Video Intro
Save money on your car
1. Car Insurance
Believe me, if you haven’t shopped around for car insurance in a couple years – it is worth your while. I really was sure that I had the lowest rates I could get, but then I checked out Geico and found that I could save $330 a year for the same coverage. I was so blown away that they could save me $330 that I didn’t shop anywhere else.
Six months later my old insurance broker called trying to get me back and she had found another insurance company who was $200 cheaper than Geico. And again it was for the same coverage. So just to repeat – I thought I was paying a good rate, but by shopping around I was able to knock over $500 off my car insurance bill. (get quotes here)
2. Save money on gas
While everyone wants gas prices to go down, you can cut your monthly gas bill by taking some pro-active steps. Checkout these 75 gas saving tips and grab a few of them and start working them into your driving. And for some more advanced techniques you can learn how to hypermile as well.
Save money on your phones
3. Cell Phones
Grab your most recent cell phone bills and look at them to see what you are actually paying for.
- Are you paying for internet service that you are not using?
- Are you paying for 1000 minutes a month, when you are only averaging about 350?
- Are you paying for text messages that you are not using?
Before you call your cell phone company check other Cellular companies to see how their rates compare. If it is still worth your while to stay with your current provider, then call them up and talk to them about the changes that you can make.
4. Home phone lines
Ask yourself a tough question, “Do I really need a land line? Would it be possible to use my cell phone for all calls?”
If the answer is no, you may want to look into Skype or Magicjack. I have used both and have saved a ton of money from it.
If you are have a land line solely for the purpose of having a DSL internet connection, I would recommend calling the phone company to adjust your phone plan. I was not using my land line at all and was paying $25 for it. I called them and got the plan lowered to a pay-per-call plan which only costs me $7 a month.
If you can get by without a land line, call and cancel it. This will probably save you $20 or more a month just by making a phone call.
5. Save on the Internet
I am not suggesting that you get dial-up. That is just cruel and unusual punishment 
. But, if you are paying for the premium package you should consider one of the slower packages. Many people won’t notice a difference in how fast the web pages load.
Again, it may be worthwhile looking at the options available for high-speed internet service. I saved about $20 a month switching from one company to another.
Save money on Food
This is one of the easiest fixes for most people. I know I am saving hundreds of dollars a month by not doing what I used to do with my food purchases.
6. Make going out to dinner something special
Not only will you save yourself a lot of money, but it will be more fun when you do go out. Have you noticed that when you do something all the time, it just isn’t as fun anymore? This is a great way to “add fun” and save money.
A couple going out to dinner just two times in a week could easily spend $300 a month. If they knock it down to just one time a week that is $150 savings.
7. Make it yourself
You really can cook. I don’t care if people told you that you were a bad cook, don’t listen to them. You aren’t bad and it is not that hard. There are tons of meals that you can make that require little more than an ability to set a timer and read directions. Start at Allrecipes.com, they have lots of cool features that I won’t get into here – just check it out.
8. Bring your lunch
This is one of those rubber-meets-the-road sacrifices. But it pays off handsomely. If you are paying $10 for lunch to go out each day, you are spending $200 a month. If you bring your lunch 3 days a week, you should easily be able to save $100 a month.
9. Eat what you have
Buy food that you are going to eat and eat what you have. I cut my grocery bill by 50% from my wasteful years by eating the food I had and not wasting any. I could not believe how much money I was wasting by letting food spoil. Just putting a little bit of thought into your grocery list each week will be an easy way to save money.
10. Clip coupons
Most of the food we buy doesn’t have coupons, so this has never been too much help for me. But, there are some people who take pride in buying a grocery cart full of food for $25 and 100 coupons. Even if you aren’t a pro, beginners can save $50 a month without much difficulty.
11. Drink water
I saved myself $30 a month just by quitting my Pepsi addiction. A Starbucks addict could probably save $100 a month by switching to water.
12. Save on your energy bills
A lot of energy saving tips require you to buy something in order to save money in the long run. While I am all for that, the purpose of these tips is to give you more cash in your hand now so that you can pay down your debt.
That being said you can check out these 10 ways to conserve energy and save money and these winter energy saving tips.
