Anyone have any good tips on saving money?

Question

Anyone have any good tips on saving money?

Answer 1

Each paycheck you deposit 20$ in your savings account. Each day you empty your pockets and put the change in that jar. For a start.

Answer 2

never spend any five dollars u come across!!.. someone didi that!... save all fives

Answer 3

Brittany,

The best way to save money is to make it automatic.  You want to set it up so that every time you get paid a certain percentage of your check goes into some form of savings or investing account.  By setting this up you'll never be forced to choose whether or not you want to save with each paycheck and you'll be happily surprised to find that after just a few months you've already made some good progress.  

Check out the source that I linked for an in-depth review of a saving process from the book The Automatic Millionaire.  I reviewed it at my personal finance blog Debit versus Credit.

Answer 4

Start saving right from your childhood.You should start by saving small amounts in coins in a piggy bank and when you are grown up you can start saving more.

Answer 5

Make a budget.  Pay cash.  Take some envelopes and mark them for various things in your budget - food, clothes, entertainment, etc.  Actually seeing the money - seeing how much is left, makes you think twice about purchases that are unnecessary.  You also don't spend money you don't have, like you might with a credit card.  It's okay to shift things around a bit - say spend some of the "clothes" money on "food", etc.  If you find you are doing this consistantly, then you've made an unrealistic budget and need to adjust it.  Money left over at the end of the month can stay in the envolope (add next month's money to it), which you might need to do to purchase something that is more expensive than your budget allows.  For example, if your entertainment budget is $50, that isn't going to buy you a TV.  You are going to have to cut back, say on going to the movies, for a while to build up enought to buy the TV.  It's also acceptable to take any left over money at the end of the month and put it into savings!

One of your envelopes should be "savings".

PS: If you really feel that you must use your credit card, get some play money and put it into the envelopes.  Have an envelope marked "spent".  When you charge $10 on your credit card at a resturant, move $10 from "food" to "spent".  Granted, it is play money, but you still get the same visual effect, making you think twice about purchases.

Answer 6

Depends on if you have extra money to save or not. We don't so we have a huge change jar in the bedroom looks like decoration I have a really cute glass jar. Everynight before we go to bed i put all the change in my purse in the jar and then all the change from our pockets as well. That way there isn't change everywhere we started finding change all over our house so we decided to do this! It works awesome at the end of the month I go to the bank and put all the change in the savings account at a bank we don't ever go to so then it won't get spent and it has a good interest rate!! I also always hide money everywhere and that is how I save money. I save all my twenties I make from tips at work and put them in a jar and that is my spending money on such things like getting my hair done or my morning coffee. Stuff I don't need but want. GOOD LUCK! Oh and the bank never charges to count change like those machines at albertson do!! They rip you off!!

Answer 7

get a separate bank account (savings account) and put like $25-$50 in a week, or really whatever you can afford. you'll be surprised at how fast it adds up!

Answer 8

cut back on food you don't need, get cheaper stuff. buy in bulk and save it for later. eat in more. ride a bike to places in town.  don't buy cloths at high prices stores, go to thrift stores. try reusing things, like bottled water, save the old bottles and just fill them up again. if u use any condiments, take extra packages from fast food places u may go. save for later use.

Answer 9

There are no tips, you just have to become a person that saves.  Don't buy stuff you do not need.  There are needs and wants.  You have to be frugal.

Answer 10

get a check register, when you get paid, pretend you only got paid 50, write it down, and pay close attention to your spending.  once that fifty is gone, stop, then the next time you get paid, do the same thing.  it works for me.

Answer 11

If you live in a semi-urban area, buy a bicycle and use it to travel to near by places instead of wasting gas.

Buy less meat when you go to the store and start incorporating tofu into your diet instead, its a lot cheaper.

Put all your change in a jar every time you go into your house, and even put one in your car. (It adds up, trust me)

Carpool with people to work/school.

And all that good stuff