Saving Money is Easier than Expected with These 5 Tips

Behold July! 

I feel like I should start saving for the holidays now. I'm in full-paying off mode, and S and I have finally done a household budget. It wasn’t as painful as we imagined. 

I have models of my budget set in folders on Learnvest, where I can follow how much I am spending and saving each month.

Here’s a few things to try..

·         Buy a gift card each month to keep for Christmas gifts (I read this somewhere, going to start trying it 5 months before the holidays, this month) If I buy a visa gift card, it’s on my CC statement, plus if I don’t spend them all, I can use them for groceries. I am going to pick one up this week. I like this better than putting money in a Christmas account, in my opinion.

·         Make and take my lunch every day. Lunch out only once a week. This is a huge investment to get lunch at work each day- sometimes around $9. That’s about $80 a month if I get the café even just twice a week, and that could be a nice dinner out with my honeypie.

·         Make my own coffee daily- this is a biggie for several reasons. I work in Philly, miles from my home, I leave very early so stopping to get a leisurely cup of joe isn’t on the schedule. 
I wake up, I go to the kitchen, turn on the Keurig, get dressed, and make coffee- boom, one cup for me.

·         Barter for services. Got a skill- USE IT! Teach yoga for electrical work, make meals for gardening. Local time banks are helpful too.  
Obv, use common sense and be aware of your surroundings and people that you are bartering with.

·         Shopping in house. I want to change up some things, so rearranging the furniture, finding new uses for items and repurposing is a fabulous way to shop without spending any money.

what are your favorite ways to save?