The 11 Best Ways to Save Money on a Tight Budget
Few people become wealthy quickly. Windfalls remain a rarity. That is why the phrase wealth-building exists. You build wealth like a house. You start with a firm foundation. You add to it with a sturdy structure. You build up and you build out. Rather than waiting for a Buick to fall from the sky or for some relative to pass away or to win the lottery, simply save your money and invest it.
Maybe you sit there and say, “Well, Carlie, I do not have any money to put into savings.”
Organize Your Finances
Sure you do. You just have not found it yet. I say found, not because you need to route around in your sofa, but because you only need to create a financial plan and re-work your finances. You can save money on a tight budget and it only takes little planning to do it. I hope you have a minute or two.
Okay, honestly, set aside about ten minutes to read this article. The things suggested in it will require a few days. You will need blocks of time of about two hours for most of the big stuff like making a budget.
I’m going to teach you the business approach to personal finances. Long ago – and I mean in the late 1990s – I had a terrific law professor for oil and gas law, Clark Musser. He practiced at Musser and Bunch, and he taught at the University of Oklahoma. Professor Musser was big on two things – his students becoming “savvy” business people and teaching people to look at both the big picture and the minute details.
So, in accordance with my former professor’s teachings, first, we’ll go through the big picture, so you learn the 11 things to do to handle your own financial planning and save money on a tight budget. Second, we will look at the smaller items that you can do to achieve the goals set in the 11 big picture steps. Both sets of items help you save money on a tight budget. This gets you the funds you need to put into savings. That savings gives you the money you need to invest. Those investments grow and become wealth. You become wealthy, one penny at a time.
The 11 Big Picture Money Saving Tips
The big picture items take the most time. These are the things you set aside a few hours to tackle. They require concentration and clean work space. You will need a large table to spread out paperwork and a computer or tablet with a spreadsheet program, too.
1. Create a Budget and Stick To It
First, Make Lists
Make a list of every necessary expense. These items include rent or mortgage payment, utility bills, cell phone or telephone bill, groceries, car payment.
Next, make a list of all creditors you must pay each month. This includes credit cards – listed separately, personal and student loans – listed separately, and any payday or pawn shop loans, too.
Finally, make a list of every elective expense. This includes afternoon lattes, shopping, eating out, clubbing, sports events, your new iPad, etc. Although you probably do not want to admit it, this also includes cable or satellite TV or Internet TV and your gym membership. You might already spot a way to save money on a tight budget, but keep going.
Next, Write Down Your Budget Expenses
Now, gather together all of your bank statements, credit card statements and your PayPal or other e-wallet account for one calendar year. Next to the items you wrote down, write the actual monthly cost of the expense.
Uh oh. Did you notice a few things you forgot to write down for your budget? Are there bills you have due on a periodic basis that you forgot about? How about your property taxes? Did you owe income taxes last year? Write those items down as budget expenses, too, and record how much each cost. You can use the nifty formula feature in Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets to divide the annual or semi-annual costs into a monthly one.
Prioritize Your Expenses
Now, really scare yourself. At the top of the spreadsheet, add a row all the way across. In the cell above your expenses list, type your actual monthly income down to the pennies. Copy it and paste it into the next column, too.
Now you are going to create another formula. This one subtracts the expense in the second column from your salary listed at the top of the third column. Now, watch as your money disappears expense by expense. Most budgeting articles tell you to gather stuff together and write it down bit by bit, but I think this method works better because now you see the stuff that typically slips your mind and you have just forced yourself to prioritize your expenses.
The only stuff you actually need is the food, shelter, utilities, and the clothes you currently have. Yes, you might need once per year to update your wardrobe for work, but that is still an elective. If it keeps you alive and in a safe place to live, that is what really matters. Living by that credo for a bit will help you save money on a tight budget.
Also, creditors and loan payments are not elective. You have to pay them. You borrowed it; you owe it. Period. You tank your credit score and credit history if you do not pay them. Why do that when all you need to do is cut down on expenses and pay off what really matters?
Cut the Unnecessary Expenses
Here is the overarching sign that you truly MUST cut your expenses. Look at the very bottom number in column three. Is it negative? If so, you are spending more than you make. That is a no-no. You are more than in debt. You are living beyond your means.
