Are you looking for easy ways to save money fast to meet your financial goals? Saving money can be difficult, especially if you live paycheck to paycheck or don’t have a proper budget. But saving money does not mean giving up dinner to save $10. The best and most innovative way to save money fast is to figure out how to get what you need at an affordable cost and save the difference. Some things you need to stop buying and save money fast do not add value to your life.
Saving money has also become more challenging due to the high cost of living and debt payments. According to a recent survey by Forbes Advisor, about 28% of Americans have less than $1,000 saved, while almost 50% have less than $5,000 in their savings. If you are among millions of people struggling to save money, I have a list of 15 things you can stop buying to save money without altering the quality of your life.
Check out the following list of money wasters to stop buying and achieve your saving goals.
1. Coffee
Buying coffee wastes money, especially if you want to save money fast. I used to buy coffee every morning until I realized I was spending about $1,825 on coffee, paying $5 per cup daily. That was a great revelation for me, and from that day, I have never bought coffee from coffee shops again.
I bought a coffee maker and started making my coffee at home to save money fast. Right now, I spend less than $50 on coffee per year. That is a considerable saving from $1825 to only paying $50. I have been making my coffee for the last 12 years! If you are a heavy coffee drinker and want to reduce your monthly expenses to save money, stop buying expensive coffee and start making your own. You will be surprised by how much money you can save each year.
2. Bottled water
I hate to tell you this, but If you still buy bottled water, you are wasting your money. Taking control of your finances requires taking stock of your income and expenses and spending money on things that matter the most. This is because, for example, you can stop buying bottled water and save money fast without giving up high-quality water.
My bottled water expenses used to be $364 per year. After watching a nasty video of a public water pipe being repaired and realizing that bottled water cost me hundreds of dollars, I stopped buying bottled water. Spending over $350 per year on water was not a good financial decision for me. You are wasting your money if you still buy bottled water like I used to. To save money fast, I stopped buying bottled water. I bought a water filter to keep drinking clean water, allowing me to turn my tap water into safer drinking water. This money-saving strategy helped me save hundreds of dollars yearly.
3. Lunch
If you are still looking for things you can stop buying to save money, lunch becomes my number three on the list. I included lunch on this list because it used to cost me a lot of money to buy lunch. The food was also unhealthy, and the taste was not good enough to justify the cost.
I stopped buying lunch and started making it at home to save money fast. I used to spend about $10 per lunch Monday through Saturday, translating to $3,130 per year on lunch alone. I started making my lunches at home the night before and packing them. On weekends, when I have free time, I do meal prep, cooking all the meals I need for the following week. This money-saving strategy enables me to eat healthy meals and save money simultaneously.
4. Paper towels
One of the worst ways to lose money is to buy paper towels. Most people spend hundreds of dollars on paper towels yearly. I know this because I used to make the same financial mistakes. You can stop buying paper towels and save money fast by buying reusable towels. Reusable towels can last many years, even decades, if you take good care of them. After changing my saving strategies, I got more money to invest in my future and improved my financial situation.
5. Impulse purchases
Impulse purchases are the leading causes of financial hardships among millions of people. I used to struggle with them as well, but not anymore. Many stores put impulse products in isles with heavy traffic to trigger shoppers’ impulse purchase emotions. Most of the time, items purchased with impulse purchases are not even needed, which costs you money for nothing.
You can save money fast by avoiding impulse product purchases every time you shop. To avoid buying items on impulse, I always make a list of things I need before I go shopping. If there were an item I forgot to include on the list, I would go home without it and evaluate whether it was needed. If I need it, I add it to the following shopping list. These simple saving tips can help turn your finances around and boost your net worth.
6. Stop buying processed food
Processed foods are some of the worst things to waste your hard-earned money on. As a consumer, you must understand that being processed also means different products, usually harmful ones, have been added to the food to make and preserve it. In other words, processed foods kill you slowly.
Have you seen a hot dog? Most of you flock to the store to buy dozens of hot dogs and munch on them like there is no tomorrow. I bet you might think differently if you have seen how hot dogs are made. I used to buy hot dogs but stopped many years ago after seeing how unhealthy they were. Of course, I also wanted to save money besides improving my health. This is one example of many processed foods you can stop buying to save money fast and improve your health.
7. Gym memberships
Gym memberships are such a waste. I am not saying that they don’t work. But, for someone who wants to save money, canceling your gym membership can help you save money immediately. The thing about working out is that you don’t need expensive equipment to achieve great physics. When you have a gym membership, you pay for all equipment but don’t use all of them. So, why would you pay for all the machines if you only use a few?
If you are serious about saving money fast, start working out in nature. You can complete a yoga exercise outside in a park, walk in a park, run in a park, and much more. The point is that you can achieve similar workout results from nature for free. If you need to lift some weights, buy a few dumbbells and a bike to help improve your physique. All this equipment will cost a few hundred dollars, a fraction of your yearly gym membership costs.
