12 that’s around $300 a month

What’s wrong with eating a food you bring from home

I know some people don’t like the word leftover but they are not as you think

You plan to cook food to take it with you in your lunch

Cut cigarettes, alcohols and soft drinks

I should say cut cigarettes for your health sake

Reduce alcohols and soft drinks to save money especially if you’re broke

When it comes to alcohols, I love drinking alcohols on certain occasions with guests

I cut the habit of drinking by myself

For soft drinks, I realized I gained weight so I was able to cut it easily

Join wholesale club membership

Why I say wholesale club, it costs money for its membership

Well make up your mind as you buy grocery items in bulk with discounted prices

Yes you save money but you pay for an annual membership

I will tell you my experience with wholesale club stores

Regular membership costs $60 for shopping there

While executive membership costs $120 and gives 2% cash back on your purchases

I tried this executive membership and I got a check for $86

This means I pay around $35 and I save on buying bulky items

Reduce dinning out to special occasions only

I don’t want to be weird asking you to cut dinning out

Be reasonable and reduce dining out

Assign an amount in your budget for eating out

Definitely you will save money especially if you’re broke

Cut cable and replace it with IPTV

You can’t imagine how much you will save money especially if you’re broke

By replacing your cable bill around $50 to $70 a month with IPTV which is around $30 a year

Do you see the huge saving of money here?

I will leave it for you to make up your mind

Giving up your home phone

Everyone is using cell phone nowadays

In fact you don’t need your home phone

In case you need to buy a backup phone, go ahead and buy VOIP phone

I pay $3 a month for my VOIP phone

Buy used items

Please can you check Facebook Marketplace before buying any item

You won’t believe your eyes, you can find used big ticket item with fraction of its original price

I remember I was trying to estimate how much my Piano was worth

So I checked Facebook Marketplace and found people offering free Pianos waiting for buyers to pick them up

Know your needs and wants

I know there are many people still struggle to understand the difference between their needs and wants

Are you one of them?

Simply you needs are everything that keep you alive like your shelter, food and transportation

Your wants are all the items that make you feel good like buying new clothes, watches or playing console

Find cheap gas stations to save money

If you’re broke and willing to save money it is easy with GasBuddy app as you can find an up to date of all gas stations prices near you

You can combine the above with GetUpside to collect 25 cents on every fill up

Work side hustle if you’re broke

If you have a hobby it is a good starting point to save money from it

But if I don’t really have one, here are some of my previous posts to give you ideas

Making 200 dollars per day

How to make 300 dollars fast in 2021

Making 500 dollars fast cash free

Join 52 weeks money saving challenge

I discussed before the 52 weeks money saving challenge

If you don’t know anything about it

This is a saving challenge for one full year where you start saving $1 for week one and increment it by $1 every week till the last week of the year where you save $52

Yes I am serious, these are the best ways to save money in 30 days

Well I used most of these money saving hacks listed here

What happened to me and my wife were very astonishing

When I got married I was working in IT making 48 K while my wife was working as an account receivable making 35 K annually

We were able to save money of around 40 K in 2 years and manage our budget efficiently with household total income of 83 K better than our current combined income of 157 K, but how?

Actually I was thinking about how could we save money and manage our budget and finance efficiently with an income of 83 K

There are few affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you

Now we earn 157 K and struggle financially

I was able to find the answer after reading Dave Ramsey’s book Total Money Makeover

Throughout his book, he has some famous quotes

I adore them so I started to copy them to my personal notes, he says which I believe is the answer to why we are struggling now

I am sure that the problem with my money is the guy in my mirror. If he will behave, he can make the money thing workFrom Dave Ramsey’s book Total money makeover

First let me start with the below

If you want to jump to the 101 best ways to save money then click right here

• Why you have to save money?
• How can I really force myself to save money?
• How can I set the right mindset to save money?

Contents show

Why you have to save money

Do you remember the story of the 3 little pigs?

Where one pig built his house from straw, another pig build it using sticks from the forest and connected them together

The third pig was the wisest as he build his house using brick and mortar

Finally the big bad wolf destroyed the 2 houses but he couldn’t do anything to the house built with brick

Moral of the story, you have to save money to be able to overcome the following inevitable like

Face financial crisis like economic storms as known as recession

You have no control on recession and you don’t even know why or when it will happen

You can get laid off even it is reputable organization

It can take up to 2 years for the global economy to pick up itself again

Emergency funds to protect you and your family

You cannot predict the future so you need to create an emergency fund in case something God forbids occurs to you

So you need to have an operation for you or your closest family member

Prepare for retirement

If you believe everything will be fine when you retire even if you are not saving money yet

I would like to be the bad guy to wake you up and tell you

If you don’t invest in your future, the government pension will barely put food on your table

You will regret for not saving money where it is too late

Challenge the unforeseen expenses

Unforeseen expenses that can occur anytime like your car requires immediate repair

Your basement floods or your roof needs to fixed after an aggressive storm

I think you got the idea

Prepare for your kids’ education

If you have kids or expecting to have kids

You cannot escape the fact that they will one day go to colleges or universities

Even if you are not working with a bachelor degree

Definitely you won’t want the same destiny for your kids

Buy a car is an ongoing process

I always buy used cars

I know I can pay its price in full and not incur any debt and pay interest

But again whatever you prefer to buy new car or used one

Planning for buying a car is necessary as you don’t know when you would need one

I had a car accident in 2019 and it was total loss

I took the insurance money and added extra to buy another used car

Buy your home without paying 2.8 to 4% extra mortgage

Some home buyers defer their buying decisions till they save the 20% of their down payments towards their home

