8 Easy Ways to Save Money

Sometimes the hardest thing about saving money is getting started. This guide to saving money can help you step-by-step to develop a simple and realistic strategy so that you can save for all of your short-term and long-term savings goals.

Record your expenses

The first step in starting to save money is determining how much you spend. Keep track of all your expenses; That means every cup of coffee, household item, and cash tip. nce you have the information, organize the numbers by categories, such as gasoline, grocery shopping, and mortgage, and get the total for each. Use your bank and credit card statements to make sure everything is correct and that you didn't forget anything.

Tip: Get a free spending monitor to help you get started. Choosing a digital program or app can help automate part of this task. Bank of America customers can use the Spending and Budgeting tool, which automatically categorizes their transactions to make budgeting easier, on the mobile app or online.

Budget for savings

Once you have an idea of how much you spend in a month, you can start to organize the expenses you recorded and establish a budget that you can live with . Your budget should give you an idea of how your expenses compare to your income so that you can plan for your expenses and limit overspending. Be sure to take into account expenses that occur regularly, but not every month, such as car maintenance.

Tip: Include a savings category, and try to save 10 to 15 percent of your income.

Find ways to cut your expenses

If your expenses are so high that you can't save as you'd like, it may be time to cut back. Identify nonessential categories that you can spend less on, like entertainment and eating out. Find ways to save on your monthly fixed expenses like television and cell phone expenses, too.

Here are some ideas to cut down on everyday expenses:

Use resources such as community event listings to find free or low-cost events to reduce entertainment expenses.
Cancel unused subscriptions and memberships, especially ones that renew automatically.
Aim to eat out only once a month and go to places that are in the category of "cheap meals".
Give yourself some "time to reflect" - When you're tempted to make a nonessential purchase, wait a few days. Will you be glad you didn't, or be ready to save up to do it.

Set savings goals

One of the best ways to save money is to set a goal. Start by thinking about what you might want to save for, maybe you're getting married, planning a vacation, or saving for retirement. Then decide how much money you will need and how long it can take to save it.

Here are some examples of short-term and long-term goals:
Short term (1 to 3 years)
- Emergency fund (3-9 months to pay for daily living expenses, just in case)
- Holidays
- Down payment for a car

Long term (4+ years)
- Down payment to buy a home or remodeling project
- Your children's education
- Retirement

If you are saving for retirement or your children's education, consider putting that money in an investment account, such as an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a 529 plan. Although investments come with risks and can lose money, too They present the opportunity to grow when the market grows, and could be convenient if you plan for an event well in advance. See step no. 6 for details.

Tip: Set a small, achievable, short-term goal for something fun, and big enough that you won't have the cash to pay for, like a new smartphone or holiday gifts. Reaching smaller goals, and enjoying the nice reward you've saved for, can give you a psychological boost that makes the rewarding feeling of saving more immediate and strengthens the habit.

Decide what your priorities are

After your expenses and income, your goals are likely to have the biggest impact on how you distribute your savings. Make sure you have long-term goals in mind; It is important that planning for retirement does not take a back seat after short-term needs.

Tip: Learn how to prioritize your savings goals so you have a clear idea of where to start saving. For example, if you know that you will need to replace your car in the near future, this would be a goal that you can start saving for now.

Choose the right tools
If you're saving for short-term goals, consider using these FDIC-insured deposit accounts:

- Savings account
- Certificate of Deposit (CD) , which freezes your money for a fixed period of time at a rate that is generally higher than savings accounts.

For long-term goals consider:

FDIC-insured Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), which are tax-efficient savings accounts
Securities, such as stocks or mutual funds. These investment products are available through investment accounts with a broker dealer. Remember that securities are not FDIC insured, are not deposits or other obligations of a bank, and are not guaranteed by a bank. They are subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of your capital.
Tip: You don't have to choose just one account. Take a careful look at all of your options and consider things like minimum balances, fees, and interest rates, so you can choose the products that will best help you save for your goals.

