Mo’ Money
We all want more money. Whether its to make ends meet, payoff debt, or achieve a goal like saving for a vacation, having more money is the key to making those things happen. But how does “more money” happen? How do you get more money? Well, there’s two main ways: make more or spend less. Though both are valid ways of making the most of money, this article focuses on the later: SPEND LESS. There’re some benefits to spending less money. First, it’s money you already have. You’re not going out having to find a new job or picking up more hours at your current one. For these methods to work, you spend a little time, for a lot of benefit. Its an easy win!
Rerate Your Insurance (Shop Around)
This applies to auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance. If you have both you can snag some great bundling discounts too. You don’t even need to wait to renewal time. You can end one policy and start another anytime. Now, when I say rerate your insurance, I mean shop around AND quote your policy with your current provider. You can save hundreds of dollars on your insurance simply by shopping around to a few carriers. I’m a fan of the top three – Progressive, Geico and State Farm. Between those three you are likely to find a great deal. As you are shopping around don’t forget to shop at your current carrier for a NEW policy (not a renewal).
Insurance companies give new customers better rates than existing customers. Do an online quote for a NEW policy with your current carrier – chances are it’s a better rate that what they will offer you to renew. If you go this route, you will have to cancel your old policy and start a new one. It’s easy, just make sure you do not have a gap in coverage where neither policy is active. If you have a gap in coverage and have an accident, you will have a bad time.
Pro Tip: Insurance companies give new customers better rates than existing customers. Do an online quote for a NEW policy with your current carrier – chances are it’s a better rate that what they will offer you to renew.
When I got hit with a high renewal bill after adding a teen driver to the policy, I was stunned at the 300% premium increase. I shopped around for the same policy at 5 different companies and all had different rates, one was nearly $2000 more per 6-month policy period! That’s insane! I saw that I could get some real savings by switching companies, and I almost did. But then I realized I hadn’t gotten a new quote from my existing insurer. When I did, I hit the jackpot! I ended up saving $1029 over the next best offer!
Hack your grocery bill – Save 50% or MORE
I’ve written in depth about saving on your grocery bill here, but basically, grocery hacking is where you shop what’s on sale in the grocery ads and build your meals around that while layering other types of deals when you can. It requires some planning and flexibility in what your family will eat, but when done well you can cut your grocery bill by half or even more. For example, if chicken or pork are on sale, you would buy that and create meals using those items along with whatever else is on sale. For maximum impact, pair or layer different types of deals, like ads savings plus coupons and loyalty deals.
Pro Tip: Know the tools of the grocery hacking trade. Combine loyalty cards, coupons, and ads for maximum impact. Also consider shopping at multiple stores since savings can vary greatly between retailers.
Cut the cord on cable (or at least call for a better rate)
Cable companies are a racket. Just like insurance companies, they treat new customers better than existing ones. If you want decent rates, you have to call and ask for it. To give you an Idea of what can be saved, I called and reduced my cable interne bill from $126 a month down to $80. It took 10 minutes of my life, but I’m saving $46 a month for the next year, at which point they start creeping the bill back up again. That’s fine by me though, since I’ll just call back then too. This trick works for cable TV and internet services. They key is to get to their “loyalty department”. The loyalty department is where they have the best deals because they are trying to keep you from canceling your services.
Pro Tip: Be nice to to the people on the phone. They aren’t going to give the dude that’s screaming angrily at them a killer deal. If you are easy to work with, they are more likely to give you their best options.
Calling for a better deal is a great start, but he best way to stick it to the cable company is to leave them. For cable TV service there are way better alternatives for a lot less money. Streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are great alternatives and cost A LOT less than cable. With premium options starting around just $20 a month, streaming services are a great substitute for the cable TV.
I personally alternate between two streaming services. The family and I will binge Netflix for several months, then switch to Hulu to binge their content. Going back and forth keeps us from getting bored and saves money because we don’t have both services at once. We sometimes add in a specialty channel on free trial for funsies, something like Showtime or Disney+ can sometimes be binged in a 30-day free trial, so we will add that in to keep things interesting and cheap. Just don’t forget to cancel the free trial before the trial period is up so you don’t get charged.
Skimp on Subscriptions
Subscription services are super convenient and make life easy but they can easily start nickel and diming you out of your hard-earned cash. Some subscription services do add value, and should be embraced – sparingly. Saving money shouldn’t make you feel deprived, it should help you focus on spending money on the things that matter to you an add something positive to your life. Convenience is great, but not at the cost of your financial wellbeing. Try using an app like Trim to evaluate your subscription spending. There is also some value in going through your subscriptions manually. It won’t take long and it can help you save hundreds of dollars a year.
Pro Tip: Look carefully at your subscription services. Are there services that have overlapping benefits, where you could easily cut one, and not really feel the pinch?
For example, look at your streaming services. Do you have more than one at a time? If so, there may be an opportunity to choose just one for a while. When you get bored with it, cancel and switch to another. There are so many services out there, you can switch between them regularly to avoid getting tired of any one in particular. Also look at subscriptions like loot boxes, shave clubs, subscription meals/snacks/booze, and even gaming subscriptions. Ask yourself, “Do I really need this subscription right now? Is it overlapping another one that adds similar value? Can I cancel one?” If you feel you need the subscription and it adds value, consider if reducing the frequency of deliveries, or finding a less costly substitute is an option.
Stop Eating Out and Learn to Cook
Next to grocery hacking, stopping eating out is one of the quickest ways to start seeing money back in your budget. Its easy to get in the habit of picking up food a few times a week, or getting that fancy coffee each day, but these things wear on your budget. We talk ourselves into normalizing and justifying the decision to eat out because we are busy, or deserve that cup of caffeinated happiness in the morning, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there is value in not depriving yourself. In fact, you should treat yourself now and then, but the ongoing decisions to eat out all the time are destructive.
Maybe it’s just $5 a day for your coffee or less than $100 a week for your dinning out. Maybe it doesn’t sound like all that much. When you add that spending up over time though, it really begins to compound. That $5 cup of coffee each day adds up to $1300 over the course of a year (assuming 1 purchase 5 days per week, for all 52 weeks of the year). What could you do with an extra $1300? Same thing with dinning out. A hundred bucks a week spent on dining out turns into $5200 at the end of the year. That’s a pretty good chunk of change you could be using to pay down debt, save for college, invest, etc.
Food for Thought: Could you use an extra $1300 this year? Over $100 a month extra in your budget? If you’re making a daily purchase on something like a fancy coffee, you could be throwing away a substantial sum of money!
To stop dining out all the time you need to do two things: First, you need to look at why you are eating out a lot, second thing you need to do is fix it. For many, stopping eating out is behavioral change. To change the behavior, you need to determine what is driving that behavior. Is it that you are low on time? Is it laziness? Is it not knowing how to cook? Is it not being prepared to cook? Or is it something else altogether? Whatever the reason is, be honest with yourself. If its being short on time or unprepared to cook, learn about meal planning and prepping. If you don’t know how to cook, learn. If you are prone to laziness, set goals for yourself and remove obstacles that allow you to make excuses. Take responsibility and make this change for the positive. Once you’ve addressed your motivation for dinning out, and solved for it, you’ll see a swift increase in the amount of money you’re saving each month.
You can Do This
Making the most of your money is a big deal. When you find ways to save and keep more of your money, it empowers you. You’ll find that you start seeing more and more ways to save on your expenses each and every day. Keep that momentum going! Be courageous in your willingness to stop giving your money away. You got this!!