Gaby Deimeke
At the start of this year, I challenged myself to save at least 21% of my income in 2021. To do that, I've had to stick to a strict budget, change my spending habits, and monitor my finances on a daily basis.
Saving money every month gets harder to do after you've done some of the big first steps, like a financial audit, creating a budget, and figuring out what to cut out of your life. As the months have gone by, I've found myself saving money in creative ways I'd never thought of before.
Last month, I was able to save over $1,300 using five unique strategies that didn't require me to drastically alter my life or stop doing things that I love. Here's what I did that worked well and fit into my lifestyle.
1. I shopped at cheaper grocery storesIn order to save cash this year, I've had to be more mindful about food. Last year, I spent a lot of money on takeout and delivery services. I wouldn't be able to meet my savings goal or stick to a realistic budget this year if I followed those 2020 habits. Instead, I've found ways to cook easy meals at home that I enjoy and that aren't too expensive.
I live in New York City, and I usually grocery shop at local stores and pay attention to prices, but not in comparison to other stores in the neighborhood. Last month, I shopped at two local, cheaper grocery stores (Trader Joe's and Aldi) and picked up some canned essentials at a dollar store.
My usual grocery bill for myself and my husband every week runs around $175. When I spent the month shopping at lower-priced stores and still getting the items we need and love, I was able to cut the bill to around $75 a week instead.
Total savings: $400
2. I snagged some household items for freeIn the last year and a half, my husband and I have used our tiny one-bedroom apartment for more than just living. Like so many other people, we've worked, exercised, and lived here, too. We decided last month to change up the living room so we could have more space for all the home activities we do.
We needed to get a storage chest (for crafts, books, and supplies), a new TV stand with storage, and a coffee table. When we priced these items out at an online store that wasn't too expensive, it looked like we'd have to budget around $500 for these items.
Instead, we found a local Facebook group where people post things they are looking to give away for free. We ended up (after many hours of being active in the group and reaching out to people when they first posted an item) getting all three items that we needed for a total of $0.
While these items weren't identical to the design aesthetic we had brainstormed, they fit into our apartment and helped us do what we wanted to do with home renovations.
Total savings: $500
3. I renegotiated bills and stopped recurring paymentsI spent a Saturday afternoon last month looking over my credit card statements from the beginning of the year until now and noticed three different charges that I either wanted adjusted or wanted to stop paying.
I first noticed that I had two subscriptions that were unnecessary. The first one was for Amazon Prime — I realized I could share my husband's account and split the $119 annual fee with him. I also realized we had paid for a streaming service that we only used four times and didn't need that was coming up for renewal. I canceled that and saved $60 (the price for the full year).
I also decided to give my phone service a call to see if they could discount my bill at all with any new promotions. After they saw my on-time payment history and that I've been a customer with them for five years, they were able to cut off $10 a month from my plan.
Total savings: $239.50 (over the course of the year)
4. I regifted gifts to friendsIn the last 30 days, three of my friends celebrated special occasions that called for gifts. One friend had a birthday, another got engaged, and one more had a baby.
I usually set a $50 price point for gifts like these (that aren't big life occasions, like a wedding) and had budgeted $150 to spend on gifts for the month. Instead, I decided to look around the house to see what items I could regift.
I found a wedding gift someone had given to my husband and me (a silver picture frame) that we had never used or unboxed. I decided to gift that to my engaged friend.
For my friend's birthday, I decided to give her a bottle of wine I found in our pantry and bake her a cake using ingredients I already had.
And for the friend who had a baby, I found two unused gift cards to popular stores that I mailed to her as a gift.
Total savings: $150
5. We skipped our monthly house cleaningSince my husband and I spend a lot of quality time at home, we decided to splurge this year on hiring a cleaning service to come once a month and spruce up our home.
I was eager to save a few extra dollars last month, so we decided to pocket the $100 we typically spend on this service and clean our apartment ourselves, using supplies we had and hours on the weekend.
While it took us a long time to clean the place ourselves, we enjoyed saving the money and have decided to cut this service back to every other month to save more.
Total savings: $100
Total overall savings: $1,389.50
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