10 Tips and Tricks to Save More Money

Over the last few years, I have been on a mission to save more and more money every month. I feel like we have been living paycheck to paycheck every month ever since we moved back to California years ago and I was sick and tired of the constant stress of whether we would be able to pay our rent at the end of the month.

Before we had our son, his father and I lived in North Carolina and I was able to work as much as I wanted and I was able to spend our money on whatever we pleased because we only had myself to worry about and lets be real here, the cost of living is much less in a small town in North Carolina than it is here in Southern California.

When I was finally fed up with the stress, I started researching and brainstorming different ways to save a little bundle of cash every month. These are my tried and true ways to save money each month.

But this is just part one.. Check out part 2 here:

1. Kick That Dang Fancy Shmancy Coffee Habit!

Ok sometimes a latte or an iced caramel macchiato (guilty!!) sounds so good and I get that! But I was hitting the local drive-thru starbucks maybe about 2-3 times a week. But I know that plenty of people who are spending about $3-6 every single day! So when you get that craving, my advice is to invest in either a regular ol’ coffee machine, a Keurig or an espresso machine. Granted the cheapest option would be to get a regular coffee machine, find some good, tasty grounds and grab some flavored creamer or they even sell the same syrups they use at Starbucks.

Or if you’re like me, and prefer iced coffee, you can always pour your hot coffee over coffee ice cubes (just freeze coffee in an ice cube tray, that way it doesn’t get watered down, and thats even more caffeine that way!) and throw in a little creamer and a caramel drizzle and bam!

2. Cancel Your Cable

I don’t know about other parts of the country/world but here in Southern California, cable is expensive! To bundle tv, internet and phone, it was costing us over $200 every month! When we were living in North Carolina, it was only about $90, if my memory serves me correctly. Now, we only have Hulu and Netflix and it was the best decision ever! We’ve been saving a ton of money and it helps us go out more, listen to more music, read more and play more games.

3. Like Your Mother Told You, Turn Off The Lights When You Leave The Room!

This next one has always been a no brainer for me since my mother drilled this into my brain when I was young. But for Ian, on the other hand, not so much… He would leave lights on everywhere!! And it drove me bonkers! And the worst of it is that he used to fall asleep on the couch at night, with the television on, and a lamp in the living room and a light in the kitchen and a light in the dining room. Dude! Come on now! After months of (i’ll admit it) nagging, it finally worked and I noticed a huge dip in our electric bill. Also, unplugging unused appliances, changing all the lightbulbs to energy efficient bulbs and keeping our thermostat at a much higher degree during the summer helped a ton.

4. Start A Low Maintenance Beauty Routine

I totally get that this one can be hard but it totally pays off. Once I dyed my hair a color that was closer to my natural color and just kept growing it out, I haven’t had to go get my hair done in, yes i’ll admit it, years!! I just box dye my hair about 3 times a year (yes I know its not that good for you but is any dye really THAT good for your hair?) And I’m lucky enough to have a man who is amazing at cutting hair. He hasn’t had any formal training, just pure talent and a whole heck of a lot of trust from me 😉 I also use teeth whitening strips from Target and I always paint my own nails.

5. Unsubscribe To All The Emailing Lists Of Your Favorite Stores

So here’s the thing, when you are constantly getting emails every few hours from your favorite stores saying, “Hey! We’re having a sale!” or “New product! Come take a look!” you are much more inclined to start browsing their site and buy some things that you really don’t need just because it was on sale or new. (Guilty as charged!) But what if you didn’t know that your favorite store was having a sale? I think you know where I’m going with this… I have done much less online shopping since I took my email off all their mailing lists. And I have much less emails to go through everyday too!

6. Spend A Whole Month (or two) Writing Down Every Penny You Spend

This is one that I started doing about 3 months ago and I have noticed a huge difference in my spending habits. What I did was, I took a little notebook that I never use (I have way too many of these so I figured I might as well start using these notebooks for something useful) and at the end of each day, I wrote down the date, how much i spent and what I spent that money on. Then, at the end of the month, I looked back and saw what I spent my money on and how much I spent. This way, I could see the unnecessary purchases or the things that I spent too much money on. So far, each month I have spent less and less because I visually saw where my money was going. And this is embarrassing to admit but there has been plenty of times the past month or so where I won’t buy something simply because I’m too embarrassed to admit in my notebook that I spent money on something so unnecessary. So, it totally works!

7. Pretend You Make Less Money.. Live Below Your Means

I totally get that this is very hard to do when you are living paycheck to paycheck. For us, it was almost impossible to do this when we first moved to California. (I was pregnant and working a rather physically demanding job where I had to cut back on my hours and it took Ian a few months to find work) But if you are able, start with just $100. Pretend you made $100 less than you actually did that month. Throw that in your savings or your emergency fund (or your emergency “new handbag” fund). Do this little by little, and even increase the amount to $150+ when you are able to.

8. Go To Stores That Aren’t Your Favorite

This trick actually saved me a ton of money at the end of the month. It was a little painful at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. Basically, I completely cut out Target shopping trips. Cold turkey, y’all!! I only go to Target about once a month now. (If I’m being honest, my reward for not going to Target is going to Target) When I started the “notebook plan”, stated earlier, I noticed I was spending significantly more money during shopping trips to Target, opposed to shopping trips at Walmart, for example. I’ll be honest, when I’m at Target, I’ll always look at clothes for J because Target is definitely my favorite place to get his clothes. And then I’ll look at toys for him, and then shoes and then bathing suits for me and then shoes for me and so on and so forth. But when I go to another store to do my shopping, 8/10 i’ll just get what I need and call it a day.

9. Rethink Your Credit Cards

I feel like back when we had cable, there was a commercial for a credit card company on every few minutes. When you think about it, there are so many different credit cards out there and each one is unique. If you haven’t put much thought into which credit card is right for you, I can almost guarantee you don’t have your perfect match yet. So do some research and you could save (and earn) a ton of money.

10. Buy Secondhand

Need a new blouse for work? Is your son growing out of all of his shoes? Need to just do some retail therapy?? There is no shame in secondhand shopping. Do some research on the best secondhand shops in your area. There may be some trial and error involved but once you find the good stores, its so worth it. I have recently found a new local thrift store that carries clothing for men, women and children, toys, furniture, electronics, everything!! I love it and its huge! The possibilities are endless there.

Thanks so much for reading part one of How We Save Hundreds a Month! Don’t forget to head over to the food edition here: https://kindnessandcooking.com/save-money-on-groceries/

xoxo Leah