Winning With Money - A Few Different Ways to Save

Winning with Money often needs to focus on both saving money AND earning more.  In part one of this two part series, we talk about different ways to save money some are big some are small but little things add up over time.  Part two will be different ways to earn more money.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild specifically, because we're designed for women who are middle-aged and feel like they're starting over. Not every woman experiences that, but if you are, you're not alone.

A lot of things can lead you to the point where it feels like starting over, it could be a divorce, it could be the death of a spouse, it could be a lot of different things.

All I know is that when all your plans, all your hopes, all your dreams for the future have totally gone up in smoke, and it feels like you have to start over, and that really is an itchy, bad, overwhelming feeling.

But like I said, you are not alone. There are countless other women who have gone through this, and come out on the other side better for it. And that's why we're talking about it in this podcast.

So you're actually in the right place. Welcome. I'm so glad that you're here.

If you'll remember, in my first podcast, I talked about the five areas I focused on when I rebuilt my life, and each episode falls under one of those categories, right?

So I focused on my spiritual health, I focused on my mental health, my physical health, my financial health and growth and goals. So today's episode is going to be about financial health. And this actually is going to be a two-part series, okay?

As we're talking about finances, finances are so important, and they can make you have a really itchy season in your life when your finances are just in the tank, right? Like, it feels horrible to live paycheck to paycheck.

It feels horrible to not feel like you're in control of the money, that the money is controlling you.

So I feel like it's so important to get a handle on our finances and figure out a way that works for us that we can win with our finances, especially as women. It just is imperative that we figure this out.

So what I want to talk about today is ways to save money. Because a lot of times we're in that rut where I use every bit of money I have. All my bills are taken up with all my income, right?

Like I don't have any left over. So the two parts today, I'm going to talk about ways to save money. How can we save?

How can we spend less? And then the second part is going to be ways to earn more, right? Because if we want to win with money, we have to spend less than we make.

So let's just come up with different ideas and spitball some ideas with each other about how to spend less and save money, and then how to little creative ways, different things we can do to earn extra money so that we can get over this hump where it

feels like we're living paycheck to paycheck. So we can get over this hump where it feels like we don't have enough to make ends meet and get to the other side where things are better. So it's going to be a combination of spending less, right?

And saving money. And you may be earning more, OK? Because we really want to get a good emergency fund.

We want to pay down our debt and have a good emergency fund.

And when you have that money in savings, mentally, it feels so much better to know that you just have that to fall back on if the car were to mess up, if something horrible were to happen, you have that money to help cover your bills and expenses.

That just takes a load off. It feels so much better once you have that. So today, let's get down and talk about ways to save money.

So I kind of divided this up into two different categories. OK, the first category is how to save with your accounts, accounts you already have, OK?

So the first thing that I think is important to do is probably once a year, maybe once every six months, review your accounts that are things like your cable, your internet, your cell phone, even your auto or homeowners insurance, and see if you

can't get a better rate. I think I've said before one time, I called the cable company. That's who I got my internet through. And I was like, we gotta have a better deal here.

And they reduced my bill. They were running a special. Reduced my bill by half.

Now, that doesn't happen every time. And certainly every time I've called, I have not gotten that great of a result, but it's worth trying. Some cell phone companies sometimes start competing with each other and running different specials.

And you may be locked into a plan that maybe you don't even need it all now.

Maybe you're paying for extra phone lines, and because of whatever's going on in your life that has turned everything upside down and made you feel like you're starting over, maybe you don't need all those lines. Maybe you could reduce that.

Maybe they're running a special where you could cut down some of the extras that you've got and reduce your phone bill that way. Insurance, see, you know, maybe check with different providers across different things. See what they have.

But just calling some of those companies to see if they are running a different special or you can reduce some of the different services you're getting, you can save money that way.

And sometimes you can save a significant amount, you know, $50 to $100 a month can make a big difference when you're trying to start a savings account and pay down debt. Okay, so think about that. Look into that and see what you can do there.

The other thing that's really smart to do pretty often, I think, is to review your bank account for any monthly withdrawals.

Okay, so if you have an automatic monthly withdrawal, those are generally like subscriptions, but they could be memberships, different things.

Sometimes we sign up for those and they make it so easy to click a button, and then they just bill you automatically, and you never actually see a bill. It's just withdrawn from your account. It's so easy to forget about those.