By doing that home buyers waive the 2.8% to 4% Mortgage Default Insurance or CMHC Insurance which gets added to their mortgages

It is a wise decision to save money to avoid adding the Mortgage Default Insurance to your mortgage

Plan for recurring annual expenses

You should know that buying birthday and Christmas gifts are something that happen every year so it is not a surprise to you

Also taking your annual vacation whatever it is an out of the country trip or not

These are all things you have to plan for so they don’t put you in debts

Enjoying a life free of stress

Imagine after some time of long saving of money

You have accumulated more than $200,000, would you be worried if you get laid off

The stress of any lay off is the feeling that you will not be able to pay your mortgage and your bills

So why you put yourself into this particular situation

How much you should save

The simple answer is as much as you could save

If you create a budget and stick to it, you should save around 20%

That’s why in Canada, RRSP which stands for Registered Retirement Savings Plan is set to 18%

The government will not set an impossible to reach amount

How can you really force yourself to save money

Nothing on earth can force you if you don’t want to save money willingly

But if you are fighting the temptation, you can follow the below tips

1) Practice the 30 days rule on non essential items

First, what is the 30 days rule?

The 30 days rule is simply if your have an urge to splurge on a big ticket item

Wait for 30 days, put the item you want to buy back on the shelve and leave the store right away then wait for 30 days

If you still feel like you want to buy it then go for it

2) Setup a plan for the Tax refund season

Right now, some companies deduct taxes from employees’ payrolls assuming they are all married and having kids

You end up getting a tax refund

Question is, do you have a plan on what you should do with this money?

I suggest to put the money in your RRSP in case of Canada or IRA in case of US

You will get a tax refund next year as any contributions lower your income

3) Maximize the transfer to your retirement account

So many companies these days offer an incentive to their employees

They match fully or partially your contributions to your RRSP or IRA up to a certain percentage

I would like to maximize your contribution to match this percentage

4) Trick yourself that you did not get a bonus

Assume that you did not get a bonus and its money to add it to an investment account

It is highly recommended to be an IRA or RRSP type of account so you invest for your retirement

5) Automate to transfer money to your saving account

Best approach is to ask your bank or authorize your investment company to transfer a certain amount of money at the beginning of every month from your checking account

6) Get rid of your change in Piggy bank

if you have any change in your pocket

Just put them in a Piggy bank and that’s it

7) Use apps to transfer your change to an investment account

There are so many mobile apps that can help you save by rounding up your transactions which you make on your credit cards or from your checking account and invest them into a saving or investment account

I know about Acorns and Stash for US and Wealth Simple for Canada

8) Find a buddy to challenge you

So many people get things accomplished when they are put in challenge, but what kind of challenge

Well, you can find a buddy to do the 52 weeks money saving challenge

9) Save your discounts you got on your receipts

All stores display at the end of their receipts the amount of savings you got on your purchases

Let us assume that you did not get any discounts and transfer all discounts from your checking account to another saving account immediately through your bank mobile app

10) Use a cash reward credit card and save its cashback

Opt for your cashback to be sent to you as check and save the money right away

How can you set the right mindset to save money

Yes you can set the right mindset to live and breath into saving money

There are certain reminders and actions to practice that hone your mindset

1) Remind yourself why you are saving money

Nothing can act as a great enforcement to you for saving money

If you don’t reminding yourself of why it is important to save money for the short term and long term

I always imagine the feeling of going on pension without any savings

It is a gut wrenching that keeps me tentative for every dollar I spend today

2) Set short and long term goals

Without setting goals, you are like someone driving in new city without GPS

It is almost impossible to reach your long term goals without setting and fulfilling your short term goals

For example, some people take the 52 weeks money saving challenge as a short term goal and once they complete it successfully

They consider continuing the challenge for another year or they consider switching to $5,000 or $10,000

3) Track your progress on a visual board

Having big visual board on a very known place like sticking it on your kitchen fridge

This can help you establish a very strong mindset and achieve your goals easily

Nothing is better than seeing your saving money progress in front of your eyes every minute

You breathe it and when you go to sleep, you dream of it

4) Educate yourself about budgeting, finance and investment

Anybody can read about how to do a simple budget

Taking care of your finance and investment, I read few books about finance and I still learned a lot

According to Dave Ramsey’s quote from Total Money Makeover

Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge. What to do isn’t the problem; doing it is. Most of us know what to do, but we just don’t do it. If I can control the guy in the mirror, I can be skinny and rich.Dave ramsey

5) Surround yourself with close friends who save money

I don’t think any person can overcome the effect of surroundings

If you are surrounded by successful people

They will meet and speak about their success, you get motivated and it will change your mindset

Same thing for saving money

Stay away from those who splurge money carelessly and stick to those who really appreciate the importance of saving money for their life

6) Differentiate your wants from your needs

I know some people who cannot tell the difference between their needs and their wants

Your need is anything crucial that keeps you alive like buying your drugs

Your essential grocery but if you have a craving to buy a caviar that turns out to be a want

Although you should focus more on your needs compared to wants if you want to stick to your budget

You may be tempted with a desire to look for your wants, this is based on emotion

7) Analyze your spending

There are so many apps to analyze your spending, for example Mint,  Dollarbird, and PocketGuard can help you analyze your spending

Now let’s say you analyzed your spending and found splurge on clothes

Ask yourself why you buy clothes, do you want to impress people around you?

