The Best Money Saving Tips in a Bad Economy
Tags: Life Hacking, Saving Money, Finance, Money, Money Management

The number one thing that causes people to lose money each month is unused subscriptions.

You are going to want to cancel these to save money. Even if the subscriptions are only $10 a month, cancel them. You never how much canceling your unused subscriptions can save you per month. $10 might not seem like a lot, but if you have 3 or 4 unused subscriptions, you will be saving $30-$40 a month. Seems like free money to me.

Stop buying things as soon as they come out.

Haven’t you ever noticed that in a few months a DVD will drop a few dollars in price? How many times are you really going to watch that movie in the next month or so? Buy books as paperbacks instead of hardcover or go to thriftbooks.com. Buy cars that are used instead of blowing thousands on something brand new. Textbooks for college? You can save literally over $100 by buying used.

Buying clothes that are on sale can save you a huge amount of money, trust me.

As a broke college student I didn’t really have much wiggle room with money. I waited for stores to throw clothes on sale and then I would buy them. You wouldn’t believe the amount of money I saved. A $20 dollar shirt at just 30 percent off is only $14. Saving $6 on one shirt is great! Now multiply that by, say, 5 shirts. You just saved $30 on one shopping trip.

Eating out less is a huge money saver.

I eat out at least once a week with friends and by eating out only once a month, I could save at least $50. If you go out to eat every day for lunch at work, you could save tons by just brining your lunch. Plus, bringing your lunch is healthier, and you will also save time on your lunch break. Some people eat out at night because they think they can’t cook. Well, person that thinks they can’t cook, grab a cookbook and learn some recipes. You will be amazed at how much you can save by eating out less.

A little addition to the eating out less is to make your own coffee.

Coffee shops such as Starbucks can be pretty expensive and you can save as much as $20 a month just by making your own coffee at home. My mother and father make their own coffee and I think it tastes better than Starbucks anyway. Try to skip coffee as much as you can if you aren’t making your own.

Making a grocery list will save you a bunch of money.

This might seem weird, but it is completely true. You have no idea how much a person is tempted to buy extra things while shopping. If you don’t have a set list you will be even more tempted. By having a list of things to buy you will be able to stick to what you need rather than buying things you don’t need. Grocery lists only take a couple of minutes to make up so you won’t be wasting time if that’s what you are worried about.

When grocery shopping try to buy in bulk when you can.

This is one of the easiest and best ways to save money. You can get cereals, canned foods, toilet paper, shampoos, and pasta this way. Buying these types of foods in bulk can save you tons and they will last you a month or more. My family buys cereals and canned food in bulk and even with 7 kids the food lasts a month.

Don’t buy brand name goods.

I learned in economics that brand name goods are the exact same as generic goods, yet they cost dollars more. Does it really matter to you if you are drinking Dr. Pepper, or the store brand? It doesn’t to me if I’m saving some money. If you care more about money than you do about brand names, then you can save a bunch of money.

Carpooling is a really good way to save money now.

Gas is just over $4 a gallon right now and it’s eating into everybody’s wallets. Imagine not having to pay for gas as much. Find people that you work with that live in your area and set up a carpooling route with them. Right now carpooling can probably save you $100 depending on how much gas you use to get to work and back.

Just following a few of these tips can save you over $100 a month. It’s basically free money. Now you can put all that saved money towards something that you really want, such as retirement, or your kid’s college fund. Get someone who you think needs to save money to read this article and help them with their money issues!