Saving money doesn’t have to involve drastically changing how you live. If you are looking to save money, though, there are many habits that can help you save money.
Changing a habit isn’t easy, but once you form a new habit it becomes ingrained in your life. In other words, it becomes easier as time goes on and it becomes second nature.
Here are a few habits that will help you save money:
1) Check for Online Coupons before Making Purchases
One sure-fire way to save money is to make a habit of checking online for coupons and coupon codes before you make a purchase. Bookmarking a site like Frugaa and checking to see if a store/product has coupons before you finalize a purchase can result in significant savings.
There are more coupons out there than most people think. The thing is, most people don’t want to take the time and effort to check for coupons. If you are looking to pad your finances through saving money, though, this is a habit that I would highly recommend. My wife and I have started to spend some time each week looking for and keeping track of coupons and it has helped us save a few thousand dollars over the past couple years.
2) Brew Coffee at Home
I love coffee. I drink at least four cups a day and you can imagine how expensive it would be if I was in the habit of stopping at my local Starbucks twice a week. Instead my wife and I brew a pot of coffee at home every morning. Not only does this save money, but it saves time. It’s also easier to find coupons/deals on coffee beans versus finding deals offered by coffee shops.
This doesn’t mean you should never get your caramel macchiato at Starbucks; I think you should. It’s better to make a habit of not getting it, though, and limiting your visits to only a certain number of times a week or month. There also are ways to save money when you shop at coffee shops, such as how my wife and I saved hundreds of dollars at one of our local coffee shops.
3) Use the Library
You can save a ton of money by making a habit of using the library. I know you like that ‘new book’ smell and you enjoy how easy it is to have all your books on your tablet, but once you make a habit of visiting the library you will realize just how easy it is to save money by checking out books, DVDs, magazines, and more free of charge.
I’ve talked to many people who don’t use the library and they’re surprised when I tell them you can request items online and get an email when they are ready to be picked up. This can limit your visits to once or twice a week at most. Additionally you can easily renew items online instead of calling or stopping by.
4) Plan Meals
We’re all busy, and one of the last things we get around to is deciding what we are going to eat each day. If you don’t plan ahead you are more likely to buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner from restaurants.
You know you have to eat three meals a day, so why not plan ahead for it? Getting groceries for breakfast and brown-bagging lunch can immediately impact your savings. Beyond that, writing down exactly what you are going to have for dinner can save you a lot of money over time. This is particularly important if you don’t like to cook and are prone to spending a lot on food from restaurants.
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The library is our big money saver. We used to fall in to the trap of buying books on our ipad or Nook, but we saw how much that was costing us each year and decided to scale back by instead going to the library and only buying books if we had to or if we got a gift card.
I love going to the library and getting to borrow books and movies. I don’t usually read or watch things twice so it would have been a waste. I try my best to meal plan as well. If anything it’s easy to have breakfast for dinner.
Great tips! Brewing coffee at home is a huge one for us. I am a big coffee drinker too, and it really adds up if you hit the coffee house too often. Once in a while I give in to the urge to buy coffee, but for the most part we make it at home.
I do all of these things, but I can work harder on meal planning. I tend to only plan a day or two in advance. The library is really an easy way to save money and if I am looking for a specific book then I can put it on hold and pick it up at my branch, request it from another branch and they will email me when it arrives, or request it from another library via interlibrary loan. You can get just about every book as well as audio books and movies. The only catch is that you can’t always get it instantly an you have to practice that age old, money saving art of patience
I’m a huge fan of the library. we feel lucky bc ours has a great selection and great service. I know not all libraries are as nice so we really try to take full advantage of it.
I definitely do the first three, but I always suck at meal planning. I love eating out and I am terrible at buying enough food for more than a day at a time, since I walk to and from my grocery store. Eh, always room for improvement!
fitnpoor I don’t have a tablet yet, but I’ve heard it can be pretty addicting adding more and more books to your collection. I’m assuming you read more if that’s the case? Anyway, I am a big fan of the library and always reserve books and DVDs from there.
JourneytoSaving I’m the same way. We have a lot of movies and TV shows on DVD, but I really don’t watch them twice. There’s probably 10-15 movies that I’ll watch twice (or more), but those are big exceptions. There’s too many books I want to read in the short time we have here on Earth, so I’m really not into reading twice. The library is a big winner for people like us!
colormefrugal I’m the same way! I didn’t drink coffee until about three years ago when I realized it was a bit silly to crack open a mountain dew at 7am. We brew a big pot and I drink a cup on the way to work and then have a couple more throughout the morning. I like to go to coffee shops when I have some blog or other work that I really need to focus on and get done, but that’s the only time I go. Oh, or if there’s a BOGO.