Christopher Nicholas “Nick” known by Pogo has a famous quote

We have met the enemy and he is us

Everything that we do have a reason behind it

Be honest to yourself and find your weakness which is money spent on wants and not needs

I discovered that I am addicted to Starbucks morning cup of coffee

It was really hard for me to take a decision to treat myself only once a week

How to save money on a Budget

The sad truth is that so many ignorant people think that making 12% return on their invested is impossible

If you realize that investing in 5 stars mutual funds that yield an average of 11%

Would this encourage you to start saving some money to invest by doing the following

1) Create a budget

It is time to sit down and create a budget to monitor your expenses against your income and to track that everything is working for you as expected

I know with your previous spending, it is easy to create a new budget from scratch

Just go to your credit cards and checking account statements

Try working on creating a realistic budget based on your past expenses

That’s why I created a dated – current year and 2 upcoming years and undated ultimate budget binder as shown below

It is easy to use the above budget all you have to do is print it and start using it

2) Automate transfer from checking to investment account

I really liked this quote from Dave Ramsey

Savings without a mission is garbage. Your money needs to work for you, not lie around youdave ramsey

It was really a surprise to me to know that the S & P 500 is an index with 500 of the largest companies in the US economy of average 11.69% per year

To make my above statement simple and clear

You can automate your checking account to transfer let’s say $100 on first day of every month into an investment account

Invest this money in mutual funds of moderate risk with yield return of 9% or more

3) Analyze your spending

How you expect to save money if you are not analyzing where you are spending your income on

For example, If November consumption of gas is $250 then you notice a surge in gas of $450 on December due to shopping for Christmas, Hanukkah, or other gift-giving holidays gifts and travelling across the country for few days then back to $242 in January

Make an estimated gas consumption on a monthly basis as $250 as shown below

	Estimated	Actual	Difference
Gas	$250	$242	$8
	$250	$253	($3)

good example of creating a budget for gas

One of the best way to save money is to check the spending of a specific item throughout the entire year

Then add a buffer of extra amount to your estimated amount to compensate the surge of spending during peak months

For example, if you notice a surge of gas spending on July, August and December

It is clear that this is due to Summer time with the family and Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever shopping and taking few days off to travel somewhere

You can distribute the surge in gas throughout all the months leading to having the deficit in few months balances the planned surplus in normal months

Or you can plan to build an emergency fund for deficit months

Again, there is no right or wrong method here

It is up to you to choose what method best suits you

4) Make extra income by starting a side hustle

Some people believe not all advice listed here are easy to follow

Still they are looking for the best way to save money so they look for ways to make an extra income from their hobbies

That’s why I talked earlier about how to make 200 dollars per day

5) Refinance your mortgage or negotiate your rent

I know it is not practical to switch any fixed mortgage during its term

As you will have break your current mortgage and pay a penalty to the lender

Best way to save money is to wait for your mortgage at renewal time

Then negotiate with your current lender or bank based on your shopping around rate

Most probably you best option is to switch to another lender or bank

They will do their best to attract you

If you are renting, ask your landlord if the rent price is open to discussion

6) If you rent and single, find a roommate

Although I always target families with with or without kids

This is something I felt it is good way to save money as you will slash your rent by half

7) Save your spare change

A lot of people underestimate how much their spare changes can save them money

most of the times, you empty your pocket

You don’t know what to do with those dimes and nickels so you end up leaving them on the counter top

Get yourself a Piggy bank and save your changes

8) Try the 52 weeks money saving challenge

when I first knew about the 52 weeks money saving challenge

I thought it is useless as you don’t save that much but I realized its effectiveness to use that money as an emergency fund

9) Analyze, negotiate and bundle your recurring bills

Like if your subscription can have the same phone and cable as a bundle

Although I am not a big fan of keeping the cable plan

You can check all the bundle deals with your internet service provider and see if you can get good saving

In US, you can use AskTrim, BillSmart, BillCutterz, BillFixers and Bill Shark

In Canada, you can use Bill Busters

10) Cut cable subscription

Currently there are so many families who are not aware that you can get an IPTV provider for $30 annually instead of paying this same amount for a monthly cable subscription

11) Cancel magazine subscriptions

Even if you are paying less than $10 for magazine subscriptions

Do you feel it is not worth to cancel it

Think about it this way

Do you have really the time to check your subscribed magazine

If you don’t read it and you just skim it, find out how to cancel your subscription and save your money

12) Replace your home phone with VOIP phone

Since the day I switched to VOIP phone, I never though to return back to regular home phone plans

I pay around $36 annually for my VOIP plan

Currently I am using Magic Jack before that I was using Vonage

Magic Jack is way cheaper

If you are in the US, You can keep your existing phone number, it is called porting out your phone number

By the way, you can totally save the VOIP phone if you own one or two cell phone plans

13) Set reminders to pay bills and credit cards

Never miss a payment by setting up a monthly reminder on your cell phone to pay your utility bills and credit cards

I found that I have a monthly reminder for 21st and 22nd of every month to pay all my credit cards in full

14) Never finance anything

Why you have to finance and pay interest for 1 or 2 years

if you want to buy a new TV that will cost you $900

If you save $150 per month, you will be able to pay cash

When you do so you can negotiate the price and ask for a discount

If the store disagrees, you can shop around

Remember you are paying the amount in full, if you finance you can never negotiate the price

15) Use HSA or FSA

Many employers offer what is called Health Saving Account or Flexible spending account

