What Changes Do You Make When You Want to Save Money?
Here's something I don't think we've discussed in years: What changes do you make when you want to save money? (Have you tried to kick your savings up a notch recently?)
{related: not sure what to do first/next in your personal finance journey? here's our money roadmap}
Changes I Make When I Want to Save Money
Some of the things I do when I want to save more money (or at least stop spending quite so much) include the following ideas:
Use what we have. We eat down the fridge, freezer, and pantry contents, and if I've been lazy about looking for something (a pair of my older son's shoes that I've saved to hand down to my younger son, or a book I need to return to the library or risk paying for the entire book), then I do what I can do look for it.
Return what we don't need. I tend to base my shopping heavily at spots with great return policies, and then stuff tends to collect… So if there are things that I'm not sure of that still have tags on them, then I look at them with new eyes and return a lot of them.
Limit shopping opportunities. There are certain stores where it seems like it's a $50 entrance fee because I just never get out of there without spending at least $50, largely on stuff that I really don't need. So I'll avoid those stores, or the aisles that are the most tempting. Where possible I'll order something online for delivery or curbside pickup rather than going into the store because I tend to stick to my list better that way.
Choose the budget options. Do we need to spend $100 at the local delivery place or can we choose the option where we only spend $35? Do I need a glass of wine with dinner or am I OK with a water? Do I really need that fancy shampoo this month, or is the budget option fine? Those are the easiest things for me to cut, of course.
{related: financial tips for new lawyers (or other women in their first high-paying jobs!)}
Bigger Changes I Make to Save Money
All of the above are things that are somewhat intuitive and easy to do, and usually do the trick. In times past where I've needed to do more, I've taken these steps:
Assess past spending to figure out where the money is going. This usually involves downloading a lot of statements and categorizing stuff in an Excel chart. Sometimes it yields useful information (subscriptions, easily identified overspending), and sometimes it doesn't.
Assess my other saving goals (and automatic savings). If I'm trying to save more money because it feels like I never have enough money in accounts, that might be because I've got a lot of automatic savings set up for multiple financial goals — and maybe those savings are a bit too much for where we are right now. I might dial back the money going to our Vacation Fund, or our “fun fund…” or I might choose to live with the stress of not having a ton of money in our accounts because the stress helps me tighten our belt in other areas, and the automatic savings are high level goals.
{related: how to set up automatic investing}
Make a budget. For a lot of people this is the first step, but for me this is one of the last. I only partially use Mint now (and really did not like YNAB when I downloaded it recently, although I know readers love it), and I prefer to use automatic savings for budgetary items like vacations and then use whatever's left for those of-the-moment purchases like restaurants, clothes, etc.
Readers, what do you do when you want to save money?
I don’t think there’s any such thing as $35 delivery, lol. We save on food by keeping zero-effort dinner items around – our fave soups (mmmm it’s TJ’s autumn harvest time!!) and frozen pizza have prevented dozens of takeout orders!
+1 that keeping zero-effort dinner options on hand is really helpful. In addition to buying frozen/shelf-stable items, I like to freeze leftover soup, curries, etc in glass jars. Taking off the lid and microwaving something is way easier and faster than ordering delivery.
Do you mic them frozen? Give me your tips!
we do this too. Low-key meal prepping – any time we’re cooking something involved we’ll make a triple batch to have leftovers. We defrost before microwaving or toaster-oven-ing – usually switching from freezer to fridge as part of the “next day prep” in the evening.
yes, I microwave from frozen. I often get impatient before it’s done defrosting, so I slide the food out of the glass jar into a microwavable serving bowl and break apart frozen chunks to get them to cook faster. My favorite jars are 16 oz wide-mouth jars (cheap, and easy to slide the food out of), though I also have some old pasta jars and bigger/smaller jars.
8oz and 4oz jars are perfect for mixing and matching to get just the right amount, but are more annoying for putting away, labeling, and keeping track of.
Depends where you live! We can get a pizza that feeds our whole family for less than $20. It’s not the healthiest option but definitely wallet friendly.
Some things I’ve done/do
-as many reusable products as possible
-make coffee, snacks, and lunches at home
-shop secondhand
-only buy something when I need it
-buy in bulk, shop the sales, buy storebrand
-mend and repair to make what i own last longer
-buy powder laundry detergent and use about 1/4 of the recommended amount, no fabric softener or dryer sheets
-clean the house with white vinegar, washing soda, borax
-make do with what I have, do without until i save for it.
-use the library
Tighten up my meal planning, shop the pantry and freezer first, make substitutions, shop the bulk bins, don’t spend on prepared ingredients. Which reminds me, my Instant Pot lost a part in the move and I need to get in touch with support to ask for a replacement so I can cook all the dried beans for the freezer…
Go through my credit card bill. Often I’ll find charges for stuff I bought I cancelled long ago.
Shop for cheaper car and homeowners insurance. Plan low cost weekends (hikes not restaurants).
My big categories of fungible spending are fun activities, food (home) and food (eating out), and shopping.
For shopping – I put myself on a near-moratorium, and only allow for strictly necessary spending. Even if something is beautiful, and something I’ve been coveting, it’s just not a thing I will buy until I loosen my own purse strings. So–no clothes or accessory or shoe shopping. If I need a new sink dish brush, sure. But not the sweater I’ve been coveting online. Relatedly, I throw out catalogs immediately, so I don’t get ideas.
For fun activities – I focus on hikes, park dates, outdoor activities, free concerts or low cost shows (movie matinee with discounted tix, yes; expensive comedy show: no).
For home food – I try to meal prep, shop a tight list at Costco and freeze meat, and eat at home as much as possible.
For eating out – I try to eat enough so that I only need a main (not a main and app), preparty at home (so not buying booze out), and if I am meeting friends, I try to suggest we don’t meet at a bar or restaurant so that we spend less, but still connect.
The last thing I do is really scrutinize my recurring bills – streaming services (entertainment and exercise), check trade group memberships (did I remember to expense them) and I try to stagger my streaming services so I have one for a few months a year instead of five simultaneously.
Eat out less/cut out subscriptions/cook at home.
Use things for a longer time (eg nonstick pans, clothes, cell phones).
Do handyman repairs ourselves.
The “$50 entrance fee” in Kat’s post is why I can’t have a Costco membership fee. I hate no self restraint around alleged bargains.
And I agree with others on food delivery. It is EXPENSIVE and the drivers are not actually well compensated. (Daughter’s boyfriend does this between “real” part time jobs – they are both students.) I’ve really had to do a lot of talking to my college aged kids about how expensive it really is vs just going to pick it up, much less buying a prepared food from a place like TJ’s or even cooking.
It all came to an end with the $25 McDonald’s milkshake and the $80 bento boxes for two when it was going on my credit card. I’ve agreed to pay for your food in college, but I will no longer be paying for delivered food. I would never pay that amount for food for myself. Don’t insult me by expecting me to pay it for you.
I also hated YNAB but I love Simplifi. Like a better version of Minted. My favorite feature is putting in recurring income and bills and seeing how much I actually have left to spend after those items are in there. Then we can create budgets for that.