Save Money (and the Planet) With These 14 Easy Tips

As a kid, I loved playing the Game of Life. Embarrassingly, I would play it on my own just to see how my fake life would pan out. While Life prepared me for paying insurance (wasn’t that always the worst part of the game?), it definitely didn’t prepare me for other adulting expenses. Things like car tabs and repairs, expensive contacts, dentist appointments, and so much physical therapy. Apparently after yours 20s, your body becomes as temperamental as a houseplant. All in all, I wasn’t prepared for how expensive adulthood would be and how hard it is to save money and budget when there are just so many things to buy.

However, I’ve always been pretty frugal (if anything, overly so). For years, I’ve saved for a down payment on a house and for retirement and, during that time, have saved about 50% of my income. My salary is public record, so if you’re feeling nosy, you can verify for yourself that I don’t make a crazy high income. To make that high savings rate happen, I’ve adopted a few tricks that may be helpful for you as well.

Some Caveats

Before diving in, I want to acknowledge that I split rent with my partner and we only have one car. We also don’t have kids or pets (though we so would if our apartment allowed pets). I recognize my situation is not possible or desirable for many people. Additionally, saving 50% of one’s income is not even advised by financial advisors, so I’m not suggesting that should be your goal. However, I hope some of these tips help you reach your own savings goals.

Plus, what’s good for your wallet is often good for the planet. So bonus, Ms. Frizzle would appreciate your climate consciousness.

1. Save Money by Meal Planning

Food tends to be the third biggest expense for most households after housing and transportation. We also waste a lot of food in the US. With a little planning, you can save a lot of money, time, and carbon emissions(!) on food preparation.

• Meal prep breakfasts and lunches on Sunday. I usually make an oatmeal bake and big salad on Sunday that covers my breakfasts and lunches for most of the week. I’ll also prepare snacks like healthy muffins or homemade banana or kale chips so I don’t need to scramble to make or buy food throughout the week.
• Prepare meals that use overlapping ingredients. For example, if I need spinach for one recipe, I will always plan another dinner or lunches that also use spinach so I don’t have to deal with too much slimy spinach at the end of the week. Vegetables, cheese, and bottles of cream or stock are all good things to plan across multiple meals so they don’t go bad before you can use them up.
• Freeze foods for use later: As noted above, I regularly make healthy muffins (link to recipe above) and freeze them so I can eat them whenever I need a breakfast, lunch, or snack.
• Eat less meat. Don’t get me wrong, I love meat and need it for my iron deficiency. However, beans, eggs, tofu, or meat alternatives like Beyond Burger can be cheap, tasty options for a few (or more!) meals a week. Plus, Beyond Burger is often on sale.
• Plan around coupons. Many stores have apps that make “clipping” digital coupons a breeze. I know this is a tired recommendation, but we often save $20-$40 for each grocery trip by using coupons and planning meals around coupons.

2. Alternate Streaming Services

Remember spending 45 minutes at Blockbuster trying to pick a movie? Scrolling through streaming services feels like the less fun version of that. We all have (or have had) a streaming service where we’ve exhausted everything we want to watch. Given that, I’m a big fan of alternating streaming services every few months. It’s a good way of limiting subscription fees and feeling like you always have new things to watch.

3. Do A Subscription Audit (Or Use a Service That Does It For You) to Save Money on Fees

If you prefer to DIY this, look through your credit card and/or bank statements for annual or monthly subscription charges and then delete any that you no longer need. If all of that sounds too obnoxious or you know you have a lot of subscriptions, the service Delete Me will review your subscriptions and cancel any of them for you that you would like removed.

The bonus of this is that subscriptions will often give you a steep discount for a month or two if you try to cancel. So you might even try to cancel subscriptions you want to keep and see if they give you a discount. When you try cancel they usually give you a few screens to confirm your cancellation. So if they don’t actually give you a discount, you can always go back without cancelling.

4. Negotiate Your Bills (Or Look Into Services That Will Do It For You)

I’ll be honest, this is the tip that I’ve underutilized because negotiating over the phone sounds horrible. However, I did get a monthly maintenance charge on my checking account removed just by asking. Likewise, financial advisors and “influencers” (gag, I know) frequently note that your car insurance, phone bills, and even your rent are all up for negotiation.

If talking on the phone and asking for things sounds like your worst nightmare, there are a number of apps you can sign up for where representatives will call up your service providers and negotiate your bills for you. You usually pay a portion of your savings or a subscription fee. For a comparison of these apps, follow this link.  

5. Use Discounts Offered By Your Employer or Services Like ID.me to Save Money On Things You Buy Anyway

The most underutilized employee perk tends to be the discounts on goods and services that many larger employers offer. My own employer, University of Washington, offers a number of discounts on everything from new tires to gym memberships to meal planning services.