You can never image what these HSA or FSA covers for you

You can pay for any remaining balances on your medical or dental

For example, if you go for dental cleaning and you have 20% unpaid

You can use your HSA to pay your remaining balance

16) Pay mortgage and student loans biweekly or even weekly

So many people don’t know that paying their mortgage biweekly or weekly save them interest

Majority think it is just a matter of preference, It is not

The more you pay your mortgage or loan frequently, the more you save

17) Maximize your retirement savings

If you are really keen to maximize your retirement savings then do the following

• Start saving today
• Automate your contributions at the beginning of every month
• Check if your employer is matching your contributed amount
• Consider using your contributed amount in an investment account type

18) Look for no fees bank accounts

Please don’t do the same mistake which I had before thinking it is really a hassle to switch to another bank

All banks want you to keep your money and your transferred salary to them

They will do their best to provide you with best possible offers

Once you have an offer from one bank, take it to your existing bank and show it to them

Most probably they don’t want to lose you so they will do their best to match it

How to save money on Grocery shopping

According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Americans spend on average around 9.7% of their income

According to the above statistics

It leaves me to bluntly claim that there is more room for saving money and I will list below best ways to save money on groceries

19) Write your grocery list

This is one of the best way to save money

Nothing is better than going to the supermarket with a list of what you have to buy and stick to what you have on your Shopping list

I found a nice shopping list app called AnyList

I love it especially I can integrate it with my Amazon Alexa to ask Alexa to add grocery items to my shopping list every time I remember anything

One of the best thing is that you can keep the crossed items which you bought them already or you can hide them by clicking the icon in green square

you can add bulk items one time as shown above

Meal planning features, I haven’t used it but it is worth for you to explore it

20) Buy the no brand supermarket items

Most of the supermarket stores carry their own brand

Like Walmart has the Great Value, in Costco it is called Kirkland

These no brand items are cheaper than the original items

Most of the times I buy the no brand over the original items

21) Buy grocery items in bulk

Some grocery items when they go on Sale

It is a good opportunity to buy them in bulk like Rice, Sugar, Flour and all spices

Store these dry and non expiry foods inside your Pantry when they go on sale

22) Track your consumption on essential products

Milk, yogurt and Eggs are essential products for you to keep track of your consumption

These items are available in gas stations and convenience stores

I don’t buy them from there because I know they are more expensive than supermarket stores

To avoid running out of these essential products

I manage to keep track of them and I buy them in advance based on knowing when I will run out of them

For example, if I know that my kids consume the 4 liters milk bags weekly

I plan to get 2 bags with extended expiry date so I don’t run out of milk

If I am left with one bag in my fridge

I tend to buy a new bag on my next visit to the supermarket

It is not rocket science and easy for anybody to follow this approach

23) Search for cheap groceries using coupon apps

I hate it when it comes to searching flyers for deals on groceries

I believe it is the same for everyone, I am not a freak here

It is very challenging to go through each flyer from every supermarket to search for deals

Not anymore with these mobile apps as they made our life very easy

You can use Flipp or reebee as they made shopping for grocery fun and rewarding

They are one of the best ways to save money on groceries as it is zero effort on your side

I recommend you read about them on my saving money on groceries post

24) Get cash back using grocery apps

These mobile apps Ibotta, Savingstar (discontinued), Checkout 51, Receipt Hog and Krazy Coupon Lady are the best ways to save money on groceries by giving you cash back

I have a detailed explanation of how you will collect cash back

25) Stop buying bottled water

Speaking about my family, we don’t see anything wrong with tap water

Even I don’t feel worried for my kids to drink from this water

Again it really matters from one province/state to another

Sometimes from one city to another, save your money on buying bottled water and if you are worried invest in getting Brita filter

26) Buy from Supermarkets that do price match

Almost all of the supermarkets do price match

Just bring your cell phone to show the other supermarket flyer and they will match the price for you

This will help you to get all the deals from your favorite supermarket plus the only 1 or 2 items that are already discounted in the other grocery store

27) Bring your own grocery bags

I always make it a habit of keeping reusable bags in my trunk

No only you save few cents but also you save the environment

28) Plans your meals weekly

This will help you save money by going to grocery stores once per week

Again with shopping list app like AnyList

You can plan your weekly meals and it will add to your shopping list all the groceries you have to buy for this week

29) Buy cheap meat cuts

Not all meat cuts are the same price

This is obvious but it is very easy to avoid some cuts and you do it yourself at home

For example, fast fry meat is cheaper than the stir fry one

You can still buy the fast fry one and cut it into slices, trust me if won’t take much time

How to save money on Food and Restaurants

According to US Bureau of labor statistics

I have a proof below that you have more room to save money on eating outside your home

For the average household, spending on food at home accounted for about 57 percent ($4,015) of all food spending, while food away from home accounted for the other 43 percent ($3,008)US Bureau of labor statistics

30) Use takeout coupons

Although I am against buying take away and eating in restaurants

But in reality you have to treat yourself from time to time

That’s why it is better to take advantage of coupons offered by chain restaurants

You can use so many mobile apps to help you in the process of finding takeout coupons, I found Groupon and Restaurant.com to be a good fit for coupons hunting

31) Go for family portions in restaurants

I always check with my wife in any restaurants we go for items on the menu with portions that say good for 2 persons

These plates are cheaper than 2 orders on the same menu

32) Cook your food in bulk

The amount of saving here is not significant

But what is really important is you saving effort cooking common things multiple times

