Money Saving Tips and Tricks

Money Saving Tips and Tricks

centsiblyrich-com-1Please enjoy this guest post from Tina Roth of ProFinance Blog.

I recently hosted a party at my new residence. All of my childhood friends were present at the get-together. I asked all of them a common question – what could be an effective trick with money? Some are in favor of saving, some stress on investment while for the rest, debt clearance is a top priority. The interesting tips I collected from their answers could make a lengthy blog post but many will not like going through a lengthy write-up.

Here are my top picks from what they said:

Tips on Money Saving

  • To control my habit of dining out, I started charging myself $10 on eating out every time.
  • We don’t spend much on the weekend and instead save the money for annual travel vacation.
  • What we save on a daily basis goes to a piggy bank. At the tail end of the year, we take the money out to decide where to spend our savings – mortgage payment, debt clearance, fund for travel or anything else.
  • I decided to give myself a $20 gift every time I manage to wash all of my clothes at home. Laundry used to eat up a good part of my monthly income and I just planned a way to cut the cost and direct the saving towards another purpose. At the end of the last year, I bought a new refrigerator.
  • I have a good job and my wife works from home. A part of my income is spent on household expenses while the other part inflates saving. Mutual adjustment is very important if you want to follow our example.
  • It is very common for us to get a discount on a power bill (internet, cell-phone, insurance or whatever it is). In my case, I channeled my saving via an automated savings transfer.
  • Saving on time is my priority. If I fail to do it – though it happens once in a blue moon – I pay interest on my account. That adds credibility to my habit of regular saving.

However, my favorite piece of advice is when you save money, you must put it in your account instead of spending it frivolously. If savings disappears, you are not building up a nest egg for your future.

Tips on Debt Repayment

  • I have a part-time job apart from a regular one. What I earn from my part-time income goes to a special account. After the month ends, my monthly transfer from that account goes towards clearing my mortgage dues.
  • I set up an automated transfer to my fund for making timely payment of mortgage dues.
  • I have found ‘Pay Off Debt App’ extremely useful. To put it in simple math, obsession + automation = Debt Payment! Over obsession is very bad but if you are not obsessed with how to pay off your debts as early as possible, you will never be able to be a debt-free man.
  • As long as I had debts to my name, any income outside my salary from a 9-hour job goes towards debt payment.
  • I disburse my monthly earnings over 4 weeks to meet my student loan. By doing so, I don’t feel heartache of paying off a larger chunk, as the transfer of smaller amounts can be easily tolerated.
  • A few years ago I switched from a 20-year mortgage to a 10-year mortgage option. Our interest rate dropped during our debt payment period and so we are making the same level of payment even after a switch-over. Only a couple of years are left for us to break free of debt prison.
  • Every month I take a hard look at my mortgage payment to check my balance and convert the odd number to an even one through an online transfer. It gives me encouragement to clear debts as fast as possible.
  • If you own a credit card and want to pay it down, make the payment immediately after receiving the bill instead of waiting until the deadline.
  • My cashback bonuses are used to pay down balances.

Other Money Tips

  • I have made my wife and college-going son as the commanders to execute my money-saving plans successfully. I have engaged my wife in checking my financial details. The underlying objective is to keep her motivated and check on frivolous spending.
  • My son manages a piggy bank. I dump my loose change there in hope that tinkling sound of money will teach him a good lesson of saving at an early point in his life.
  • For annual bills on property taxes, life insurance policies etc., I deposit to a savings account to make money easily available when they fall due.

What is your personal take on these tips? What tips would you offer to others?

Tina Roth is a freelance personal finance blogger who is an expert in the areas of personal finance and money management tips.

17 thoughts on “Money Saving Tips and Tricks

  1. Great set of tips! I like charging yourself $10 for eating out every time.

    Here is a tip: – Ask for discount on just about anything. I asked for discount at my local oil change place – I got a $10 rebate. Chatted with Netflix (took 2 minutes online) and asked for one month free service stating that I have been a long time loyal customer – I got it. When you get the discount, move the money to savings.

    1. Great tip, Michael! Ask and you shall receive! Making phone calls to service providers, such as cable, internet and phone can often pay off when you request a discount.

  2. I really like “paying” yourself. We always hear about “pay yourself first” in terms of saving and investing for retirement. However, giving yourself a little bonus, or allowance, would be a great incentive to get dreaded housework done. Great tip!
    One thing I always do before buying something online is search for discount codes/coupons. I usually find one!

    1. Agreed! Tipping yourself for something you really don’t want to do is a unique idea. Searching for the coupon codes is a fantastic tip and only takes a couple of minutes, potentially saving you a decent amount off a purchase you were going to make anyway.

  3. Charging yourself for going out to eat is a great idea. I think with the Qapital app, you could actually automate this process even! You just set it up so that every time you go out to eat, the app pulls $10 out of your checking account and puts it into savings. Makes it one less thing to have to remember!

    1. I’ve never hear of the Qapital app, but now I’m intrigued! And it’s automated…I love automation.

  4. “I set up an automated transfer to my fund for making timely payment of mortgage dues.” This is a really good tip, and for me I have really benefited from setting up automatic mortgage payments. I used to mail it in (seriously) the first couple years just so that I “felt” the payment and it was on my mind. While it is now kind of out of sight out of mind, I benefit from having it hit around the same time each month. I can anticipate it and plan for it.

    1. It’s funny you mention that, DC. We recently refinanced our mortgage and I received a paper statement that had a line for making additional principal payments. I did consider continuing with the paper statements for the same reason you did – so it would be on my mind and I’d be more likely to put more toward the principal. But I did end up automating it since it’s easier and it is taken out the same day every month. My finances work best when automated.

  5. I love that you charge yourself $10 to go out and eat. I bet that really cuts down on frivolous lunches and dinners. I think I might have to incorporate that one into my plan.

    Thanks for sharing!!!

  6. These are great tips. I like the part about putting your money in your savings account instead of spending it. As long as cash flow is positive, there’s no reason to worry about if cash flow is negative, it’s time to implement a lot of the tips that you’ve mentioned!

    I automate all of my savings so I’m not tempted to blow my paycheck on something but I splurge here and then 🙂

    1. Automation is a great way to keep from overspending.

  7. Like some of the other comments, I like the idea of charging yourself $10 for going out to eat! I should do the same thing every time I eat a candy bar and maybe I’ll lose a few pounds!

    Thanks for sharing the great tips!

    1. Funny! You could start “penalty jar” and put $10 in each time you have a candy bar.

  8. Spend tracking has been the biggest money saver for us. When we have a running big picture total of what we’ve spent during the month, it really helps us to rein in our spending when we can see that things are getting out of hand in a category.

    1. Same here, Laurie! When I look at how much we spend in each category, I can make adjustments as needed. I did this with groceries and our “other” (basically non-essentials that don’t fit in any category) expenses last year. We also bumped our automated savings at the same time to make sure we don’t spend what we “save”.

  9. For some reason, I really like the idea of charging yourself $10 to eat out. That seems like a good road block to keep you grounded. I like to do that same thing with cash. It just hurts sometimes to spend cash.

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