Okay, so you've got to look at your account. Do you really want all the things that are being automatically withdrawn from your account?

Can you cancel any of those subscriptions and really review what you do have that, you know, you think, well, yeah, I know I'm paying for that. In this day and age, it seems like there are a lot of streaming services.

Everybody's like, well, you can only get the show on my platform. So it's like, well, if you want to watch that, you've got to get this new different platform. And so we pay, it seems like, for a bunch of different streaming services.

Maybe take a good, honest look, what do you really need, and what could you let go of? So see if there's something that you wanted at one time and have totally forgotten about that's debiting money from your account.

Also look to see if there's something, maybe, you know what, I haven't tuned in to Netflix or Hulu or Paramount Plus or HBO Max or Apple TV, whichever one of the many that it is. I haven't tuned in to that in a while.

You know what, I think I can let go of that. And maybe make a deal with yourself. I'm going to have two streaming services.

And if I really want to watch something on a different one, I've got to let one of the two go and replace it with the one I really want to watch. I don't know.

But as we're looking at saving money, and so we can have more to pay our bills and pay down debt and put into savings, these are the things we're going to look at, right?

So obviously, first, get rid of all the anything that's coming out that you no longer want or need. And then take a look at what you do have that you're aware of. But maybe, you know, I haven't tuned in to that streaming service in a while.

So just take an honest and objective look at what's coming out of your account and whether or not you really do truly use it, OK? And see if there's any way you can recoup money there.

The other thing I would generally say now, in this particular economy, at this given moment, you're going to have trouble refinancing for a better rate.

But sometimes, you, if you happen to have credit card debt that you're working on paying down, you can move that debt to a different card. And sometimes they'll give you no interest for an introductory period, six months or 12 months.

So if you are in the mindset of really focusing about, hey, I'm going to pay this down, you may want to roll your credit card debt over to a different card and pay that down. It's something to think about. It can be dangerous.

Do not open a new credit card to go spend more money. It can be helpful if you're paying down credit card debt you already have to get a low or no interest rate while you're paying it down.

I am not advocating getting a new credit card just to spend more money. But if you want to reduce your interest rate, sometimes that's a good thing to do.

And then that can give you a time frame, and you can say, okay, I'm going to pay this off in six months or 12 months, whatever the introductory period is. Like, let that be your goal.

Like, I will pay this down before this introductory rate wears off, you know, before it's up. So that's a thought. The other really obvious and clear thing, but a lot of times we don't think about, is automate your savings.

This falls under accounts.

So if you get paid on a reoccurring basis every two weeks, every week, you know your payday falls on Friday, you can set up automatic savings so that once a week, once every other week, that it will automatically pull from your checking account to

your savings account. So if you say, I know I want to save $50 every two weeks, I want to save $200 every two weeks, you know what your plan is, just go ahead and automate that.

So you don't have to go in and move the money from one account to the other. Your bank can do this. You may have to call them if you can't figure it out in your app or online, but most banks today are capable of this very simple feature.

Okay, it's not complicated or hard. Banks can set this up for you. Look on your banking app, look on the website, see if you can set it up yourself.

But if not, you should be able to call or talk to somebody and they should be able to set it up for you. If you get paid, I used to get paid on Thursday, and my pay hit about two or three o'clock.

So for me, I would set up my automatic savings to hit on Friday. So if I got paid later in the day on Thursday or something like that, it wasn't pulling the savings out before my paycheck hit.

So sometimes setting it up for like the day after your paycheck hits is smart, especially if you're living really close and you're really working like paycheck to paycheck, and you're working on saving and earning more, and you're still in that

really tight spot, maybe put the savings withdrawal from checking into savings on the day after you get paid. That might be a smart thing. Okay. So those are some creative ways, or ways that maybe you haven't thought of.

I'm sure maybe you've heard of them before, but look into those ways to save on accounts you already have, little things that you can do. And some of those things might be big ways to save.

If you really can reduce some of those bills you already have, that's really nice. Or remove an automatic subscription, because sometimes those are kind of hefty subscriptions. It just depends.

All right. The next set of ways to save, I consider lifestyle, okay? So these are lifestyle choices, lifestyle changes that you can make to potentially save money.

And some of these are going to be really simple and small, and you're like, it's not worth it. Right now, the idea is to get a good savings account, and every little bit helps. Like, I grew up with the saying, a penny saved is a penny earned.

