7 Tips For Saving Money

Hi girls! Martha here! Below are seven money-saving tips that I live by. And if you're wondering what gives me the right to tell you how to save money, I've got some street cred in this area. As a result my saving habits, I've saved up some serious dough that has allowed me to get through college without any student loans, buy a car, and likely still have enough money for a down payment once I graduate.

I hope these tips help you! Let me know if you have any money-saving tips you live by in the comments. I'm always looking for more and better ways to save money.

1. Find your saving inspiration

I think one of the reasons I have been so successful in saving money is that I have found a couple of things that inspire me to do so. In other words, I would rather spend less in my everyday life so I can spend money on these bigger things. For me, my saving inspiration is fueled by my desire to travel and to own a house.

While these might be my biggest drivers to save money, yours might be completely different. No matter what your's are, make sure they aren’t so far away from happening that it’s easy to lose your motivation or so abstract that they're hard to quantify. That means you shouldn't try to find saving inspiration in retirement if you’re more than 20 years away from it, and you shouldn't save money just so you can be “financially secure”.

For example, aside from being passionate about both of my saving inspirations, travel is something I have been and will be able to reward myself with, and I plan to put a down payment on a house in the next three years.

Side note: While I don’t recommend that you use retirement as your saving inspiration, it is CRUCIAL that you start saving for your retirement as soon as you can. I am a huge proponent of this and have already been putting money into a 401k.

2. Drink water

Do your absolute best to eliminate any other type of drink besides water. Not only is water great for your body, it is usually either free or costs less than coffee, soda, juice, or alcohol. It takes some getting used to, but once you’ve made it a habit, you won’t even think about it.

3. Get rid of cable (and Netflix too!)

I know it probably seems absolutely impossible, but cutting out all forms of TV is a great way to save money.

Here's a bit of a backstory. I live at home with my dad while I’m going to school. For about a year now, we have had a TV sitting in the living room but absolutely nothing to watch on it (besides movies on a DVD player that is). Yes, that means no cable, no Netflix, no Hulu, and no Amazon Prime. Absolutely barbaric, I know. But I’m actually really grateful that we haven't had any of these services. And instead of buying one of them myself, I've saved money and a boatload of time.

You don’t realize how much time you truly spend in front of the TV until you stop watching it. I mean, just think about it for a second. How many hours of TV do you watch a week? Now think about how you could be spending that time to get ahead on schoolwork, earn some money and impress your boss at work, learn a new language, spend quality time with your friends, boyfriend, or family, read an awesome book, get a great workout in, or even just get a little more sleep. The possibilities are endless!

Alright, now back to how it saves you money. Let’s take a look at Netflix. At $7.99 per month for their basic plan, that’s about $96 a year. While that may not seem like that much for an entire year, that money could go a long way in other areas of your life. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of what you could do with that money. Warning: as one of my main motivations for saving money is travel, these are all going to be travel-related alternatives!

Here goes. With that amount of money, you're more than halfway to saving for a plane ticket from Atlanta to New York, could buy an America the Beautiful pass (your ticket to all of our amazing national parks plus more), or go to a cooking class for two held in Rome, Italy where you learn how to make pasta.

So cut out TV and remind yourself of your saving inspiration every time you're tempted to turn Netflix back on.

4. Cook your own food

This is the one that I think gets people the most. It definitely got me.

Story time! While working at my first job in high school, I would grab a burger from Wendy’s almost every day before work. At the end of my first semester of working, I barely had any money left. I was devastated and went back through my expenses. I realized that the food I had been buying was one of the biggest reasons my bank account was so sparse. From that day on, I vowed to, when possible, not spend money on eating out. To this day, I only eat out when I go out with my friends/boyfriend for special occasions or when I know that it would have taken me more money to make the food than it would to just buy the final version.

Everyone is short on time nowadays. Trust me, I know how you feel. It’s all too easy to grab a salad at Chick-fil-A instead of making your own salad at home. But while it obviously takes more time, packing your lunch saves so much money. So the next time you’re considering buying your lunch instead of making it at home, think about your saving inspiration! It always helps ground me and remind me why it’s so important to save.

5. Stop traveling so much

But...Martha? Your saving inspiration is travel…

True! But guess what? That doesn’t mean I can book a plane ticket or go on a road trip every time I want to!

Again, I know it’s hard. Your friends want to go on a life-changing, best friend-bonding, never-to-be-had-again vacation. YOU want to go on that vacation. But if you take every opportunity to travel that’s offered to you, you’ll be out of money before you can say "flat broke".

While I believe traveling is important, it’s also important to realize that it’s not everything and that it’s not something you should necessarily do frequently. That’s why its part of my saving inspiration. It’s something that you should work towards, not something you should dish out money for every time someone asks you if you want to go to spring break in PCB.

I’m definitely not the type of person to tell you to not go on vacation, but I am encouraging you to be mindful of how often you go, how much you’re spending, and to think about what that money could be going towards instead.

6. Take advantage of all the free (or super cheap) things to do around you

Sometimes we get stuck in the mindset that in order to go out and have fun, we need to spend a lot of money. Not true! Just search “free things to do near me” or “fun free things to do” to get a boatload of inspiration for the next time you want to hang out with friends and have fun but don’t want to break the bank. If you live in the Atlanta area, click here to see a great list!

One of my favorite $0-$5 activities is hiking. Georgia has what seems to be an unlimited amount of hiking spots, so I can always find a new trail to explore. Check out the app/website AllTrails to find a trail near you and have some fun while doing your body good for virtually no money!

7. Avoid being swayed by those adorable puppy (or kitty) eyes

That’s right, I’m talking about pets. It amazes me how many people get pets without thinking of the financial implications. According to an ASPCA report, the first-year cost of owning either a dog or a cat is over $1,000. Then it will typically take over $600 a year to take care of either after that first 365 days.

Whatever your saving inspiration, think of what that money could mean. For all of my fellow travel lovers, just think of all the plane tickets you could buy with that money!

Let us know in the comments what your saving inspiration is and some of your favorite money-saving tips!