How To Save Money [Every Single Month]

Expenses seem to go up every year. Even Netflix increased their monthly subscription fee. How can we save money every month when bills seem to go up? Luckily there are many ways to save money fast every month without much effort. All you need to do is review your expenses, find the leaks and plug them. Simple enough right?

What’s the real story?

Saving money doesn’t mean you have to compromise your lifestyle. You can still do the things you enjoy. It also doesn’t mean you should continue to buy that $40 razor when you can do it with $5 disposable razor.

Here are some super easy ways to save money every month. Not all these tips may apply to everyone but following at least some of them will save you more than you imagined possible.

How To Save Money On Monthly Bills

1. Save Money On Cable By Cutting The Cord

If you are working a full time job and have an active social life, how often do you really get to watch TV? Sure, weekends and game nights is one thing but can it really justify the bill you pay? Do you get the most out of $50 or so you pay every single month for cable? Not to mention the cable cost seems to go up every year. If it is not necessary, you can cancel the cable to save some extra money every month. Cutting the cord doesn’t mean you don’t get to use your TV at all. There are over the air (OTA) channels you can tune in to with an OTA antenna. There are other media streaming services as well for a very low monthly fee. Yes, you know what I’m talking about…Net(cough)flix(cough). There is also IPTV, which gives like 4,000 odd channels for a very low monthly fee. This way you still get to enjoy watching TV but for a fraction of the cost.

2. Review Memberships & Subscriptions

Are you aware of all the different membership and subscription fees you pay every month? Gym membership is a big one. How about magazine subscriptions and online website subscriptions? One of my friends was on a dating site and after finding her match, she had forgotten to cancel the membership. Needless to say she was charged for another term. Oops. Reviewing your memberships & subscriptions, and cancelling what you don’t want can save you a quick buck right away.

3. Shop Around For Insurance Rates

Is it just me or the home and auto insurance rates keep going up every year? I always shop around for insurance rates every couple years. You’d be surprised how other insurance companies fight for your business. However once they get your business, they seem to forget about you after couple years. So you will have to shop around again. Of course the rates will eventually go up but it’s always a good idea to find out what other providers can offer you without compromising the coverage. In most cases you will save few hundred dollars a year.

How To Save Money On Banking

4. Save Money On Banking With Money Back Credit Cards

Money back credit cards are the best, at least for me. Ones without any annual fees are even better. Between me and my wife we have different money back credit cards. Each card pays more for different categories like gas, groceries, restaurants, pharmacies, recurring bills etc. We utilize each card to get the maximum cash back from each category. This extra money can be used to pay a portion of the credit card, save or invest – it’s up to you.

5. Pay Off Credit Card Balances in Full

While credit cards are helpful, if you don’t manage it properly, you will pay instead of saving money. Credit card interest rates can go as high as 22.9% in some cases. This is money you could have saved, if you paid the balance on time. I know it’s not always possible to pay the credit card balance in full every month but aim to do that. You will not only save on additional fees but improve your credit score as well.

6. Use Only Your Bank’s ATM

Not all ATM’s provide a free service. In most cases only your bank’s own ATMs provide you a free service. If you use another bank’s ATM, you will end up paying around 2% – 3% extra in fees. So if you are going to an event where you have to use cash, make sure to withdraw some money from your own bank’s ATM before heading out. That way you can save few coins on fees you would otherwise pay to use an ATM.

7. Review Your Checking Account

Most big banks charge you a fee to maintain a checking account unless you keep a certain amount – like $5,000. I sure don’t want to keep that kind of money in a checking account earning no interest just to waive the monthly fee. Switch to a bank that doesn’t charge you a fee to maintain a checking account, and you could save few hundred dollars a year. If you are in Canada, Tangerine offers a no fee checking account. You can even earn interest on your balance. Whaaat? Best part – use my Orange Key 45114069S1 and get $50 free just for signing up!

How To Save Money On Groceries

8. Do Grocery Shopping Online

Have you gone grocery shopping to buy milk and few other items but came out with a lot more? You are not alone. My wife and I used to end up doing this one too many times. Yes, we had a list but then when we see some items on the shelves we tended to ‘try’ them. This didn’t help our budget at all. Then we started to buy groceries online. This made us buy only the things we absolutely needed. The best part? You guessed it. We started saving money on groceries.

