Practical Money Saving Tips

I think its important to talk about practical money saving tips that work for just about anyone. With these tips you should be able to squeeze out more money for investing. More money for investing equals more investing profits. These practical ideas are about saving money on everyday type of things that everyone spends money on.

I've mentioned before Money Saving Tips on Big Items, but those aren't always practical for everyone. Some people either aren't buying a house anytime soon or are renting for about as low as they can go. Some people have a low-cost or a paid off car. And many aren't employed by someone who gives them a flexible spending account. On this page I will list items that a wider range of people will be able to take advantage of.

Knowing where to shop

First and foremost among the practical money saving tips, know where to shop. Know which stores have the lowest prices for certain items. This sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many people will get this wrong. The confusion comes into play because some stores have some items at a great price and others and a bad price. Wal-mart is, generally, one of the cheapest places you can shop. However, they don't always have the best prices for some items. A lot of their food items that Wal-mart only has name-brand of can be beaten by a grocery store that has generics of the same items.

I suggest keeping a price book to compare items you buy regularly. It takes a little effort to create, but can end up saving you a ton of money by realizing not just which store has a better price, but how much better that price is. This information is useful because sometimes you will be at a store and know you can get a little bit better price on something you need, but that its not worth your time to go to the cheaper store when you can get it right then for almost the same price. On the flip side, sometimes you kind of need an item, but you're at the store that has it for a much higher price. Therefore, you would know to go ahead and wait until you get a chance to go to the store that has it at a better price because the savings would be significant.

Saving money on groceries

It's good to know where to shop, but it's also important to know what to buy. Am I going to tell you to sacrifice all taste and health concerns by buying cheap food? Absolutely not. However, it pays to be aware of the differences between generic and name brand items. Often times there is little difference in taste or quality. Sometimes they are even made in the same factory by the same company, but are just shipped with a different label! The key here is to try out the generic products for the name brand products that you buy.

Several years ago when I was looking at saving more money so that I can invest I realized that I bought all the name brand items at the grocery store. I then proceeded to try out every generic item that I could find for the same products that I already bought. I found that about 80% were of comparable quality and about 20% were significantly worse. Cereal, for example, tasted exactly the same while orange juice did not. I'm a big fan of the Simply Orange brand. I find the taste to be almost divine. I didn't know Orange juice could even taste that good. On top of that, the generic brand of orange juice tastes a lot like sugar water. I proceeded to cut my food budget by over $100 a month. That's more than $1200 a year more going to investing or paying back debt.

Going out to eat less

You can save it a ton of money by cooking instead of going out to eat. Again, you don't have to sacrifice quality either. You can make tasty meals for less than a dollar very easily. And, if you have to, you can make really, really cheap meals that are still healthy. For example, rice and beans is a tasty and excellent meal with a little bit spices and maybe a little bit of a piece for a very low cost.

One tip for helping me cook more often was to cook in large batches. I would cook large amounts of meat in the oven at once along with using a rice cooker to make a large amount of rice and would have the core of meals may for several days into the future. Let's say you can save $10 a day by cooking instead of eating out. That's $300 a month and $3600 a year more money to invest with. This is not a totally unreasonable number for some people.

Fix broken items instead of replacing them

This one is pretty simple. Any time an item breaks check into how you'd go about fixing it. Often times, with a little bit of effort you can fix an item for a small fraction of the price. For example, recently my computer failed and it turned out I had to replace the core components -- the motherboard and processor. So I basically had to rebuild the computer. But instead of spending $500 on a new computer, I was able to build a better computer using some of the old parts that I had that were still good enough for about $150. My computer is now better and faster than any $500 computer that I could buy and if something fails in the future I will again be able to fix it for a big discount.

Many people will not be able to fix their own computer (although it's pretty easy these days). Still, the principle applies to many of the items we use. For example, messed up shoes, a broken bicycle, your car, and many other household items can be fixed for a reasonable cost.

Find fun things that are free or near free

Instead of going to the movies and spending $20-$40, go to the park and throw a frisbee around with a friend. Most cities have a ton of public activities to do that are free or relatively cheap. For example, playing with my daughter is free. Riding my bike is free (sort of). Reading a good book is very cheap, and if I had enough time to use the library, it could be completely free. Going for walk is free. Visiting with friends is free or near free. I could go on and on. The point is that there are a lot of fun things to do that don't require a lot of money.

The central theme of practical money saving tips

None of the things I suggested degrade your quality of life. Some of them even enhance your life because it feels good to cook for yourself, repair your own items, or do anything else for yourself instead of hiring someone else. However, all of these items do require some new learning on your part, but you wouldn't be here if you weren't willing to learn new things.

It is also important for you to try things that might fail. For example, generic grocery items can often the disgusting. You just have to be willing to experiment and learn from the results.

With all these practical money saving tips combined, I'm able to save thousands of dollars a year and so will most people who aren't already doing these things. That is more money that I can save, invest, or pay down my debt. After all, what good is knowing how to invest if I have very little money to invest.

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