Say Goodbye to Being Broke: 27 Best Money Saving Tips
By managing your finances wisely, you’re saving money and cultivating an optimistic outlook to help you navigate life’s challenges confidently. Each dollar saved is a step towards a brighter future. Here are the best money saving tips to ensure greater success.
1. Change Your Money Mindset

Create a positive money mindset by forgiving past financial mistakes, working toward forming healthy money habits, and being grateful for what you have instead of comparing yourself to others. Before making purchases, ponder and appreciate the value of your time spent (you don’t get these hours back) versus money earned.
2. Follow a Budget

Following a budget is necessary for exercising financial health. How will you ever save money without knowing your income and tracking and cutting expenses? Once you put your budget into place, it’s important to review and create a new one monthly, as no two months in spending are exact.
3. Start Living Below Your Means

Living below your means helps reinforce your new money mindset by ensuring you’re not spending every dollar you earn. It means being aware of how much money you make while taking necessary steps to ensure your spending doesn’t exceed it. Thus, it allows you to save money and avoid debt.
4. Pay Yourself First

Paying yourself first involves depositing money into your savings account every time you are paid. This practice cultivates the habit of saving while reducing your chances of spending it on daily expenses.
5. Automate Savings

Automating your savings is one of the easiest ways to guarantee that you remember to pay yourself first. Many employers offering direct deposit allow allotments of each check into a separate savings account. Furthermore, some banks have programs that roll over the change on your transactions to savings. Doing so builds savings quickly while making banking easy with round-number transactions.
6. Have Multiple Bank Accounts

Having multiple bank accounts can help build savings by making it easier to manage finances while tracking savings goals. Some people find great success in delegating different accounts for different expenses. It’s also beneficial to have short-term savings in a high-yield account.
7. Start With an Emergency Savings Fund

Do you have an emergency fund? An emergency fund should cover three to six months of living expenses, including housing, utilities, phone, food, transportation, etc. If you do not have one, make that your first savings goal and build up at least three months.
8. Stop Paying Credit Card Companies

Stop paying credit card companies interest on your everyday expenses. There are no limits on credit card interest rates in practice, so you must guard against predatory annual percentage rates (APR). CNBC reports that credit card interest is at a record high, with many charging over 30%! If you can’t use credit cards responsibly, cut them immediately. Responsible means carrying a reasonable balance and paying it in full monthly.
9. Prioritize Debt

Prioritize whatever debt you have to pay off by paying off the largest or highest-interest-rate debt first and quickly. Make minimums on other debts until it’s paid in full. The rewarding feeling of paying off one debt boosts and motivates you to eliminate more. Move on to the next biggest debt, and so on, until you’ve successfully paid off all debts.
10. Stop Saving Your Payment Information

One of the best money saving tips to stop reckless and impulse shopping is to stop saving your payment information for later online purchases. Manually entering your card numbers with each purchase forces you to think about and acknowledge what you’re doing, eliminating some impulse buys.
11. Minimize Equated Monthly Installments

Setting a cap on your equated monthly installments (EMIs) is crucial, ensuring they don’t exceed 30% of your income. This prudent approach can help you steer clear of the debt trap. Remember, the key to saving money is to avoid pouring it into assets that rapidly depreciate, such as excessive car loan EMIs.
12. Set Your Intention to Stress-Free

Reduce your stress by setting your intention to live a stress-free life. Stress leads to wasting money on temporary pleasures, many of which involve full-fledged addictions and financial drains—for example, alcohol and substances, sports betting, gambling, eating, and shopping.
13. Don’t Be a Cheapskate

There is a difference between adopting a frugal mindset — placing quality over quantity, and being a cheapskate — someone who spends the least amount of money possible despite the quality of a product. Being a cheapskate guarantees you will waste more money replacing poorly-made things than if you research and consider more than cost when buying.
14. Exercise Risk Aversion

Consider risk aversion and access consistency, especially regarding extended warranties and insurance, many of which are complete scams. Insure yourself only for things that would devastate or bankrupt your finances—for example, driving a new car? It needs collision. But your 10-plus-year-old vehicle doesn’t need it, and dropping it will save significant money.
You don’t need to add warranties to every electronic purchase you make at Walmart. Most electronics come with one- to two-year warranties. Stop wasting money on nonsense.
15. Maximize Employer Contributions on 401k

If you can save through your employer in a 401k or an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), do it, especially if your employer matches your contributions. Build your retirement nest egg by taking full advantage of maximizing employer contributions.
16. Prioritize Your Health