13. Pay your bills on time!
This is obvious, but some people (like myself) need the obvious restated sometimes Late bills often incur a fee that is nothing but a waste of your precious money.
If you find yourself forgetting to pay your bills on time, set up a free Google calendar and you can put reminders of when each bill needs to be paid. You can even set it up to email you to remind you to pay it on the correct date. While this is a shorter term fix, I prefer to set up a schedule of bill payments in order to make bill paying easier.
14. Save at the bank
Grab your recent bank statements and examine them for ambiguous fees. If you see any and don’t know what they are, call your bank and ask them to explain it. I worked at a bank for years and I know how good they can be at coming up with creative names for their fees.
If you find out that you are paying fees for your basic banking needs, I recommend switching. There is no reason you should be paying fees for falling below a minimum balance or anything else. It is your money. Take it somewhere where you have control over the money, not the bank.
Most credit unions will not have many (or all) of the fees that bigger banks may have. I currently use Perstreet for their debit card with cash-back rewards and ING Direct as a savings account.
15. Save on purchases
If you are working on getting out of debt, you should be thinking long and hard about any sizeable purchases. But, if you must, then make sure you are getting the best price in the world on the item. The internet has taken comparison shopping to a whole new level.
Yea, there are a million places you can buy things online, but I have found that I almost always find the best price at one of these three places:
Craigslist and FreeCycle.org are also good tools for finding some bargains on used items.
Other tips to cut your expenses
- Buy greeting cards in bulk at the Dollar store or the party store. This will help you to save a lot of money and you won’t have to make an extra trip every time you need one.
- If you are an avid reader and spend a lot on books trying using the library again. Remember the library? Another option is to buy them from Amazon used. I have a couple books on my Amazon wish list that cost less than a nickel for a used copy. And here are 5 ways to save money on books.
- If you have an emergency fund built up, you may want to look at increasing your deductibles to save money.
- If clothing purchases are needed, at least look at these 6 tips to save money on your clothing expenses.
Please share some of the ways you have cut your expenses in the comments below!
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
I did a little experiment once. It was about that time to go grocery shopping and I had very little money and didn’t feel like putting together a menu, etc. I decided to see how long we (my 7 year old son and I) on just what we had left in the house. It was pretty extreme. I made a casserole out of a can of tuna, potato chip crumbs in the bottom of the bag, and a cream sauce made out of powdered milk. My son loved it! The powdered milk made everything possible. I was able to use it for biscuits, pancakes, etc. We were able to go an additional 2 weeks without shopping! (I lost some weight too).
When I make a cash purchase, I try to figure out how I can get quarters in change! I save these up! It’s amazing how fast they accumulate; effortless saving! I roll up the quarters in a coin “sock” and deposit the $10 in the bank~~or save for a future purchase of something I want. Also, try to send in an extra $10 or $20 each month when you send in your car payment! The balance due comes down fast!
I thought I was paying too much with state farm. I shopped around, their prices was the lowest. No one could beat it. Go figure.
yeah we’re with progressive. They beat the rest by 50%. Now when we talk to USAA every time they ask to sell us car insurance – yet they cost double. When we tell them that – they are shocked. It’s interesting that rates are so varied.
I agree with a lot of the tips and advice in this article, but I wanted to comment on the part where you suggested using Vonage. You mentioned that you had not used it- I wanted to let you know that my family signed up with Vonage about three years ago, and while the price is great we have a had a lot of problems with our service. Our conversations are often fuzzy, and they disconnect quite frequently.
Instead I suggest trying a different voice-over-internet service, but a great thing to use instead of a land line is Skype.
I’m a college student and books are a big expense for me. After spending almost $1000 for text books at the university book store my freshmen year and then selling back the ones I didn’t need for only $30, a friend pointed me to http://www.gettextbooks.com. It isn’t just for textbook, you can search any ISBN, title or author and it will find the best price online including shipping. If you do have current textbooks that you no longer need you can use the buyback search to find sites that are willing to pay for you used book.
Hi all. Just wanted to comment on the Vonage comments. I guess they have improved on their service, because I’ve had them for nearly a year, and I have had no negative issues with them at all, and I love the email voice mail.