So even if some of these are really small things, small changes over time lead to big results. So don't worry about that. Find the things you can do and try to do them, okay?

So step one, one of the suggestions is to drink more water. And once again, I know you're thinking, that's ridiculous, you know. But sodas and energy drinks cost a lot of money.

We spend a lot of money on beverages. I mean, across the board, from alcoholic beverages to coffees to energy drinks, all these are really big brands, and even just soda.

I mean, the last time I went out, I was shocked at the cost of a soda with dinner. It was like three bucks. And I guess that dates me.

I'm like, I'm not paying $3 for that. But I am a water drinker. I tend to drink water.

One of my children is a big energy drink drinker. And one of the things about them growing up and graduating and getting their own job was then they had to start buying their own energy drinks. And that lasted for a month or two.

And then they were like, you know what? I think I'm going to give these up. I'm going to stop drinking energy drinks because they're expensive, right?

And you might be surprised at how much you save when you give up a $5 coffee or a $2 or $3 energy drink, especially if you drink it every day.

It adds up, and it may not feel like a ton each day, but over the course of a month, that's money that you can put into savings. That's $60 to $80 maybe that you might be able to save.

So drinking water I get is a transition that some people struggle with, but you could get Crystal Light or Mio, like you could put the drops in or a little bit of powder in. That will be significantly cheaper than a soda or something else.

I like lemon in my water. I think that's a good flavor. Everybody's different.

It may not be for you, but it is significantly healthier, and it's a way to save money. So think about, for some lifestyle changes to save money, just drinking water. The other thing is, if you are a coffee drinker, make your own coffee.

It's so simple to make your coffee at home. It still has a cost to it, yes, but it's way cheaper than $5 a cup at the coffee shop. Okay, now I like to support local businesses, and there is a coffee shop that I love to go to, but I go once a week.

I don't go every day. I go on Saturday, and I get a cup of coffee, and I love it. It's like a little routine I have that me and my husband do.

We go and we get coffee on Saturday. It's fun, but that's once a week. It's not an everyday thing that I'm swinging through the drive-thru on my way to work or on my way home.

So making coffee at home, the bulk of the coffee I drink is coffee that is made at home. So consider that switch. It's kind of whatever, but get a fun mug that you like, like a travel mug.

Think about making that switch. It will save you money. I promise.

What, like, similarly, pack your own lunch. Do you know how much money you spend on lunches? If you have a job outside the home and you buy lunch out, it is a significant amount of money.

Lunches now are easily $10, and that's if you're eating cheap. So if you pack your own lunch, you're going to save a lot of money because you're talking like $50 a week. That's $200 a month.

You can pack your own lunch way cheaper than that. And one of the things that I think that goes along with this is meal planning. So meal planning is going to save you a lot of money as well.

And like I said before, I did another podcast about saving money on groceries and how much money you can save on grocery shopping and different ways to save when you buy groceries. Meal planning was part of that.

And one of the things that I said was if you plan your meals out, then you can take your leftovers for lunch. How much money is that going to save you? Then you're not buying extra lunch food.

You've planned it out. You know what meals are going to have what leftovers for how many days. And I mean, you know, if you make lasagna, you can have two lunches off that probably, three lunches off that.

Really, using all the food you buy and all the food you make is a great way to save money. But it's a lifestyle shift just a little bit. Not everybody thinks it through that way.

But when you throw away food, you're throwing away money. So trying to be conscientious about using those leftovers, about packing your own lunch, is a huge way to save money.

If this is something that is part of your habit in your lifestyle and your routine, is to buy lunch out, maybe this is a shift where you could really, really recoup significant savings. Okay? So think about it.

And if you pair that with meal planning, meal planning is a great money saver. One of the most significant practical ways to save money is meal planning. That's the way you're going to save on your groceries.

And if you plan out, like, I know that I want to have leftovers that night. And it can still allow for you to eat out. You can eat out or buy takeout one night a week.

But then you've limited yourself to one night, not three nights, not the extra night that you're just in a bad mood, not all the time, one time a week. You get what I'm saying? It's not depriving yourself from everything.

It's limiting it. You can still have fun and do the things you want.

But when you make a meal plan, then you know what you're going to have, so you're less likely to pull through that drive-through line because you've meal planned, maybe you've meal prepped, and you know what is for dinner that night.