For example, if you are cooking ground beef for Spaghetti and Lasagna

Why you waste effort to cook one portion of ground beef for the Spaghetti and another day you cook another portion

Always cook extra portion and freeze them

33) Use leftover dinner for lunch

Every household knows their dinner portions

Why don’t you cook extra portions and take the left over for lunch next day

I am very practical because I know if I don’t have lunch, I will definitely buy one

34) Eat breakfast

This is a surefire way to keep you healthy and manage to satisfy your hunger

So you can eat your leftover food from dinner without the urge of buying any extra snacks for your lunch time

35) Avoid meat and poultry once or twice a week

Some families try to skip meat and poultry once or twice a week, never imagine how much you will save

Of course those who go completely vegan pay way less on groceries than those who buy meats and poultries

36) Buy a large freezer

I was against my wife when she told me about buying a standalone freezer

Then I realized how smart she is

Meats and poultries when they go on sale, you can stock them if you have a large freezer

I found that Homedepot sends offers every once in a while to pay for items which exceeds $299 on 18 months no interest

37) Plan to cook cheap recipes

Me and my wife work so we thought how can we cook easy and delicious recipes

Actually we found so many recipes that are really cheap and easy

I proved before that you can enjoy cheap weekly meals $75

38) Cut drive thru coffee and restaurants

I love technology and always to think how can I make my life easy

Because I am a coffee addict

I used to place my Starbucks coffee order on my mobile app and pick it from the store under my work building

I realized when I stopped buying my morning Starbucks coffee that I saved easily $45

Don’t believe me, do the math of $2.25 for tall coffee daily

I replaced my craving for coffee with Keurig K-cup and I buy the Starbucks K-cups from Costco when they go on sale

How to save money on shopping

If I tell you, don’t go to the mall, stop visiting online retail stores

Would you listen to me

That’s why I love Dave Ramsey’s quote that says It is all about the man in the mirror

39) Upgrade your Costco membership

I know what you are thinking, the title above is asking you to save money on shopping

Now I am telling you to upgrade your Costco membership, OK let us do the math

I was exactly like you

Just paying for $60 membership to give me access to enter Costco and just from there, I get nothing special

Then I upgraded and paid an extra $60 where I get 2% back on all my purchases

Well I spend around $250/month from Costco buying some groceries, detergents and household products

They are cheaper there than anywhere else

That’s worth $3,000 which is the $60 extra membership

Actually since I joined the executive membership I was collecting around $70+ which means I pay less in my overall membership

40) Buy flowers from Supermarket

There are some occasion where you have to buy flowers, buying a bouquet from flowers shop is really expensive

I know supermarkets don’t sell fancy bouquets and they don’t have varieties

But if you are buying red roses they are quite affordable

41) Buy some items from Dollar stores

I added a habit of shopping from dollar stores to get some items for cheap

But what items you can really buy from dollar stores and save money

Well I consider it as one of the best way to save money on greeting cards, party supplies, notebooks, gift boxes and wrapping papers, storage containers, Christmas ornaments, mugs and glasses, picture frames, bagged and boxed candies, plastic food containers and some toys

Remember I said some toys not all toys

I learned my lessons and I started to be very careful about the quality when it comes to toys more than the price

42) Join loyalty programs

It is really worth to check if your desired stores have loyalty programs

I am still a big fan of Air Miles program although my wife doesn’t like it

I like it because you can simply watch for offers coming from their partners like Shell

Where you can fill 5 times in 6 weeks with a minimum of 7 gallons and collect 100 Air miles

You can book a hotel room with 800 Air Miles

I always tell my wife it is not an instant saving but it is something to accumulate in the long run

43) Buy cookware and skillets from discount stores

Look for discount stores like HomeGoods to buy your cookware and skillets for more than 50% discount

I always advice my friends to get your kitchen stuff at a discounted price if you are not looking to buy now

Create a shopping list similar to the grocery list but for missing kitchen stuff

Cross out the items you find in discount stores

44) Shop around for the best cell phone plans

I am very realistic as I say boldly that I cannot live one single day without my cell phone

I remember once I forgot my cell phone at home

It was very boring day especially I take the public transit for 45 minutes each way to my work in downtown, Toronto

There are so many people that claim they are able to live without their cell phones

I will not tell my readers to do that because I respect my readers and their self controls

What you can do is a couple of steps to pay less that what you are currently paying

For example, you can check if you and your wife can go for a bundle plan

I noticed that my wife consumes less than 1 GB per month and I consume around 3-4 GB monthly so if we bundle for 8 GB plan that would be a huge saving for money

45) Plan buying your gifts ahead when on Sale

Every one has a set of events during the year where you have to buy gifts especially on Christmas or Hanukkah

I started with my wife a new process where we buy too early for some gifts when on sale

Usually we have a list of all the people we want to buy gifts for

Buying gifts very last minute is not going to save you money at all

To be fair the only gifts we buy too close to the event are clothes because we want to make sure that we get gift receipts

46) Buy gifts from your own gift cards

Some occasions I get Visa or Mastercard gift card

I love it because I can hand them to someone else in his/her birthday

What is really funny

I remember a Visa gift card that kept rotating for more than a year between our family

It was unique, it was a Visa gift card for $75 in a purple cover

Finally, when it came to me in my birthday

I decided to buy a gift with a gift receipt to break the cycle

47) Rent your dress

I know not every woman can accept renting a dress instead of buying a new one

Actually wise women know that they cannot wear the same dresses if they have a new event so renting a dress is the best way to save money

