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What are meaningful and simple ways to save money?

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Daniel’s Answer

Make a very detailed budget of everything you spend, see if there's obvious ways to cut expenses (cheaper cell phone plan, cutting cable bill, not spending $100/week eating out, not having an expensive car, etc). If you want specific advice you can post your budget to places like reddit.com/r/personalfinance.


Mint, youneedabudget are software approaches.


For food specifically there's the concept of Sunday meal prep - make food on Sunday for the whole week. Tons of websites, recipes, etc.

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Jennifer’s Answer

Great question! I suggest investigating if your bank offers a Checking plan that will round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and automatically transfer the change to your Savings account. You may also want to research Credit Unions Checking & Savings plans in your area. I completely agree with the advice all ready offered and believe the most meaningful way to save is to create a budget that includes your monthly savings goal, then make informed decisions about purchases and always stick to your plan/budget. Any month you come in under plan/budget move the extra money to savings. A website you may want to bookmark is bankrate.com. The site has numerous calculators to help you make informed financial decisions as well as saving projections to help guide you.
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Simeon’s Answer

The two biggest expenses you can control are rent and food. I'd recommend finding a house rental and splitting it between a group of roommates. You can get living expenses down very low this way and even split the cost of groceries with the house, taking different turns for who will cook, etc.
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Ravikumar’s Answer

What are meaningful and simple ways to save money?

Fantastic question, Kaila. Saving money is a discipline that you will need to build just like anything else. Start by asking yourself what you are saving for. Oftentimes, it's the goal that you are after that will make you build that strong discipline, and then the discipline becomes it's own powerful habit. As an example, when I was 15, I desperately wanted a new cricket bat(10$), and that made me save every penny to reach that goal. As I grew up, those goals became bigger and bigger, and we bought our first house when I and my wife were 29 and that required us to stop eating out as much as we did prior to making that decision to buy our own house.

Once you made the decision to save, there are many ways to make it happen from low-tech means such as a piggybank to a child custodial account that you can depoist your $$ into. You are already a step ahead by asking this question, Kaila, keep it going.
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Jacqueline’s Answer

The first and most simple way to save money is to be aware of what you are spending. Track your spending for a week by writing it down on paper on in your cell phone. Add it all up and see what you can cut out. From there you can put together a budget and see how you come close to it or where you may need to spend more or less to be functional.
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Michael’s Answer

additionally, there are apps like iBotta and Walmart Savings Catcher which are easy to use. Usually the amounts are small but over time can build some savings.

Look in to credit card rewards, this is a great way to build credit and also same up money. Amazon, for example, offers a card with 5% cash back on all eleigble amazon purchases.

Finally, look in to keeping your savings in an account with a higher interest rate such as 1% or 2%.

These are all little ways to make the most of your money without changing your lifestyle or budget.
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J.T.’s Answer

Try to budget 80% for spending and 20 for saving. Make a very detailed budget of everything you spend, either handwritten or using a software utility like Mint or your bank. Look for areas where you can spend less. Don't be afraid to use coupons and software that gives a discount on things you purchase often.
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