Whether you’re hoping to save money on shopping, groceries or travel, there’s always a tip which will help you achieve your goal. If you’re ready to begin saving some money instead of using it all, the following expert strategies will help make your transformation easier.
Whether you have important financial milestones that you really want to achieve, or are just preparing for unexpected emergencies, saving money is a very important step to take. If you want to become a savvy saver, you’ll need to apply different financial hacks and tips so that you can manage to save enough money.
While you might not be frugal by nature, you might get one or two tips about saving from someone who’s already a pro at it. This article outlines some of the best tips about saving money from the best economical experts.
1. Save On Groceries by Double-Dipping on Cash Back
One of the best ways to save some one on your day-to-day expenditures is by using cash back shopping apps or credit cards that offer cash back. You can boost your savings further by pairing them together, says Nadia Malik, the founder if Speaking for Cents and a financial expert.
Nadia personally uses a cash back credit card from Discover It. It gives her 1% cash back for all her expenditures and 5% cash back on bonus categories. One of the ways she uses to get double bonuses is by linking her credit card to the Ibotta app.
“Between the money I save by using Ibotta and the cashback I get through my credit card, I manage to save about 20 to 25 on my overall grocery bills every month,” said Nadia Malik.
Nadia also uses the usual tips for saving on groceries such as:
- Exempting processed foods
- Switching to store brands from name brands
- Replacing pre-portioned with bulk buying
She says that every since she started using such money-saving hacks, she has managed to help her family cut the cost on food by between 40 to 50%.
2. Stack Your Savings When Shopping Online
One of the best ways to save time and get cash back for purchasing items is by shopping online, especially if you’re using the best apps for saving money. Miguel A. Suro, the founder of The Rich Miser and an attorney, saves between 2 to 5% or much more from online shopping.
Same as Nadia Malik, his strategy entails using a credit card with rewards, in his case, the Citi Double Cash card, which helps him get a percentage of his shopping back. He also uses the following methods to increase the rewards he gets:
- Using rewards apps to purchase things
- Earning rewards for registering for store loyalty programs
- Downloading cash back and coupon browser extensions
Suro prefers using app like Swagbacks, Bumped and Rakuten. Some of the other browser extensions he also uses include Cashbackaholic and Honey, because they allow him to compare cashback offers from multiple shopping apps in order to get the best deals.
When you have all your savings tools in one place, the step that follows is to stack all of them. “For instance, when I purchase items online from Sam’s Club, I normally receive a 2% cashback on my credit card as well as a 1% cashback from Bumped,” says Suro. “I’m also given a 2% cashback for my premium membership from Sam’s Club Plus and an additional 2% from Swagbucks.”
You’ll be earning a total of 7% from cashbacks from online shopping for items you would normally get from the store.
3. Get Travel Savings by Hacking Your Credit Card
Travel rewards are also a great way of saving a lot of cash. One of Money Saved Is Money Earned’s frugal experts, Tawnya Redding saves hundreds even thousands of dollars on travel expenses by charging all the transactions she does to her credit cards so that she can get points.
She maximizes her points by using a multi-card system which she can later use for groceries, gas, travel and other expenses. Redding then redeems the points in exchange of free hotel accommodation and flights.
“It’s been a long time since I paid the full amount for a flight ticket and I normally only need to pay for fuel surcharge,” she stated.
She has also been able to pay for part of a companion’s hotel room or flight ticket on some trips.
“I usually earn points for spending money that you would eventually, so you can view it as getting free travel for covering my bills.” said Redding.
Note that if you’re opting to try out this frugal hack, you’ll still be required to pay the full balance on your card at the end of every month. Otherwise, you risk accumulating the interest charges which will in turn reduce the value of the points you’ll get.
Related: Best Cash Back Cards for 2021
4. Save Money by Making Money
One of the easiest ways to make some extra cash is by starting a side hustle which will also help increase your savings. In case you don’t have enough time to accomplish this, there’s an easy frugal solution: consider mystery shopping.
That combined with cashback app, is what the founder of Frugal Minimalist Kitchen and registered dietitian Bri Bell uses to ensure that she doesn’t exceed her grocery budget. “I actually get paid to answer short surveys and take a couple of photos of different items in the store, then I continue doing my shopping as usual,” she said.
Bell uses Mobee and Field Agent to get mystery shopping gigs, but she has to check the apps frequently to see if there are any available gigs.
