10 Genius Things To Do Every Day to Save $550+ Every Month

There are so many things I find myself doing that I know I could do less of or change up a little and save some money. We go through our day and not even think of the little things that can add up and cause us to spend more money than we really need to. Below is a list of 10 genius ways to save money everyday! It saved us over $500 a month! I guarantee after reading this, the next time you are doing what’s in the list, you will remind yourself, “Oh wait! I can save money here!”

#1: Turn Off Lights

Do you sometimes leave a light on when you leave a room? I sure do! There are times I may be working in a room and need to leave to do something else in another room. My intentions are to come back to the first room to finish but it may be a half hour or longer before I return. That’s 30+ minutes of electricity I just paid for that I really did not need. This happens all the time! Put yourself in a habit of turning off lights when you leave a room. Or better yet, don’t turn on lights unless you really need them.

#2: Turn Off Electronics

This is the same concept as #1. If you are not using the device, why pay for the electricity to run it? I once had a radio that I turned on for my infant to listen to while she napped. When she woke up and we left the room, I turned the volume down instead of turning the power to off. This was a big mistake. Over several months, I noticed my power bill was higher than usual so I decided to take the radio away to see if that was the hike in the bill. Sure enough, it cost me $25 a month in electricity. Lesson learned. Now I am conscientious of everything that takes power and work hard to turn them off or unplug them if they are not being used.

#3: Thermostat

My husband and I are completely opposites when it comes to temperatures in our home. We have learned to compromise and adjust the thermostat according to the seasons. When it is cold outside, we set the thermostat on 68 (that’s as low as I can take it). When it is in the warmer months we move it to 73 (he get’s ill when he is hot). Another trick we use in the hotter months is turn it up 3 degrees during the day. This way you are not cooling your house during the day when you’re not home (although I’m home most of the day, I do not mind 76 degrees). When my husband comes home, we turn it back down. This has helped keep our power bill down $25-$50 a month.

#4: Use Less When It Comes to Household Items

Have you ever almost ran out of soap or shampoo and you are trying to use as little as possible until you can get to the store to get more? Well, this is when I found out I used entirely to much soap and shampoo when I bathed. Even though I liked to use a quarter size or larger of soap, you really only need a dime size or smaller. Soap lathers very nicely and will go a long way. I broke the habit of using a lot of soap and shampoo and now it lasts me two to three times as long. Don’t stop there. Look at how much you use with any household item. Dishwasher soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, paper plates/bowls, cleaning supplies, etc. I am sure you can save with these as well. If you do this, you can cut your expense in half when it comes to your household items.

#5: Wash Hair Every Other Day

You may be one that washes your hair once a week. If so, that’s awesome and I envy you! However, if you are like me, your hair’s a mess when you get up and is a grease ball! Since I can remember, I have washed and dried my hair everyday up until about 3 months ago. I decided there had to be another way and decided to wash my hair every other day. It took several weeks, but suddenly on the day I didn’t wash my hair it was not as greasy as it had been before. Now, I can go 2 or 3 days without washing my hair. Yes, I still have to work on it each morning but it does not take near as long. Also, it cut out the need for shampoo, conditioner, electricity for drying, and products I normally use when my hair is wet on the days I do not wash my hair. Not to mention the time it saves when not drying my hair :-).

#6: Take Advantage of Leftovers

Do you make enough food to have leftovers? If so, do you make sure to eat all of it instead of letting the last few meals go to waste? I really do not like leftovers much, especially leftover meat. My husband does not mind it that much but he does not like to eat the same meal 3 or 4 times in a row. We found ourselves wasting a lot of food because of these reasons. Several months ago we decided to start the envelope system again and we allowed ourselves only $400 a month for groceries. This includes all household items such as toiletries, laundry detergent, wipes, diapers, etc. as well.