9. Buy Groceries Where It’s Cheap

It sure is easy to buy all the grocery items at one place but does it really help you save money on your groceries? Maybe not. We used to buy groceries from the same place too. One day we had to go to a different store to buy something because it was on our way. So we skipped the normal grocery store. Then we discovered meat was cheaper there. Now we buy meat from there and the rest online from our normal grocery store. It always pays to shop around for prices, even groceries.

10. Buy Generic Brands

Do you really need to buy that expensive pasta brand when there is a generic brand for half the price? Does it really taste different? Your mileage may vary buy I find generic brands are as good as branded ones. It’s just the packaging that is not as fancy as branded ones but the actual product is almost the same. Why pay extra when you can save it for something else?

How To Save Money On Food

11. Save Money on Your Coffee

Come on now. Don’t look at me like I asked you to stop drinking coffee 😉 Drink as much as your heart desires but does it have to be the most expensive one available? I love my coffee as much as the next guy but I don’t (always) buy it. After trying many brands available at grocery stores I found something for my coffee fix. It saves me around $4 a coffee after accounting for the product cost. Not bad, eh?

12. Limit Eating Out

We live in a busy world and it makes sense to grab a bite for lunch from a food truck or somewhere else or does it? You can always prepare your meals for much less. My wife likes to prepare our meals so we save quite a bit of money on food. If the idea terrifies you, start one meal a week. When you see you can save $15 or so every day on food you will be motivated for sure.

13. Invite Friends Over Instead of Going Out

You can usually buy a six pack for the price of two beers at a bar. If you invited your friends over instead of going out for drinks, you basically get four drinks for free. That’s a good deal, I’d say. Of course you may not want to do this every single time but when you do it will save money instantly for you and your friends too.

How To Save Money On Electricity

14. Switch To LED

LED lights typically use about 25% – 80% less energy than traditional incandescent and can last 3 – 25 times longer according to U.S. Department of Energy. Switching your lights to LED can save you quite a bit of money on electricity every year.

15. Save Money on Cooling & Heating

Air conditioning and heating is one of the top energy users. That is why you should look at how to lower that expense to save some money on energy. When you go to work you don’t need to keep the A/C or heating running. I am certain appliances can survive without it. Energy.gov estimate as much as 10% a year in savings just by adjusting the thermostat 7 – 10 degrees from its normal settings for eight hours a day. With a programmable thermostat you can set it and forget it, and it will continue to save you money on electricity on auto pilot.

16. Air Seal Your Home

This is a no brainer. If your home is not air tight, your cooling/heating will go to waste increasing your energy bill. Check your windows and front/back/garage/patio/balcony doors to see if you get air from outside. If you do, seal them. We moved to a new house and found there’s a little draft coming from our garage door. We quickly got it fixed to stop heating/cooling leaks. We didn’t notice any dramatic change in energy bill but the area was warmer during winter than before.

17. Keep Blinds/Curtains Opened/Closed

Depending on the season you can adjust your curtains/blinds to get the maximum or minimum of what Mother Nature offers. During warm days, you can leave the blinds closed when you are not home so the house won’t get hot. That will keep your cooling system under control. Again the appliances don’t need it. In winter time you can leave the blinds open during day, if it gets sunny. So the house will get warmer without needing the heating to turn on. If it’s not sunny you can close the blinds to keep the warmth in. This may not save you thousands but every little bit helps.

How To Save To Money On Gas

18. Check Tire Pressure

I used to glance at tires to see if they ‘seem’ deflated. Then when I did check tire pressure, I found some tires were deflated. Some more than others too but I couldn’t determine that just by glancing. According to Fueleconomy.gov you can improve your gas mileage by 0.6% on average up to 3% in some cases simply by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Now I check my tire pressure every month save a bit of money on gas.

19. Go Easy On The Gas Pedal

Speeding, rapid acceleration and fast braking uses more gas. It can lower your gas mileage by roughly 15% to 30% at highway speeds and 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic. That’s around $0.24 – $0.96 per gallon. Usually 55 – 60 MPH gives the best gas mileage. You can see your optimal speed for your vehicle with this handy tool. Sensible driving may not only save you money on gas but is safer for you and others as well.

20. Save Money On Gas By Carpooling

If you and your better half or a neighbour works around the same area and go around the same time, consider car pooling with them. You will not only save money on gas but hassle of driving at least few times a week. Now who wouldn’t like that, right? My wife and I car pool everyday so it saves us few hundred dollars every month.There you have it. How do you save money every month?

There you have it. How do you save money every month?