1. Learn to Cook: This is a no brainer. Eating out costs mega bucks. With minimal effort, with $50 you can buy enough steak, shrimp, chicken, veggies and snacks to feed yourself for an entire week.
2. Lose Weight: Or at least, don’t gain any weight. Often when we gain weight we buy new articles of clothing and accessories. We may have a closet full of great clothes, but they just don’t fit well anymore, so we search for new things for our new body shape. Maintaining your weight, besides making you feel a lot better and saving stress, will save you a lot of money, because the clothes that you bought (and loved) last year will still look good this year.
3. Slow down: Putting the pedal to the metal, particularly during urban driving, burns unnecessary fuel, and you really don’t get there any faster. Another tip: cheap, no-name fuel might save you a couple of bucks when filling up your tank, but low quality gas may burn less efficiently, giving you lower gas mileage, i.e. you’ll fill up your tank more often.
4. Go for a long walk: Walking is free, it’s good exercise, will help with Tip #2 above, and can be time consuming and entertaining – particularly if you are walking with a friend. The more time you spend walking, the less time you will have to engage in other costly forms of entertainment
5. Take your lunch to work: The oldest money saving trick in the book, it still one of THE best money saving tips. It’s easy to spend $10 or more per day on lunch. For a 5-day work week, that’s $200 per month, minimum.
6. Stop smoking: Besides the obvious health reasons, smoking is way too expensive when you’re trying to save money. Last I checked, cigarettes cost about $5.80 per pack! If you smoke a pack per day and quit, that’s over $2,000 a year that you could be putting in the bank.
7. Cut down on personal maintenance costs: We all want to look good, but is it really necessary to wear artificial nails or visit the beauty salon or barber 3 or 4 times a month? Not everyone can do it, but if you learn to do your own manicure/pedicure (nail polish is really cheap and lasts for a long time) or, trim and maintenance your own hair in between beauty/barber visits, it can save a ton of cash.
8. Leave the debit/credit card home on most days: Withdraw the cash you need for the week and leave the debit card at home. You won’t be as quick to make unnecessary impulse purchases without the debit/credit card, and even if you do make an unplanned purchase, it is unlikely to be outrageous since you will only spend the cash in your pocket.
9. Take the family to a minor league game: Minor league games are often a lot cheaper than going to major league games, the kids have just as much fun, and the minor leagues can really use our support.
10. Wait for it: This is always good advice. Wait for the movie to get to cable. These days it doesn’t take long (and even with pay per view, it’s cheaper than taking the family to the theatre — snacks are cheaper too). Wait for the clothing, furniture, etc. you want to go on sale. Never buy full price. Patience is not only a virtue, it’s a bank account builder.
Try this for 2 weeks: On Sunday, go to the grocery store and buy enough food to take for lunch and make dinner for a week and fill up your gas tank (if applicable). Afterwards withdraw $50 from the ATM. Then take your lunch to work each day and make your dinner at home each evening. Go for a walk with a friend in the evenings instead of going to the movies or a bar/restaurant. On Friday, count how much of the $50 that you withdrew at the beginning of the week remains. Honestly, when I do this, I seldom spend more than $10 per week.