I know what you are thinking what if someone likes my dress and asks where did I get it from? It comes to me David Ramsey’s quote that says

People were running around buying things they couldn’t afford with money they didn’t have to impress people they didn’t even like, and they were doing it in record numbers

48) Consider buying used items if possible

Some used items you can buy online from Amazon or eBay like used electronics and kids toys or you can check Thrift store

You can also consider Facebook Marketplace to buy used items and pick it up from your neighborhood

Sometimes you can get it for free

I remember I found a lot of toys for free on Facebook Marketplace

These are people who have grown up kids and they are lazy to dump these toys

49) Check what you can get as free stuff

Yes who said that there are nothing free, I found free stuff online

Check these 100+ websites to get free stuff online

50) Shop from discount stores

Like TJMaxx where it is under the name of Winners in Canada and also Marshall store

You find a lot of deals as long as you are not looking for a specific brand

It can happen that you find a good brand but not your size so you have to be flexible

51) Get cash back on your online purchases

Some credit cards are designed to pay annual fees but they reward you up to 5% on gas and groceries, drugs and then they offer 1% on everything else

Here is what I do, either me or my wife can only get one card

We don’t opt for supplement card

This means you don’t have to pay more for getting a supplement card

The catch here is that you can still have your credit card loaded on your cell phone or your spouse cell phone

I am using Apple Pay so I can still use a credit card that it is not mine and collect cash back

52) Shop off the season

Like winter jackets end of January, buying barbecue in fall, Christmas decorations after Christmas

53) Check public libraries before buying books

Actually I found so many books which I purchased online to be in my local nearby public library

Even if you want to own the book, consider buying the Kindle version, it is way cheaper

54) Switch to non disposable napkins

I have little kids and I still need to use paper towels if they throw up

But all cleaning purposes around the kitchen I use a good type of non disposable napkins where you can wash them multiple times

55) Buy generic drug

If your medical insurance does not cover good coverage on drugs

Ask your doctor to prescribe generic drugs as they are always cheaper

56) Stop buying alcohols and cigarettes

Take care of your health and stop smoking and excessive drinks of alcohols

I remember very well an article which I read for someone living in New York city

He claims that he saved $1,000 a month just for quitting alcohols

He stopped hanging out in pubs with friends to buy drinks plus a couple of wine bottles and beer which he used to buy every month

57) Buy refurbished laptop and TV

let us understand what does refurbished laptop or refurbished TV means?

These are items that went out of their boxes for display purposes or they are very lightly used

You are still getting your laptop or TV with the same warranty time so there is nothing to worry about

58) Don’t buy extended warranty

According to a consumer reports survey, it is not worth the investment to buy extended warranty for a laptop or TV

You would rarely use them for repairs

Keep in mind, most of the times the single cost of one repair is equal to the amount of the extended warranty

59) Do Christmas exchange gift and put a limit on Christmas budget

I know not everyone will like that but at least we have 2 Christmas parties

One with our friends and the other one with our family

With friends, we go for Christmas exchange gifts

We agree to buy one gift as a family between the range of $25 to $35, every gift gets wrapped so you can not tell what’s inside

All friends’ names get written as a family name in case of a family or a person name if single in a box and a child draws one folder paper and reads the name

The selected family or person chooses any wrapped gift then the same child or another child draws another folded name

Now the fun begins as the new name can have the right to open a new wrapped gift or take an already opened gift from someone else

Then this someone who has his/her gift taken from, goes to open another wrapped gift and so on

60) Save shipping charges by using Amazon prime

I was very reluctant to go for Amazon Prime but I decided I have nothing to lose

You get everything online within 1 – 2 days with a competitive prices similar to Walmart and Costco

Plus you get Amazon prime video as a bonus

61) Use open source software if possible

There are so many free antivirus which are good for one year and open source office like OpenOffice

You can give it a try

Just check if you can find an open source software before you buy your software

How to save money at Home

Best ways to save money at home are to do the chores you hire people to do it for you

If you still young and capable of doing it, you can save a lot of money

62) Do your own garden

I am super lazy but I am totally OK to cut the grass

Because it is a process which I have to do it once every 2-3 weeks

I have never thought to hire a gardener

If you enjoy landscaping your garden then I will assume that you would enjoy doing it yourself

63) Plant your vegetables at home

I remember I planted mint in my backyard

I spent more than 3 years trying to get rid of all the mint stems that emerged out of my control

Right now, if I plant mint, I will use pots

The reason I am saying that because I realized that you can plant herbs that you buy from your local supermarket

Especially if you are not consuming a lot of them in your daily cooking

64) Plant Perennials

Here in Canada, winter kills every plant

So I am not a person who would go to buy new bushes every year

I looked for perennials plants to decorate my backyard and I add little of them if they rarely die

65) Start to use rechargeable batteries

Kids toys consume AA or AAA batteries like crazy, you should really invest in rechargeable batteries especially for toys

66) Switch to dry cleaning at home

Dry cleaning is expensive that’s why we do it for very few items

Why don’t you try Dryel to see if it works for you

67) Make your own gifts

I won’t tell you to do your own gifts if you are not talented

Some people they can paint or they love to do Canvas or assemble bracelets

if you paint, you can paint on mugs and it will be a precious gifts to friends

68) Mend your own clothes by yourself

You don’t have to do everything, just do the basic like fixing buttons and hems

I was surprised to find this cheap portable sewing machine that can do all the basic stitching around your home

