Being frugal can feel really hard and impossible, especially when you’re first starting out on improving your financial journey. We ladies often have full lives already, so putting the time in to save money doesn’t feel realistic. But it doesn’t have to be as scary as it seems. Here are some tips for effortless ways to start saving money.
Unsubscribe from emails
I was resistant on this one for a while. I wanted to know when there were going to be sales from Old Navy so that I can buy things that I “needed.” What I quickly discovered is that all those emails do is try and convince you that you need things that you really don’t. As soon as I unsubscribed, I was blissfully unaware of when all the sales took place and what I was supposedly missing out on. I was surprised to discover that I was pretty content with what I already had.
Set up automatic drafts
This is a lifesaver when it comes to getting your financial life in order. Set up an automatic draft into your savings account to come out as soon as you get your paycheck. If the money isn’t sitting in your checking account, you’ll be less inclined to spend it. We have several different things we’ve been saving for, so we set up automatic drafts for each savings account. It’s good financial decisions on autopilot. This way, you won’t feel like you’re constantly trying to decide whether you should spend your money or save it.
Unsubscribe from services you don’t use
If you’re not watching Hulu because all the best things are on Netflix, unsubscribe. (If you are watching Hulu, leave a comment and tell me what’s good!) If you have a subscription to Spotify and Pandora, pick the one you use the most and unsubscribe from the other. If you only watch one or two cable shows, definitely unsubscribe from that. Even if you only unsubscribe from 3 services that cost $10 each, that’s still $30 a month. $30 a month comes out to $360 a year! That’s some pretty easy money to put in your bank account.
A word of caution, however. It doesn’t do you any good if you save$30 a month only to start spending it on something else. When you unsubscribe from those services, consider immediately setting up an automatic draft into your savings account or toward your debt instead.
Order your groceries online
Groceries is the one line item in our budget that we struggle with the most. For some reason, every time we walk into the grocery store, our shopping list expands and our wallets shrink. Keeping your food under budget is hard, but what’s been really helpful for us is ordering groceries online and then picking them up. When you do this, it’s much easier to keep an eye on your total. On top of that, you’ll be less tempted by all the pretty and delicious things that you walk past. Lately we’ve been using Walmart Grocery Pickup, which has been wonderful. If you use this referral link, you’ll get $10 off your first order and I’ll get $10 off my next.
Find alternatives for hanging out with friends
One of the hardest things about saving money is how it seems to affect your social life. Oftentimes our relationships are built around spending money–going to the movies, going out for brunch, meeting a friend for dinner or happy hour. The idea of cutting back feels like turning yourself into a hermit, but it doesn’t have to be that way. What I like to do is counteroffer when my friends ask me to hang out to something cheaper or free. Here are some cheaper (or free) alternatives for spending time with friends:
- Instead of drinks out, have drinks at your place
- Instead of dinner out, meet for a drink or coffee (order a regular brew instead of a fancy drink to save more money!)
- Instead of eating, have a potluck picnic or go for a hike
- Instead of going out to see a new movie, find an old favorite and invite friends over to watch that instead. Provide the popcorn and tell them it’s BYOB
- Start a dinner night once a month with friends, alternating at houses. You can all chip in ingredients and make dinner with each other. This sounds like so much more fun than eating out, and it’s much cheaper too!
The sky’s the limit with what you can think of. We’ve been conditioned to spend money with and on the people that we love, but community is so much more than that!
If you do eat out, order water to drink
I know, I know. Water is no fun. But you save so much in the long term by ordering water instead of something else, especially alcohol. Not only are you paying the money on the actual drink itself, but you’re also getting taxed on the drink, and you’re paying for the tip as well. Say you order a glass of wine for $6.99. The tax would be about 5.54%, depending on where you are, and the tip would be an additional $1.05 (here in the U.S., you should pretty much always tip 15% or more! It’s only right). That brings your drink to a total of $8.42. Now say you’re only drinking one glass of wine at a restaurant a week. If you forego that and drink water instead, you’ll save about $33 a week and $404 a year.
All of these by themselves might not feel like much, but when you put them all together, you’re saving thousands each year. You’re now well on your way to less debt and a more comfortable emergency fund. Feeling like getting your personal finances in order may seem overwhelming, but it’s really just a combination of tiny steps that really add up. Leave a comment and let me know what ways you’re saving money!