Make automatic savings

Almost all banks offer automated transfers between your checking and savings accounts. You can choose when, how much and where to transfer money, and even split your direct deposit so that a portion of each paycheck goes directly to your savings account.

Tip: Splitting your direct deposit and setting up automated transfers are easy ways to save money, since you don't have to think about it and generally reduce the temptation to spend the money instead of saving it. With Mobile Banking and Online Banking, Bank of America customers can easily establish automatic transfers between accounts.

Watch your savings grow

Review your budget and see your progress each month. Not only will this help you stick to your personal savings plan, it will also help you quickly identify and correct any problems. Knowing how to save money can even motivate you to find more ways to save and reach your goals faster.

How to Save on Shopping: Tips to Avoid Unnecessary Expenses

How can a fixed shopping budget save you money every year?

Knowing how to save on your groceries can earn you hundreds of dollars each year, which can help you reach your savings goals. Want to learn how to do your grocery shopping on a budget? Here are our 12 simple tips to save on your groceries.

Do your shopping according to your budget
Shopping on a budget is a good place to start saving money. According to the UK's National Statistics Office, an average person spends € 123 per month on groceries, or around € 31 per week, not including dining out. For each additional member of your household, these numbers double.

This means that a couple spends around € 247 (almost € 123 multiplied by two) per month on groceries, a three-person household spends almost € 370, and a four-person household spends around € 494 per month, just for the races!

How to shop on a budget
Based on the figures above, if you spent around € 20 instead of € 30 per week on your groceries, you would save € 40 per month. These figures could reach more than 450 € per year! This is an important part of your annual budget goals which could include paying off a loan, saving for a project, or going towards an emergency fund.

However, before establishing your monthly budget for groceries, it would be a good idea to budget for all of your finances in order to better control your financial health. To do this, here are our tips:

Track your monthly spending so you know where your money is going each month.

Separate your variable costs from your fixed costs (that is, non-adjustable expenses, like rent, are fixed while adjustable expenses, like groceries, are variable).

Calculate how much you want to save on your variable costs each month.

Set your budget in place and measure your progress to see how well you are sticking to it, then make adjustments as needed.

Make a shopping list according to your budget
Here are our tips to help you make your shopping list within the budget you have set to save on these costs each month.

1. Cook simple dishes

When it comes to shopping on a budget, simplicity is key. Choosing to make a complex recipe can easily eat up an entire week's budget, simply because of the number of ingredients. If you want to save money on groceries, choose simple, tasty recipes you love that only require five ingredients or less.

Better yet, when choosing the meals you want to prepare for the week ahead, go for recipes with the same ingredients. This will save you money in the long run, as buying in bulk is usually cheaper, as long as you use all the food you buy!

2. Plan your weekly meals

If you really want to shop on a budget, planning your meals in advance is essential. Before you go shopping, make sure you know exactly what you are going to eat this week, in order to calculate your estimated costs.

This cuts down on the chances of going over budget and encourages you to get creative with weekly meals!

3. Give up meat one day a week

It's no secret that meat is one of the most expensive food products, especially if it's organic. Limiting your weekly meat consumption is therefore an excellent solution.

Not only will this save you money and cook vegetarian more often, you might even get a taste and start eating less meat.

4. Healthy and affordable groceries for vegetarians or vegans

Keeping the tips above in mind, here is an example of healthy and affordable groceries for a vegetarian or vegan with a maximum spend of € 22 per week:

Rice € 1.50

Fresh fruits and vegetables € 7

2 vegan spreads at € 2.50

Oats € 1

4 boxes of legumes (chickpeas, black beans) € 3.50

Bread € 2

Smoked tofu € 2.50

Oat milk € 2

It might not seem like much, and yet with € 7 you can buy different vegetables which, paired with rice or legumes, can be the centerpiece of your evening meal for six days of the week. For the 7th day, tofu could be the main ingredient.

Oats and almond milk could form the basis of a hearty breakfast, and you could make sandwiches with bread, plant-based spreads, and the leftover vegetables for lunch.

Here are our tips for saving money while shopping.

