We put together our favorite ways to save more money that we feel aren’t a compromise! Along with these money saving ideas, we’re also sharing a money saving challenge you can start today! It’s the perfect way to save for Christmas or a vacation!
In 2011, we were over $50,000 in debt and pretty miserable in our jobs. That’s when we started our first side hustle to bring in extra income, but we also found ways to save more money too!
While we cut coupons, budgeted, and shopped sales, we also found a few creative money saving ideas. Within about a year, we had paid off our debt! Pretty crazy!!
So now we’re sharing some of our biggest tips, as well as, a few really great money challenges we found to helpful and fun!
How should a beginner budget?
Beginners can begin to budget by looking at your income and fixed monthly expenses. This will give you an idea of how much money you have to play with.
From there, you can set money goals, set up how much you want to spend on non-necessitates and track your progress.
How can I save the most money?
You can begin saving money in a variety of different ways. Below you’ll find even more ways to save money fast and how to start budgeting to see your progress quicker!
16 Ways to Save More Money Fast
1. Create & Use Budgeting Tips to Track Your Progress
Sometimes just tracking your spending can help you see where you can make changes. There is power in seeing the numbers on paper! As with anything, tracking can help you see where you need to improve and where you’re making progress.
We love this budget planner from Artsy Fartsy Mama because it’s simple to use and super effective when you use it!
Having this starting point will help you implement more money saving ideas as well!
2. Pay Yourself First
The Automatic Millionaire teaches to pay yourself first. This means that you put into your savings before paying any other bill or buying anything else.
Dave Ramsey – the debt-free guru – also suggests saving a $1000 emergency fun before paying off your debt in his book Total Money Makeover.
On that same line of thinking, Jim Rohn, teaches that 10% should go to savings, 10% to capital (retirement or investments), and 10% to charity.
3. Get Out of Debt
TheTotal Money Makeover suggests paying the smallest debt off first. Then, you can continue to “snowball” to the bigger bills until you’ve paid off everything! We love this method because it builds up confidence and momentum!
We also love these tips on how to get out of debt fast.
4. Look At Your Spending
It’s probably easy to see what luxuries can be cut out of your spending, but little things like your refrigerator’s temperature can even help your electricity bill!
If you’re looking for quick and simple hacks to save more money fast without noticing it, check out Home Viable’s guide to save on everything from your appliances to lifestyle.
You may also like our money saving apps post to help you get digital coupons and cash back!
5. Check Your Commute
One family saved $270 in a month by switching to an electric car!
While some may not save a bundle by switching to an electric car, you may find other ways to save money on your commute to work. Maybe you could bike versus Uber or use the subway versus taxis.
6. Swap Out Cable, Netflix, and Hulu
My mom fell in love with her Roku recently!
Along with being a streaming device, you can also use it to view TV shows and more!
Other apps include Pluto, Tubi, and SnagFilms which offer free TV and movies similar to Netflix!
Check out this post for more entertainment options.
7. Negotiate Your Insurance and Membership Fees
A lot of the time you can negotiate or find a better rate on insurance just by shopping around. It doesn’t have to be hard or overwhelming either.
The Zebra is an online car insurance search engine that compares over 200 providers in under 60 seconds!
Another area you may be able to negotiate or refinance is with your student loans using a service like Credible.
8. Money Back Apps
Money back apps are one of the simplest money saving ideas we can offer!
We absolutely love Rakuten (previously Ebates) and Ibotta for cash-back on online and grocery items.
If you have several prescriptions, you might also like GoodRx. It compares and finds medications at discounted rates.
You can also grab more money saving apps here!
9. Cancel Unneeded Auto-Renewals like Magazines
I know for us, we had several little $5 auto-renewals here and there that came directly out of our account. By cutting these off, we were able to save a couple hundred dollars in a year!
10. Workout at Home
One of those auto-renewals was a $60 gym membership, and that’s probably on the low-end of membership costs! There are all kinds of amazing streaming services out there now so that you can workout at home and see amazing results.
You also don’t need a ton of equipment or space to get started. We love Beachbody on Demand and LES MILLS on Demand which are both cheaper than a typical annual gym membership.
