If you are struggling to save money or you just want to save even more money,
then stick around until the very end of this video because I'm sharing five
different, unusual ways to save money fast.
I am Tiffany Thomas with Wealthy
Tiffany DOT Com, and I achieved financial freedom at age thirty eight.
And if you are looking to achieve financial freedom at a young age as well,
hit that like button and the subscribe button and we're going to dive right in.
And I just want to say, first off, that my natural tendency is to save money.
So there are a lot of different things
that have helped me save a ton of money over time.
And I've mentioned a lot of these items
before, such as setting up a budget or paying yourself first or not putting items
on your credit card that you can't really afford.
But today's video is more about the unusual ways that you probably haven't
heard before, for example, using newspaper instead of toilet paper.
OK, we're not going that far today.
These are not too unusual of ideas
that you actually won't be able to implement them.
They're a little different, but still easy to implement.
The first unusual way to save money is a really fun way.
And I personally love this.
It is playing a money game with yourself.
So if you're thinking, all right, I need to really go buy something,
I need this item or I want this item, so I need to go purchase it,
I want you to say to yourself, well, what if I wait one more day and I'm not
talking about the twenty four hour rule where people say, OK,
wait twenty four hours and then if you still want that item, go purchase that.
No, I'm saying wait a day and then another day and another day.
See how long you can go without actually making that purchase.
For example, I kept thinking I need to go
buy some toilet paper and I waited and I'm just kidding.
You guys, we're not talking about toilet paper.
Let me give you a real example when I think to myself,
all right, I need to go grocery shopping.
I'll think, OK, well,
maybe I'll wait one more day and I'll open up my cupboard and be like, oh, hey,
I have some spaghetti in here and some spaghetti sauce.
I'll have spaghetti tonight.
Oh, and I also have some frozen vegetables in my freezer that I forgot about.
And all of a sudden I don't really need groceries.
I have things in my house that I can still eat.
So I'll put off grocery shopping
for another day and maybe even another day or another day.
And it's not that I'm starving myself,
but I'm just trying to be more conscious about what I'm spending my money on.
And do I really need to be spending
my money right then, or do I have food in my cupboard that I can actually eat?
Another recent example, I was thinking,
oh, I'm out of lotion, I need to go buy some lotion.
And I thought, well, maybe I can wait another day.
I can scrape out the remaining lotion in the bottom of the lotion jar.
And then I remembered, oh, yeah, someone had given me lotion a while ago
and I put it in my cupboard and had forgotten about it.
So I pulled out that lotion and now I'm
using that lotion instead of going to the store and purchasing lotion,
which I don't really need because I actually have some.
And just to share one more example with you, this is more of a frivolous
example, but I wanted a black cardigan and I kept thinking I should go look for one.
And I finally did and looked at a few different stores and found one that I
really liked, but thought maybe I don't really need this right now.
So I didn't end up purchasing it.
And then a while later, the black cardigan was still in my mind.
And I thought, you know what, I really do want a black cardigan.
And it turns out that cardigan that I really liked actually went on sale.
So I purchased that cardigan and ended up getting it on sale because I waited
for a little while in order to make that purchase.
When you're thinking, all right, I need to make this purchase or I want
to make this purchase, just say to yourself, well, can I wait one more day?
What about one more day?
How long can actually wait?
What's the longest that you can actually wait?
Maybe you wait seven days or a month or
maybe you think, oh, I didn't really need that purchase.
After all, you can save a lot of money by doing this.
Not only are you holding off on making that purchase so that you may not end up
making that purchase, but if you were to go and make
that purchase, you might purchase something else while you're there.
That's my first step for you guys.
Play that game with yourself and think, well, can I wait one more day?
How about one more day? Maybe one more day?
And I do realize this does not apply for all purchases.
There are some immediate needs and those should be taken care of.
But not all purchases are immediate and very important.
All right. The second step that I have for you,
you may not think this is related to money, but it really is.
And this is to plan out your days, make a schedule for yourself.
And I'm not saying plan out every minute and become so stressed and think you have
to get so many things done because I've done that before and it doesn't work.
But schedule out what you're going to do the next day.
I really like doing it the night before so that you are ready to go in the morning.
You know exactly what is on your schedule for that day and you can get the things
done that you really want to be getting done or that you need to be getting done.
And when you do that,
you have less time for frivolous shopping or just swinging by the grocery store
really fast, or if you're bored at home thinking, oh, what should I do now?
Maybe I'll get on Amazon and see what they have on sale.
And you're not just swinging by target.
And then all of a sudden you have three
new outfits, who knew?! If you have your days planned out, if you have a
schedule and you know what you're doing,
then you don't have that extra time to spend money you don't really need to be
spending, you can actually save that money instead.
And if you do have some downtime,
then make a list of things that you like to do.
Maybe you have a book that you borrowed a month or so, maybe two months ago
from a friend, and you haven't finished that yet.
Maybe you should finish that book.
Just me, guys.? I don't know.
