364. Simple Ways to Start Saving Money Today

Find Hidden Money https://www.debtfreedad.com/find-your-first-$100-workshop 

In this episode, we explore 10 easy and actionable tips to save money without drastically altering your life. Brad Nelson and co-hosts Amber Taylor, Katie Hatfield, and Ryan Nelson share their personal success stories of becoming debt-free, including paying off substantial amounts of debt while living on planned budgets. The discussion includes practical advice such as using cash for purchases, auditing subscriptions, switching to generic brands, planning meals, and avoiding automatic shopping apps. We also delve into money-saving strategies like finding forgotten gift cards, negotiating bills, cutting out weekly habits, and automating savings. These simple yet effective tips can help you free up cash, reduce financial stress, build your savings, and make significant progress in your financial journey. 

Chapters

• 0:00 10 Easy Ways to Start Saving Now
• 2:09 Host Introductions and Success Stories
• 3:36 Using Cash: The Ultimate Spending Blocker
• 9:03 Audit Subscriptions and Switch to Generics
• 14:14 Meal Planning and Gift Card Discoveries
• 16:42 Cutting Habits and Automating Savings
• 23:51 Making Savings Automatic and Resources
• 24:47 Weekly Wins and Listener Celebrations

Transcript

Brad Nelson: 0:01

So are you feeling like your money's disappearing faster than you can make it? You're not alone. But what if I told you there are some simple, practical ways to start saving money right now without having to completely overhaul your entire life? Now, in today's episode, I'm going to be breaking down 10 easy, actionable things that you can do today to free up cash, build savings and finally feel like you're making good progress. Now, whether you're struggling with debt, living paycheck to paycheck or just looking to get ahead, this episode is packed with some simple wins. Let's dive into it.

Announcer: 0:34

You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experience the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial success. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.

Brad Nelson: 1:01

Hey guys, welcome to today's show. My name is Brad Nelson, founder of Debt Free Dad. I paid off about $45,000 of debt. I've been debt free now for more than 12 years. I've also been fortunate to help thousands of other people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt Free Dad.

Amber Taylor: 1:15

And my name is Amber Taylor, and my husband and I saved and paid off $54,000 in just 20 months and have been living debt-free outside of our mortgage since 2018.

Kati Hatfield: 1:26

And I'm Katie Hatfield and I have been paying off my debt for the last seven years and still on my journey and on a single income. I have paid off over $227,240 in credit card bills, student loans, car payments and more.

Ryan Nelson: 1:45

And my name is Ryan Nelson. My wife and I paid off about $160,000 in debt over eight years while we were raising three kids.

Brad Nelson: 1:52

So, after listening to this episode, you guys, if you're ready to take things to the next level, you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, build your savings and finally pay off your debt for good, but maybe you're not quite sure where to get started. We've created some incredible free resources here to help you get there, and I'll be sharing some details about that later on in today's episode. So, guys, today we're talking all about saving and getting some quick, easy wins, and the reason I wanted to do this episode is I can remember and you guys can share maybe some of your story or situation, but I can remember feeling like I didn't have any money to save. But the truth is, once I started doing some of the things that we're going to talk about here today, I was able to start saving money. I was able to actually start building that first emergency fund or find ways to save money to pay off extra debt. And we see this with members all the time who feel like there's nothing else that they could do, but the reality is there are things that you could do.

Brad Nelson: 2:47

Sometimes you can get so stuck and you get tunnel vision. It's hard to kind of look outside the box and say, what else could I be doing? And hopefully this episode is going to give you guys some of those tips that it's going to help you save maybe 10, 15, $20 a month. In some cases it could be hundreds of dollars a month with some of the things that we're going to talk about here today. So one of the things I do want to mention right away and this isn't this kind of a bonus tip, it's not part of the 10.

Brad Nelson: 3:10

But I think the biggest thing that helped me start saving the most money was using cash for purchases right, rather than using or swiping a debit card or credit card. But once I started using cash, that really helped me save a lot of money, especially like when you went out to eat or if you were at the grocery store or you stop at like a gas station and you commit to only using cash. It was crazy to me how much less money I would spend, which meant that I had more money in my bank account to use, obviously save and get further out of debt.