As a mother of three little ones I have learned that kids are always hungry and so when I have errands to run or a long day out of the house I pack snacks and a sack lunch. (We usually find a nice place to eat luch like a near by park) This way we eat what we already have, it’s healthy and saves us money for a planned fun time out!:)
How about switching the cell phone that comes with a contract (-$70/mo) to a pay-as-you-go cellphone (+$60/5 mo, for ex. TracFone intro package, 140 min, 5 months) for emergencies only (car phone), keeeping the landline (+$45/mo), slashing the Internet (-$50/mo – you can get access at a library or wireless access in places like Starbucks/libraries/etc.) ? The savings would add up to around $60/mo, 720/year.
Be careful with saving on food. You should invest in your health by eating the beast quality food that you can afford. Otherwise you’ll end up giving your “savings” to the doctors, no doubt.(see Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions” cookbook for further information)
These are AWESOME ideas! I personally used your #3 and did some research in regards to my cell phone. The bill I used to get at the end of each month used to be way way way overcharged and had a bunch of hidden fees. I made the switch months ago to prepaid and no longer use a contracted service. I pay $45 a month (flat rate) on the Straight Talk service and get unlimited text/call/data… ZERO hidden fees! You had such a smart idea to look into different company rates because this switch has been saving me a boatload!
These are all great suggestions. Thanks to everyone for sharing them!
We cancelled DirecTV and got Netflix instead. We get a free trial month and then we’ll be paying $10 a month with no contracts. We were paying $58 with DirecTV and had to agree to a two year contract. I love that we can use it in any room in our house since we can use our computer, iPod, Wii or XBox 360. Now we too are looking into canceling our phone service with Verizon and going prepaid with Straight Talk. We are also thinking of going from three cell phones to one.
I would like to know if anyone has a suggestion for TV connection other than dish …not allowed where I live, but I pay 108 a month for very basic TV and internet low speed, none is bad really, I work full time but like my CNN and soap net and local stuff…it is way out of my range as a single working individual…thinking about that prepaid thing with the cell phone, thanks for the input as well…
Does anyone have any ideas on how to help with sales tax on a new vehicle? I was pretty much scammed on a car repair and had no choice but to get another car to get to work that was inexpensive but dependable and after two weeks rental fees and the cost to the mechanic that literrally tore my care to a sham, I now have a car payment and insurance but its that sales tax …what does a citizen do??? You either have a car and pay the taxes or don’t work and be on asssistance…does anyone know of a pay plan program??
I would advice a trip to stores around your home. I noticed that sometimes there are huge differences on prices for the same products, so visit in advance to find out which store is more convenient could save you some money.
My husband was laid off 2 days ago but was offered a different position with a $20,000.00+ pay cut per year. I switched my insurance from Liberty Mutual with coverage of 20/40 and $1000 deductible to Progressive with coverage of 100/300 and $500 deductible with over $1000 per year savings. Every dime counts when you have to readjust your finances.
This is great advice. I started packing my own lunch to save money 3 years ago, and haven’t gone back since.
It also helped me eat healthier food, since I had to put more thought into the food I was buying to take to work. I’ve lost alot of weight since, and feel fantastic.
Another good way to save money is to quit smoking. I used to smoke a pack or two a week, and that was probably $500-$1000 a year that I save now. Amazing. Much healthier too.
I also bought a bicycle, and moved within several miles of my workplace so I could ride to work everyday. Lots of money saved on gas!
This site did really help me a lot, I am just a new visitor of the site but few hours reading blogs, i did really learn a lot. Bless us all!
I have to admit I skipped the first one even with the clear note NOT to skip it. But good news!
This week we saved $500 a year by getting a new quote and switching to a new car insurance provider! We have the same coverage and deductable as well as insurance through a recognized national provider! This is a great suggestion to do every 6 months or so.
It was sad to tell my current auto agent but $42 a month is amazing savings! And remember to ask for discounts and try again in 6 months! Thanks again Bob!
Great article! On the cell phone bit–we got tired of all the little fees we got charged with that ended up pushing an $80/month plan close to the hundred dollar mark, so a friend told us about the prepaid phones you can buy that give you unlimited text, calls and web access for $45/month. We’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and will never go back to a contract phone. There are some limitations (esp if you make lots of international calls) but our family members just buy phone cards. It still saves lots of money in the end!