Either way, you have to cut your expenses to save money. You need to have at least ten percent of your monthly income going into savings. The easiest thing to start with is to cut down on the money you spend. Cut the items you actually do not need to live to save money on a tight budget.
Creating the budget lets you easily see what you need to cut out so you can save money and invest it. Also, a budget needs updating. At least one time each year, you need to re-visit it and make updates. You also need to do this when you have a major life change like adopting or having a baby or losing your job. Hey, let’s think positive. You also need to update when you get a raise or promotion.
Take Care of Your Finances. Now. The Budgetry Store Is Here to Help.
2. Track Your Spending
Tracking your spending lets you see how well you actually follow your budget. This does not have to be complicated. You do not have to do it manually anymore. No need to type things into a spreadsheet. You can simply install an app like Mint to your smartphone. You link your credit cards and bank account to it and, voila, every expense you make automatically gets tracked. Mint even categorizes them for you. Talk about an easy way to track expenses and save money on a tight budget.
Tracking your day-to-day spending helps ensure you do not live beyond your means. Sometimes you do not realize how much you spend on little things. You might take $50 out of the ATM each week for food truck purchases. You probably forgot that as an entry in the budget. It adds up.
It also works as a psychological trick to get you to reduce spending. When you know you will see the remainder of it, you tend to spend less. This can help you reign in impulse shopping. It also helps you hone your budget in the weeks after you first authored it.
3. Pay Your Credit Cards And Loans Off
Did you gasp at the thought?
Here is another one. The only people who should have credit are the ones who do not need it. If you cannot afford your life without charging something or taking out a loan, you do not need it.
Avoid Higher Interest Rates
Paying off your credit cards eliminates the extra expense of interest rates which can go up to 25 percent or more in the US. Think of it this way… when you buy something with a credit card, you actually pay for the item plus 25 percent. Even if you catch it on sale for 25 percent off, you still paid full price. Sucks, doesn’t it?
You can avoid interest payments by paying your credit card in full and on time every month. You also avoid the dreaded late fee. This is a terrific way to save money on a tight budget.
Consider Consolidation
So, pay in full or pay off the card completely and quickly. You can do that by putting forth larger payments to the balance each month. You could also consolidate all of your credit cards and loans and pay them off by making a single monthly payment which provides another simple way to save money on a tight budget.
If you must have a credit card, get one with no annual fee and a cash-back program. Pay it off in full every month before the due date. As the credit card company allows, transfer the cash back funds to your bank account then move those puppies into savings or an investment account.
4. Open a Savings Or Money Market Account
You may think this sounds like a no-brainer, but many people who want to save money, do not think to open a savings account. During the Obama administration, the government made changes to the laws governing savings accounts. They now restrict your access to the money placed in savings, allowing only six transfers or withdrawals from savings per month. This results in financial institutions offering higher interest rates than checking accounts that offer interest.
There is the other feature of every savings account, as opposed to the select number of interest-bearing checking accounts. Any and every savings account earns you interest. Unlike interest-bearing checking accounts, you do not have to meet a deposit minimum. Many checking accounts require a minimum daily balance in order to qualify for the interest payments.
You can create a larger nest egg more quickly by rounding using an app like Stash or doing it yourself. If you have $105 left in your account after paying bills, round down to $100 and put $5 in your savings account. Apps like Stash do the rounding for you and deposit your change in a micro-savings account.
Other stupendous things about savings accounts include being able to start with any amount of money. You can open a micro-savings account using just $1 or no money. You set up links to your credit or debit cards to have rounding applied immediately.
5. Reduce Recurring Expenses
Perhaps you subscribe to nearly every Internet movie and cable provider. Meh. Drop one or two to save money on a tight budget. Review what they offer and kill off the subscriptions you do not use or use so occasionally that it would be cheaper to simply buy the one movie or episode you want.
Keep Only Subscriptions You Actually Use
I looked at where I watch TV shows and movies. I find myself on Hulu and Netflix most often. I realized that I was rarely using Amazon Video and could obtain pretty much anything on there on the other two services or on Vudu. I dropped Amazon. That saved $13 per month and gets me all the older shows I love watching.
For a total bill of $58 per month, I get every cable station I actually want and zero that I do not, plus a free cloud DVR. I also own the rights to watch all the shows I loved long ago, let’s call it the last two decades or so. Switching back to regular TV and cable would cost about $79 per month, plus the expense of purchasing a new TV and a physical DVR. That would cost about $600 minimum.