Amber Taylor: 3:45

Well, and cash limits you to how much you could actually spend if you're only using cash. So when you're at the grocery store checkout you got to really pay attention to what you're putting on your in the cart, because you might be having to put stuff back when you get there.

Ryan Nelson: 3:58

Yeah, and I'm like the worst at that. I'm the guy that the commercials are made for. I go to the store so I'm going to. Ooh, that looks cool. I like the package on that. I bet that tastes good. I don't need. It's not on my list. When I had cash. It's a lot harder to do that because it's like you said, amber, it's like you're adding everything up because you don't want to get up there and have $50 extra and be like oh, I can't pay cash even still, to this day it's in the grocery store. I mean, it's why it's like if I got a list, I got to just stick to the list, because if I go up and down the aisles, the grocery store is wired to make me spend the money.

Kati Hatfield: 4:30

That's why I'm a grocery shopping ninja, because I will be like nope, that's 50 cents more than last week. I'm not getting it and I will just walk right past it. And more this week than it was last week.

Brad Nelson: 4:42

Yeah, the envelope system or cash stuffing. I think that's why that works so great for so many people, because I think cash is a really great accountability tool Because, like you said, amber, once the cash is gone, you're done spending With a credit card or even a debit card at times. You can just keep going and it's just easy to say, like Ryan you said, oh, that looks really good, let's just throw it in the cart. So I think cash is huge.

Brad Nelson: 5:03

Next one is auditing your subscriptions and, honestly, we could just throw in track all of your expenses, not just your subscriptions, and this is a big one. I mean subscriptions, especially like streaming services and all these apps that you can download. Some of them are so inexpensive and if you're not checking your bank accounts on a regular basis, they're easy to miss. Or it's easy to say, well, it's only a few dollars, right. Or it could be, you know, a low cost or even a higher cost. Some gym memberships are expensive but you could be looking at like gym memberships, you know, if you're not going, I know you have the best of intentions but you still just never quite open that door to the gym and get in there. It might be time just to cancel that until you're really committed to going there and doing the work. But until then it's like save the money right.

Kati Hatfield: 5:49

Yeah, and especially on streaming services, I feel like all of a sudden I had seven streaming services and I was like why did I get rid of cable if I'm just paying for all of these? So think about what you're actually watching. And then I share some subscriptions with family members, and my dad happened to add a free week trial of, like Apple TV that we don't have some like. All right, for this week I'm just going to binge these two shows that I really wanted to see and then after that week we're done with it, All right.

Brad Nelson: 6:21

All right, the next one. It could be a little bit up for debate. How do you guys feel about generics, like switching more to store brands or generic brands, you know, instead of buying the name brand stuff? I know we've had some discussions about this in the past on this show. Obviously it is a great way to save, but I would only do this one, because there are some things that don't taste exactly the same, right, but there are also some things like green beans. In my opinion, it doesn't matter if it's the generic or the name brand cute little package like they taste exactly the same to me. So I think you get you have to experiment a little bit with this, because there are some things that I'm not willing to go generic on everything, but it could be a great way to save.

Amber Taylor: 7:04

I would say I probably 80% go generic. There's a few that I will not. My peanut butter definitely not.

Kati Hatfield: 7:11

Yeah, and you can't skimp on saran wrap. Versus the generic kind, there's a big difference.

Brad Nelson: 7:19

It doesn't work quite as well. Same thing with tinfoil. Right, Tinfoil is the same way you get the cheap tinfoil and it just tears apart. It doesn't even hold together. But switching to store brands, one of the things that I love is going to Aldi. If you're here in the United States, Aldi is a great place for a lot of that stuff and you can save a significant amount of money. But again, keep in mind, I don't shop at Aldi for everything. There are certain things like coffee. I'm very particular about the coffee I buy. I can't find that at Aldi, so I have to go to a normal store. But it can be a great way, especially on produce items and things, to save a significant amount of money.

