If you are saving up for your next vacation, a big purchase, or even just looking for little ways to achieve financial freedom, we have some tips for you.
Everybody should be interested in holding on to an extra $1,000 per year. It is a low effort goal, with a big reward. Saving $1,000 per year only requires you to withhold $2.74 per day or refrain from spending about $20 a week.
An extra $1,000 each year equates to approximately 100 burritos, 20 sporting event tickets, or, depending on where you live, 2 plane tickets to the Bahamas. Perform these tiny changes, and watch your savings account grow.
Transaction Free Tuesdays.
Implement a 1 day per week no-spend day. Now that you can purchase anything from the palm of your hand, it is easier than ever to spend money. Try a “spending fast.”
Decide on one day each week where you don’t buy anything. If you are feeling extra ambitious, go for an entire no-spend week.
You will be surprised by how many impulse purchases get pushed to the side and how much money you can save when committing to a transaction-free day.
One no-spend day per week will save the average American $1040 per year.
Find Freebies & Never Pay Full Price.
It is the 21st century, and with access to air fryers, we have also gained access to every sale and freebie on the world wide web.
There is no reason to ever pay full price for anything! There are all sorts of freebies on the internet just waiting to be claimed by financially savvy shoppers.
Use Rebaid to find freebies offered by sellers on Amazon, Walmart, Ebay and even Etsy. Business and brand owners use Rebaid to increase their purchase volume by offering their products with a rebate. Their marketing budget is passed onto you, the buyer, in the form of a rebate.
Companies are essentially offering samples of their products to get them out into the world. The best part is that you can “sample” things you need for your home or items you can buy as gifts.
Rebaid offerings change every day, but you can find home necessities like meat thermometers, towels, and vitamins- while also shopping for fun things like headphones, kid’s toys, or candle-making kits. Many products are free or over half off.
With the average American spending $1050 on gifts alone per year, purchasing your gifts through Rebaid will easily cut that number in half.
Understand Your Finances.
Figure out exactly where all of your money is going, and make a budget. If you already have a budget, decide whether it is realistic for your current lifestyle. A lifestyle change may also be good to your finances.
If you have a $40 a month budget for take-out, but you know you order take-out 3x per week – alter your budget to reflect your reality. Unless you are prepared to exercise significant restraint, focus on areas in your life where you can reasonably make a difference. A budget is only helpful if you respect it!
The 50/30/20 budget rule has been popularized in recent years- which outlines a spending guideline of 50% to necessities, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings. But breaking spending patterns down into even smaller categories is very helpful if you want to get serious about saving.
Mint is a convenient App for organizing finances. It automatically categorizes purchases for users and then charts the categories, showing you exactly where every cent you spend is going.
Implementing a budget that devotes 20% of funds to saving keeps $8,000 per year in the pocket of the average American.
Tamila McDonald is a U.S. Army veteran with 20 years of service, including five years as a military financial advisor. After retiring from the Army, she spent eight years as an AFCPE-certified personal financial advisor for wounded warriors and their families. Now she writes about personal finance and benefits programs for numerous financial websites.
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