Do you want to know how to save a lot of money? Here are some tips that will ramp up your savings and allow you to save a lot of money!
How to Save a Lot of Money
I’ve been in phases where I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck and in phases where I’m able to put away a decent chunk of money. Before I get into specific tips, I’m going to let you in on something that makes saving money a whole heck of a lot easier – making more of it! Instead of focusing your efforts on ways to save, reverse your thinking and focus on ways to make more money!
Here are a few ways to save a good amount of money each year:
If you’re a two-person household, save one income
This is key right here – live off of one income and save all the money the other person makes. If you are not in a two-income household, figure out a way to make money on the side. Here are five profitable side hustles you can start today.
Use a zero-sum budget
Holly over at Club Thrifty has written a lot on zero-sum budgets. Basically, you tell all of your money where to go so the end result is zero. With this way of budgeting, every single dollar is accounted for. While we have “flexible” amounts for groceries and gas, we always save money and pay our bills first.
Transfer money to savings immediately
As soon as you get paid, transfer money over to savings. This works well for two reasons: First, you don’t have to think about saving money until you get paid next. And second, this allows you to not have to track every single dollar you spend. You’ve already saved; the remaining amount is for bills and fun!
Try to earn as much as possible
THIS RIGHT HERE IS KEY!!! The more money you make, the more you can save. Thanks to the internet, there are a bajillion ways to make money online and from home. Here are just a few ideas:
- Take online surveys
- Start a blog <- I make $1500-$3500+ a month blogging part-time!
- Work as a Pinterest virtual assistant
- Become a freelance writer
- Write and market an eBook
Spending money is easy – almost too easy. That’s why football players and movie stars wind up broke. Saving money, on the other hand, takes discipline. If you’re just getting started on your saving journey, I recommend starting small. Put $50 from each check directly into savings and forget about it! Maybe next month you can increase that number to $75.
How much are you saving each month? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?!
photo credit: Flickr via 401kcalculator.org
diane @smartmoneysimplelife says
atThanks Sarah! My income is all over the place lately and (unfortunately) lower, too. So, I’m using the zero sum budget from this month so I can be a bit stricter with my finances. And, yes, save some money, too.
Cheers,
Sarah Brooks says
atZero-sum works great!! You can’t spend what’s not in your account haha!
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
atGreat tips for how to save a lot of money, Sarah! We also try to rely solely on my Husband’s income and then all of mine (for the most part) goes directly into savings. He has a set salary so we always know what to expect with his income (whereas mine is all over the place), but sometimes unexpected expenses come up that we have to use my income towards. I think using that method as a general rule of thumb is a great way to ensure you have money going into savings though!
Sarah Brooks says
atThat’s awesome we do the same thing!! Yeah, we do use my money for things…usually not bill, but sometimes for groceries or if we randomly decide to take a trip. It’s really nice to have that extra income…plus it’s a great way to build our savings account!
Jef Miles says
atLike the idea of living off one income when you’re in a couple, great idea here!
Another one is automating your savings or transferring, which is a decent way of paying yourself first.
Cool tips here Sarah and yes, spending is fun 🙂 haha
Sarah Brooks says
atHi Jef! Thanks for the comment! Yes, automating savings is a great way to guarantee that you save money. We have a few investment accounts automated, but general savings isn’t because our income varies so much. I hope one day we can do that though!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom says
atThose are great ways to save more money! We live off about half of our single income, the other half goes to pay down the mortgage, pay into his pension, and save for our daughter’s education. We’ve worked on bringing our expenses down over time. We do some side hustles, but it’s his government job that pays the bills.
Sarah Brooks says
atThat’s wonderful!! Side hustles are great for making extra cash that you can save or pay down debts!
Holly@ClubThrifty says
atYay- good job. Zero-sum budgeting is really the key for us. Without it, nothing makes sense.
Sarah Brooks says
atTotally agree! Were a little flexible with groceries and stuff, but like I said…we never leave large amounts in checking because it will get spent if we don’t tell it where to go!
Elroy says
atOne recent trick we employed was budgeting out the next month as well. So, I can see how much money I’ll have at the end of next month, and then I move money to savings. We can save around $5k/month if we really hunker down, but we are more in the $3-4k range, mainly because we are working on our house and live a little more lavishly than a bare bones budget would dictate.
Sarah Brooks says
at$3-4k a month!? That’s awesome!! Congratulations!!!
Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It says
atWe save $800 a month that goes directly to our 403B … does that count?! We never see it so it makes it super easy to save. Not much goes into general savings as it doesn’t make sense to me to put money into savings when we have debt. Gotta get rid of that debt! You guys are doing great with $1000/month!
Sarah Brooks says
at$800 a month is great!! And I agree – no point in adding to a savings account until the debt is gone. Good luck!! Keep up the great work!
Abigail @ipickuppennies says
atSub-accounts! We put money into a car fund, an HVAC fund, vacation fund, savings, etc. I also bank the money we save for things like grocery stores, sales, coupons, cash back shopping, etc. Plus an automatic $92 that we save with Hulu each month. When I keep on it, we generally save around $200 each month just in that account.
We don’t put $1,000 in savings every month, but we put a minimum of $600 into our various sub-accounts. Some months, significantly more. It just depends.
Sarah Brooks says
atSub-accounts are a great idea!! We have three savings accounts, but they’re not for anything specific other than our “house fund” one. I really like the idea of having separate accounts for vacations, holidays, etc. Thanks for sharing!