Hey everybody, it is qcknd and welcome back to my channel. If you are new here
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So today I want to share with you five of the money-saving tips that I implement in my life
I've been doing this for years
and I feel like it's something I live with and
I feel like have gotten down to a pretty good science
I've benefitted and seen results from these tips and
They're something that I just like apply second nature at this point. So I wanted to share them with you guys
I don't know how obvious or how practical some of them are for you, but it's good to keep them in mind
Maybe you could share them with friends or family or you can hear them now and apply them down the road if you are
not yet living on your own. You could probably still try some of these things out and stretch your dollar
for me my like pre
text to all of this is
these things will help you save money
But I think they will also just help you be more thrifty and I think that's the overall goal
You know, you can afford and have enough income to do some of these things all the time
But I just feel like if you save your money and you're not always
wasting it
you can put it towards something else or you can have a savings account and I just think that like
having a little nest egg is really valuable and you know something I wasn't able to do until like my
Mid-20s have a savings account. But once I did it's just a nice relief and just a nice sense of security
even if there's only
$75 in there. So today I want to share with you some of the tips that I use, you know
that helped me help me live thrifty, live within my means very comfortably, and
all of these things I feel like also have a beneficial green footprint on the environment and that's what we all want.
So hang out with me today and I will share all of my favorite tips with you guys. My first tip for
saving money is to pack your lunch. If you go to school if you go to work, especially
Pack your lunch
I've been packing my lunch for the last like
Four or five jobs I've ever had and I can't tell you how much money it saves me even living in the city
Especially or working in a shopping center
Like when I worked at Kmart,
everybody would walk down to Subway and get a sandwich like every single day or they would buy something from the grocery section and
over time, it just adds up. it takes away from your break
because you're going somewhere, you're waiting for food to be prepared, whatever. Or
something I've seen happen a lot in the last couple years is people will get Postmates or Caviar or something delivered to their work
So you're paying a premium for delivery and you're paying a premium for take-out already, and it's already
expensive enough to get takeout every day, and then pay the premium to have it delivered
so packing your lunch is great. If you work somewhere that has a microwave or a refrigerator
that's even better. If you work somewhere that has a communal space
it might you know save you money in the end if you volunteer to bring in a microwave or in my
experience, bringing in a toaster kind of elevated everything to the next level.
Even a toaster gives you so many options. If not, dry food or an insulated lunch bag--
I got John a really nice
insulated lunch bag for Christmas a few years ago and it saves us a ton of money when he packs his lunch.
That just for me, just number one.
Sometimes you know, I would just grab a microwave meal and bring that with me to work or
Literally like a bag of frozen vegetables or a canned soup.
Canned soup has been my go-to for the longest time and I would literally bring a ceramic bowl and
spoon with me and wash them and bring them home
but the money I saved at the end of the day is
so so much in comparison to a meal that when you're at work
I feel like you don't even have the chance to enjoy, you're at work and you're like fuel, nourishment, a break,
I don't care what it is
And that's how we get into habits of spending a lot of money and maybe eating unhealthy as well
so if you can pack your lunch I
swear, you will see instant savings.
So the next way I love to save money and I think is great for everyone to consider is to
minimize the cost of your commute by any way possible. By this
I mean if you go to school, if you're driving to work, if there's somewhere you're frequently going; if you can minimize the cost
You're going to see savings. For me, riding
my bike has been amazing. The cost and the maintenance of my bike is much much much much much lower than a car and
parking is generally free and
getting places is a lot faster if you want to think about time versus money for me, I generally
optimize the public transportation in my city and
you want to minimize the cost of that as well.
If your city offers tokens,
if your city offers like a bus pass where you can save a little bit of money versus paying cash every time. I know in
Philadelphia, I believe you save 25 cents per ride if you buy tokens or use a trans pass card
So your city may offer things like that for you and it's always always amazing to utilize public transportation
even when I was commuting in and out of the city, the public transportation was the
train, and at the end of the month if you took the train every single day it would come up to about $200.
However, on the train you have time to read,
relax, do your homework, get some things done and
ultimately, you're saving on gas and parking if you're commuting to a city. So even if the savings aren't outstanding--
like you might be like, well, it only cost me three hundred dollars to drive every month,
but I'm in the comfort of my own car.
