Do you like to save money? Dumb question, right – you work hard for your money, so you want to keep as much of it as possible. There are plenty of ways to save money without spending hours to do so. Here are 20 simple mini money saving hacks that can help you save a lot. Let’s get straight to the point and start saving…

1. Put your savings on auto-pilot

You can automate just about everything; and you should. It takes a lot of weight off your shoulders and frees up your time. Saving is easy to automate with online banking – simply set up an automatic transfer from your checking to your savings each month… Or try Digit! Digit is a free tool that automatically transfers different amounts from your checking account to your savings. It’s an intelligent tool that knows when you can and can’t afford to save; but don’t worry, if for some reason Digit causes you to overdraft by taking too much, they will fully reimburse any fees and charges (though it’s so smart I’ve never even heard of it causing an overdraft).

2. Make a meal plan

When people ask how my wife and I feed our family of six for under $400/month, I have two words: “meal plan”. Planning your meals will save you a ton. It eliminates buying extra food that you don’t need. It also helps you plan ahead for making more affordable meals, rather than buying what looks good when you’re at the grocery store.  I’ll go over how we make our meal plans even cheaper in the next point.

3. Plan meals around sales

You don’t have to spend hours going through sale papers to find the best deals on everything. Just make your meal plan, but leave the specifics open. For example, one of your meals could be a stir-fry, so you need meat, veggies and a grain. When you get to the store, buy the best-priced meat and veggies. Then look for a grain, like rice or quinoa and buy whatever is the most cost-effective, weighing the price and health benefits.

4. Drink more water

This may seem obvious but the statistics show that it isn’t. You’ll save a lot of money if you stop buying the 24 packs of soda and bottles of juice. Bottled water is cheap – tap water is cheaper. There are many great options for filtering if you’re not a fan of the tap taste. Weigh the cost and see whether you prefer bottled or tap. When you’re eating out, a family of six can easily save $12-$20 per meal just by drinking water instead of soft drinks.

5. Set an automatic budget

There are plenty of free services like Mint and Personal Capital that allow you to link your accounts and automatically track your budget. If you’re not one for spreadsheets and inputting numbers, this is for you. You are able to view it and oversee the budget, but once you set your categories everything is automatically sorted for you. Occasionally something will go into the wrong category, but it’s easy to switch it and change the category for all future transactions.

6. Set a plan to pay off debt

If you want to get out of debt, you need a plan. There are a few options, but the two most common are the debt snowball and the debt avalanche. How do they work? For the debt snowball you simply write down all your debts from the smallest balance to the largest, then you use any extra money to pay off the smallest balance first. Once that’s paid off, take that payment plus any extra money, and put it on the next smallest balance until you’re debt free. With the debt avalanche it’s the same idea, except you sort by interest rate (highest to lowest) instead of by balance.  The debt avalanche will save you more money in interest, but you may prefer the small wins that the debt snowball provides in the beginning.

7. Get a second job

If you’re trying to reach a goal that seems to be taking longer than you’d like, you may want a second a job. It’s not forever; just a temporary job to get past whatever situation you’re in. If you’re in debt a second job is a great way to pay it off faster. If you’re building an emergency fund: get a second job to get it knocked out. The service industry is great for this, such as waiting tables or delivering pizzas. Service jobs are great for maximizing your extra working hours, since you’ll be getting tips and likely making more than you would at a regular hourly job.  If you aren’t able to get a second job then don’t worry!  There are plenty of other ways below to save money without working more.

8. Challenge everything

Challenge every single expense you have. Do you really need cable? What about those magazine subscriptions that you don’t read? Both of them cost money on their own and the ads could possibly persuade you to spend even more. Odds are you can cut something out. Perhaps you’ve been paying for a service so long that it’s second nature? It’s time for a challenge and here’s how to do it:
  1. Write down every single expense you have
  2. Look for expenses you can fully cut out
  3. Find ways to save money on the remaining expenses

9. Compare insurance rates

When was the last time you checked insurance rates? This is something you should be doing annually. The cheapest isn’t always the best, but usually you’ll find that you can get the same coverage for less money if you shop around. Once a year take a look at all your insurance policies. Call around or go online and see if you can find better rates. Most of the time you can!
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