69) Do your own renovation

I am not a handy man

I am on the zero scale but I find myself have to do so many things like I painted my kids room and it took me less than a day to finish it

If I had hired someone, I would have paid a lot

70) Make your home pet free if possible

Pets require extra care such as medical insurance, grooming and food

I know some families consider pets to be part of their lives

No pressure here and consider I didn’t mention that

71) Sell your used household items on Facebook Marketplace

I sold so many items on Facebook Marketplace that I lost track of them

Once I sold stroller and baby monitor

It is very easy, I list it a little bit higher than its fair price

Then I get interested buyers to negotiate the price with me

72) Rent your basement

I know not everyone will like sharing his/her home but some houses have separate entrances to its basements

It is good opportunity to make money from your home

73) Recycle for cash

Use Recyclebank for plastic containers and for electronics you can use on uSell, Gazelle

I mentioned earlier that I was able to sell few electronics on Facebook Marketplace

74) Trade babysitting

Definitely sometimes you need some time away with your spouse without the kids around

It is better to have a list of friends and family whom you can trade your babysitting job

Actually kids enjoy it, especially they know they are going to play with other kids for 2-3 hours

75) Do your nails at home

it is a 10 minutes process, you have to get cotton balls and nail polish remover as known as acetone

How to save money on Transportation

According to American Public Transportation Association, an average household spends 16 cents of every dollar on transportation and 93% of this amount goes to buying, maintaining and operating vehicles

That’s why there is room to save money on transportation as listed below

76) Try working from home

So many companies these days allow their employees to work from home once a week or perhaps more

If you are working in a company that has a flexible plan to work from home

Know your limit and stay within it

Imagine if you work from home once per week, this means you save 20%

77) Try carpooling

Even if you are not able to find at your work who is living near you for carpooling

You can search on Google for so many carpooling apps on both Android and IOS

There are so many apps that can help you save easily 50% on your commute

78) Get use of public transits and buy season tickets

In North America, especially in big cities, it is very hard to commute by car if you’re working in downtown

That’s why you have to take public transit for so many reasons

It is way cheaper than paying for parking your car even if you buy a parking membership

You will pay for the membership plus your gas and car maintenance

If you are not working in downtown

You have to figure out if it is worth it to use public transit or drive your car

In some cities like Detroit

It is one of the cheapest in North America for public transit, it can cost you less than $2 in transit

79) Shop around for better car insurance rate

Between me and you, I hate the moment when I have to call an insurance company to get a quote for my car

I cannot tolerate an hour over the phone speaking with an agent where you might end up still staying with your current insurance company as they are still cheaper

Well, take it as an advice

It is not worth to switch to another insurance company while the term is still effective

You can do this process once a year when renewing your car insurance

Here’s what to do for best premium rate on insurance

Search Google for compare car insurances you will get many websites that can do the comparison for you

Although they are not accurate but you can use the 2-3 lowest rates and start calling them

1. Always ask the insurance company to bundle your car and home insurance together
2. Check with the insurance company if they have an app to monitor your driving habits, don’t be afraid, I asked so many insurance companies and they all told me that they will never raise your insurance if you are getting low score, you get 5% off if you install and use the app and another 5% if your spouse does the same
3. Take advantage of the higher deductive, this is the amount you have to pay before insurance company fixes your car, you can raise from $200 to $500
4. Make sure that the car you are planning to buy does not have high insurance premium
5. Consider cancelling your collision and comprehensive coverage if you car is worth less than 10 x what you are paying for its coverage annually
6. Consider asking for discount on low mileage, some insurance company reduces what you pay if you drive low mileage to your work, use it to your benefit, for example, if you have 2 cars and 2 daily commute distances let’s say 2 miles and 18 miles, use the car with the higher premium to drive the low mileage and negotiate the price again

I hope I showed you useful tips to save money on your car insurance

80) Buy used cars

There are so many benefits for driving a used car like

1. When you buy a used car, you can negotiate the price
2. You can save money for a planned used car and pay it cash
3. Review the consumer report and choose a good performing model
4. You can lower your insurance rate
5. Reduce the registration fees as it is based on the price

I regret making this mistake of buying a new car when me and my wife were newly married

We traded our mini van worth $4,000 for a 30,000 new Nissan Altima

The dealer evaluated the mini van as $2,000

We didn’t know the real market price

Anyway on the day where we went to pick up the Nissan

They told us after checking with all the surrounding dealers and the mini van was worth $1,000

We ended up paying around $500 monthly for 5 years

81) Empty your car trunk

Any excess weight in your trunk can increase the gas consumption

Just keep a spare tire and that’s it

82) Look for cheap gas stations near you

It is a very good practice to fill up your tank from the cheapest gas station near you

It is not hard to find one with the use of GasBuddy app

The app will list all the nearby gas stations using your location

How to save money on Entertainment

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those who earn less than 50,000 spend around $2,000 on entertainment

First, I stand firm and sturdy to get yourself a vacation every 1 or 2 years

Or to travel by car to another state/province to energize your life

All I want from you is just to plan for it

So you don’t end up getting a loan with interest just to go for a vacation that will last for a week or less

83) Plan for cheap nights in theaters

Most theaters have the cheapest day on Tuesday

Check your local theaters near you for any offer or discount and go on that day

84) Check for students discounts and admission fees

If you have a son or daughter who is a student

Look for the students guide listing all discounts

You can get discounts on restaurants, clothes and admission fees

85) Replace GYM membership with community center

Ask yourself, what do you really need from a good GYM to keep your membership

perhaps you need a good treadmill, dumbbells and Incline bench press

If you have these tools in your local community center then you can cancel your GYM membership

