It can be hard to sacrifice things you usually spend money on, but it can also be fun to cut back and watch the savings accumulate. Here are eight ways to save:
1. Buy the necessities of life in bulk, and well in advance. If the grocery store has a great deal on paper towels, pasta, toothpaste or butter right now, why not go all in? You know you’ll wind up using it all eventually, and spot-purchasing these at the last minute can lead to overspending.
2. Trim your lunch just a little. It feels hard to stop going out for lunch because it makes us happy, darn it. But how about just stopping buying a drink with it? People who adopt a liking for water with lemon are putting money in their pockets.
3. Don’t spend money on things you can do yourself (or not do at all), such as manicures and pedicures, haircuts, leg and bikini waxing and eyebrow tweezing.
4. Ditch cable. We bet you have a family member or friend who would let you watch streaming videos on their Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Amazon Prime accounts, and products like Roku or the Amazon Fire Stick offer plenty of entertainment for a small one-time fee.
5. Skip the expensive face creams. Or even the cheaper ones. Natural options like virgin coconut oil and organic tallow and lard (from family farms, not factory farms) work very well. And if you can go without them, don’t use products in your hair like spray, mousse, leave-in conditioner, etc.
6. Make a list of expenses that give you absolutely nothing in return, like parking tickets. Then vow to eliminate them.
7. Use less detergent. Half as much will likely get your clothes just as clean, and do you really need fabric softener to be happy?
8. Put a picture of what you’re saving up for on your refrigerator so you’ll always be reminded of it!
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