Kati Hatfield: 7:53

I go to Aldi first and then whatever else is left on my list I go to the other store afterwards. But yeah, same produce meat cheese, really good cheese and inexpensive and it tastes good yeah.

Brad Nelson: 8:07

So, along the same lines of grocery shopping is also plan out your meals. And, guys, I know this is an easy one. People think about this one all the time, but it's crazy to me how much money we spend on going out to eat, and by far you guys. When we ask our members what's the number one area? When you first started Roots or started getting out of debt, started looking at your spending, what was the number one area that you were overspending in? Almost every single time you guys, it was going out to eat.

Brad Nelson: 8:32

And again, I love going out to eat as much as the next person, right? So I'm not telling you to necessarily cut out everything out of your life, but if you're someone who needs to build your first emergency fund, you need to find ways to start paying down some debt, free up some cash flow. Skipping out on going out to eat and just getting better at meal planning can save you hundreds of dollars per month. We've seen members spending anywhere between two to 300 on the low end, to six, seven, over a thousand dollars a month on going out to eat. So it adds up really, really quick, and the more you can cut back, obviously, the more money you have to save.

Amber Taylor: 9:05

Yeah, the going out to eat for us was definitely the thing that we realized. Oh my gosh, we gave ourselves a pay raise by stopping going out to eat, or slowing it down at least. So it made a huge difference in paying off our debt. But planning meals, though, around what you have and then what you can buy, but actually planning it and having that plan to make meals made it so much easier. And then you use what you have and you're not throwing it out either. So it makes a difference all around. Yeah.

Kati Hatfield: 9:30

I do the big batch meals. So either I'm going to eat the same thing for four days straight because I'm single, and that's what I do, or I freeze portions of it to use later. But it just makes it easier for me to be like nope, I have food at home, I already have a meal ready to go. I don't have to stop, I can just go home.

Brad Nelson: 9:48

Yeah Well, and I think, when it comes to meal planning, to try to plan your meals around stuff that's on sale to most of these places. Most stores have apps. Now you just look at the apps where you shop. I mean, plan some meals around that where you're going to save the most amount of money. And again, I don't expect people to do this for every single meal every single week. But even if you just commit to eating three to five meals at home and just doing your best to buy those products at the cheapest price, again it all adds up over time and then again, sticking to more food is shop your pantry.

Brad Nelson: 10:20

First, I got a funny story the other day. We got waffles in our grocery order. Because we do online ordering, I don't like to go to the grocery store, so we just have it sent right to the house and we got a box of waffles in there and I was like I'm pretty sure we already have waffles and I go in the freezer. And yes, not only did we have waffles, but we had five boxes of waffles in our deep freezer, right. So this was like a wake up call to me. It's like I got to make sure that I check the freezer outside before I order waffles, because we're going to have waffles for quite some time at our house.

Brad Nelson: 10:50

But this is another great area Like when you're talking about meal planning is just go through the food that you already have in your house and if you're anything like our house, there's plenty of it in there. But it's interesting. You know you have to meal plan, you have to create these new meals. It's like just use the ingredients that you already have. Think Amber I think I shared the name of it with you and I can't recall what it is but there are apps out there where you can actually put in like this is the stuff I have in my home Make me a meal. Or, if you're using ChatGBT and AI, you could do the same thing with that too. These are the ingredients I have. Create a recipe for me to make. There's a lot of great tools that'll help you do this.

Kati Hatfield: 11:23

I take a picture of what's inside my fridge and freezer and pantry before I go grocery shopping to make sure I don't stock up on those things. And I have a chest freezer and I saw someone on Facebook probably they take a dry erase marker and write what's in the freezer on the lid of the freezer. So you just, I just take a picture of what my list is and I update it whenever I put stuff in or take stuff out.