And then you also know that those leftovers can be your lunch the next couple of days at work.

We spend a lot of money on food, and finding good ways to actually use it instead of throw it away is a great way to save money, and it is a lifestyle tweak. I know there are people that really just don't eat leftovers and who don't think about it.

But taking the time when you're in a place where you really need to save money, like I said, all those little bits add up. And over time, over the course of a month, it can be significant, your savings.

So I would really encourage the whole make your own lunch and meal planning thing. Another simple thing is to be conscientious about your energy usage. That means turning off lights.

That means finding ways to use less energy. We get charged for the energy we use and we don't think about it. We're just like, well, that's the power bill.

But is there a way to insulate things? Is there a way to insulate your hot water heater? Is there something simple that you can do besides just turning off the lights, but just turn off the lights when you're not in a room?

But what can you do to be conscientious about your energy usage, and is that a way to save money?

I have heard people doing simple things, like I said, like covering their hot water tank with some type of insulation, putting some type of film on their windows, little things, and they saw a huge impact in their power bill.

So a power bill is one of our higher utilities a lot of times, right? It's just, it costs a lot. So what can you do to maybe be more conscientious about that spending?

We don't think about it when we turn on the dryer, that that costs a certain amount of money. We just get this overall bill once a month for our power. But let's break it down.

What does it cost and how can I reduce it? Maybe my clothes don't have to be hard dry. Maybe I could pull certain things out and not put them through the dryer.

Whatever it is, but just start thinking about it and being conscientious. Once again, it may not be tons of money. But if we can find a way to save $5 here and $10 here and $20 here, over time that adds up, right?

And that's what we're doing. We're trying to find extra room in our budget so we can pay down debt and put money in savings. And if it is even $5, it matters.

Because right now, we're going to be really focused on paying down debt and putting money in an emergency fund in a savings account. Okay? So even little bits are important.

So even energy usage, even that power bill, that is something worth looking into. Okay? Another really cool thing, if you like to read, books get expensive.

And maybe you have like an unlimited service or whatever. Those cost money. Those are a subscription.

Have you ever thought about getting a library card? They have audio books and digital books there, and that doesn't cost. So I just got a library card at my local library to take advantage of this.

For this exact reason, I don't really need to go in and check out hard copies of books because I know my personality, and I'm not as good about going back and returning them and carrying hard copy around with me, but I like digital books and I like

audio books. And so having a library to choose from that I don't have to pay for, because I scroll through audio books and digital books, and then I look at the price, I'm like, do I want it that bad? And all that.

So that's a way to save money and increase your knowledge. And it's a good growth thing just to read more and hear more books. So that could be a simple thing to do.

Another lifestyle change that could save money is if you and your partner or you and your friends like to go out for a night out, that's expensive.

By the time you pay for food, drinks, entertainment, you can drop a couple hundred dollars easy on a fun night out.

Why don't you try to see what it would look like if you had a night in and everybody brought a snack and you played a board game or you watched a show together or you did something? What would it be if you traded it for a night in?

If your best friend came over and you just hung out at home instead of going out, and once again, it's one of those lifestyle changes. But it's worth looking into because you can drop money quick going out, right?

And instead of saying, I have no social life, I can't go out, maybe say, hey, why don't y'all come over here? Let's meet up at the park. Let's do something that doesn't cost.

And there are tons of things that cities and different businesses provide that can be free. Most counties and cities, if you Google them, if you look up, what can I do free in my local area, there will be things that come up.

But just hanging out at home, that's a lost art, right? So think about that shift. If that's something you do kind of regularly, like every week, every other week, once a month, if you go out, just try it, just see.

See what that would feel like if you had your own night in. And make it fun, but the point is to save money, so don't go spend in $200 on snacks. Everybody bring a dip and do a dip night.

That's so fun. I love dip night. Everybody bring their own dip, and then you all share them.

Who knows? You could do a bunch of different things, but the point is finding different ways to save by shifting our lifestyle. Another really, really cool thing, I think, is to start making your own household cleaners.

And this is actually good for more than one reason. Not only does it save you money, but it's less toxic chemicals that you're exposed to. You breathe those in when you spray them.

It's just, they're really harsh. But when you make your own household cleaners, there are rules you have to follow. Definitely Google it.

