How to Save Money While Living Paycheck to Paycheck

To the average person who lives their life paycheck-to-paycheck, the very suggestion that they should—or even could—build a savings account, feels like an absolute mockery of their daily struggle.

Please bear with me, as I assure you that these tips are anything BUT mockery.

These tried-and-true every day habits can be easily incorporated into your life, while substantially growing your savings account in the process.

1. Food

•Eating Out - Varying by location and food prices, eating a meal at a restaurant—even fast-food—will cost you upwards of five times more money than preparing a simple meal at home would. Remember that next time you're tempted to grab some pizza on the way home from work.

•Gas Station Snacks - How many of us are guilty of running into the convenience store for a snack after work? This "couple bucks" we tell ourselves won't matter, usually ends up more like $10.00 if we're honest—and that ten dollars, would look pretty good in your savings jar.

•Prepackaged/Prepared Foods - Did you know that cooking from scratch is not only tastier but cheaper? I know, it's more work too; but next time you're in the grocery store, try to make a few small efforts at buying more "real food". While a frozen meal of Chicken Alfredo will cost you around $4.00, that same $4.00 could make 5 meals worth if prepared from scratch. Even if you don't cook from scratch every day, try doing it on the weekends. A penny saved is a penny earned, after all.

•Coffee - This one may seem small, but trust me it's not! If you are a coffee addict, and your work commute isn't complete without a dash through the Starbucks drive-thru—we have some work to do on this hurtful little habit. Making your coffee at home will cost a mere fraction; I'm talking a few pennies per cup. Even the most basic coffee pot can be programmed to brew at a particular time; so before you go to bed, throw some water and grounds into your pot, and set it to brew 30 minutes before your alarm goes. Fill your travel mug and skip that drive-thru today! It may seem small but you could potentially save upwards of $10 a week.

•Lunches - While this falls slightly under the same category as eating-out, I felt the need to mention the exceptional savings that can be made by packing your own lunches for work. Whether you just take the simple step of packing yourself a cold lunch a couple of times a week, or you go all out with a personal crock-pot or food thermos; the savings of preparing your own food will be very worthwhile.

2. Clothes

Clothing could be the biggest over-expenditure you have; depending on your personal taste and shopping habits. Let's go over some money-saving tips.

•Buy used clothes - It may not be as fun or convenient as visiting your favourite clothing store, but it's worth the sacrifice! I still proudly wear my "2-dollar Nu2u jeans" I found at my local thrift store over a year ago.

•Mending - Learn the very basics of sewing, and then mend those pesky holes in your socks or the rips in your grubby work/gardening pants. The more use you can get out of your clothes before they hit the trashcan, the more pennies you can add to your savings.

•New Clothes Urge - Above all, try your hardest to crush that urge to buy more clothes when the ones you own, are already doing the job just fine!

3. Household Items

On your next trip to the store, keep in mind these simple little tricks.

•Name Brands - Always think outside the "brand box" throughout your shopping trip. Look for the house/store brands of whatever item you're shopping for. If in Walmart, look for Great Value, George, Equate, Parent's Choice, Mainstays, etc. Take a bit of time and learn the store brands of your most frequented shopping centers. My favourite savings through this tip is in laundry detergent. Great Value laundry detergent is nearly HALF the price of Tide.

•Sales - Never underestimate sales and rollbacks. Check your store flyer before going shopping, and make a list of the best deals you want to take advantage of.

•Paper Plates - who actually uses real glass dishes anymore? People who are serious about saving money do. Even if I purchase the big bags of 150 plates at Costco, I'm still looking at laying .70 cents down on the table every time my family eats a meal. If purchasing plates at any other location, that would probably be more like a dollar every time I let myself use paper. So while it's not much, I still try to remain conscious of those pennies and make myself wash some dishes.

•Dryer Sheets - Put simply: dryer sheets are expensive. However, from wool dryer balls, to foil balls, to reusable dryer sheets, there are plenty of cost-effective alternatives to keep the static out of your laundry. Google up some ideas, and try them out!

•Swiffers - I hate to be this person—but here I am—bashing the holy Swiffer. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my Swiffer! It made cleaning my floors so much more fun, but it had to go. Between the wet refills and the dry sweeper sheets, plus the initial cost of the tool, it's plain and simply an expensive way to clean your floor.

4. Electricity

Power bills can be crippling, so let's explore some simple ways you can shave some numbers off of this monthly blow.

•Lights - Turn off all unnecessary lights when you leave the house.

•Electronics - Turn off electronics such as computers and TVs when not in use.

•Heat - Turn down the thermostat a few degrees at night, and when you leave the house.

•AC - Only use the AC when necessary. In summer, open windows at night to let cool air in; then close them during the day to keep the heat out.

•Sunshine - Utilize natural light when possible. Open curtains and blinds instead of turning on lights.

•Hot Water - Take shorter showers, and choose showers over baths. Wash clothes in cold water—unless otherwise instructed on the tag.

5. Subscriptions

Let's explore some common monthly subscriptions that you may be wasting money on.

•Forgotten Subscriptions - this can be a huge one, especially if you are forgetful, or an unorganized personality type. So take a few moments and go through your credit card, or bank account statements. Sort out all of your recurring monthly payments, and you might be surprised to find subscriptions to all kinds of services—from music apps to gaming servers—that you no longer use.

•Duplicates - do you have multiple streaming service subscriptions? For example Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and YouTube TV. How about music? Do you have a Spotify subscription, but usually end up using Youtube Music? Thoughtfully consider which ones you could sacrifice. Eliminating just one subscription will save you upwards of ten dollars per month.

•Food - one of the latest greatest crazes of our time, is a subscription food box such as Hello Fresh, Chef's Plate, or Goodfood. While I love the idea behind them, they are a terrible money pit. For a lot of working families, food boxes have inspired them to cook real, healthy food in their kitchen instead of ordering take-out. Sadly, the food box subscriptions are costing them as much as a take-out meal, plus saddling them with the work and cleanup that home-cooking produces. Yes, the food is still healthier, and cooking at home can bring families together like nothing else. However, if you're really serious about saving money, just stop at the grocery store instead of signing up for a food box.

•Beauty - Whether it's Ipsy, Birchbox, FabFitFun, or one of the thousands of others, subscription boxes for beauty products have grown wildly popular, and is it any wonder? How cool is it to receive a handpicked box of either your favourite—or surprise—beauty products? Super fun, I know. The hard truth is that if you didn't have the subscription, you probably wouldn't buy as many products, as often.

Conclusion

If you can incorporate even just one habit from each of the five categories above, it is not at all unreasonable to say you could easily save $50.00 per week. That is $200.00 per month or $2,400.00 per year.

I hope this short, simple, and straightforward article helps you form some new money-saving habits.

A wise man once told me, "it's not about how much money you earn, it's about how much money you save."