86) Pack Food for your road trips

Once or twice a year, we travel across the country and pack our food instead of stopping in service centres

We save not only money but time too

Any stop you make can delay you around 45 minutes from reaching your destination

87) Buy travel packages before its peak or based on deals

Simply, if you travel on Tuesday you will get the cheapest airfare ticket throughout the week

If you are buying a travel package, do your homework and shop around all travel websites, I remember I found when we were going to Cancun in Mexico

I found the same offer in 2 different travel websites

One website offered 100 gift card while the other website offered 100 Visa gift card plus a gas station points worth $35

We took the second offer

88) Watch free DVD movies from public library

Good news is you don’t even have to go to the public library

Some apps like Hoopla can let you connect your library membership card to watch movies on your TV

89) Use Amazon Prime video and YouTube

If you already decided to go for Amazon Prime membership to buy most of your household necessary items online and get them shipped to you within 1 -2 days

You get Amazon prime video similar to Netflix to use it with your Amazon prime

Also you can use YouTube for so many online movies to Chrome-cast on your TV

90) Invite your friends over for snack

I know most of us go to restaurants to spend time with our friends

Why you don’t invite them to home to spend time together and eat snacks

You can rotate the invitation so you don’t invite them every time to your place

How to save money on Utilities

According to creditcanada.com, an average of $315 are spent on utilities per family every month

I know there is a room here to save money by applying efficient money saving tips starting from buying LED bulbs to smart appliances

91) Lower thermostat to save electricity on your water heater

By lowering the temperature on your hot water heater and turning it off when you are on vacation

Practice taking shorter showers

Install low flow showerheads

Wash your clothes or dishes with cold water

92) Use slow cooker or crock pot instead of oven

If you are using an electric oven then you definitely without any doubt need to use slow cooker or crock pot to save money

Most crock pots use 200 watts per hour which is equivalent to 2 cents per hour

So it will cost you 16 cents for 8 hours, I believe there is no comparison to an electric oven

93) Turn off unnecessary light off

I would assume that you turn off your light after leaving the room

Teach it to your kids

It will take time to keep it as a good habit, it is really worth it

It is really frustrating to come back from a long day at work to find that some lights were not turned off for the whole day

94) Use LED bulbs

LED bulbs as not expensive, they were when they were first manufactured but not anymore

You can buy a 24 Sylvania LED for $23.46

95) Use major appliances on low peak and weekends only

During the day, there are 3 prices for your electric consumption, high, medium and low peak

Always use your dishwasher, washing machine and dryer during the low peak

96) Use smart plugs for some appliances

Some appliances like Iron and hair dryer require that you unplug them when not in use

Otherwise they will be running and wasting power

That’s why it is highly recommended to connect these appliances to smart plugs

You can switch them off when you are away

Also you can connect them to your Alexa or Google Home

It can save you money especially for appliances like TV or laptop, if you know that they consume electricity when they are powered off

As you can create a routine on Alexa to disconnect all of these appliance when you are away from home

97) Use energy efficient appliances

It is never to late

If you have to change any of your major appliances like refrigerator, diskwasher, washer and dryer

It is a good chance to look for Energy Star certified appliances

98) Turn off Air conditioner when not home

I know in hot areas, it takes time for your Air conditioner to cool down your home

But whatever it takes it is waste of energy and money to leave it on when you are away from home

99) Save electricity using a ceiling fan

If you are living in hot place like Florida

It would be wise to install ceiling fans and use them when weather is starting to turn hot

I am speaking about March, April and May, it all depends on where you live

100) Use Windows and doors blinds

This is something I knew it recently, blinds can reduce the effect of solar heat by 60%

Here in Toronto, Canada, if I am driving my car while it is sunny and 15 C outside

I put on the air conditioner on low because of the solar heat effect from behind the window

That’s why with blinds and ceiling fans you can save money on electricity

You can stop running the air conditioner for those months like March, April and May in Florida

101) Check weather-stripping

Here in Canada, it is very easy to tell you in Winter, if I have any of my windows leaking by just moving my hand around the corners of my windows

Definitely I will feel the cold air coming to my hand, I use weatherstripping, it is something cheap and effective

102) Close doors and floor registers

This is something I tested myself and I know how effective it is

Hot or cold air moves throughout all of your ducts to every room

I noticed I don’t need to keep the floor registers open in my closets and all bathrooms

I move the floor registers in these rooms to the off position and close the doors

Not only you save money on electricity but you feel that your heating and cooling system became very efficient

Again, I had a great improvement after I had my ducts cleaned

103) Use smart thermostat

I never imagined how smart thermostat saved electricity for me until I installed one

The features in any smart thermostat are really stunning

You can set your smart thermostat to apply 3 different schedules during the day, you can have separate schedules on weekdays and weekends

Again you can setup a schedule for an upcoming vacation

Also you can control your smart thermostat from your mobile device

What else can I say, it is a complete save of your money

104) Unplug unused electronics

Yes some appliances as I mentioned earlier consume electricity if they are plugged and not in use

This consumed electricity is called phantom or vampire electricity

It is not practical if you unplug and plug them every time you decide to use them

That’s why I recommended to use the smart plugs and connect it to Alexa

Now all the above savings work perfectly if you learn how to budget your income and use those savings to manage your budget, saving and budgeting work together like carrot and peas

Let me show you how to start budgeting your family income