I just think that the stress will be less if you're commuting via public transportation,
the reliability is still just as high as I would say your personal vehicle, and
the savings does add up. If you cannot commute via public transportation
lyft and uber and other ride shares
always have options where you can buy bulk. So you can buy ten rides, or you can do share which has
I think, you know, sometimes fifty percent discount. In the last couple years, I've met so many people who only strictly take ride share and
more than anything I recommend considering public transportation. Just understanding the route, you know,
if the bus only comes once an hour you can shift your schedule to
figure out what works for you so you are getting on that bus once an hour. My best friend from back home
she takes a bus that only comes once an hour and she does a really great job
you know, centering her life around that and I don't think it took a lot of effort for her to shift
but when I was out where she lives the Ubers are kind of on the higher end between like
13 and 20 dollars per ride
so she saves 90 percent taking the bus and I think, you know,
It's a really great and easy savings. Plus I also feel like a lot of people missed out on the public transportation
opportunity. I've met people where I was like, where do you live?
Oh, that's right by a train stop, and they're like, what?
You know, don't isolate
yourself by taking rideshare and being the only person in the car. Immerse yourself in your community;
take the bus, take the train, hear what people are talking about and I just think that other than the savings,
just being immersed in your community is also
you know, of wealth. So this next one might be a little controversial or might hit you where it hurts
But my next money saving tip is to eat at home.
Prepare your food at home
yourself. And I know this can be difficult because
we are in a time right now where Postmates sand Caviar and Uber Eats
have spread and they are a lot more
globalized and you might live in a little town and all of a sudden you have all these delivery options,
but I can't stress to you enough how much money all of that stuff costs. And you can rationalize it in the moment--
you're like, hey, we're watching a movie. I don't wanna run out,
but over time, you know, I've seen all these tweets that are like in debt from Postmates
And I know what it might be a joke, but I get on my little brother with this all the time
it's almost like a blind fury.
My brother spends so much on Postmates and it's ridiculous.
My grandma told me he spent $80 the other day on one meal.
One thing I really like doing is going grocery shopping with a friend and then preparing the meal together
I think often this seems like it's something that is reserved for like an intimate person in your life
But I really don't think it has to be. My friend Justine
we recently redid her gallery wall,
and after we spent like $75 on supplies,
both of us decided like, let's just cook at your house. We'll do the gallery wall,
we'll take a break and prepare a meal together, like we hadn't done that since we were kids.
So, well-- this is something we do a lot,
but every time we do it
It feels like we're kids again because after school we would prepare our meal and then go do something.
We never ate out.
So, it is a nice moment that you can share and it's always always always going to be so much cheaper
You're going to have more food and you get to have that intimate connection.
I feel like a lot of the luxuries that we pay for
remove the
communication and the feeling of intimacy we may share with somebody because we prioritize convenience.
I think the things that save the most money usually are with another person.
There's community involved. A lot of times if I'm saving up for something or just made a big purchase
I'll make sure I'm eating at home and if a friend wants to come hang out
I love to say can I cook for you? Can we shop together? It's always
cheaper and just a more enjoyable experience in my opinion.
It may take longer, but I'm not doing anything more valuable
anyway. So, my next tip feels like it's going to cover a huge wide spectrum of things
but I promise you it's just one tip that is all-encompassing and that is:
mend, buy used, coupon, thrift, upcycle. All of these things
I feel like fall under buy frugally. And by being frugal, I just mean finding the best deal or
taking something that already exists and fixing it or just shopping around
I think a lot of us do a really great job shopping around to find the best deal
But that doesn't always exist online. You can do that in the physical world as well.
Even if it's aided by like using Craigslist or like a Facebook marketplace.
I really like this because I grew up thrifting and then when I got older my roommate she would always use Craigslist to buy
things I never thought of. She would buy a vacuum, she would buy a bread maker,
she would buy a rug. And all of these things, you know, take her and they put her and immerse her in the community,
but she also saves a lot of money on something that doesn't necessarily
need a big piece of her budget. Like buying a vacuum can be really expensive, but it's something that people,
you know, often upgrade or downgrade and get something smaller. So there are things that you can find on Craigslist
relatively often. If you don't want to buy used necessarily like a rug you can buy
thrifty or coupon or use some of these like big big box outlet stores.
I feel like some of them don't always have optimal savings.
Like I feel like every time I go to Big Lots everything is market price
But we did get our bedroom rug from Ali's. We had been waiting to buy one for a little while,
I think the store was like,
15% off and I had a 20% off coupon and we went and I felt like I was getting away with robbery.
But we waited and bought the rug pretty affordably.
