How To Save Money Fast – 9 Ideas To Boost Your Money
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Saving money is necessary and at times requires a great deal of patience.
But what if you want to learn how to save money fast?
We’ve had moments where we’ve had to save money quickly and raise funds.
Like the time we had to buy a new washing machine or when we had unexpected car problems to fix.
This also applies if you have birthdays or special occasions coming up soon and you want to get extra funds.
Let’s get into it.
Table of Contents
How To Save Money Fast
Saving money is an important part in our financial journey.
Saving is about putting money aside for a short term need.
This short term focus can mean at times you need to save at pace.
These 9 ideas on how to save money fast are ones my wife and I have used to save money.
Some have saved a little and others have made a huge difference.
Every penny counts when it comes to saving so give all of them a try.
Open A Savings Account
This seems obvious but can be easily overlooked
Open a savings account dedicated to putting your savings into.
Having a designated account just for savings is already winning half the battle.
Saving money in an existing account that has other uses could easily blur the lines between your saving and spending money.
I would suggest opening an account with another bank with no card (if applicable), an online savings account will be great for this.
Banks such as Monzo and Starling allow you to have online pots that sit beside your current account that act as a savings pot.
The benefit here is that you have a house for these savings to live on and an easy way to keep track of your progress.
Cut Down Household Expenses
The truth is, we can always save money from our living expenses.
The best place to start is your budget, as this will lay out your financial position and you can see where your money is going.
Analyse this and find quick wins.
Switch utility providers, cancel memberships and subscriptions you don’t need, and review insurances.
Do you really need Amazon Prime, Netflix AND Disney+? These 3 add up to £23 a month alone.
Same goes for the more expensive TV packages like Sky and Virgin Media.
You can save more money by simply calling your providers and negotiating a cheaper deal or changing your packages to reduce the cost.
The challenge is you don’t know how much of a discount you could get and can feel as though you’re putting more effort than it’s worth.
But the truth is if you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Food
Do you know how much you really spend on food? And I’m talking about groceries, takeaways, snacks and after work drinks!
When I first did my budget I was so shocked at how much I really spent on food. I was easily spending £50 per week on my lunches and after work snacks. Easily.
Being a bit wiser with our spending gave us an increase.
Buying cheaper alternatives and going ALDI for most of our food shop cut our weekly groceries budget from £60 to £40.
To cut back on the £50 per week I was spending on I started making my lunches and carrying fruits and snacks with me that I bought.
Those two actions saved me £200 per month.
£20 per week from the food shop, and I was spending about £20 per week on the packed lunches and fruits.
This can also be extended to how often you eat out at restaurants or order takeaways.
If you’re serious about saving money it’s a worthy trade-off in the long run. Trust me.
Personal Care
One of the best things to spend your money on is personal care.
However it’s also an area we can make some savings quickly.
It can be a challenge to plan buying and replenishing lotions, shower gels and hair moisturizers.
Having said that, there are ways to save money on these two.
Do-Your-Own self care.
I cut my own hair, and my wife does her own hair and nails.
The cost of me cutting my own hair is buying the hair clippers once and cutting my own hair.
I bought clippers for about £60 about 5 years ago and I’m still using them.
Compared to paying £20 a month for a haircut over the same time period would’ve cost me £1,200.
Lindie does her own braids, weave caps, nails and other beauty pampering.
Personal care is still necessary and by doing it yourself you will have some savings.
Sell Unused Stuff Online
Richard Koch wrote a book about The 80/20 Principle, which means 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort.
This is true about everything but in this context, it can also apply to your household.
If you really analyse your living habits you probably only wear 20% of your clothes or use 20% of your ‘stuff’.
I’m not saying live a minimalist life and sell all the other 80% (more on this later), but I bet you there is something in your house that you can sell.
You could easily sell a piece of furniture you’re not using or an older model piece of tech that’s neglected in a drawer somewhere.
There are so many online marketplaces that there are huge opportunities to make some money from your unused belongings.
I sold an old bass guitar the other day and made £200 within a week, and it had been under the bed for years!
What are you sleeping on that could be making you money?
Create A New Income Source For Savings
Remember at the beginning I told you to start with your budget.
The bottom half of your budget looks at your living expenses and finding ways to save money there.
The top half of a budget is about your income. Increasing your income is one way you can start saving more money fast.
What can you do TODAY that will generate some form of income for you?
You could offer your services online for digital artwork, transcribing videos, or doing deliveries in your spare time.
Other quicker ways to make money online includes doing surveys, getting paid to review websites, or doing odd jobs such as data entry.
Clickworker is a site that pays you for doing various small tasks online. It could be giving your opinion on a website, fix grammatical errors, or completing surveys.
The point is, these small tasks here and there are a great way to have a little bit of money coming in for you to save something.
One source may be a small but a combination of these can add up!
Truth is, you may have to sign up to a number of various Clickworker-like sites to get some good money.
But hey, money is money, right?
Negotiate Your Existing Debts
Debts are costly and can be a huge impact on your monthly cash flow.
However, you may have the power to negotiate your existing debts to have a cheaper alternative.
This could be asking yur credit card provider to lower your interest rates or doing a balance transfer to a 0% credit card.
Or, you could refinance your loans to a consolidated loan that could be cheaper and lower in monthly payments.
This is a potential area that you can save money on from a quick conversation with your bank.
Give it a try.
Start Paying Yourself First
Paying yourself first is a mindset.
This is where you ensure you put money aside for yourself before life’s expenses step in.
Think of it as a self-imposed tax for your future.
You can start with as small as 5% of your income.
As an example, if you get paid £1,500 per month, you pay yourself £75 first in your savings account automatically.
Aim to gradually increase this amount every quarter until you reach a comfortable balance between spending and saving.
Paying yourself first is about ensuring you prioritise your future before your present desires and spending habits.
This is something you can do from your very next pay!
Complete Life Transformation
Make a drastic change.
This is not for everyone but it will apply for some of you.
Consider making a huge shift in your life that will result in a different lifestyle that saves you a lot of money.
For instance, living in shared accommodation divides the living costs, or moving back with your parents could hugely cut your expenses.
One of the things we did was to get a cheaper car with higher MPG and lower insurance costs to save on running costs. We saved around £200 per month on fuel, tax and insurance.
You could also consider changing your lifestyle and become frugal where you limit your luxury expenses. This is that 80/20 principle I spoke of earlier.
I believe sacrificing the luxuries is not an issue if what you are saving for is worth it.
Take Action
Those are some ideas of how to save money fast, which will you try immediately?
Remember to pay all your savings into the account you set up for this. That way you can track the progress of your savings.
Check out our Ultimate Money Plan to get in control of your money and smash your financial goals.
Share this post with others so they can also learn about money too.
Let us know how you’re getting along by getting in touch with us, we’d love to hear from you.
Knowledge is powerless without action
So take action, and take care
Thando