Our advice to save on your shopping
Once you know how much you want to save on your groceries each month, there are a few tips and tricks you should put into practice while you shop.

5. Calculate your races

To have a clear overview of your expenses while shopping, calculate the amount of everything in your basket. You can do this using your phone's calculator or rounding off all prices to whole numbers, which will make mental math easier. This prevents you from accidentally overspending.

6. Pay for your groceries in cash

A good tip for saving on races is to use Dave Ramsey's envelope system . This budget method requires you to take cash out of your monthly income and divide it into separate envelopes based on your budget goals.

For this, you need to have envelopes for your fixed costs and for your variable costs such as recreation, shopping for clothes, dining out and shopping. By paying for your groceries in cash, it is virtually impossible to overspend!

7. Look at the bottom shelves

Supermarkets put their most expensive products at eye level to push you to exceed your shopping budget. However, if you look at the same types of food that are sold a shelf or two lower, you will notice that the prices tend to go down, with the cheaper products being closer to the ground.

8. Take a small basket

Another method that supermarkets use to keep you from saving on your groceries is to provide you with oversized shopping carts and baskets. This makes you feel like you have few products in your shopping cart, just because they don't fill the tote.

The best way to get around this problem is to choose the smallest shopping bag for your groceries, which is often a basket. Otherwise, if you only buy a few small items, forget the basket and carry them in your hand.

9. Compare prices per kilo

Another great tip for shopping on a budget is to compare product prices per kilogram, not the listed retail prices. In general, in addition to the retail price, you can find the price of the product per 100 g. You should take this figure into account when comparing other similar products.

For example, if you want to buy Parmesan but there are two different types of cheese at € 4 and € 6, you might think that the most economical choice would be to go for the € 4 pack. However, if you look at the price per kilo, you realize that the € 6 Parmesan costs € 1 for 100g, and the € 4 pack costs € 2 for 100g.

In other words, although it costs € 2 more, the € 6 parmesan packet is 50% cheaper than the € 4 pack and gives you 200g more for just € 2 more. This is a smarter decision from an economic standpoint because it will allow you to eat longer for less money.

10. Compare prices

It's no secret that supermarkets and independent grocery stores price their products differently. Often the price of the same product varies greatly from store to store. To achieve your monthly shopping budget goals, you should therefore do a little field survey.

For this you should go from store to store and notice the difference in price of the food items you buy most often. You will soon get into the habit of going to different stores depending on the type of food you need to buy. However, these prices may vary depending on the season and promotions in each store.

11. Don't shop when you're hungry

We've all been there: we walk the aisles of the supermarket with growling stomachs, and driven by hunger, we fill our baskets with unnecessary items. Shopping on an empty stomach leads to spending more, thus exceeding the shopping budget.

The solution ? Eat before you go shopping! It sounds simple, but it can make a huge difference. Even if you eat something as small as a banana or a granola bar before shopping, it could save you from spending an extra $ 15 on food.

12. Track your expenses

Just like with your general budget, it's essential to track your food expenses after you're done shopping. You can do this by entering the numbers in an Excel spreadsheet, a manual budget manager app, or you can use a budget manager app that is fully integrated with your bank account that calculates your food expenses.

Practical Advice on How to Save and Save Money Every Day

Undoubtedly, everyone at least once caught himself thinking about how to save money in everyday life. It is your daily habits that significantly affect spending and savings, so if you reconsider them, you can find a solution that is useful for your wallet. To simplify your first steps a little, Aizdevums.lv would like to share practical tips to help you save money.

How to save money on household expenses

Regular payments and accounting of expenses to save money How to save money on groceries, clothes and everyday goods? Do it yourself - from interior to personal care - and save!

Have you ever thought about what to save money for? For savings to be more successful, you need a goal. Set a goal for yourself to save up for: for example, for old age, tuition fees, unexpected expenses, or large purchases.

