Sometimes people don’t have time to clip coupons or scour the web for deals, but they still want to save money. How can you do this with minimal effort? There are lots of things you can do that will save you small amounts of money over time—and every little bit helps! Here are just a few easy tips.
Use reusable bags. Many stores, like Aldi’s and Target, reward you for not using their bags (at Aldi’s, you have to buy them anyway) and knock off some of your bill just for bringing reusable bags.
Get a debit card from the store you use most often (if they offer one). We have a Target debit card because my husband works there, so on top of his employee discount we get a five percent discount for using the card. Any person can apply for this card and use it to get a discount each time they shop; you don’t have to put money on it since it debits directly from your bank account.
Use your library’s inter-library loan system instead of buying books. You can get a few at a time and though you’ll have to wait, you won’t have to spend a penny.
Keep a change container somewhere. In your car is helpful; we keep one in our console and one near our front door. The console money is used for my husband’s lunches, and sometimes car washes; the door money is used in either emergencies or for the ice cream truck. This is a great way to pay for small expenses without really budgeting for them, if you ever use cash.
Reuse your water bottles. If every person did this, we would save hundreds of dollars each while not wasting so much plastic! And if you really want purified water, a home system can save you tons of money; you can get a faucet system for about $35 and a water pitcher for your fridge for less than $20. All you’ll have to do is buy a filter every so often, depending upon your use.
Use scoop-able cat litter. It’s not as cheap as the clay clumping kind, but you can scoop it easily and not have to change it nearly as often—think weekly instead of twice, or less if you only have one cat!—and it will save you at least one bag of litter each month.
Reuse everything you can. Using partial lemons for a recipe? Use them for scenting your home and cleaning as well, and skip the expensive air freshener. Instead of pitching anything in the mail, reuse any envelopes you can (replies to companies who solicit sales that you’re going to recycle anyway are great for this) and put the paper in a pile to use for scrap writing. This is really handy for everything from budgeting and doing math problems to writing grocery lists.