Saving money can be hard sometimes, especially when you don’t have a lot to spare. But the good news is, there are several ways to cut expenses without making huge changes to your lifestyle. Saving a few bucks here and there may not seem like much but every dollar saved can make a big impact on your life in the long run. Here are a few small changes you can implement to ultimately save big bucks.  

1. Get Rid of Cable

Ditching cable is a great way to save a few extra bucks every month. My husband and I used to pay $167.58 for our cable bill every month before we finally cancelled it. We had so many channels to choose from. From a 100 different sports channels to every movie channel under the sun, to news, reality TV and miniseries’.  But in the end, we really only watched a handful of the channels at our disposal, so what was the point of spending all that money on the hundreds of other channels we didn’t watch?

So instead of spending more than $2K a year on cable, we signed up for Hulu and Netflix instead. We only spend about $6 bucks a month on Hulu and another $9 bucks a month on Netflix. We also already had an Amazon Prime membership but we never took advantage of the prime video until we got rid of cable.

Overall, we ended up saving more that $1,700 a year just by getting rid of cable and the channels that we never even really watched in the first place. That’s an extra $140 every month that we ended up putting into our savings account which ultimately paid for our flight to Maui last spring.

2. Cancel Your Gym Membership

How often do you go to the gym? Be honest. If you’re one who actually puts your gym membership to good use, good for you! I am legit jealous of you right now. I am a total fitness junkie wannabe but can’t seem to find the time. Actually if I’m being honest, I can’t seem to find the motivation and finding the time is just an excuse.  

Anyway if you’re like me and never go to the gym then it’s time to cancel that membership and save some money. Cancelling that membership doesn’t mean that you’re giving up on your fitness dreams. It just means that you’re going to be saving your hard earned money instead of flushing it down the toilet on a membership you aren’t using and don’t plan on using in the foreseeable future.

Gym membership plans vary wildly but the average cost of a membership is about $58 a month or almost $700 a year. What could you do with an extra $700 a year? I bet you could come up with something pretty great.

3. Eat out less

This is a safe space so be honest when answering this question. How many times every month do you eat out? Like I’ve already said, I’m a total wannabe fitness junkie and lack of time and motivation are definitely contributing factors in my pudgy physique, but so is Friday night pizza and Saturday night Mexican. Chinese. Italian. American.

My husband and I eat pretty well during the week. But when Friday night rolls around, that healthy diet we stuck so well to during the week gets thrown right out the window and we inevitable get a pizza delivered.

Saturday night is almost always just as bad. We generally go out to eat on Saturday night. So we usually spend $20 on pizza every week and then another $20-$50 depending on where we go on Saturday night.

When money is tight or we’re saving for something in particular or hell even when our waistlines have taken a hit and we need an immediate fix, we cut out most of the dinner’s out and instead eat something healthy at home. Something that we already have stocked in the house.

If we cut out just one weekend of eating like crap, we can save anywhere from $40 to $70. If we do that twice, we save $80 to $140 in just one month. That might not seem like a lot of money but it really adds up in the long run.

4. Cancel subscriptions

Subscriptions are one of those expenses most people tend to forget about. It could be the US Weekly, People, Shape, Southern Living or a million other magazine subscriptions. It could be streaming subscription such as Hulu or Netflix that you never watch. Or maybe it’s the Calm app on your phone or the Sleep Cycle app that you always forget to turn on before bed.

Whatever the subscription is, most of us have them and most of us tend to forget about them especially if they renew themselves automatically annually or semiannually.

I have a tendency to remember my subscriptions renewals too late. Instead of cancelling them when I have the chance, I accidently let them renew, missing the renewal date by only a couple of days. Then I kick myself for being an idiot and wasting money on something I don’t even care about.

So cancel all those subscriptions that you have no use for and save yourself some extra money and reduce the added stress that come with some subscription services.  

5. Make coffee at home

This one might seem like a no brainer but you’d be surprised at how many people do not make their own coffee at home.

Making anything at home is almost always less expensive than going out to get it and coffee is no exception. Did you know that it typically costs about $0.20 per cup of coffee you make at home and most people spend between $1 and $6 per cup of coffee when they get it on their way to work?

Granted getting coffee on your way to work probably won’t break the bank but to put things into perspective, making coffee at home will probably run you less that $100 a year while going out for coffee will most likely cost you between $360 and $2,000 a year.

If your coffee tends to be on the high end of the spectrum, it might be worth making a few cups at home instead of going out.

6. Use Retail Me Not

Stop overpaying for things you can get a discount on. When my husband and I get pizza on Friday night’s, we always search Retail Me Not. Why would you pay $30 for a meal that you can get for $20?

I use Retail Me Not every single time I buy something online, with the exception of Amazon. If I’m shopping online at Victoria’s Secret or Bath and Body Works, I also check to see if there are promo codes that I can use.

I actually just bought two blazer’s at H&M and used a 10% off promo code which saved me more than $10. Granted $10 isn’t a lot of money but it’s also money that I didn’t have to spend because I had a promo code.

There are several site’s like this one, but Retail Me Not is a site that I always have great success with so no matter which site you use to save money, make sure you check those first before making a purchase.

7. Store brands instead of name brands

There may be some people out there who are resistant to this suggestion but buying store brand instead of name brand items can save you a ton of money. In my experience store brands are just as good and often times much better than brand names.

Price isn’t the only factor when buying a store brand over a name brand. You’ll also want to pay attention to the ingredients as well as the nutrition label but if all that pans out and the price is cheaper then go ahead and give that store brand a shot, you might actually be surprised.

I actually always buy store brand ketchup and mustard and I generally save about a dollar on each but I refuse to buy the store brand ranch. My ranch comes from Hidden Valley and I won’t compromise a dollar or two for taste.

So use your best judgment but know that sometimes store brand can be a lot better than name brand.

Final Thoughts

No matter what your financial situation looks like, you can always find ways to save a little bit more. That could mean saving for a long awaited vacation, a new car, a down payment on a house.  Or maybe your savings goals aren’t quite so lofty but you still want to put aside a few dollars for a rainy day. A great place to start is to start small and remember that every dollar is saved will add up in the long run.