What up, what up!
Here are a bunch of savings ideas from our community lately.
Hope you find one that turbocharges your wealth! 💰💰💰
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The dollar bills trick: “I save one dollar bills with the number 7 on them. It’s fun, and in 3 months I already have $250.00 cash.” – Tanya W.
The quarter roller trick: “What I do to save is I have a $10 quarter roller with the bottom taped shut, and whenever the extra money after bills in my wallet doesn’t end with a five or a zero (like, say, I have $13 in my wallet) I take that $3 and put it in the roller until it’s full. Then I throw it right into my savings and start adding to it again.” – AngelC
How to get free beer: “We realized if I started cutting my husband’s hair we could use that money each month to go on a happy hour date instead. If you drink enough, you don’t care how your hair looks. 😂 #FrugalLiving” – @Raina
How to feel better about buying stuff: “If you want to buy something, wait until you have twice as much money as you need, then buy the stuff AND the stock. – Mabel, GirlsOnTheMoney.com (Mabel is also the creator of one of my favorite sayings: “If you can afford the product, you can afford the stock!“)
How to avoid buying more stuff: “My co-worker has a great plan. Whenever he’s tempted to buy something that is a “want” and not a “need,” he immediately applies that same amount of money right to one of his debts. This is all done online and immediately, so the money he felt he could spare is now gone and he no longer feels the urge to buy the item anymore.” – Cari D.
What to do with extra cash: “I get cash tips and occasional payments frequently from my side hustles, and I have two rules for them: Cash rule 1 – it can NEVER be spent, only deposited. Cash rule 2 – It cannot go into an account linked with our daily lives (checking or main savings). Cash goes into the Acorns, Roth, 529, or a vacation fund if we have one open, but I like to treat it as money that I was never meant to have in the first place.” – Brian T.
An idea to pass along to all parents you know: “My mom, my husband, and I put all of our spare change in my son’s piggy bank (most of it is Grammy’s since we use debit cards and not much cash). Every summer, we roll it and bring it to the bank. EVERY YEAR my son deposits between $130 and $180!” – Tonya H.
An idea to pass along to all libraries you know! “Our library in town now gives receipts instead of a card in the back of the book – and it tallies how much you’ve saved this year by checking out books instead of buying them. I’m up to $1,170 this year! :)” – Emily
Another type of insurance policy: “I have a “coin collection” of sorts, but it is really a “metals” collection: I consider it an insurance policy against currency repudiation or a bank run (think of what happened in Greece or Cypress). I have a bunch of junk silver, and a bunch of gold and silver bullion coins. My goal is to have around $100,000 in this “insurance policy” (call it 2% of our net worth for rough figures) and I’m around half way there.” – Martinus
How to want less stuff: “Every Friday I take a predetermined amount of cash out of the ATM for miscellaneous small purchases. This helps me want less stuff because I end up wanting my cash more. Over the last month my daily spending has been under $3 a day!” — Sydney, TheUrbanKitten.com (Editor’s note: we call this The “Stranger” Test)
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Have any tricks of your own? Let us know!
And if you’re craving more…
- 46 Tips To Save You Time, Money, and Trouble (From The 1950’s!)
- A Handful of Great $$$ Tips From Readers!
- 10 #Money Tips For Ya
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My job doesn’t offer direct deposit. When I cash my check at the bank, I ask for dollar coins instead single bills. Those dollar coins go to the change holding “DAS BOOT”.
Wow – that must be a lot of dollar coins!
Woohoo! Quoted in Budgets are Sexy. Priceless!
Something that I’ve been doing this year is that when I get my expense reimbursement from my employer instead of putting back into checking I deposit it directly into savings. This requires you to have enough cash flow to front your work expenses like that without needing to reimbursement your checking account but if do any business travel this adds up quickly in savings. I’d guess I’ve put an extra $3000 or so into savings this year.
Yes! Excellent idea!
I like the sound of metal collecting. That’s what many Asian people do. They buy a gold necklace and that’s savings.
So, like rappers? :)
I keep my gold in my vault at Gringotts ;)
Great wisdom here, my favorite is the “How to get free beer” one. I totally agree with the way she is thinking of the “how does hair look like” question. Too bad my wife does not agree. I told her she should cut my hair and she replied that then it will look awful. She was not happy with my answer that “I don’t really care, you will be the one who is looking at it constantly” XD
PS: I have a guess which is your favorite…
I dislike everything about change. Its heavy and horrible to hold on to. I instinctively give it all to my kids. They must have a few hundred by now. In fact the only reason to even hold cash is to go to the local soft serve place that must be scamming the IRS, I mean honestly, who ONLY accepts cash in today’s world. It’s got to be an under the table operation.
Love that, haha… I actually enjoy spending cash.. feels more real and I like watching the cashiers always trying to figure out how much to give me back :)
These are some very original lifehacks! I love the one on immediately applying the funds to debt!
As a guiding principle, I generally find that I save more when (i) the transfers are automated and (ii) I don’t see the balance of the account where the funds are deposited on a daily basis. Online banking is great but when you see all that cash sitting there, it can be tempting!
Haha, totally.
Related to #3:
I started cutting my own hair a couple months ago. I’m never going back! (to the barber)
It will save hundreds for me.
Excellent! Same here.. Once I found I could use mirrors to shave the right parts of my head and still retain my ‘hawk it was ON :)
This stuff always reminds me of this post from Bald Thoughts:
https://baldthoughts.boardingarea.com/2017/11/best-personal-finance-hack-nobody/
Me three!! My wife started cutting my hair more than five years ago and it really saves that $15-$20 each time I go to the barber. Plus she’s has gotten better at cutting my hair throughout that time. Win win!!
Does she do your kids’ hair too? Those savings add up as well! :)
I would even think it’s good for your brain as you develop sight-mirror-machine coordination when you cut the back of your head. I wouldn’t have it any their way. No lines; faster and cheaper.
I should do the quarter roller trick! That’s very interesting
You gotta get the turkeys! Great savings in meals if you buy turkeys pre and post Thanksgiving. My family of seven gets about 7 meals out of one turkey, plus soup! One turkey/12lbs/ for about $5. Crazy!!!!