How to save money on household expenses

Saving electricity

Everyone knows about the ability to save energy without having to leave lights or electrical appliances on. However, electricity consumption can be affected by many other little things that we may not pay attention to in our daily life. For example, it is recommended to use LED bulbs for lighting, because they consume less electricity compared to other bulbs. It is necessary to see if the required temperature is set in the refrigerator. If it is too low, the refrigerator will use more electricity. In addition, it is recommended to regularly take care of electrical appliances: for example, make sure to regularly clean the container or bag of the vacuum cleaner and change / wash the filter.

Saving water

In everyday life, you can think about water consumption: do you spend too much of it, for example, when washing dishes. If you regularly grow mountains of dishes, we advise you to purchase a dishwasher, but it is not recommended to run it half empty due to unnecessary energy consumption.

Heating savings

The most effective way to save on heating costs is to purchase and install a thermostat in your house or apartment that allows you to regulate the temperature. Each degree can save up to 6%. But it must be borne in mind that you can save with a thermostat only if your apartment has a separate meter or even autonomous heating, or if you live in a house that is heated centrally by a heating boiler.

Regularity of payments and accounting of expenses to save money

Planning payments
Payment scheduling allows you to make your required payments on time, which is important when monthly bills for services and loans come in. By making both payments on time, you will avoid paying interest or liquidated damages. If you do forget to pay your bills on a regular basis, consider turning on automatic bill payment or setting yourself a reminder on your phone or computer.

Accounting for monthly expenses
Accounting and assessment of monthly expenses allows you to understand how much money remains for other spending or savings after making mandatory payments (payment of bills, loan payments). Plus, you'll see where and how much money is wasted and find solutions to save!

How can you save money on groceries, clothing, and everyday items

Food
Most of us devote a significant portion of our monthly budget to grocery shopping, so it's important to consider how to save money when shopping for groceries. Go to the store only full, because a hungry person will definitely buy more than required. It is recommended that you create a shopping list in advance, which will not only help you stay on track, but also save time.

It is becoming more and more popular to buy food on the Internet, for which the above recommendations are also relevant.

Clothes and footwear
The biggest expense is usually when buying seasonal clothing and footwear (such as winter jackets and boots). In this case, we advise you to look at your clothes in the current season and determine what can be worn next season and what needs to be replaced. By the end of the season, a sale of seasonal clothing and footwear begins in stores, during which you can find what you need and save a lot. We also advise you to familiarize yourself with the offer on the Internet and in outlet stores!

Household appliances and electrical appliances

Household appliances and electrical appliances save money in the long run by choosing a more expensive but also better quality product. More expensive equipment lasts longer! In addition, expensive household appliances are often more energy efficient.

Internet, television and other services

Review the range of offers from time to time to see if there are better offers from ISPs and TVs that can help you save money. Consider offers with the opportunity to try the service for free for 30 days.

Do it yourself - from interior to personal care - and save!
It's no secret that sometimes to live beautifully means to live expensive, but not everything should be given up. Find cheaper but equally effective alternatives. If there is not enough money for major repairs, and the current look of the home is tired, it can be quickly refreshed with expressive interior details that are easy to make yourself. For example, repaint wooden photo frames with a bright color. Need advice on organizing storage? It is possible! Many diverse and interesting ideas that are easy to implement yourself can be found on the Internet - just write a query on Google or use special applications (for example, Pinterest). You can also save money on cosmetics by replacing them with alternatives. For example, you can use natural coconut oil instead of a cream or body oil, and apple cider vinegar diluted with water instead of a face toner.

Saving on Shopping 2021

Savings is the watchword nowadays: the economic crisis has forced many people to a more contained lifestyle in which there is no longer the economic availability and purchasing power of once upon a time. Saving has become a necessity, even for the most basic areas such as food shopping.

In this guide on how to save on shopping, I give you 20 tips and tricks that you can use right away to decrease your expenses, I list 10 apps to install on your mobile phone to find the most advantageous offers, I give you some tips on what to eat and where shopping based on the type of product.

20 tips and tricks
Buying food isn't exactly optional, but by following these tips you can save a lot of money:

1. Before going out, check what you have in the fridge and pantry

It often happens that you go to the supermarket and don't remember what you have at home: so you end up buying "duplicates".

