Money is easy to spend but hard to earn. Are you looking for some ways to cut back on your spending and start saving? Then, in this article, you’ll find 19 tips that will help you save $100 each month.
Make Coffee at Home
A cup of coffee in the U.S. will cost you a couple of dollars a cup. That’s not a lot of money as a one-off treat, but it will certainly add up if you’re buying coffee from cafés most days of the week. To save yourself $100 or even more, make your own coffee at home.
Cancel Unused Memberships
We all have unused memberships that we’re paying for each month. We forget that we’ve signed up for them, so we’re being charged for them each month without benefiting from the service. Make sure you cancel your unused services, such as golf and gym memberships, to start saving money this month.
Use a List
The figures from Fit Small Business show that “nearly three out of four Americans make most purchases impulsively.” But impulse buys make us spend more money than we had planned to. To start saving money, make a shopping list before you leave the house. Be determined to stick to the list while you shop.
Set Up Automatic Savings
One of the best ways to guarantee you will save $100 a month is to set up a direct debit that takes $100 straight from your wages each month and deposits it in your savings account. Setting up automatic savings with your bank forces you to save money.
Cancel Unused Streaming Services
How many streaming services are you paying for each month? If you’ve signed up for too many, you might not be getting your money’s worth out of them—after all, there’s only so much TV you can watch in a month. Cancel unused services or those you seldom use to save money now.
Make a List of Priorities
We all spend way too much money on things each month that we simply don’t need. Make a list of priorities and things that you have to buy each month. Once you have everything on that list, stop spending. This will prevent you from spending money frivolously.
Don’t Waste Food
“While the world wastes about 2.5 billion tons of food every year, the United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 60 million tons — 120 billion pounds — every year,” says Recycle Track Systems. Before you go and spend money in the grocery store on food, check what you already have in your refrigerator.
Cancel Free Trials
Free trials for online services usually last 30 days. After that, you have to pay full price for the service. To ensure you’re not already paying for services you had no intention of ever buying, make sure you cancel free trials before they end. To help you, set a reminder on your smartphone.
Plan Your Meals
Instead of buying a bunch of food items at the grocery store that you might never use, plan your meals before you go shopping. Planning your meals will stop you from buying things that you don’t need and will help you spend only what you need. You’ll be surprised at how much you can save on groceries this way.
Shop Around
Buying all your groceries from one supermarket might not be the most cost-effective way to get your food. You should make a note of how much you usually pay for the items you normally buy. If you see an item in a different grocery store at a lower price, make sure you take advantage.
Do Repairs
Instead of buying new items every time something around the house breaks, try to repair the things you have using DIY skills. There are endless numbers of tutorials on the internet that will show you handy ways to repair things in your home without spending a lot of money.
Watch Movies at Home
Going to the movie theater is really expensive, and buying movie theater popcorn can be pricey. A night at the movies for a family of four can easily cost $100. To save money on entertaining the family, watch movies at home and make homemade popcorn.
Make Your Meals
The statistics from Drive Research show that “2 in 3 people consume fast food at least once a week… [and] on average, people spend $148 on fast food each month.” To save money, search for deals at the store to make meals that will last you throughout the week.
Shop On Sundays
Grocery stores that close on Sunday afternoon and reopen on Monday often have fresh food items for sale just before closing. They do this because they can’t sell the items on Monday. Going to the grocery store at this time is a great way to save money on fresh foods.
Use the Electricity Later
Some utility companies will reduce their rates after certain times of the day. You should make the most of these cheaper tariffs to run electrical items that would be too expensive to have on in the daytime, such as the washing machine, dishwasher, or vacuum cleaner. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll save on utilities this way.
Bring Your Water
A bottle of water costs a couple of dollars in the U.S. This isn’t expensive as a one-off purchase, but if you’re spending a couple of dollars each day on water, you’ll end up spending almost $100 a month. To save money, make sure you bring your own water from home in a reusable water bottle.
Make Your Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Many of us don’t wake up in time to make our own breakfast, so we end up spending money on food from cafés on the way to work. But this is expensive. To save more than $100 a month, make your own breakfast before you leave the house.
Shop in Bulk
According to the National Institutes of Health, “smaller food stores have higher prices for most staple foods compared to their closest supermarket, regardless of proximity.” To save money, don’t shop at small food stores. Rather, shop in bulk at large supermarkets, where you’ll find more competitive prices.
Entertainment
The average American family spends over $100 a month on entertainment. To cut back on how much your family spends, look for cheaper pastimes that help you spend time together. You could go for walks, play board games, or even spend a quiet evening reading.
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