If you’re like me, one of your New Year’s resolutions is to save money. There are a multitude of ways to save money, but it’s hard to determine what to keep spending money on and what to let go of. A great way to figure out where you can save money is to Categorize your most common spending habits. We’ve put together four different categories for you and some examples within each category to help you figure out what you can keep spending money on, what you can do away with, and what you can keep spending money on, but tweak a little to help you save money.
Banking, Bills, and Payments
- Pay your bills on time to avoid late fees. A great way to do this is to set up automatic payments. Some companies will even give you money off for setting up automatic payments and paperless billing.
- Declutter your subscriptions and memberships that you no longer use.
- Sign up for customer rewards programs. Restaurants, clothing stores, department stores, and more have rewards programs that give you money off or free items when you spend a certain amount.
- Round up your purchases to the whole dollar. When you do this, put the extra change into your savings account.
- Pay attention to all the charges on a bill. There could be incorrect charges on the bill that can be disputed.
Home
- Switch to energy-efficient lighting and appliances.
- Lower the temperature on your thermostat. Lowering the temperature to 68 degrees or below can help save you money during the winter. You may be a tad cold, but blankets and sweatshirts are quite comforting.
- Don’t heat unused rooms. Have a guest room at your house that is only occupied twice a year? Close the vents as to not waste heating an area that is never used.
- Get creative with leftovers. Trying to not eat the same thing three days in a row? Make new meals out of your leftovers to change things up.
- Groom your own pet. Pet grooming can become expensive. Investing in a pair of clippers can help reduce monthly costs on pet necessities.
Entertainment and Lifestyle
- Lower your cell phone bill. Get rid of extra items you don’t use such as unlimited data if you only use a small amount each month.
- Avoid buying clothes that need to be dry cleaned.
- Switch to corner store brands for toiletries or cosmetics.
- Find free online tutorials. Instead of taking a “master class” or hiring someone for a project, find the tutorials on YouTube or other sites.
- Save up your loose change and turn it into cash. This may take a while but saving up your loose change adds up! Put all that extra money into your savings account.
General
- Sell items you don’t use.
- Buy used items when you can.
- Avoid impulsive buys. Think about your larger purchases for at least a month. For the smaller ones, if you still want it in a week, go back and get it.
- Replace disposables with reusables. Put that packed lunch in a reusable bag with Tupper Ware instead of plastic baggies that get thrown out after lunch is done.
- Choose generic brands over name brands. It may only seem a little cheaper, but when you do this with almost all your purchases, it saves you a lot of money.
Interested in learning more? Please email us at hello@veroinsure.com or call 773-945-6000.
Vero Insurance is a niche broker with a focus on providing insurance placement and risk management services to high-income families. Here at Vero, we love to provide you with exciting and fun articles to learn more about insurance and how it impacts your life. Visit our other blogs to find more information.
While Vero does offer a wide variety of personal insurance coverages, our main coverages include: personal umbrella insurance, auto insurance, and homeowner’s insurance.
