How to Save Money: Tips to Cut Spending and Achieve Your Financial Goals

Start with Your Budget

To some, it might sound too simple to make a big impact, but if you haven’t already, taking a look at your recent spending and making a monthly budget is the best place to start when you’re looking to save money. Putting a budget together can help you differentiate between your fixed and non-fixed expenses. And with a better idea of the non-essential places that your money is going, you’ll be better equipped to identify habits to lessen or cut out, as well as opportunities to save each month.

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Make It Automatic

One of the best ways to save money is to automate the process. Whether by setting up direct deposits into your savings account through your employer or creating an automatic, recurring transfer at your bank, you can make sure that a set amount of money ends up in your savings account at certain intervals. Even if you wind up having to use some of this money after depositing it, taking some of the effort out of adding it to your savings in the first place can help keep you accountable to your savings goals.

Check Your Utilities

Even among your fixed expenses, you might find opportunities to cut monthly spending. For many, utility bills like gas and electricity are left unexamined each month. But taking steps to limit your usage can actually add up to significant savings over the course of an entire year. Check your utility bills for spikes in usage, assess your everyday habits, and examine your home’s lightbulbs and window fixtures to see where you might be able to make positive changes.

Evaluate Your Loans

Loans are another monthly cost that people tend to set and forget until they’re able to pay off their balances. Whether you have a mortgage or student, car, and personal loans, set aside some time to evaluate whether or not refinancing is a good option for you and your budget. By refinancing to get a lower interest rate, you might be able to lower your monthly payments as well as save significant sums of money over the life of your loans.

Make Your Big Purchases at the Right Time

Many larger expenses are simply unavoidable. But as with all financial decisions, a little bit of planning can go a long way. Whether you’re looking to get a new car, deck out your living room with new furniture, or overhaul your wardrobe, there’s an ideal time to make most of these purchases. Rather than make these purchases on impulse, matching them to regular annual sale periods can ultimately save you a pretty penny.

Beware Take-Out

Your eating habits are another area of spending that can benefit quite a bit from extra planning. Swapping home-cooked meals, snacks, and coffee for their take-out and store-bought counterparts can leave you with a lot more money in your pocket—and your savings account. Consider keeping a food diary to help maintain healthy fiscal and physical habits.

Stick to Your Grocery List

Even if you do mostly keep to home-cooked options, there are still additional ways to save money. One of the easiest is to make a grocery list before you shop and stick to it while you do. Build a grocery list based on the meals you’ll be cooking in the days ahead, and you can avoid unnecessary impulse purchases while you’re in the store. Meanwhile, as you’re shopping, keep your eyes peeled for generic food options that are typically less expensive than other name brands.

Examine Your Subscriptions

Streaming video, music, magazines, newspapers, gyms—the list goes, but these days, many of our lives are filled with all kinds of subscription services. While many of them carry low monthly costs, all together your subscriptions might be costing you quite a bit every year. Keep a close eye on how much you use each of your subscriptions and reevaluate every so often whether or not continuing them is worth it. By cancelling—or even just pausing—unused subscriptions you’ll find a fast way to save money.

Keep Track of It All

While some of the tips above might not work for everybody, the ability to track spending is available to every consumer that’s looking for ways to save. The best part? With the right tools, tracking spending doesn’t have to be a burden. Whether you utilize budgeting apps like Mint and Goodbudget, or easily pull together visualizations of your spending with customizable budget templates for Microsoft Excel, keeping tabs on your day-to-day spending will inject a healthy dose of accountability and added awareness into your financial life and help you achieve your goals.