So, there is a real-world, real-life example of how to do this. It will not hurt to ditch things you do not use. It feels good to have the extra money. And, in case you ever wondered, I do practice what I preach in these blogs. This was part of my six-month self-review. I spotted two ways to reduce expenses and I jumped on it.
Always Explore Various Options and Try Negotiating
What are other ways you can save money on a tight budget? Compare insurance providers. Also, check your carrier’s cell phone plans and that of other carriers. When your contract comes up, you could switch and save. Talk to your bank about refinancing your mortgage. I used a small dollar example, but when you put it all together, the savings from elimination, reduction and refinancing can total a thousand dollars or more in savings.
6. Control Your Impulse Spending
You do not actually need the afternoon latte. You could make it yourself in the office Keurig. You do not need the new purse Coach just released. Or the Fendi. Or the Gucci. Or the Chanel. Okay, guys (and women like me), you do not actually need the game ball on the NFL or XFL web shops although I have a friend who probably wishes I did not point that out. But I am being fair.
These are reward purchases. (More on this later.) You need to use them with planning and restraint. Paying off your credit cards ranks much higher than any fun expenses.
Always Take Some Time to Decide on a Purchase
You erase impulse spending by building willpower. When you see something that you want to buy force yourself to wait at least one day – a full 24 hours - before you buy it. Go home and look at your budget. Can you really say you need the purchase and can you actually afford it without using a credit card?
The waiting period increases to 30 days if the item you want ranks as a major purchase. Let’s say a TV, DVR, stereo, designer anything, car, truck, appliance, etc. qualifies as a major purchase. The waiting period is one of the best ways to save money on a tight budget.
Here is another way to convince yourself you do not really need it. Divide the purchase price including tax by your hourly salary or wage. The result is how many hours of work you need to do in order to buy that sucker. Since it is not in your list of necessities and you are supposed to be putting money into savings and investments, this expense represents extra work you will need to do to purchase it. Since you will not earn overtime, you are just working more than your regular 40 hours per week to earn the money to buy it. Does it still look good to you?
7. Switch To Utility Estimated Monthly Payments
Many utility companies now offer estimated monthly payments, called bill smoothing overseas. The utility averages the costs of your bills over a 12-month period and creates a monthly flat rate for you to pay based upon this average. You pay it every month on the same date. It helps people on a limited income average to figure out the costs of their utilities and avoid spikes in costs that typically occur at hottest parts of summer and the coldest parts of winter.
8. Meal Planning And Shopping By Weekly Menus
Nowadays, people pick up dinner on the way home. They eat out a lot. Cooking at home has become a rarity. I grew up with the coolest mama ever though and Orgla planned out the family’s entire week of meals ahead of time. Shopping lists were created from this. You could ask what we were having Saturday night on Monday to tell a friend who was going to spend the night. Tacos and tamales. Why, thank you. I could bribe folks to come over based on knowledge of pork chops and honey ham. Even when my Daddy started cooking, mama still planned the menus and the shopping lists.
I learned from that. It stuck. I cook. You can, too. You do not need a super Southern family who planned meals far in advance. Today, you can sign up for a meal delivery service or an ingredients delivery service or grocery delivery. Whether you shop at Schwan’s or Wal-Mart, you can get it delivered to your door.
Buy a crockpot. Buy a quick cooker. Start your dinner cooking at breakfast time. It will be done for you when you walk in the door at night.
Planning ahead lets you shop sales and use coupons and eat better. You can eat well for much less. You can eat very well as a family of four for about $35 in the US. If you buy in bulk, large packages of meat and dry goods, you can further reduce those expenses.
9. Shop Around For the Best Prices
Brand loyalty has its place. I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan and New York Yankees fan since I was nine or 10 years old. Last year, I became a Dallas Renegades fan when they established that football team. The Oklahoma City Thunder has my heart vis a vis basketball and since I am from South Carolina, I will forever love the Carolina Panthers. (Issues do arise if and when they play the Cowboys though.) That is as far as it goes though with brand loyalty. It is fine as long as it does not cost you money.
Look for the Best Deals
Forget about the brand when it comes to soap, dish detergent, laundry suds, clothes, etc. The label becomes an excuse for them to charge more and you end up paying. Compare prices of like items and purchase from the store with the best price.