Practice preventative healthcare by prioritizing eating mainly whole and plant-based foods. Spring for a comfortable mattress, pillows, and bedding to foster healthy sleep. Wear comfortable shoes that protect your feet.
Pay attention to your posture. Practice ergonomics at work. Get your daily intake of nutrients, vitamins, and exercise. Spend a little more on healthy foods to prevent spending a lot more later on healthcare.
17. Take Care of Your Belongings

Take care of the things you already own. A surprising number of people do not take care of their belongings. Clean your spaces, follow washing instructions on dishes and clothing, unplug things when not in use, and know and follow care instructions on other belongings. If you take care of things, you won’t need to replace them as frequently.
18. Learn to Do Things Yourself

Take the initiative to educate yourself about self-services and basic home and car repairs. Eliminating unnecessary expenses like hair and nails can save you significant money. Thousands of free YouTube tutorials teach life skills, including changing a tire, replacing a garbage disposal, and sewing for clothing repairs like loose buttons.
19. Start Investing as Soon as Possible

Don’t wait to invest! Investing with smaller dollar amounts is possible thanks to no or low investment minimums, zero commissions, and fractional shares. Start by investing small amounts into mutual funds and index funds.
Remember, you don’t need to be a millionaire to start investing. Begin with what you have, no matter how small, and take advantage of user-friendly platforms like Acorns, Stash, and Stockpile. You’ll be amazed at how your investments can grow over time.
20. Set Money Goals That Excite You

What money goals excite you? Do you want to save up to buy a home, pay your mortgage off early, establish college funds for your kids, travel the world, or retire early? Set saving goals with exciting rewards to ensure you’re honestly working toward them.
21. Buy Used

Buying secondhand items such as books, media, bakeware, cars, tools, furniture, clothing, baby products, and household goods is one of the best money saving tips because it also improves your environmental footprint. Stop wasting dollars on things that are perfectly acceptable in gently-used condition.
22. Reduce Entertainment Expenses

Do you know how much money you spend on entertainment monthly? Many people don’t. Between signing up for free trials and then forgetting to cancel them and having duplicate Netflix accounts, it quickly drains your finances. Finding ways to save money on entertainment can drastically reduce financial waste.
23. Stop Buying New Clothes

Stop buying new clothes! Talk about a massive waste of money. How many items of clothing does a person need? You can’t wear more than one shirt at a time, yet people walk around like fashion models or Instagram influencers, wasting thousands of dollars on overpriced brand names and cheap fast fashion. Shop thrift stores before visiting retailers.
24. Stop Buying Expensive Smartphones

Quit buying expensive smartphones; the more affordable options do all the same things. They all make phone calls, text messages, set alarms, have internet, GPS, calculators, etc. So why pay $1,000 every year or two to keep up with the latest iPhone or Android?
Consider a phone bill for a family of four — four phones with $30 monthly payments, $15 insurance payments, and $5 financed accessories per phone. That is $200 each month before paying for the lines of service. Tack on another $100 for that (and only if it’s on autopay).
That’s $300 monthly for cell phones or $3,600 annually. Can you think of a better way to allocate those funds? Smartphones are intentionally created with a limited lifespan (planned obsolescence). So they need replacing every few years, regardless of cost or brand. Stop wasting money.
25. Cut Food Costs

Numerous ways exist to cut food costs, including meal planning, couponing, shopping around, and finding ways to save money on groceries. Stop paying obscene amounts of money for fees on food delivery apps, and start cooking at home.
26. Set Spending Limits

Set spending limits on gifts, vacations, birthdays, holidays, weddings, graduations, and other life events. One of the best money saving tips for spending limits on gifts is to make the gifts yourself. People love the thought, time, and heart behind handmade cards and gifts.
27. Be Fruitful

Remember to give back by loving your neighbor. Even on your poorest day, there is someone financially worse off than you. Let God use you by giving to the needy.
Find charities, churches, and other organizations to give to or help the hand extended on the street. Give without judgment. God knows their circumstances; you don’t. Most people don’t have the first clue or understanding about what it means to be homeless. God blesses those who give without measure.
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Elizabeth Ervin helps people embrace a change in money mindset to achieve their financial goals. After struggling for a decade as a single mother, consumed by the American debt cycle, she recognizes the value of financial education and lifestyle changes and aspires to motivate others to make those changes to obtain financial freedom. She heavily advocates for praying about and over your finances and speaking positive money affirmations to manifest abundance.