They'll tell you certain things. But vinegar really disinfects really well. Baking soda, you can scrub some baking soda.

It will clean your tub. I've had pots and pans that have stuff baked on. Baking soda or kosher salt, scrubbing that, and then I'm not using a harsh, harsh chemical.

So what would it be like making some household cleaners? I always used for inside my shower, like the shower spray for the glass shower door. I did half vinegar and half gone, like dish detergent, like the liquid soap.

I would do half and half of vinegar and dish soap. And I would put it in one of those brushes that have the hollow handle that you put the liquid dish soap in. And I would have it sitting so it didn't leak.

And I would scrub my shower door before I got out. When I was in the shower, I would scrub it down. And it always kept the shower door free of soap scum.

And that was just a really simple thing. It didn't cost that much. It wasn't expensive.

And it wasn't a really harsh chemical that I was being exposed to. So there are a lot of different websites that talk about household cleaners and how you can make them.

But that's a way to save money, because when you buy a bottle of cleaning spray, it is expensive. I mean, once again, we're talking $5. But if you can save that with ingredients that you already have around your house, it's worth a shot, right?

The next thing I want to talk about, and probably the last thing, I want you to look at your account. Where do you spend kind of a bigger chunk of money? Do you have a bad habit that you could give up?

I mean, how bad do you want to save money? How bad do you want to pay down debt? How bad do you want to get rid of this financial burden and loophole that you're stuck in, right?

Most habits cost money, right? So some people have a spending habit, and they go to the store and they buy things they really don't need. And you could spend a lot of money with a spending habit, right?

Some people smoke cigarettes. Cigarettes are really expensive. Some people drink.

Some people, maybe it's just you eat out and go through the drive-through an inordinate amount of time, once a day or five times a week. So a lot, right? So what habit?

And it doesn't have to completely be a vice. Like, it doesn't have to be cigarettes and alcohol. It could be, but it could just be, I go through the drive-through more than I should.

I drink coffee from coffee shops every day. What is something that maybe you're spending a lot of money on, and you generally can see it when you start looking over your bank account. What's the kind of big suck?

Is it that you go to TJ Maxx and Whole Goods a lot? You know, what is your thing? And be really honest and objective with yourself.

Nobody's trying to punish you or get on to you. It's not a conversation with somebody else who is judging you. It's a conversation you're having with yourself because you want to win with money.

Where is the fact? What am I spending money on that is not a necessity? What could I give up?

What is maybe a bad habit? And like I said, habits can be all kinds of things. They can be eating lunch out every day.

It could be the coffee or the energy drink. It could be the vice, like the alcohol, the cigarettes. You know what your vice is.

It could be online spending. Your Amazon, you might look through your bank account and realize you spent a lot of money on Amazon. You do a lot of online shopping, whichever retailer it is, but you may realize I spend a lot of money online shopping.

So just kind of look over your bank account. Where can I cut back if I'm being honest with myself? And no, you don't have to have this conversation with anybody but yourself.

There is no judgment. It's just we're wanting to save money. We're wanting to win with money.

We want to win with money more than we want Taco Bell. We want to get ahead and have extra money in our bank account more than we want the 50th pair of shoes, right? So it's just being real and getting our priorities in order.

And there are some things that you're like, no, I really want this. I'm not going to give that up. Or maybe you compromise with yourself.

Well, I will still get coffee out one day a week. One day a week, I will do that. And I will enjoy it.

And I will sit in the coffee shop and have that experience one day a week. So compromise with yourself if it's something you really, really enjoy. I can have that, but at a reduced amount.

So just be really objective. Those are my ideas for saving money, whether they're with accounts you already have, or just some lifestyle tweaks and changes. You don't have to do all of them.

But if you adopted just a few of these, you may save some money. What interesting ways to save money do you have? What did I not talk about?

What are you going, oh my gosh, but this is a great way to save money that I missed. I would love to hear from you. I'm sure everybody else would love to know it too.

So please reach out and tell me. You can find me online. I'm www.workingonamazing.com.

So you can find me there and drop me a note. I'm on most social media networks, but I do hang out on Facebook the most, and it's just Working on Amazing. Look me up.

Let me know, how do you save money? What has been your best money saving tip? I would love to know.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and tune in next week for part two, where we talk about ways to earn money. All right. I enjoyed hanging out with you today.

I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.