I bought Ooma about 10 months ago. Ooma lets you make (almost) free U.S. local and long distance calls using the Internet, with outstanding voice quality. No computer or headset required, just use your existing phone or Ooma handset. It was easy to hook up and I did it in about 30 minutes. I have a refurbished Ooma Scout, that costs $100. My previous land line was costing $35/month, so it paid for itself in 3 months. The only charge is tax and FCC fees, which amount to about $3 a month.
Hi, I wanted to say I gave up my land-line phone, and I use Google Voice along with my Gmail email. It does require a headset that attaches to the coputer… It works as a VoIP phone. (Voice over Internet Protocol = VoIP). I like it for those times i just KNOW I will be using a lot of cell minutes, like calling companies and being put on hold for extended periods of time, etc. You get your own phone number, and if someone calls that number, it calls your cell phone number. It is completely free in the USA, and if you want to call outside the country, they do require that $10.00 be deposited to hold against any bill. I hope this information is helpful to help save some hard earned cash!
Asking yourself whether you ACTUALLY NEED it is the best advice for anyone in debt. You first have to control your spending before you can begin to conquer debt.
Posted on Facebook with link to your site:
Thanks to Bob here at CPF, I had an idea about groceries. Are you one of those that just keep stacking stuff in your freezer and never cycling through everything you have?
Try to inventory your freezers (maybe even cabinets) and keep with you when shopping so you can look back to see if you already have this before you pick it up.
We get home frequently to find we don’t have room and have to go through and pull stuff out. OR sort your freezer by date of purchase and be sure to use oldest items first.
Great tips which we tend to ignore at our peril and financial independents.
Great common sense tips which always need repeating! Repeating these many of these steps at least once a year is a great habit to get into.
Thanks for sharing this useful information with us. I am also finding some ideas to control the extra expenses. Now I will use your post in my next expense.
I’m going to have to buckle down some idle afternoon and take a look at auto insurance.
Freezer list is great! Once a month I try to open my freezer up and inventory – then I build my menu based on things that haven’t been used. I clip the inventory to the fridge and try to refer to it when starting meals so I can be intentional. It’s also been good for keeping my husband aware of what we have in the freezer – but I do have to mark things if I have them already alocated.
Re books….I highly recommend Paperback Swap! (http://www.paperbackswap.com) The only cost for a book is postage. Here is how it works. You post a virtual bookshelf of at least 10 books and you get (I think) 3 free “credits”. A credit is a book. However, if you request a book on tape, that is 2 credits, I believe. Anyway, other members request books from your bookshelf and you mail them. Each time you mail a book, you earn another credit. There is a forum for those of you who would like to have general questions answered (or discuss books or anything else, for that matter!) as well as an extensive section of help and FAQ’s. I have been a member for 5 years and I love it! The site also has two sister sites: swapacd and swapadvd. I don’t belong to those so I can’t tell you exactly how they work except I do know it is the same credit principle. I highly recommend them and, if you need more info, email me and I’ll try to answer your questions. Between PBS (paperback swap), the library and used books stores like Half Price Books, I have saved hundreds of dollars. Also, re the library, I request newer books from our county library system. Yes, I do have to wait on brand-new books but I rarely save my books. So why buy them? I am an avid reader so this is important to me.
Another way to cut expenses is to only purchase new clothing when you aren’t able to get any good clothing items used at Goodwill or even yard sales. Many times, people sell or even give away clothing they no longer want.
Also, invest in a sewing machine and learn to sew. This way, you can save a lot of money, especially if you can learn to make underwear, because the prices that shops charge for it is horrendous – and to think that 99% of the time, scrap fabric is used to make it!
Unfortunately this 15 ways still require willpower which is the biggest necessity. The best way to stop unnecessary spending is to create a budget and stick to it. Over time you end getting used to the changes and it all becomes second nature.
Nice try but these tips are all too obvious to be really useful. I dont even have a car or TV and only buy second hand anyway. All I lack is willpower to save on food and riding a bike instead of taking a bus if I go into town. I really found the comments to be helpful though – nice tricks and insights and useful web adresses for books and such! Ta!