2. Eat before you go out

Studies conducted in recent years have shown that, by going shopping for food on a full stomach, you are more aware of what you literally need. Going hungry, on the other hand, is more likely to grab anything.

3. Make a shopping list

It doesn't matter how good your memory is. The list gives you the certainty of not forgetting the things you need and will discourage you from buying the unnecessary things.

4. Don't take children with you

While sometimes you can't avoid shopping with children, it's best to try to shop when they're not around: they often ask you to buy things you don't need and it's not always easy to say no.

5. Look for discount coupons and coupons

When you buy something, they can sometimes leave you with shopping vouchers or coupons. There are also various websites that deal with their own, also in collaboration with the various brands, to distribute coupons and discount coupons.

Take some time, print all the coupons you need and present them at the cashier: don't feel guilty about the person who is in line behind you and you have a wedge of coupons on the cashier. It is really worth seeing the final bill decrease thanks to every single voucher used!

6. Get straight to the point

Supermarkets often have important things right at the end of the store. So, for example, if you buy a lot of fruit and vegetables, then first of all go to the fruit and vegetable department, without going through all the departments.

7. Buy individually or in packs

When you mostly buy fruit and vegetables, remember that buying them already clean and packaged could cost more. Other times, however, buying in packs could be cheaper, by virtue of specific offers.

8. Do not buy pre-washed and pre-cut vegetables and fruit

Remember: ready-made packages cost more because you pay for the convenience. Buy a classic lettuce and wash it in the tap - you won't notice the difference.

9. Don't be tempted by brands

It is not always said that a brand advertised on TV is the best. Take the trouble to read the label, ingredients and compare prices.

10. Look at the low shelves

It is a precise marketing choice. You must know that exhibiting your products in a supermarket can have a cost: the products of the companies that pay the most are placed in the middle of the shelf, so where it is easier to be seen.

Those who pay less are almost always at the bottom. And usually the prices are lower too. Do some exercise as you may often need to get down on your knees to find the last shelf offers!

11. Stock up

When there are major products on offer, take advantage of it. For example when your olive oil has 2X1, or the tomato sauce is 50%. If there are products you use a lot and are on offer, stock them up (at least for a month).

12. Consider dried pulses

If you are among those who buy canned or canned legumes, know that you would save much more by buying them dry. Maybe you think they are difficult to cook: it's not like that and then you can make a lot of them and freeze them. The flavor of self-made legumes will have no comparison to canned ones.

13. Stay away from prepared foods

Don't buy something that's pre-cooked. Check the ingredients and buy them individually. Something prepared by you will be much more genuine and cheaper.

14. Eat seasonal produce

Prefer seasonal fruit and vegetables. Strawberries in January cost a lot! On the other hand, when spring arrives, being very widespread, the price drops a lot. Do this for all fruit and vegetables. Over time you will learn which vegetables are for each season: you will realize it because in those periods the price drops. And not a little.

15. Buy spices and exotic foods only in specialized stores

If you go to the supermarket and buy spices or exotic foods, you will probably pay twice as much as in international markets or shops. They are now in most cities: search Google Maps for the international / Chinese / Indian / Thai store closest to you and go stock up!

16. Buy the seedlings and not the twigs

If you have even one balcony, buy the basil, mint, rosemary, etc. plant. If you buy the twigs every volt you are throwing away a lot of money without realizing it.

17. Grate your cheese

Pre-wrapped cheese costs more. Make an investment: buy a small grater.

18. Don't buy potatoes in bulk

A potato crate often turns out to be a bargain. Compare the prices per kilo with those of the bag.

19. Go shopping weekly

Don't go grocery shopping too often. Rather, try to do the "big shopping" only once a week or two and then buy only the highly perishable items daily, such as dairy products or bread.

20. Collect points

At the end of the shopping, ask the house if there is a collection of points and have the catalog delivered.

