Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Are you ready to get busy with this whole savings thing that it seems like everyone but you is succeeding at? Yeah, I’ve been there, I know exactly how you feel. That’s why I started really paying attention to the things that we were doing at home and worked hard to put my energy into saving money on things that we did every day at home. True story. No, you don’t need to develop a side hustle or get a second job, sometimes the best thing that you can do is work your budget to make it work better for you. A penny saved is a penny earned, am I right?
Here are some surprising ways to save money at home that you may not even be thinking of:
- Adjust your thermostat. Even just a degree or two can make a big difference in your power bill. C’mon, you can handle it being one or two degrees warmer, can’t you?
- “Shop” your pantry. Yes, I mean it. Instead of heading out to the grocery store, be sure and shop in your pantry first. You may have plenty of food in there to create several days worth of meals without putting any money out.
- Meatless Mondays. Plan to do a day (or more) of the week where you don’t put meat on the menu. You will be surprised at how much money you save doing this.
- Stay home. Yeah, it should be a given, but the more you go out the more likely you are to spend money, be it at the gas station, grocery store, drive thru or any other stop you make. Make a conscious effort to stay home more often and you will be surprised by how much you will save. This one was difficult for me personally, but I literally have saved hundreds of dollars each month since I began simply staying home more. I now combine my trips to town (I live the rural life). I have saved on gas and lots and lots of incidentals that I didn’t even know I was spending money on.
- Make your own coffee. I know, I know you hear this one a lot. Seriously, a cup of coffee on the road can cost upwards of $5, whereas a cup of coffee at home can cost less than a dime.