Not only does this one help you save money, but it also helps you feel more
fulfilled and more productive because you're accomplishing things that you
really want to be accomplishing, which is always a nice feeling.
So make a schedule for yourself.
And when you're making your schedule, you can plan out which day you are going
to go to the grocery store and you can also stop at the gas station on your way
so that you're doing all of the things that you need to be doing
in one day, making one trip instead of one
day going to the grocery store and then the next day thinking, oh,
I forgot to get gas, I better go to the gas station. For me
the days that I go to my Zumba class in the morning,
I will go to the gas station right after so that I'm not going out more than I need
to and spending even more on gas than I really need to.
I just schedule out my days and I know I
can do this, on this day because I will already be in this certain area and I can
pick up that thing that I need to for my rental or whatever it is.
And if you schedule out all of those
things in advance, then you'll be saving not only money, but also time.
The third unusual tip that I have for you,
and I've actually mentioned this one before, but I really love this tip.
So I'm sharing it again.
And it is keeping an eye on your money.
And this doesn't necessarily mean that you
are keeping a budget, because I know a lot of people really
struggle with budgeting, but if you're able to keep an eye on your
money, you start to become more familiar with where you're spending your money
and you start to think, oh, should I really be spending that much money on eating out.
And the way I like to do this is using a free app.
It's called Personal Capital.
And yes, I will leave a referral link below if you want to sign up for it.
It's completely free.
You can get a twenty dollar Amazon gift card if you link one of your retirement
accounts to Personal Capital, it's just an option.
But in there you can see all of your different accounts in one place.
So you can see how much you have in your
savings, how much money you have in your checking, if your bills are paid on time,
which subscription fees that you are still getting that you may have forgotten about.
And not only that, you can see all of your investment accounts in there.
And if you want more details about
Personal Capital, I did a separate video sharing more details about how that works.
So I will leave a link above and below
in the description and you can check that out later.
But seriously, you guys keeping an eye on your money is really, really important.
And you can see right there in your account all of your transactions.
So if there are things you're spending
money on and you're thinking, I really don't need to be spending
my money there, I can really put some of that into savings. Then you know
where you're already spending your money so you can adjust.
But if you don't keep an eye on your money, you won't be able to do that.
All right. The fourth unusual money tip that I want
to share with you is a little bit silly, but I kind of like this tip.
And it's when you go to the grocery store, pick up a basket instead of a cart.
And that way you are only putting things
in your basket that you are willing to carry around the store.
And not only does it help you reduce
the money that you're spending, so you're essentially saving money,
but it also helps you become a little bit stronger.
So, you know, I'm just saying but in all
seriousness, if you don't have a huge cart to fill up, if you only have a small
basket and you're carrying that around, then you're not going to be putting extra
groceries in there that you didn't really come to the store for.
So it's keeping more money in your pocket
so that you can save that money and then later invest that money.
And I get maybe you have a big family,
so it's not going to work for you, to put everything in a small basket.
But if that's the case, then think of another way.
Maybe you set a timer and you're only in the store for fifteen minutes.
You get exactly what's on your list
and you get out, or maybe you have your phone out with your calculator and you are
entering every price for every item that you're putting in your cart.
So you know exactly how much you're
spending and that way you're not going over your budget.
And to add to that, it is a lot better if you make a list beforehand of everything
that you need to buy at the grocery store so that you're not sidetracked and buying
extra things that you don't really need and you can continue to save money.
And the last unusual money tip that I want to share with you, tip number five,
is to think about the opportunity cost when you are making a purchase.
And if you don't really like thinking
about the opportunity cost, think about how much you actually have
to work in order to buy that thing you're buying.
For example, if you make, let's say,
seventeen dollars an hour and you want the new iPhone that came out,
which is around a thousand dollars, you're going to have to work fifty eight
hours in order to purchase that new iPhone.
That's about working a week and a half in order to purchase that iPhone.
So think, OK, is it really worth it for me to do?
Especially when I have last year's iPhone,
which still works really, really good and has a really, really good camera on it.
Maybe you can save that money and put it toward your emergency fund,
or maybe you can invest that money so it works for you.
Or if you're going out to eat and the meal
is about 20 dollars, that's about an hour's worth of work.
Is it really worth it to eat that meal or would it be better to eat at home,
which would just be a few dollars, and then you could put that extra money
into your savings account. Or strictly think about the opportunity cost.
If you spend money on one thing,
you're not going to be able to spend money on something else.
That money will be gone.
So if you're buying that new pair of shoes for forty dollars,
you can't put that forty dollars in your investment account and watch that compound
over time and turn into a thousand dollars.
Be really conscious about when you are spending money and why you're spending it.
Is that purchase really going to bring you
that lasting happiness or joy, or could it be better spent or saved elsewhere?
Those are my five unusual money saving tips.
Comment below and tell me which one is your favorite or if you already have
a favorite money saving tip, comment below and tell me which one it is
so that we can share these tips with each other.
And if you found this video helpful, please, hit that like button and share
with one of your friends who, you know, could use some money saving tips right now.
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Thanks so much for watching.
I'll see you in the next video.