We also prefer a streaming service over YouTube because you know the quality and functionality of the paid service will typically be higher than a free video.
11. Clean Out Your Closet & Sell Items Online
You’ll be amazed at how many items you have that you don’t use often. Look through your closet, kitchen cabinets, and garage for items that you could sell in a yard sale, on Facebook’s marketplace, or eBay.
12. Save More Money on Clothes
Clothes are a weak spot for me. I love having a new outfit for the season or for a big event.
While I still love to shop the sales, I’ve also found ways to save more money on clothes using sites like Rent the Runway and Tradesy for designer items. We’ve also tried Nuuly & written a review for the clothing rental service!
For everyday items, I love to buy and sell on Poshmark. You can also find some steep discounts on eBay.
13. Unsubscribe from Emails
Email marketing is huge industry for brands. If your weakness is shopping, unsubscribing from your favorite stores’ emails can help you avoid temptation. Because even if something is on sale, you’re still having to spend in order to get it!
Unsubscribing can remove a lot of temptation and save you time as well!
14. Do a No-Spend Week or Month
We’ll outline exactly what a No-Spend Month is below, but basically it makes saving money a fun challenge for you and your family.
15. Create a Side hustle or Online Business
We started our first online business and blog back in 2011, and it was such a game-changer for us. It took time and consistency, but it gave us the confidence we needed to continue to grow!
We also did a full podcast on ways to make money online that you might like!
16. Easy Ways to Save More Money on Groceries
Groceries can really add up quickly, and it can be a place you can really change your habits to see your savings increase quickly.
We love this free printable food expense tracker because it includes the items bought at the grocery, as well as, eating out, and online shopping. While you have to sign up for her email list, it’s well worth it to have the tips!
If you’re looking to really streamline your grocery bill, here are a few more tips!
- Meal Planning Tips & Printable
- How to Save on Food by Using Leftover Ingredients (or Pantry Items!)
- 13 More Tips To Save on Groceries (Our Fav? Shopping Alone! – Genius!)
- Saving Money on Diapers
Our Favorite Money Saving Challenges & Trackers
Money Saving Challenges
Hassle Free Savings put together a list of money saving challenges I think you’ll love! With any money challenges, you can always customize it to fit your income and goals, but she gives you some great options and ideas to get started!
Traditional 52-Week Money Challenge
She includes a traditional 52-week money challenge where you save $1 on your first week and work up to $52 on the last week of the year. You can also do this backwards – starting at $52 and then dropping a dollar less each week. This is helpful if you’re trying to save specifically for Christmas or a vacation at the end of the year.
How much money do you save in the 52 week money challenge?
It depends on the challenge, but typically the 52-week money challenge helps you save over $1500 in a year! You can also choose to save more each week to have as much as $5000 at the end of the challenge!!
Another Type of Money Challenge is a No Spend Month!
A No Spend Month can help you kickstart your savings, help you pay off debt, and identify your spending habits.
You basically pick a month to only buy the essentials – food for your family, gas to get to work, toilet paper, etc. You’ll be surprised how much money you can save by challenging yourself, or your family, to stick to only necessities for 30 days!
We really love these 4 tips to doing your first No Spend Month as well!
Love this money saving ideas?
You might also like these 35+ money saving tips specifically shared for families!
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Great ideas! I’ve been renting clothes for about a year and it’s so nice to rarely need to buy anything. And when I have events where I need something I wouldn’t normally wear I don’t have to try and go buy something to wear once.
Hi Kim and Kaylee – What a great article with lots of great ideas to save money. PINNED! Thank you so much for including my money-saving tips with shopping on eBay. My heart is full of gratitude. Hugs, Holly
My husband and I eat out ALL THE DANG TIME soooooooooo we basically throw our money at food like it’s an amazing stripper, HAHAHAHAH! If we ate at home more, yeah, we would DEFINITELY cut costs but MY HUSBAND HATES COOKING AND EATING AT HOME – it’s nuts!
Hi Kim and Kaylee I really like the last point. I did it by myself ๐