Brad Nelson: 11:48

That's genius. I never would have thought about that. All right, next one might be a little bit difficult, but pause your automatic shopping apps or just delete the apps, like altogether. So we're talking about things like your Target app or your Amazon app or DoorDash or really any area where you feel like there's temptation right, especially on your phone, because when you get bored if you're anything like me, you shop right. Or if you're lazy and you don't want to cook food, it's so easy to open up DoorDash and be like, yeah, I'm not even going to go get it, I'm just going to have it delivered, right. So try to remove as much of that temptation as you possibly can, make it harder for you to do it and the more money you can save that way too.

Amber Taylor: 12:31

For me it wasn't always the automatic. Like shopping apps I mean now Amazon. Yeah, I got to watch myself, but it was the marketplace and the buy and sell groups on Facebook or all the emails that were coming in and bombarding me and it was like, oh my gosh, I want that. Ooh, I need that. Oh, I didn't think I needed that, but now that I see it in my email, I definitely need that.

Kati Hatfield: 12:56

So I had to unsubscribe and remove myself from so many groups and that's what helped me curb that temptation yes, unsubscribing from emails and the text notifications, because you know they got you to sign up to get a bigger discount when you first went on their website. And now, 19 times a day, they're sending you messages like yes, you still need to shop here. I'm like, unsubscribe, stop.

Brad Nelson: 13:19

The next one and this just happened to me too just recently I found two of these is look for forgotten gift cards. I found two in a drawer, didn't even realize. Actually we have three of them now. I didn't have, didn't even know it. One was for a $50 gift card to a restaurant. The other one was a $25 to like a fast food restaurant that our kids normally go to. I didn't even realize that I had that one. And then we have one for, like, a local place here in town that we just got. So this is again another way gift cards easily get forgotten. I forget.

Ryan Nelson: 13:57

And I think we mentioned on the show I mean we've been doing this show now for nearly five years and I think we talked about this like it's crazy the percentage of gift cards that don't get used ever and again they're easy just to throw in a drawer or put in your wallet and forget that they're even there.

Ryan Nelson: 14:04

I have a funny story. I don't think this family member listens to this podcast. We helped a family member clean up some time ago and when it was all said and done, the amount of gift cards that we found was over $2,000. Oh my gosh, just scattered in their drawers, their kids' drawers, just junk drawers, just like you said, just like that. You just get them. And I actually have one in my wallet right now that we gave to my son, for I think it was a stocking stuffer two years ago, and when he moved out a year ago, he was like I found it and he's like I'm never going to use that. And I'm like well, I'll take it because we'll use it and I've had it in my wallet for a year.

Kati Hatfield: 14:39

I think, now that you say that I have a restaurant gift certificate somewhere and I'm like I know I didn't spend it, so where is it?

Ryan Nelson: 14:45

So it is. It is very easy to just toss them, because, even to this day, every once in a while we'll clean something out and I'll find one and I'll check. Oh, there's still $17 left on this. You just kind of use something and you forget about it and you throw it in a drawer and you don't really think about it. But there is potentially. Use that as an example If you know that you've done that.

Brad Nelson: 15:07

Yeah, yeah, I do the. So there's a hardware store. It's a big hardware store but it's Menards, and I think Menards are they nationwide now I don't know, they're pretty big, at least in the Midwest, but they do like 11% off. So you know, when you have home stuff to do, you know you get an 11% rebate. You got to send in the rebate. I'm always really good about doing that, but then I always forget the rebate check magnetic. You know it's magnetized to the refrigerator door and every time I go there I'm like man, I forgot about the rebate check and then I got more rebates and more rebates and by the time I go back the next day it's like six rebates that I have because I keep forgetting to use them. So again, a great way to save some money use those gift cards, another one that a lot of people tend to even miss it.