BudgetforMore We’re REALLY lucky too when it comes to the library as well. We have a very modern library just a few blocks down the road.
Erin My Alternate Life Haha we all have things to work on. My wife actually does all the meal planning, pretty much all the coupon-work, and goes shopping for groceries. I wouldn’t mind helping with couponing if I didn’t have the blog to work on, but I also suck at cooking so I always want quick and easy meals, which aren’t always the best thing to have. I always suggest we get a pizza when we’re busy ;)
Alice @ Earning My Two Cents You’re right about the interlibrary loan thing. I’ve done it a few times and its been great for finding some of those harder-to-find books that are only at a handful of libraries in the country. The librarians at my library are always really nice about placing the ILL so that’s always great.
I second the point you made about patience. I’m currently 288th on the waiting list for American Hustle. I probably won’t get it for about 4-5 months. I don’t mind, though.
We eat out a lot, but always have a coupon. $1 off at fast food places, $5 off at Red Lobster, etc. Red Lobster is about the most expensive place we go.
And don’t forget to see what movies and songs are on the PirateBay… You can save a ton.
If I really want to go out, I see if I can find something comparable on Groupon, ScoutMob or Living Social. I also mostly make coffee at home or work. We do have a netflix account, but it’s worth it for us and I always pack my lunch. Of course, I’d like to go out more, but you are right, when you make things a habit, it becomes easier. Now it’s second nature to bring my own food, and I make it a game to lower expenses.
Yes the library is a great way and you could even avoid coffee all together and drink water (or is that too far?) haha..
Awesome simple and actionable tips there :)
No Nonsense Landlord I’m with you on this. When we eat out, we almost always have a coupon or a gift card.
Not sure how I feel about the PirateBay. So far I have never used it.
deardebt Packing your own lunch is a HUGE win if you can make a habit of it. I used to get a salad at work every day and it became a habit that I didn’t even question. I changed that habit to packing 99% of the time and it’s really saved me a ton of money.
mycareercrusadeNot drink coffee?!? How do I wake up in the morning then??
Just kidding! Okay maybe not.
I don’t drink coffee. I rarely have the time to read or watch movies these days, so the library isn’t needed. We plan our meals pretty diligently and almost always prepare them at home. The only thing I need to get better at is taking advantage of coupons…they’re usually just an afterthought unless one is sent directly to us (in the mail or by e-mail).
Meal planning is one that I have been doing a lot more of lately. However, the savings to me are less noticeable in the grocery cost department and more noticeable in the time department. Planning meals eliminates the “what on earth are we going to eat tonight” problem, where you stare at the fridge, pantry and freezer and try to concoct something.
PFUtopia What DO you do? Just messing with you ;) I didn’t drink coffee until about two years ago. I’m a night owl and I get a second wind at like 10pm. It’s terrible, since I get up by 5:30am. I realized it was a bit silly to drink mountain dew at 7am when I was in zombie mode in my cube, so I switched to coffee. I’m not sure if I envy people who don’t drink coffee because I’ve grown to love it, but I agree it would definitely help the budget.
UgifterMy wife and I HATED the daily “what should we eat” conversation. I think that’s why she took the initiative to start planning our meals for the week. Makes grocery shopping easier, too.
We save a ton of money on coffee, since bf bought his fancy coffee machine. I don’t drink coffee and was a little miffed by the cost of the machine when he bought it (used on ebay, but still expensive). But now the machine has more than paid for itself, since he can make coffee at home and isn’t heading to starbucks all the time.
I’m all about saving money by brewing coffee at home! And honestly, I never make a purchase anymore without checking my phone first to see if the product is cheaper elsewhere. The only area we could improve upon is planning our meals. We usually plan a week or so, but every now and again we won’t have anything planned for dinner and will end up spending $20 or so on a meal. Not the best, and definitely something we could do better about.
ImpersonalFinance I brew a pot every morning and love it! Even on thee weekends it’s something I look forward to. Or I should say ESPECIALLY on the weekends because my mornings aren’t so extremely rushed.
StudentDebtSurvivor I NEED one of those fancy coffee machines! Just kidding, it would just be really nice. I might look into it…
DC, if you use Chrome, there’s an extension called Honey that has a button that appears on check-out pages that actually searches for coupons for you! Saves a lot of time. For sites that rarely have coupons like Amazon, I’ve never scored a discount, but it found a 15% off coupon on JC Penny that enabled me to get more baking items off my friend’s wedding registry for the money I was already planning on spending. :)
And I can’t second the library more.. as a library school graduate, I always promote the library. :)
Tara Zee Did not know you went to library school, that’s awesome! I used to be a student worker in the library (in the IT department). Worked with lots of librarians over the years, though.