Sometimes it feels like it is impossible to save money. You work, you pay your bills, you buy groceries and bam! Money is gone. Or at least it feels like it. The thing is though, it really isn’t that hard to save money. You just need to be willing to do it a little bit at a time and you can save up more than you think!
Here are some easy ways to save money that you can start implementing right now:
Bottle Redemption. If you live in a state that allows bottle redemption, make sure you make those returns! At $0.05 to $0.10 each, that is a lot of money that you are throwing away when you toss those recyclables in the trash. We make a habit of returning our bottles and cans at the end of each month and put the return money into our savings account.
Save Your Quarters (or Dimes or Nickels, etc). Make a habit of saving every quarter you get back in change (you can save your dimes or nickels if you prefer), these coins add up quickly and help you build your savings goals.
Keep the Change options. Check with your bank to see if they have a “keep the change” type option for your account. Whenever I swipe my debit card, the amount is rounded up to the nearest dollar with the difference getting automatically deposited into my savings account.
Use Ibotta. Using a cashback app such as Ibotta is simply awesome. You submit for rebates on items that you have already purchased and once you have reached $20, you can get cash back via PayPal. Use these rebates to build your savings.
Sell Your Stuff. Declutter your house and sell the stuff that you no longer use. Make a commitment to yourself to use the money you make to add it to your savings. You would be surprised by how much hidden money you have in your closet collecting dust.
Automatically Save. If you have direct deposit at work, choose to have a portion of your check automatically deposited into a savings account that is not connected to your typical bank account. When my husband and I first started doing this, we started with just $50 per month being deposited. We then went in every 3-6 months and upped the amount by $10-$20. These were amounts that were not even noticeable to us, but they have significantly increased the amount of savings we have.