I had to find a way to make $400 last us the whole month other than just using coupons, eBates, or the Ibotta App. Now that I have tested this method out for several months, I can say it definitely works, but you have to be willing to sacrifice and compromise. We decided we needed to quit wasting food and eat what we have on hand. Now, I only cook three nights a week and we eat what we have. Instead of cooking a meal every single night, we eat leftovers for lunch and supper until they are gone. This cuts down on how much food I buy at the grocery store because I am not cooking as much and my family is not wasting as much. Yes, it may not be what we want or what we are craving but we have all learned to just deal with it. In the long run it saves us anywhere from $100-$300 a month now. That’s a huge savings!

#7: Take Your Lunch to Work

Now that you have all these left overs, you can take your lunch to work. My husband and I found it easier to make our meals when putting away supper. This way you have your lunch ready to take with you in the morning instead of forgetting to make it or not having enough time to make it. It sets you up for success. If you eat out most of the work week for lunch, you can save a ton of money with this one. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you spend $8 on lunch when you eat out and you eat out 4 times a week. Over a month’s time, you have saved $128 if you take your lunch to work. That still allows for you to eat out 4 times a month. I would say that’s a pretty fair compromise.

#8 Say Bye-Bye to Cable

If you still have cable, you need to tell it bye-bye! If you did a survey on how many people were satisfied with the amount they are paying for cable compared to the satisfaction they get from it, I would say about 0% of people would say they were happy with it.  I am sure you have heard at least 1 person, if not 100, complain about how much they pay for cable. In my opinion, there are so many other options, there really is no need for cable! My husband and I decided to cut our cable when our daughter was born. We felt the money we paid wasn’t worth the time we were able to watch it. Instead we signed up for CBS All Access because most of the shows we watch are on CBS. The cost is only $5.99 per month and we have limited commercials. Sign up for your plan today and get your first month free with my exclusive link. This was a total of $74 a month!

I have several friends who have dropped cable as well. They have went with other alternatives like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. I also know several people who have opted for an antenna. This may sound old school but it definitely worked for them. They paid the upfront cost of the Antenna and have not paid for TV since. You can buy an Antenna from Amazon ranging from $20 to $100+. This Antenna is on sale today for $24.95.

#9 Have Weekly Challenges

This is a really neat one and does not last very long. The idea is to determine a challenge once a week and set your mind to accomplishing the challenge. The challenge can be anything you can think of that will help save money. You can also set challenges that will help you bring in extra money. A few ideas for a weekly challenge are:

• No eating out
• Lights off other than 1 hour a day
• Free entertainment only
• Make an extra $50 – check out how to Make Extra Money with Paid Surveys

This can be a fun way to save money or make extra money. It seems to be much more fun and easier if you have another person taking the challenge with you. That way you will have someone to compete with and try to stick with your weekly challenge. If you do not have someone in your home, try asking a relative or friend if they would like to do it with you. You can also join our private Facebook Group and start a challenge with us. We would love to participate with you! Actually, I just motivated myself to start one next week, so come on over and join us :-)!

#10 Be Prepared by Planning Ahead

I don’t know how many times I have spent more on items than if I had been better prepared. For example, several weeks ago my husband and I had a baby shower to attend for one of our friends. We had known about the shower for at least 2 weeks but neither of us took the time to go shopping for the shower. Here it was the morning of the shower and we find ourselves at babies-r-us looking through their registry. We decided we wanted to buy them the baby monitor they had listed. We bought it and spent around $200 (this included the monitor, tissue paper, bag, and card). Had we been better prepared, we could have bought the same exact monitor from Amazon for $167.09 a few weeks before. Or I could have brought the 15% off coupon I had laying at the house and saved $30. I also could have brought the bag, tissue paper, and card with us since I save these from my showers and parties and reuse them.

I find this happening more times than I like to admit. Sometimes I run to the grocery store without clipping coupons or browsing through the stores weekly deals. The only way to save money here is to be ahead of the game. You can save yourself so much money simply by planning ahead and being prepared.

 

What do you do to save money every month?