Although it’s become a corporate buzzword in recent years, going for the “low hanging fruit” is actually a great way to make progress on any project. And when it comes to saving money, these quick wins can make a big difference and put more pennies back in your pocket.
So whatever your reason for cutting back, here are some quick wins for saving money.
Ditch Your Cable TV
Cable bills in the United States have reached astronomical levels, with many Americans paying more for cable than they do for all of their other utilities combined. Similar situations exist in many other countries too.
For example, a combined TV, internet, and landline package from the UK’s Virgin Media could set you back as much as £139 per month, though that does include 516 Mbps broadband, a 4G SIM with unlimited data, and unlimited landline minutes. However, there are few people who would truly get their money’s worth from such a package.
If you’re out of contract, meaning your initial 12/18/24 month deal has expired, then you should be able to cancel, renegotiate or switch your package at any time. This gives you an opportunity to get some big quick wins.
Don’t watch much live TV because you have Netflix? Ditch the TV subscription. Don’t use much 4G data because you work from home and use your WiFi? Ditch the mobile subscription and find one elsewhere. Don’t need to transfer terabytes of data each day? Decrease your internet speed. Don’t make calls from your landline? Drop the “unlimited minutes” package.
Doing this with Virgin Media would save you £114 per month. That’s £1,368 per year!
If you currently use your TV subscription, why not consider switching to using an OTT service like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video? These are all considerably cheaper and include hundreds of hours of great TV shows and movies.
You could even look to free streaming services like PokerStars TV, YouTube, and Crunchyroll, each of which has a whole host of unique content that you can watch on any device.
Check Your Cupboards
When you’ve had a hard day at work and don’t feel like cooking, it’s easy to open up your favorite delivery app and order something instead. But the cost of that can add up quickly.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor, the average American spends $3,459 each year in restaurants and fast food. While eating at home won’t be free, it will be significantly cheaper than that.
What’s more, you probably already have plenty of food in your cupboards that you can put to good use.
Go through them, make a list of what you have, and then come up with some recipe ideas of what you can do with them. If you need to get an extra ingredient or two, that’s ok, but at least you don’t have to buy everything.
Ditch Taxis and Uber
In 2018, the average US household spending on taxis was just $70 per year. That’s a tiny amount, but you also need to factor in the fact that people living in cities and those without access to their own car are significantly more likely to be spending way over that figure. For example, one woman in California spent $453 on Uber in a single month.
Services like Uber and Lyft can make it incredibly easy to order a car to pick you up and drop you off right outside of where you want to go. The fact that you don’t have to pay the driver in person can detach you from the fact that you’re spending money.
If you’re in a city with decent public transport links, then this will save you significant sums. You could save even more by walking, cycling, or using an electric scooter.
These quick wins will help you to minimise your spending in each of these areas very quickly. For the most part, they don’t require you to go without the things you enjoy, you just might have to change your approach slightly.