The Most Successful Money Saving Methods
For those of us that are not rich, saving every little bit of money we can helps. I’m not sure about you, but I know trying to put a meal on the table for my family, sending my kids to school and trying to finance my own needs all at the same time can often seem impossible. The poor economy makes the struggle just that much harder. Many people don’t even have jobs, making living on a budget not just an option, but a necessity. Here are some of the most successful money saving methods right now:
Trading in Your Car
Giving up your vehicle may not sound good right now, but if it is at all possible it may benefit you in the long run. If you don’t work too far from home, then riding a bike or taking advantage of public transportation may be the answer for you. Making car payments can often cost us a couple hundred dollars a month, insuring your vehicle is going to cost you at least another hundred dollars, and then after that you still have to shell out a couple hundred dollars a month on gas.
Think about all that money going towards your car. Would be worth it for you and your family to sacrifice a vehicle in order to to save an average of around 500 dollars a month? It could be the difference between living comfortably and worrying about having a roof over your head.
Stop Eating Out
Another easy way to save money is to switch up your eating routine. If you tend to go out to eat on a regular basis, you should try and limit it to a minimum of once a week. Instead of spending half of your paycheck taking your family out to dinner, go to the grocery store and purchase food to prepare meals for the week ahead.
Grocery stores often have many ‘buy one get one free’ sales so it is essentially a great way to save money. The $50 you spend at a restaurant on one meal, could be turned into 5 meals or more if you spend the money at your local grocery store. Even if you don’t feel like cooking, prepared meals in the frozen food sections of stores are still often a much cheaper alternative to eating out.
Take Advantage of Banking
If you don’t already have a bank account, I suggest getting one. If you do already have a bank account, then you may already have a savings account. Its a great idea to talk to an employee at your local bank and let them know that you are trying to save money and how much money you would like to save. Most banks actually have different savings programs in which they subtract a certain amount of money from your checking account each time you make a transaction on your credit/debit card. For example, every time you use your card the bank will take out an extra dollar and add it to your savings account.
Now it is hard for us to notice the dollar being taking out of our checking accounts little by little, but it easy to see the money add up when you look into your savings account in a few months. Set up a savings account and don’t touch it for as long as possible. If you can go a few months, you will be surprised by how much cash you have to spare.
Conclusion
In the end, only you can control how much and how badly you really need to save money. I have had to adjust my personal life many times to live on a budget I can afford. There was once a time where I didn’t have a lot of bills and was living at my parents so I could afford to go out and spend $100 dollars at the bar on a weekend not thinking anything of it. Unfortunately those times are gone, and with the bills most of us, including myself, have today, every dollar we can save goes a long way.
Featured images:
License: Creative Commons image source
This article was written by Colin Quinn. Colin is a content creator and blog author for Saveup which promotes individuals to save money by playing fun games to win prizes and even cash.
