I’m at a stage in my life where cost-effectiveness is everything to me.
If it’s not on sale, I don’t want it. That’s been my slogan since I was thirteen years old and I got my first babysitting job. I’ve always been cautious about my spending, since I grew up understanding that money is an incredibly precious resource. Obviously, the act of not spending money became a lot more difficult once I moved out of on-campus housing and got my first apartment. All of a sudden, I had bills like a real person. I had to pay for groceries, and not just snacks, but whole meals. There are a lot more day to day expenses in adult life than you realize as a teenager.
I’ve struggled for a long time with the amount of money I have to spend simply just to survive. As a result of this, I’ve tried to find every possible way to save money. I’ve been living on my own for about a year and a half at this point, so I’ve gathered a list of tricks. Today, I’m sharing my methods with you.
What are my favorite tricks for spending less cash?
Loyalty is everything.
I am a Kroger girl through and through. I rack up my rewards for grocery shopping there, and each month I get a packet of coupons tailored to my purchasing preferences. This allows me to save money on items that I purchase repeatedly, as almost every time I step into the store, I have a sandwich bag of coupons in my purse. My local Kroger also has a gas station, so I also get my gas at Kroger. Since I am so loyal to Kroger as a brand, I always get savings on my gas. Each month, I get ten cents per gallon off of gas. Since I only have to get gas about once a month, I save a few dollars with each trip. Basically, remaining loyal to Kroger consistently keeps money in my pocket. I would 10/10 recommend this strategy if you’re thinking about it even a little bit.
Save the environment (and your change).
Invest in reusable products! This has been a game changer for my roommate and I this school year. I noticed throughout last year that we were consistently running out of paper towels, and always needing to get more. Not only did this spend a lot of money, but it also created a lot of waste. I started thinking about the things I used paper towels for, and for the most part, it was washing my hands or cleaning. When we moved into our new apartment, I decided to buy a pack of microfiber cleaning rags. Thanks to the cleaning rags, our paper towel usage has gone down by so much. Additionally, we always keep a dish towel above our sink now. This way, we can dry our hands without a paper towel. Thanks to this slight change, I can’t even remember the last time we bought paper towels.
Another strategy my roommate and I implement is reusing our plastic bags. Everybody on planet Earth knows this one, but I figure I’d throw it in here anyway. Those plastic Kroger bags you get with every trip? Build up a collection of them in your pantry or broom closet. You could use them as trash bags for your smaller trash bins. If you have a dog, you could use them on walks to pick up their messes instead of buying special bags. It’s an obvious, easy solution to many problems that people typically spend money to fix.
Here’s another one! Watch how much you are spending in utilities! In my house, we pay for electricity, gas, and WiFi. Obviously, WiFi is a set price. However, as far as our gas and electricity bills are concerned, we try to conserve energy and our funds as much as possible. Whenever we are not actively using a room, we make sure its lights are turned off. Our gas is only used for our heating system, so we typically try to keep the temperature low. We are both comfortable this way, since our parents both used the same tricks. Overall, these little strategies help us save money and conserve resources!
Plan your meals.
I had an internship for about eight months of this year that required me to work through lunch time. I was often hungry at work, and I found myself getting takeout all too often. After a bit, I started noticing that the lunch expenses were really adding up on my monthly credit card statements. In order to remedy this, I decided to implement meal planning into my daily routine. I had to get some food storage products so that I could start doing this, but it ended up saving me a lot of money. I started planning out and preparing for meals at the beginning of each week. Not to mention, it saved me so much time and extra thought during the week! All I had to do prior to leaving my apartment was grab my lunch out of the fridge and get going!
I also noticed that meal planning helped me save money in groceries each month. When you know exactly what you’re shopping for, you tend to spend less money on random stuff you see as you’re perusing the aisles. I also noticed that planning and eating three square meals a day made me much less hungry throughout the day, and it gave me more energy. Long story short, If you take an hour to meal plan each weekend, you’ll end up saving time, money, and your mental and physical health. If you need a push to get started, there it is.
Tah-dah! Those are my tips!
That’s a little bit of what I’ve learned over the years. I’ve still got a lot of lessons incoming, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come. If you liked these tips, and you’re interested in keeping up with my journey, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more!