Notice I said, “like” items. That means the same quality, same size, same performance, etc. You do not actually save money by purchasing a handbag from Target or Wal-Mart for $30 that you have to replace in a few months because the lining tore out or the strap broke. I have a Coach bag that I paid $90 for a decade ago that still looks new although I carry it consistently. Quality matters.
If you must have THAT bag, compare prices at various stores. The same goes for soap and such. Mama read every sales circular and made those shopping lists by store. If Bi-lo had the best price on Dawn dish soap, that was where she bought it. If was Piggly Wiggly, that was where she bought it, even though my sis had worked at Bi-lo while in high school. You have to put aside the silly loyalties and shop using common sense. Compare the exact same item at multiple stores and buy it where you get the best price on it.
10. Think Like a Rich Person
Okay, the start to this is to avoid thinking using what finance experts call a “poverty mentality.” Thrift is good. Using money and your other resources with common sense and care is a virtue.
Going too far and entering the frugal zone is not virtuous. It can trigger a psychological phenomenon known as the poverty mentality. With it, although you actually have the money somewhere for the items that would provide you a nice life, you refuse to spend the money on them. These people become preoccupied with the notion of having no money or a shortage of money. Their obsession leads them to cut out all extras and cut down to nitty-gritty on basics like food, too.
People who live with a belief and an actual life of prosperity appreciate the need for both meeting needs and practicing true abundance mentality. This means they pay for their housing, monthly bills like utilities and have budgeted for their favored entertainment. They budget in their treats, recognizing that it is not an abundant, “nice life” without things you enjoy.
11. Use a Financial Goal Planner
First, talk to your parents. I know. It sounds hokey, but they have probably been through what you are facing right now. They have been there. They got out of that situation somehow. They can tell you how they did it. You could do that, too.
Second, use an online financial planning or savings goal tool. With some of those, you set a target savings goal and the planner helps you determine how much you need to sock away each week or month to make that goal.
To Conclude
I know that was a huge amount of information. Take a deep breath. Take a swig of coffee. I know I am.
Next, you get to learn the little things you can do to quickly cut expenses and create money, extra money. That extra should go to pay off all of your credit cards and loans plus to start a savings account. Both. Not one or the other. Both. At the same time.
Do not “say what” at me. It comes from my urban planning classes. Per Pareto, 80 percent of your results stem from 20 percent of your efforts. You can apply these two ways. The 11 steps you already did constitute your overall 20 percent of putting in the work. You will have 80 percent of your financial success from this. You can finagle it to also fit spending. Look at any grocery receipt. You will probably notice a category that roughly comes to about 20 percent, but represents 80 percent of the bill. Maybe it is nice coffees, meat or all that protein shake stuff.
Regardless, those items represent the majority of your expenses. That 80/20 rule works both ways. Find ways to save. I earn stars on my expensive Starbucks coffee purchases that then allows me to spend them in a store for coffee. For buying their brand, the folks at Starbucks give me free coffee.
Set up auto-pay for all of your utilities, credit card payments and loan payments. Anything you can auto-pay, do it. This saves you from having late payments. It also means you practice the “out of sight, out of mind” method of releasing things you typically concern over. If you worry about money or it just hurts you to pay bills because you do not want to say goodbye to that money, automating means you pay all your bills on time and never look at a single one.
You can learn to negotiate yourself, or you can use a service that helps you consolidate your debts. You could end up with up to a 60 percent reduction in bills. That gives you lots of money to bank.
Buy nothing until you obtain at least apples to apples quotes. That means your three quotes apply to the exact same product or service. This means you get the best price on everything.
Meaning the cost of gym memberships, movie service subscriptions, etc. with family members or housemates.
Take healthy food with you to work or school. The truly cool kids stay healthy and look 35 into their 50s because they take care of themselves. You can save money and avoid needing to join a diet group.
Knowing that you need a budget and creating and sticking to one are two different things. It is also the first step toward real savings.
Remember, you want to become thrifty without becoming frugal. The idea is to get the things you love for less, not to cut out every item you love. My Starbucks did not come from the coffee shop. I bought grounds in bags at the grocery and brewed myself a pot of mocha. A bag of coffee for $7 as opposed to two coffees for $7. Same stuff I love, just a better price for it. So, here goes. My advice mixes homespun with book knowledge. It works.