PERSONAL FINANCE
3 Stupid-Simple Savings Hacks (That Actually Help Me)
Sometimes it really is this easy.
One analogy perfectly captures the essence of personal finance. You’ve probably heard it before:
Trying to build wealth while spending heavily is like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it.
That’s why a third of households earning upwards of $250,000/year still live paycheck to paycheck!
Yes, really.
Unless you’re living on the cash firehose of a tech exec salary, good luck topping off that bucket.
Listen, I get that saving isn’t as sexy as raking in cash. And frugality has its limits: you don’t want to be a miser giving up hours of time to hunt for two-dollar-off coupons.
But life is full of ways to save modest amounts with little extra effort. In keeping with the fundamental equation of person finance, those little savings accumulate and compound (if invested in non-stupid ways).
So, what are the proverbial low-hanging fruit of frugality? Here are my favorite tips…but please comment to share your own!
Shorts before air conditioning
You know all those nomadic desert tribes that wear Levi’s?
Me neither.
Here in the American southwest, temperatures should top 100 F all of this week and next. Air conditioning is essential, since we’re not as hardy as your average Bedouin.
But what’s not essential is keeping your house at 73 degrees all day in order to feel cool in jeans…in August…in the desert.
By simply wearing breezy clothing and using a couple fans, we’re completely comfortable at a warmer temperature than most folks seem to choose. Consequently, our electric bill is around 60% of the summertime average among nearby houses of a similar size…and there’s zero suffering involved.
Impact: highly region- and house-specific, but in hot climates like ours, savings can exceed $100/month.
Make meal prep a habit
You’ve got to cook anyway, and doing it a bunch of it at once saves money on two fronts.
We waste far less
The hope-it’s-not-overripe-by-the-time-I-cook-that scenario doesn’t really happen. Throwing away that soggy green pepper that languished in the veggie compartment is trivial on its own, but if it happens even a couple times a week, it amounts to hundreds per year (that’s thousands per decade) in mostly avoidable waste.
And that’s not to mention the impulse purchases we more easily refrain from, knowing our next meal is already waiting at home.
We save more time than we expected
It’s true that chopping two onions (let’s say) for a big batch takes longer than chopping a quarter of an onion for a single meal. But the set-up and clean-up are essentially the same.
If those cooking-adjacent tasks take up around 30 minutes each time, then consolidating a week’s prep gives back multiple hours of our lives without sacrificing the amount of quality of food. That’s like a half-day off from work, give or take. Yes, the “hack” really is to do less work overall.
All this assumes you’ve willing to eat the same lunch or dinner several times in a row. If not, it’s fine, but consider whether your preference for novelty entails costs you haven’t considered.
Impact: I’d estimate our grocery budget is 20% lower thanks to minimizing food waste and impulse purchases. In fact, that’s probably a conservative estimate.
Delay optional purchases by a week or two
Hot take: you’ll save more money if you spend less.
You’re welcome!
In all seriousness, it’s hard to exaggerate how powerfully our impulses shape our spending. Perhaps I’m just projecting here, but the urge to bust out the credit card when we’re bored, anxious, stressed, or simply excited can be hard to resist.
I find that delaying any optional purchase for a couple weeks probably eliminates 75% of what I was totally convinced was a good idea.
If time passes, my emotional state levels out or changes, daily life continues, and I still think it’s a prudent buy, then perhaps it really is. So be it. But I’ve been shocked at how rarely that’s the case.
Of course, this is easier said than done. If you have the willpower to self-impose such a moratorium, then you’re already 90% of the way there. But why not give it an earnest try?
After all, I’m not saying “don’t buy it.”
I’m only saying “don’t buy it yet.”
Impact: Your guess is as good as mine. The average monk might not save much, but the average American household would probably save at least a couple hundred bucks a month. In high-income families, that number could be an order of magnitude higher.
Whether you’re clawing your way out of debt, or already on the precipice of financial independence, the name of the game is free cash flow.
Consciously saving money isn’t particularly fun or glamorous, but it’s the only way to avoid lifestyle inflation and build a base of long-term assets. You know, things that pay you, not the other way around.
It’s obviously better still to save more and earn more at the same time. But if nothing else, I hope these tips help you free up a few more bucks right now to invest in your future.