Brad Nelson: 15:45

These are easy things that you can do is just call places that you're already spending money and ask them to lower your bill or ask them if there's better deals, things like your cell phone, internet. There's satellite radio does this all the time where they'll charge their normal price and I'll call and I'll be like I'm just not going to pay that much for satellite radio and all of a sudden it's only a few dollars a month as opposed to like $30 a month and all I had to do was just call them. Another one is shopping your insurance on a regular basis. We obviously recommend an independent insurance agent, but get in the habit of every year doing this. We've seen members save hundreds of dollars a year, sometimes thousands of dollars a year, just by shopping their insurance and seeing if they're getting the best price. One other one, too, I would recommend is, if you have credit cards, is calling them to see if they have any opportunities to lower interest rates to help you save on interest you could pay down you know the debts quicker, all right, when you get into something like that, just make sure you understand what you're asking for and what the agreement is going to be and all that. But these are just easy things that you can do and just ask. The worst that they can say is no, all right, and the next one is cut one weekly habit. So this kind of focuses more on doing more of like a no spend challenge.

Brad Nelson: 16:54

We mentioned, you know, tracking your expenses, looking at where your money's going and look at some areas that you would be willing to cut out and again, we're not talking about cutting it out entirely or altogether for the rest of your life, you know just temporarily. What can you cut out temporarily to get ahead further, quicker, right? So again, building your first emergency fund, paying down some of those smaller debts. But maybe it's cutting out eating out for a week, maybe it's cutting out the coffee runs for a week. It could be not going to the gas stations, the convenience stores. Maybe you've discovered, hey, I like to buy clothes. You got enough clothes. Right, those clothes are still going to be there at that store when the no spend challenge is over. But you know, find quick and easy things that you can do and cut them out and just decide okay, we're going to use this money for this, to help you start saving.

Kati Hatfield: 17:40

Brad, what's your record for a no spend challenge?

Brad Nelson: 17:44

Oh, yeah, a long time ago. Yeah, well, we had a little help with this. I was during COVID, but we did 425 straight days of not eating out. I still don't understand how we made that happen. But yeah, that means we cooked every single day at home. Yeah, but we didn't step into a restaurant for 425 straight days. I can't say that that's the truth anymore, right, because I like going out to eat. I have no issue with it now but it was just something we noticed. We were overspending a lot and going out to eat. We were just it's like crazy the amount of money. So we're like, okay, we're gonna commit to it just for 30 days, we're just gonna cook at home. And then 30 days turned into two months, two months turned into three months and before you know it, it was over a year that we never went. And again, I would never suggest anyone go that long. Right, but a month isn going to kill you and again, you can use that money to save.

Ryan Nelson: 18:32

As you go through the list. I think one of the best ways to save money is and I think this is where most people get stuck. It's where I was stuck at for a long time is I have no way to save any money, and it's like if you really truly believe that, then you're not going to save any money and you got to be willing to make some sacrifices, do some things different. If you're unwilling to do that, I would say very few people have I ever talked to or met are spending everything very like just being perfect with their money, like everything is just perfect, like, I would say, the vast majority of people. If you are saying there's just nothing left, there's no possible way I can save, it's more of a mindset issue, and I was there too. I was unwilling to change, and so I was unwilling to accept that this $50 in my checkbook every month that was left was all there really was, because I liked going out to eat, I liked doing all these things that we just talked about. I don't want to do any of them because it takes work, it takes sacrifice, it takes looking in the mirror and realizing you're doing the wrong things, and so I think one of the best ways to save money right now is just take an honest look at yourself and your finances and are you being honest with yourself and that you're doing everything right with your money? And you know cause.

Ryan Nelson: 19:41

When you say this, like, just take out your drive-through coffee, back in the day I would have been like I ain't doing that. Yeah, like I love my. To this day, I still love my coffee, I still love going out to get coffee, and I know it's expensive, but now I can do it. But back then I couldn't afford it and I still didn't want to do it. But once we started to do it, like you said, suddenly it's like giving up your coffee. Holy cow, we just saved $100 this month. You add one more thing, one more thing, one more thing. Suddenly you're go back to I mean, I go back to coffee, I don't feel guilty about it now, yeah.

Kati Hatfield: 20:20

Or going out to lunch. If you did that five days a week while you're working, if you would just make sandwiches at home, like if you would just pack a lunch, it could be that easy to save ten to twenty dollars a day sometimes, and that adds up real fast.

