This is the fourth post in our How We Afford to Travel series. We’ve talked generally about how we afford to travel, not having debt and budgeting. Today we are going to be talking about saving.  I’m going to be talking about both long term saving as well as how to save on little every day and every month expense that can really add up to major savings over a year.

Long Term Savings:

We talked about this a little in our budgeting post as well as our budgeting podcast episode. But each month when we are figuring out our monthly budget, we are always adding to our savings. We add to our general savings account as well as saving money each month for large purchases like annual subscriptions and  memberships, for our electronics, car repairs and for travel. By putting a little away each month, we have money saved up when we need to make large purchases and it doesn’t hit our budget quite as hard as it would have if we hadn’t been saving each month.

Monthly Savings:

There are things that are monthly expense that you can be saving money on! While you’re not putting this money into a savings account, doing some of these things will get you to stretch your dollar farther. You can get more for your money each month by doing some of the following things.

Housing and Utilities

Each month you will need to pay your mortgage or rent as well as utilities. For us, we have always tried to find cheaper housing while still being in safe and nice areas. But we have had to sacrifice space, newness and overall quality for some of the places that we have lived. Did you know for our first three years of marriage we lived in studio apartments and slept on a futon? We did this so we could save money on our housing situation so we could use that money that we saved in other areas.

For utilities, we have tried to find a good compromise of quality and cost for our Internet and that requires research! I spent quite a while reading reviews, talking to people about their providers, calling and getting quotes, etc. It took a lot of time, but we were able to get a good deal on a fairly decent Internet package because I took my time to call. For other utilities like gas and electricity, we save by keeping our thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer. Our house is always more on the cool side in the winter and a little warmer in the summer, but by keeping our thermostat a few degrees below the ideal, it saves us quite a bit of money each month. Also some utility companies offer plans where you can pay the same monthly payment based on your average from the previous years. This could be a way to help you better budget what your utility bill will be each month.

Insurance

For lots of different types of insurance, there is a monthly cost associated with them. In a lot of cases, you can talk to your insurance company and see if they offer a discount for paying annually. This is what we do for our car and renter’s insurance and it saves us hundreds of dollars each yet. Also, if your rates seem to be going up each year by a significant amount, it doesn’t hurt to shop around annually for new insurance. By simply making calls, doing research, and talking to people, you can get lower insurance rates.

Weekly Savings:

Weekly savings are areas of your budget that you spend weekly. By making smart choices about how we spend our money each week, you can also save quite a bit of money and make your dollar stretch farther.

Groceries

This is where so many people overspend in their budgets! Food is bought, not used and thrown away. There are a couple different ways that you can totally save lots of money in your grocery budget. (Leave a comment down below if you’re interested in me doing a separate post with more specific ways of how I do these things I”m about to mention).

First is MEAL PLAN! But don’t just meal plan based on what sounds good. Look in your fridge, freezer and pantry and see what foods you already have on hand that need to be eaten soon. Once you have that list, try planning what you’re going to eat that week. If you need to pick up a couple things at the store, great. But don’t purchase all the ingredients for each meal each week. It will not save you money!

Second is buy what’s on sale and in season. Look at your local store’s weekly ads. See what’s on sale. Is it something that your family uses often? Then buy multiple of that item to have on hand so you don’t have to pay full price next time you need it.

Third, create a price notebook. This really goes along with the second item. Create a price notebook of the things that your family usually eats and record sale prices for those items. This helps you know when things are usually on sale and if they’re on a really good sale. It lets you know when things are really deals and when the best time is to stock up. I also liked to write down the dates when those things are on sale. This helps you see that sales usually go in cycles and that certain things are on sale at certain times of year. For example, fall and winter usually have huge baking sales where flour, sugar, chocolate chips and other baking items to on really big sales.

Fourth, eat leftovers. We always have 2-3 leftover nights in our meal plan. Because we are only a family of 3 (two adults and a two-year-old) we can’t finish a full recipe of something at dinner so we always have quite a few leftovers throughout the week.

Gas

We always purchase our gas at Costco or Sam’s Club and occasionally Smith’s (our local Kroger store). Costco and Sam’s Club often have gas for around 10 cents less per gallon than our other gas stations. And at Smith’s I earn fuel points when I grocery shop there which gets me anywhere from 3-10 cents off per gallon when I buy gas from them. See if you have a local station that is always cheaper than other places or if you have a grocery store that offers fuel points as well!

Another way to save on gas each week is to combine your trips. For me, when I leave the house, I try to complete all of my errands for the day on that same trip instead of going out a million times a day or multiple times throughout the week. I also try to arrange my trips geographically so that I’m not backtracking throughout my errands.

Entertainment

We save money on our entertainment (eating out, dates, family activities, etc.) by being very choosy with what we want to do. At our monthly budget meeting we talk about and choose a few things we want to do for the month. We look for coupons and deals for those things, go during non-peak times, and research ahead of time how much it is going to cost. So much money is spent on entertainment when it could be saved! Do you really have to go to a movie on Friday night? Or can you go on Tuesday when it is cheaper and not as crowded? Do you need to go out to dinner every week? Or can you choose a couple times a month to go to your favorite places the nights they have specials?

Sum Up:

There are ways that we can save money on our monthly and weekly expenses that end up saving you hundreds of dollars a year! By making small, simple changes you can end up saving your family a lot of money that can then be used somewhere else. By adding those savings to other long term savings you and your family can be living the life you want to have! Let me know in the comments below your best tip for saving money. And let me know if you’re interested in me going into more detail about how we save money each month.