In today’s economy saving money can be tough! It’s extremely important that you develop the habits you need to achieve financial stability and eventually, financial freedom.
If 2014 is the year for you to ramp up your savings, here are seven tips to save even more money.
Use the Right Bank Accounts
You have so many options when it comes to bank accounts. If you’re currently getting charged monthly fees for letting the bank hold on to your money for you, you need to research your options.
There are many banks and credit unions that offer no fee, no minimum deposit checking accounts.
As far as savings accounts go, you can generally receive a higher interest rate by taking advantage of online banking.
Demolish Your Debt
If you’re currently in debt the best thing you can do to increase your savings is to demolish your debt. Make a plan to attack your current debt head on. After your debt is paid off you can then redirect those funds to savings.
If you have a lot of credit card debt call the credit card company and ask them to lower your interest rate. If they won’t lower your interest rate you can transfer your balance to a 0% percent introductory offer card.
Automate Your Savings
When you don’t see your money, you don’t miss it. That is the power of automating your savings.
You don’t have to have a lot of money to start. Set up automatic transfers from your paycheck or checking account into your savings account. Start small and gradually increase your contributions as you go. It’s that easy.
Shop Smart
When you’re trying to pay down debt or ramp up your savings it’s important that you shop smart. Look for deals on items that you normally purchase, buy in bulk, use coupons, and shop at thrift stores.
If taking a more frugal approach to shopping is new to you, start small. Read frugality blogs and books and start to look for deals.
Bank Your Savings
You know that money you just worked so hard to save by shopping smart? Save it or use it to pay off debt!
If you’re working hard to lower your spending you need to do something significant with the money that you save. There’s no point in saving money unless you’re actually using that saved money for something important.
Take the 52 Week Challenge
If you’re still struggling to beef up your savings account consider participating in the 52 week savings challenge.
In this challenge you increase your savings by a dollar each week of the year. For example, during week one, you save one dollar, during week two, you save two dollars, during week three, you save three dollars, and so on. By the time you reach 52 weeks you’ll have accumulated $1,378!
Collect Your Spare Change
Another simple savings strategy you can implement is to simply save your spare change for six months to a year and then add it to your savings account.
If you use cash a lot you can save a decent amount of money by throwing your spare change in a jar each day.
How Do You Save?
There is tons of great money saving advice out there, it’s much more important to take action and do one thing to save than worry about the optimal way to save your money. When you’re trying to save more money the most important thing you can do is work to develop long lasting habits. In the beginning saving more money may be hard but once you start to build good habits you’ll recognize more and more ways you can save money.
What are your best money saving tips?
I think automating my savings is the best thing that I did! And also I want to try that 52 week savings challenge.