“When I find a gig from one of my regular stores, I normally opt to shop a couple of days early and benefit from both opportunities,” she said. Otherwise, she’ll go with her normal shopping schedule and maximize the benefits of using a mystery shopping gig that’s available on that day.
Bell relies on Checkout 51 and Ibotta to help her maximize her savings on groceries, as well as the additional cash she receives from the mystery shopping gigs.
When she combines all these opportunities, she can save up to $1,500 per year. The following are some of the options to consider:
- Start a blog
- Try online tutoring
- Become a freelance writer
- Earn money as a part-time delivery person
- Become an Instacart shopper
If you’re looking for a side gig that will help you save some money, don’t forget to factor in all the cost you may need to pay for. For example, while becoming a driver with Instacart can help you earn some extra money, but you’ll be required to cater for your vehicle’s wear and tear expenses.
Related: 11 Apps Such as Ibotta to Get Cash Back and Earn Rebates
5. Let Other People Find Money-Saving Deals for You
Looking for sales, promo codes as well as other deals requires a lot of time. One way to avoid doing it by yourself is to let another person do most of the work for you.
“One of the best ways to achieve this is by joining deal groups on Facebook and following frugal experts on social media,” said Melisa Garcia, the founder of a money-saving blog, Consumer Queen.
Go to the search bar on Facebook and type in ‘deal groups’ where you’ll find different listings for potential groups for you to join.
“This method helps me save money and time since they already use their time looking for the best deals both offline and online,” said Garcia.
Garcia also has a Facebook deal group that she runs by herself and she says this is the best strategy that will help you land multiple money-saving opportunities. For instance, such groups can help you find information about:
- Coupon codes from the best retailers
- Free samples
- Access to exclusive sales
- Product giveaways
- Restaurant coupons
As a bonus, she says that most of these groups list some frugal and money-saving hacks such as how you can make your own cleaning products from home.
With enough searching, you can find deals and bargains from different Facebook groups. They groups can be vetted for quality by viewing how many people are members there and how often the admins post new deals.
Related: How to Start Couponing (a Beginner’s Guide)
6. Cash-back Apps for Leverage and Not Just Shopping
One of the best money-saving tools out there is Rakuten which will not only help you purchase baby gear and clothes; you can also find other opportunities.
Shoestring Baby’s frugal mom blogger, Elizabeth Humberstone, also saves hundreds of dollars on travel by using Rakuten. She piles ups savings by using Rakuten to select for hotel booking companies and always settling on the one that has the best cashback offers. She then logs into her account with the booking company and uses her rewards card to pay for the charges.
This enables her to triple dip because she’ll be earning rewards from her credit card, the hotel booking site and Rakuten. She has earned at least $200 free award nights as well as other rewards when using this strategy.
If you decide to use a third-party company, you might not be able to earn rewards in the same way that you would when booking through the loyalty rewards program that the hotel offers.
Confirm the rewards you can earn when using the loyalty program with those you would get from the booking company and opt for the one that provides you with the most money-saving opportunity.
7. Don’t Overlook Your Home Savings
So far, the hack for saving money that have been mention focus on travel and shopping, but there are several other ways that you can save money at home.
The founder of Collecting Cents and a personal blogger, Freya Kuka, saves money on utility bills by suing multiple frugal hacks. Here are some of the methods she uses:
- Doing laundry with cold water
- Installing a showerhead with low-flow
- Installing a thermostat that’s programmable
- Regularly servicing your HVAC and repairing air filters
- Loading your dishwasher fully before running it
- Keeping your thermostat lower in winter and higher in summer
- Adjusting the temperature on the hot water heater to go several degrees lower
Kuka says that the above hacks can help you save money in the long run.
“Apart from receiving discounts for the purchases you make from time to time, you’ll also be saving money frequently.”
If you want to save some money on utilities, there are several measures to consider that will help you cut out or negotiate particular bills. If you require help with your savings, opt for services such as Trim, BillShark and Truebill to help you figure it out.
Related: Truebill vs. Trim: Which App Will Help You Save the Most Money?
Saving Money Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
If you’re working towards achieving some saving goals, using the frugal hacks listed above will help you get on the right track. They are true-and-tried methods that can actually help you save some money. With the right mindset and tools, you can do just about anything to accomplish your saving goals.
