If you’re like us here at The Parent Spot, then you’re always looking for ways to save some extra money. We find that the easiest way to save money is to keep things simple and easy to follow.
Since most of us don’t make enough money to save a decent chunk of change at a time, we’ve found some ways to help bank our money quickly. Below are our five insanely easy ways to save money.
Use a change jar
When I was younger, my mother used to keep huge water bottles in her bedroom and fill them up with any change she had. Then, when they were full to the top, we’d each spend hours at the kitchen table rolling up the money by hand.
She’d literally end up with a couple hundred dollars just from her change! Imagine what you could do with an extra $100 just from your change!
Even better, experts suggest using a three jar system for budgeting, with one jar each for spending, saving and sharing.
Tip! You don’t need to spend hours rolling coins at the kitchen table anymore. Today, many banks have automatic change counting machines that are free to their account holders.
There are quite a few more fun ways to save that just an old jar, too. Check out these cute piggy bank alternatives.
Save it, but out of sight
For simplicity’s sake, let’s say you already know how much money you’d be able to tuck away every week, and that amount is $20. You could either 1) store it in a savings account or 2) take it out and put it in your jar.
But if you’re like the male half of The Parent Spot, you like to save that money in a savings account you don’t look at every day. Just set up an automatic $20 weekly transfer transfer out of your regular account. Since it’s automatic, it’ll be like you never had the money in the first place.
In a year, that’s $1040 you just saved by only removing $20 a week from your check. This is also a great way to start saving for an emergency fund, and to help you stay on budget.
Pack your lunch
My co-worker Adam worked a very high paying job, but never seemed to have money. One of the biggest things I pointed out to him was that he always bought his lunch. When he looked at his check book, he realized he was spending at least $20 a day for lunch. That’s $100 a week, or $400 a month he could be using. This is one of the easiest ways to save money in the long run.
Make your own coffee
If you’re a coffee drinker like us, then you can save a lot of money by making your own coffee in the morning. If you’re lucky enough to have a coffee pot with a timer, then that is even better. Right now, for my beloved large Dunkin Donuts coffee it costs me $2.04 every time I buy it. If I bought that one coffee 5x a week for a year, I would have spent $530.40!
Shop with coupons
You don’t have to be an extreme coupon savvy expert to start using coupons. Think of coupons as free money that people are giving you to spend, because in reality, it is! For even better savings, pair coupons with sales.
Photo by Jeffrey on Flickr.