The 10 Rules and Tips to Save on Shopping

Saving is the desire of any person, even more so in this period when the general economic situation is not the most optimistic and many families are forced to use their heads and calculators to reach the end of the month with serenity. One of the crucial moments is certainly the moment when you have to go to the supermarket where it is easy to get carried away and be convinced by the numerous “irrefutable” commercial proposals. So let's see some important rules on how to shop while saving.

Establish a budget in advance

Knowing the maximum limit for your shopping will allow you to pay more attention to the prices and quantities of things you put in your cart. Everything that is not essential will magically be left on the shelves and it will be easier to make a choice of the most important products.

Prepare the amount in cash

Digital currencies have eliminated the perception of the physical value of money. Using credit or debit cards does not allow you to perceive in a clear and "physical" way how much you are actually spending on shopping. There and then you think you have been paying attention and have saved on your shopping, at the end of the month the account statement will arrive and there will be nasty surprises. Having in hand the nest egg to spend, without any alternative that allows us to go beyond, is another important limit that allows us to pay much more attention. Nobody likes to go to the cashier, have no more money to spend and then be forced to leave something there, right?

Going out fewer times to do the shopping

Another curious method on how to shop to save is to simply not shop. No, I'm not crazy. It sounds trivial, but reducing the number of times you go to a supermarket is an effective way to see your shopping costs drop. Fewer trips to the supermarket means fewer temptations and fewer opportunities to spend money on products that are not always as useful as you think.

Plan the menu to save on food shopping

Much of the money we spend on shopping goes away for food. However, there are numerous recipes to save on spending, trying to throw away the bare minimum and reusing as much as possible of each dish. We had shown you all the ways to recover leftover rice with tasty and cost-effective recipes. Furthermore, knowing already what you want to cook every day before going shopping allows us to outline everything that is useful and necessary, avoiding putting products in the cart for desire. All wisely divided between meat, fish, vegetables and everything you need, without anything escaping the control of the cost of shopping.

Track offers, flyers and coupons

The television has cleared the weather to save on spending with coupons but in our part it is not so easy and usual. Coupons are not as easily found as in America and they work completely differently in our country. However, in Italy paper marketing made up of flyers is still very strong and keeping up with them allows us to always be on the piece with the relative advantageous offers. What we need to do is be sure to receive flyers from all the closest supermarkets in order to choose in a targeted and scientific way where to go to retrieve every single item of our shopping list.

Buy seasonal products

It shouldn't come as a surprise but it's always good to reiterate the concept. Buying seasonal fruit and vegetables is healthier and, above all, costs much less. Download a table of everything that is in season and use it when you find yourself deciding on the menu and making the shopping list.

Pay attention to deadlines

Running out of your food shopping stash is enormous damage that you absolutely must avoid. Buy products making sure that they do not expire shortly thereafter and always try to order them in the cupboard by always putting in front of your eyes those that expire sooner. Throwing out expired products is a double damage (and expense) that we must absolutely avoid to avoid affecting the economy of our home.

Avoid shopping with hunger

Don't laugh, it has been proven that shopping with hunger is a considerable problem. Exposing yourself to so many temptations on an empty stomach increases the chances of you giving in to some unexpected purchase and, we repeat, every unexpected purchase weighs on the final receipt. So try to plan a snack before the scheduled exit for low cost shopping.

Use the various applications sites dedicated to saving on spending

The web is full of applications and tools to help you save money by shopping. Digital flyers, apps that report offers, price aggregators: there is really anything to get help from technology not to spend money. It is just a little bit of effort to understand which of these are real aids and which ones are just trying to direct us to certain products or services.

Learn to do things yourself

Everything that is homemade costs less so it is worthwhile to roll up your sleeves and try to do things at home. Think, for example, of pasta: a half kilo packet of trofie can cost you even 4 euros when you need 1 kg of flour, half a liter of water and an egg to make it in industrial quantities (and not everyone puts it). It's all about finding the will to do it. Plus it can be a nice way to spend time with your family and children.

And you? What techniques do you use to save on your food and non-food shopping?