Brad Nelson: 20:36

Yeah, yeah. And I think, well, the point of like all of this is to get you some quick wins, because the wins is what creates motivation, right, and the more wins you get, the more willing you're, willing to try things and get rid of things. So, like when I first started, I started out doing some of the small stuff we're talking about on the show. Then eventually it got to I'm cutting out my satellite TV because I was paying man anywhere between I was probably $150 to $200 a month on just satellite TV. Back in the day I was like I'm willing to get rid of that, I'll make do, I'll figure it out. I'd rather have that extra money to save or get out of debt. And then it went on to I'm going to get rid of my car payment, I'm going to sell my car, I'm going to take that $500 car payment. I'm going to use that to get out of debt quicker. Like it builds momentum and it creates change and you're willing to do more because it starts to feel good, right. So that's the point of all these little things. The last one, really important, is make your savings automatic, even a small amount $10 or $20 a week, man, that stuff adds up and we talk about sinking funds on this show quite a bit and saving up for future expenses and putting that money away. And sinking funds is just that. It's automating your savings of.

Brad Nelson: 21:42

Okay, I know these expenses are coming up. Let's pick on the holidays. Holidays come around once a year. We always know when they are. They're the same date. Start just putting that money away regularly, on a weekly or monthly basis. It's amazing. In six months it's like you got hundreds of dollars sitting in there, sometimes even more depending on how much you're saving and now you can go shopping, get stuff done early. But setting up automatic transfers makes savings number one automatic and it creates a habit. Right, rather than having to physically have to do it you, you just set it up where it's automatically done for you. You don't have to think about it.

Kati Hatfield: 22:16

When I started doing that, that was huge, because I started with, I want to say, $100 per paycheck and then I built up over time to now it's 10 percent and I don't even miss it. It just goes automatically in. And my savings account is huge and my savings number is not included in my paying off debt number. So all my savings that I've been doing for the last seven years is on top of paying off the $227,000. And that is huge, whether it's going into my retirement fund, my emergency savings or my health savings. It's a big, big improvement from what I used to do.

Brad Nelson: 22:50

All right, guys. So if you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, build savings and finally pay off your debt for good, but again, maybe you're just not sure where to get started. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Simplify my Money is sent to you each and every Sunday to your email, and it's going to be your step-by-step roadmap to better financial control, and you're also going to learn some easy to follow strategies to manage your money more effectively Stress-free money decisions that are going to help you simplify your financial life with proven tips that actually work, and you're going to gain the tools and the confidence to tackle your financial goals head on. You can sign up for Simplify my Money by clicking the link at the top of the show notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's talk, let's talk about that, baby.

Amber Taylor: 23:33

Let's talk about your money. Let's talk about all the good things, all the bad things that may be. Let's talk about that, let's talk about that, and that's how it means. It's time for the celebrations of the show. First we have Max. I tracked my spending this week and put my old moped up for sale to make some extra cash.

Brad Nelson: 24:01

Awesome Way to go, max Jodi says. With our daughter expecting her first baby, my goal has been to buy her gifts with cash. This week we scored an $800 travel system for only $315.23. Not only did we score on an amazing gift, but we did it all with cash only. Jodi, that's an awesome win Way to plan ahead.

Kati Hatfield: 24:24

Babies are expensive.

Brad Nelson: 24:25

That is a good one.

Kati Hatfield: 24:27

Misty, the credit card we've been working on paying off is down to just $82. The plan is to have it paid off before the end of the month. That is awesome, Misty.

Ryan Nelson: 24:39

And Paige. I put $150 in the dog emergency fund and I appreciate that we just had a huge emergency for our dog and $100 in my Las Vegas fund.

Brad Nelson: 24:50

Awesome Way to go, paige. Hey guys, as always, congratulations to all of you guys who are taking a stand for your financial life and you're wanting better. We get that. Getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and hopefully with your consistency and discipline, we promise you guys this will be some of the best work that you guys do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode on the next episode.

Announcer: 25:15

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