Every month it seems like the bills are creeping up. Our daily, weekly, and monthly expenses are all seeing steady rises, especially when it comes to energy and gasoline.
Savings are taking a hit too; it is harder to save because of the extra expenses, and interest rates have been flat for a decade. Finding extra cash for small luxuries is getting hard and finding some for the big purchases like a vacation is nearly impossible.
Here are some clever ways to save money so you can spend it later. With these financial life hacks, you should be able to build yourself a little nest egg for, well, whatever you want.
Cut the Cord, Cut the Cost
If you take a long hard look at your personal finances, you may be shocked at how much you spend on cable or satellite television and streaming media services. When people total up their monthly expenses for a few Netflix shows, cable TV they don’t watch anymore, and the occasional Spotify session; it starts to make sense to cut the cord and cancel the subscriptions.
You could save a couple thousand a year if you are ruthless with your cutting. This can help you make your car payments, pay down your mortgage, or save for your annual vacation. Better yet, you can invest that money in your family’s future or help supercharge your side hustle into a full-time job.
Start Micro-Saving
A little can go a long way, and by using a few clever apps or savings initiatives at your bank you can start putting away a few pennies to make hundreds of dollars over a year. Micro saving is putting away small amounts in a savings account every time you spend.
If you bought some coffee at a shop and the charge was $4.82, savings apps or your banking service will round up that charge to $5 and put 18 cents into your savings. It may not sound like much but think about how many purchases you make a month on your card or online.
All those nickels and dimes will soon add up to some serious money. Over a year you could save enough for spending money on your vacation or to add to the kids’ Christmas present fund.
Reduce Your Credit Card Payments and Interest
Credit cards are an incredibly convenient way to pay for things, both in person in a store and online. All that convenience comes at a cost, however. The interest you pay on credit card debt takes up a lot of your regular payments. This makes it hard to pay down the principle of the debt, i.e., the cost of your purchases.
There are a few different methods you can use to reduce the amount you pay in interest or avoid it altogether. If you want to learn how to avoid interest on a credit card, visit meettally.com. This handy guide from Tally on how to avoid interest on a credit card has helped millions of Americans reduce their credit card debt. By cutting down on the amount you spend on interest on the debt, you can make huge savings throughout the year. What’s more, you will reduce the amount you owe faster which will boost your credit score.
Switch to Solar
It does require some initial investment, but when solar power starts to pay off, it never stops. Generating your own energy at home can not only reduce your energy bills, which steadily increase every year, but you can also sell excess energy produced to power companies.
As the price of energy increases, so does your profit from the sun. You can make money when you go on vacation while the sun shines at home. Though you need to offset the cost of the solar installation, you should still break even in the second year. Then you can watch the savings, and profits, roll in. You will look forward to the bill hitting the welcome mat at home when your home solar starts bringing home the bacon.
Drive Your Way to Savings
The biggest cost to most American consumers is now gasoline. The prices at the gas station have spiked considerably and show no signs of stopping. There are many reasons for this, and some will continue into the next decade; these prices are not going to come down significantly.
The best way to reduce your expenditure on gasoline is not to use it at all. Switching to an electric car is a great way to drive yourself to bigger savings. Though they are more expensive to buy, and secondhand models are still in short supply, at these gas prices they quickly pay for themselves. Pair one of these with some home solar, and you have suddenly eliminated all your regular transportation costs.
Pick any one of these financial life hacks and you will see the difference in your checking account. Combine a couple and you will be able to make the big-ticket purchases without breaking a sweat.