I know it's really easy with like instant purchasing,
Amazon, and instantly buying things like that to jump and just buy it very quickly or instantly,
but sometimes waiting to find it, you know, used or thrifted or upcycle something that you already have
I think that you can get a lot of satisfaction out of,
you know, finding an old chair and reupholstering it so it fits a new vibe or looks brand new after it's been torn
versus buying something new
Even if with supplies and stuff you're well, am I really saving that much money?
I think that there's something really gratifying about you know
putting on a tutorial, learning how to do something, and using your hands. Once you get into
this like mindset of fixing things yourself,
you kind of
unlearn that desire to buy things new and it takes a little while but
you know, same with that chair. Like if you're redoing your room and you're like, I can't use this green chair--
oh wait, I can sand it and then restain it or I can reupholster it. I feel like
it opens your eyes a little more for me personally. I've almost like cursed myself in this like thrifty mindset
I really have found myself not wanting to buy things new which can be frustrating but for me like if I need something, often
I'll wait to find it used or wait to find a cheaper or wait to find it thrifted or I just like won't do it
at all which you know
I don't think is that unhealthy of a behavior so I don't totally mind. So, my final tip for saving money
sounds a little bit like my previous tip, but my final tip is to
declutter. And I'll tell you why it sounds kind of like my previous tip in a second. When you start to declutter,
you know, you're removing things from your house that you have too much of. And you know, while you're decluttering, you know,
you may be downsizing a collection that's worth value.
Like if you're decluttering some clothing you can put it up online,
you can go to a consignment store.
You could sell your comic book collection, like some of the things that we keep in our homes can be valuable.
So you're saving money there, but at the same time,
when you start to declutter, you are faced with the things that you buy in excess. You know,
I recently decluttered my fridge and I feel like I'm already experiencing the savings
just by getting rid of all of the junk food and
things I never ate or things I bought on impulse,
I see what the things
you know, my family actually eats and the things I actually
gravitate towards, and I also have a better idea of what is in my fridge now that it's all cleared out and
this last week I've done an amazing job of taking care of leftovers, eating things before they expire. And
normally, I would go to the market once or twice a week, and I have not gone since I have cleared out my fridge.
It's been an amazing journey,
but I'm eating better, and I'm more conscious.
Same for clearing out my clothes, clearing out my makeup, ever since I did my makeup clear out, I have not purchased new makeup and
before, I would go to the store and pick up a little thing because I thought I was almost out of it or I hadn't seen
it for a while and that's just because there was so much clutter. And when there's physical clutter,
I feel like there's also like a mental clutter like a fog that you're in because you're used to just
replenishing and buying more,
until, you know,
you're faced with all of the things that you've been buying.
Once you you clear out and you know, do some decluttering, your physical hands are in the things that you own
and you have a better idea of what they are and you get to touch them and experience them and
decluttering I feel like in that way, has saved me so much
money. It's a trickle-down effect that I feel like just has so many benefits.
I kind of declutter my clothing pretty regularly and
I can tell you I won't buy any clothes new. I
won't. I have a really good understanding of how I consume clothes and fashion,
and I only have that grip on reality because of the last two years where I have regularly
gone through my clothing when I feel like I have too much or too many things
I don't use and I can you know, a hundred percent say
before that mindset I was buying new clothes all the time.
Every time I went downtown
I would go into H&M and go into Forever 21, and
just go in the stores every time. Every time I would go into Urban, every time I passed it
I would go into Urban. It just was a ritual I had and
now I don't do that. So it takes a long time
but I swear the savings come to you. And buying a t-shirt, or a pair of shorts or something
every time I went out was just a giant hole in my wallet and
I didn't think there was a problem. I felt like it was very social. So
these are my tips to help you guys, and to just say them out loud because I'm a little proud of them.
I feel like there's a ton of things, you know, other than that that I do
that help me save money, but those are the main things that I feel like are
social and you know,
kind of like a little problematic and something I see amongst friends and
family and something that I've been guilty of, so I wanted to share those tips with you guys today.
If you have any other tips, or you would like to see another video like this definitely leave the comments down below,
you know, I think about things all the time that I'm a little bit frugal about,
so if you'd like to see more videos like this,
definitely let me know. If you want to see any of my videos about clear out or anything like that
I will leave them linked below.
Anyway, I love you guys so much. Thanks for watching. And if you're new here, definitely remember to subscribe,
hang out, I have a ton of lifestyle videos that kind of circulate around this so I'd be glad to have you on board. Anyway,
bye!