8. Stop buying brand-name products
Most people think that buying brand-name products gives them more results. I used to have the same mindset until I learned the absolute truth. Brand-name products don’t have better ingredients or work better than generic products. After learning this truth, I stopped buying brand-name products and have been doing it for many years. As a result, I saved dozens of thousands of dollars by shopping savvy.
If you are looking for something to stop buying to save money fast, stop buying brand-name products. You will still achieve the same results and boost your savings simultaneously.
9. Lottery tickets
Are you still buying lottery tickets, hoping to strike it rich? I can’t blame you. I used to buy lottery tickets from gas stations and never won anything except watching my savings deplete day and night. The thing about gambling is that the odds are stacked against you, and the chances of you being the winner are almost zero.
Why keep buying lottery tickets if you will lose every time you try? I don’t know why people gamble, but it is human nature. But, if you want to save money fast and achieve your goals, I guarantee you that saving the money you will gamble with can make a huge difference in your savings. I don’t remember when I last bought a lottery ticket, but it was almost a decade ago. My life and savings improved right after stopping. You can also achieve the same results.
10. Don’t waste your savings on food delivery
Why would you buy food online, have it delivered, and tip the person who brought it? Ordering delivery food costs you more than the food itself. You are also paying the gas of the person delivering it and tipping them. I tried food delivered once many years ago; it was the last time I did it. This was one of the best decisions I ever made.
To save money fast, stop buying delivered food. If you can avoid restaurants altogether, it will be even better. Start making your meals to save money. Not only does cooking your food allow you to dictate how much it costs, but you also get to eat healthy food as you decide what ingredients to add to each meal.
11. Stop useless monthly subscriptions
Subscription is a term that is vaguely applied to a lot of things. But, here, subscription refers to these monthly useless memberships you pay to use services such as only subscriptions. An excellent example of a monthly subscription you must cancel right now to save money is an online shopping site subscription. You don’t need to pay to be a member on top of the money you spend on purchases. Yes, being a member comes with a discount, but how often do you shop on that site?
Even if you shop there regularly, why are you spending too much money on a site buying things you don’t need? Just cancel unnecessary subscriptions and buy things you need only when necessary. This strategy will save you a ton of money immediately and in the long run.
12. Baked goods
One of the best ways to improve your health and save money is to avoid baked goods such as bread. Not only are they made with unhealthy ingredients, such as too much sugar, which kills you slowly and causes obesity and many diseases, but they also cost you too much money. Stop buying bread and related goods if you want to save money fast.
Instead, learn how to bake yourself. This will be a cheap way to get what you want at affordable prices. There is also a health benefit to doing baking yourself. You will decide how much sugar to include in your bread, for example, the kind of flower you use, and much more. Baking is also an excellent skill to learn and can be therapeutic.
13. Extended warranties
Are you still wasting your money on extended warranties? Extended warranties aim to help cover some repairs beyond what the manufacturer offers. That is the basics of it. But if you buy the right product, it is unlikely that you will end up in a situation where you need support beyond the warranty that comes with the product itself.
Even if you end up in such a situation, the money you spend and the headache you will go through to have the product fixed will not justify the cost. If you want to save money fast, don’t go out there buying an extended warranty for everything you buy. Companies do this to get more free money out of your pockets by deceiving you into thinking you are making a great decision. Save your money and live your life. That is the goal.
14. Tobacco and drugs
I don’t know if you smoke tobacco or get involved with drugs and similar products. If you do, you probably need to cut back on these expenses. While there are times when it is difficult to go back and undo everything, lowering your tobacco product expenses can save you a lot of money.
I say this because tobacco and related products are costly. World Population Review published statistics showing the cost of cigarettes across many states in the U.S.A., and the results are astonishing. According to the report, the price of a cigarette ranges between $6 and $12 depending on the state. New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts came on top with a little shy of $12 per pack. Assuming that you live in one of these states and smoke one pack per day, it will cost you $4,380 to smoke cigarettes per year.
If you do other stuff that people do nowadays on top of your cigarettes, you can easily see that saving money is a dream you will never achieve in your lifetime.
For this reason, cigarettes and related products are things you must top buying to save money fast. These products affect your health and cost you the future. If you are addicted to them, you might need to lower your dosages slowly by slowly and seek a support system to help you navigate the recovery process.
15. Having full coverage on an old car
While there are some gray areas when establishing one’s needs, you must ensure that your financial decisions make sense as a consumer. I once talked with someone with full coverage on a $4,000 car. That is right. The person was paying $300 monthly to cover a $4,000 car. This means that this person spends as much as the car’s value on its insurance each year. The sad news was that this person was confident about that decision and thought it was an excellent financial decision.
Businesses like insurance companies rely on your lack of financial education to make money from you. If you currently pay full coverage on an old car, consider lowering your premiums or getting a liability instead of full coverage. Like that person I described above, you can easily save that money to buy a much better car at the end of the year instead of giving it to the insurance company.
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