My husband and I have been following a budgeting/financial plan for about 10 years now and it’s been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. I’m always interested in learning new ways to save $ and/or make more $ on the side. What are some of the best tips you have for this? I’d love to hear everyone’s tips/advice. Here are just a few of mine, aside from obviously having a budget and emergency fund and sticking to it. 1) Pay cash whenever possible. I’m amazed how many times I’ve gotten discounts just by paying cash. I’ve saved 20-40percent at times. 2) Open a checking account where you earn interest. I found a local bank here that paid better interest than any savings account I’ve had. I now keep 2 running balances in that one account so that my savings is earning a better interest as well. 3) SHOP AROUND! For everything! Especially high dollar items. I check out auto and home insurance companies every year or so and I’m amazed how much cheaper one will be compared to another when you’re a new customer. Another example, when I needed a sewer line replaced I called every plumber in town. How much price difference could one really be from another, right? How about more than DOUBLE! The most expensive was $7, 000 the least expensive was $3, 000 and then everything in between. 4) Use rebate apps. I started this a few years ago and sometimes I forget but, I do not buy anything I wouldn’t already be buying and I usually earn $15-20 a month on them. Not sure I’m allowed to say which ones. 5) Don’t cave into the peer pressure. I have family that think of finances very differently than I do. They have poked fun at me and told me I’m cheap (I prefer the term frugal). Flash forward a few years and we are way better off financially. Not trying to be catty. Just trying to make the point of not listening to others. Give it some time and stick to it and it will be so worth the reward! My motto is that there’s nothing on this planet that I could purchase that will bring me the joy of having the security of money sitting in my savings account. Don’t get me wrong. We have fun, especially now that we’ve been diligent with our budget/savings. We just took a dream trip to Ireland this past summer with our 3 children and our parents. But I forgo things like Starbucks, seeing new release movies at the theater frequently (my couch is way more comfortable for movies anyway) or getting my nails done etc. These are all frequent splurges of the same family members that have made fun of me for saving and yet they are in debt and live paycheck to paycheck on a larger salary than mine.
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