If you are a teacher, alumni, veteran, medical professional, first responder, or government employee you can also register with ID.me to get discounts at some brands. Brands like Verizon, Under Armour, Yeti, Nike, and more offer steep discounts to some of these groups. I always get 20% off at Tula (my favorite skincare brand) because of my ID.me registration. It’s worth doing a little digging to see if there are any discounts available for things you already purchase.

6. Reevaluate Your Gift Giving

Heads up, these next 3 tips will make me sound pretty boring. But they work and are often more fun than they sound, especially if you’ve been feeling social pressure to spend money on things you don’t enjoy.

I love giving gifts. However, it can be overwhelming to buy gifts as your family expands and friends get married and have babies. If you have a group of people who you think might be tired of gift giving, you might propose that you no longer gift gifts, pitch in on larger gifts that people might enjoy more than smaller gifts, do a shared experience instead of presents, or have friends and family contribute to kids’ 529 college savings plans while children are very young and don’t need a million birthday presents.

7. Plan cheaper hangouts and activities

I love spending time with friends and family. A big weekly highlight is going to trivia at a local bar with a few close friends.

However, we’ve probably all been in the situation where we want to hang out with friends, but we’re also a little bummed about buying food or drinks we don’t really want. I love planning inexpensive hangouts that are often more fun and meaningful than a drink or meal out. Things like walks, runs, hikes, trips to the beach, game or movie nights, picnics, or potlucks.

For more simple, lovely activity ideas for yourself or others, check out this post on 16 ways to find magic in simple living.

8. Don’t Feel Pressured to Drink If You Don’t Want To

If you want a drink, go for it! I love a good cocktail. It’s important to enjoy life and not just save money.

However, I no longer find alcohol very appealing and you may feel the same. For me, it messes with my sleep and I get drunk way too easily. I’m a very cheap date. So if you’d rather not buy a drink, don’t do it! Get sparking water and unless your friends are assholes (in which case you have bigger problems), no one will give you a hard time. Plus it saves a ton of money.

9. Drive Less If Possible To Save Money On Car Repairs and Gas

I hate driving and love walking, so this is a no brainer for me. Even if this idea sounds less fun to you, I encourage you to give it a try. Driving less is good for the environment, your wallet, and your health. Your workplace may also provide a free or discount bus pass. I often find that with the time it takes to park, busing takes a similar amount of time as driving.

10. Use the Library

I have saved probably thousands of dollars by borrowing books from the library. Plus, it’s better for the environment. Many libraries even offer movie streaming services through Kanopy, Hoopla or Freegal. Not only that, very few people realize that you can get free museum passes, tutoring, workshops, and free access to resources like LinkedIn Learning through many libraries. Some libraries even allow you to check out toys, science kits, tools, and more. Check out your local library for more information (you can see a list of resources for Seattle’s libraries here).

11. Take Advantage of Buy Nothing and Facebook Groups or Your Network

These options can be especially helpful when you’re looking at purchases that fill a temporary need. Things like furniture for rentals, baby items, clothes for fast-growing kids and books. I got a free couch from a friend that I threw a couch cover over. Is it my favorite thing ever? No. But it fits my needs until we have a more permanent living situation.

12. Increase the Longevity of Your Items and Make Easy Fixes Before Replacing

For example, insoles can increase the lifetime of shoes. Washing bras properly can increase their longevity. Drying gym clothes in the sun or on a drying rack before putting them in your laundry can help prevent them getting smelly quickly. Scratches on wood can be alleviated by rubbing a walnut on them. The list goes on.

13. Automate Credit Card Payments (And Ideally Pay Them Off Each Month) To Save Money On Fees

Debt payments can eat at your budget real quick. If you have the resources to do so, automate payments on your credit card so that they are always paid off on time (and ideally in full) so you’re not saddled with unnecessary fees if you forget to pay them off.

14. Have An Emergency Fund

Emergency funds prevent you from relying on credit cards for large, surprise expenses. We’ll all go through an emergency at some point. Hopefully it’s a relatively small one. But at some point, a car will break down, a pet will need surgery, we’ll need surgery, a layoff will happen, or some other unexpected event that throws our finances totally out of whack. Having 3-6 months of living expenses saved means you hopefully won’t have to turn to credit cards and their high interest rates. Again, that’s 3-6 months of living expenses, not 3-6 months of your income. If that sounds too hard, aim for $1000 of emergency savings, which can also be a big help in a pinch.

Are there other cost-saving tips that you’ve found helpful? Let me know in the comments. And if you’re interested in related content, check out my posts on budgeting, budgeting questions to ask yourself, how to prepare for a recession, or any of my other personal-finance related posts. If you liked this post, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing with others. I always really appreciate it!