5 Tweaks My Family Did To Save At Least 100€ Every Month

If you ask me, the ability to save money should be considered a side hustle, as it has the same importance as the skill to make money.

In the last couple of months we had exceeded our regular expenses (we moved to a new house) and this made me and my wife pay more attention when spending money.

After conducting a deep analysis, we had made 5 changes that enables us to save money.

The changes are simple to implement, yet very effective. Nothing out of the ordinary. And we did not remove the beer from the shopping list either.

We bought 2 x thermoses for drinking homemade coffee every time we go out

Both I and my wife have work-from-home jobs, meaning that we are the 80% of the time at home, doing different things.

But despite this, we discovered that we spend a lot of money on coffee, every time we go shopping or out. Every time we go together in the city, we stop at the gas station and throw about 4€ on the window, by buying coffee.

We bought two thermoses to carry the homemade coffee with us whenever going out.

Practical advice: Stop buying pricey coffee whenever you go out. Ditch this habit and save real money periodically.

We buy 4-in-1 detergent disks and stopped buying clothes balm

The washing room is on the first floor of to block, so I have to take a bottle of balm with me every time I do the laundry.

We keep the detergent and balm in the storage room, which is near the clothes washing room.

I take one washing disk out of the box every time I start the washing machine, but I have to take the balm bottle back to the storage room after I finish putting it in the washing machine.

I don’t want the entire block to use our balm and I sometimes forget to take it back to the storage room and get frustrated.

The decision to buy only 4-in-1 disks (with balm included) helped us save money (because the others will not use our balm anymore) and time.

Practical advice: Do everything you can to make your work easier. By saving time and energy, you will be able to work more (and to earn more).

We drink tea instead of juice

Another money-saving habit we had adopted was to stop buying juice. The reason isn’t only to save money, but also to reduce our plastic footprint.

We decided to replace the juice with tea, with a few exceptions only.

We have in our cupboard a few bottles of juice syrup, for rare occasions or for the times our friends come by.

Otherwise, we all like drinking tea.

Practical advice: Adopting healthier habits will help you enhance the quality of your life and, in this case, save money.

We buy metal straws only

Our little kid is used to drinking everything through a straw. The main problem with plastic straws is that they cannot be washed inside the washing machine, without getting their form modified by the hot water.

This made us orient towards metal straws because they are durable and can be easily washed at the washing machine.

Why waste time on manual washing, when we can replace the products?

This way we save money and reduce our plastic footprint at the same time.

Practical advice: Start using reusable things and you will save money and reduce your trash footprint as well.

We buy toilet paper every time we find good prices

We ditched the habit of using the same brand of toilet paper a while ago. We started buying toilet paper every time we see a good offer, no matter how many pieces we have back home.

It’s ideal to buy toilet paper when a single piece costs .25€, but .30€ is also a decent price. We hunt different discounts and offers and don’t mind the brand. The only mandatory requirement is that the toilet paper has 3 layers (for obvious reasons).

Practical advice: Hunt the best prices for the products you consume with regularity.

Are you the person responsible for the family’s shopping? Which are your money-saving habits?

---

👇 I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. Curious to know a bit about myself? 👇

My pen name is Ryan Miller. I am a Linux Sysadmin, writing hobbyist, father, and husband. I mostly write non-fiction on Vocal, Medium, and my blogs.

My day-to-day job pays my bills, but I am not going to lie to you. I am interested in making money with my writing as well. My top earning article on Medium generated 50$ so far.

I don't cross-post everything I write on Medium here, so if you want to follow my entire work (and earn some money yourself), you should subscribe with my affiliate link. I will earn a small commission from your monthly fee, while you don't have to pay anything extra.