Save More Money
Outside the normal advice, you read everywhere, invest more, buy a rental property, cut up your credit cards, consolidate your loans. If you want to save more money look no further here are my top 5 best ways to get out of debt faster. I did them, they work and you’ll feel good about yourself too.
1. Get a Side Hustle
A side hustle can be anything from Dog walking, Uber, a part-time job, start a
blog etc. Starting a blog takes time and effort, but anyone can do it and if done properly you can
set yourself up down the road as an ongoing source of extra income once you get out of debt.
The point is if you have a current job that won’t allow you to make extra money then find another (side gig, side hustle, make extra money).
In another article here on the site, I highlight many ways you can do this and they are doable and can put cash in
your pocket very quickly.
I love Uber especially if you have a nice clean car you just need to get it certified and your good to go to start making money right away. You can even combine Uber with Uber eats now and deliver food as well = More money.
Everyone has a couple extra hours a week and this can add up quickly if you make an extra $200
a week that’s $800 a month or $8400 a year. Bye, bye credit card debt.
2. Make Saving Money a Game or a Challenge
Don’t get down on yourself we’ve all been there, nobody is born an excellent saver. It’s learned, so take advantage of the internet and learn as much as you can from other people who went through what you’re going through.
I’ll be honest I love taking peoples money and I don’t mean that to sound crass, but when my wife and I had a duplex, the 1 st of the month was my favorite day because I got the rent check from our tenants. When I sell stuff online that we don’t use anymore its like found money.
That money is always put in a separate account that my debit card can’t access. Every time the account gets a certain amount $500 or $1000 it gets moved to either a big bill (mortgage, car payment) or retirement savings.
There are so many ways to learn about saving and let’s be clear, it’s easy you just have to do it. Make it a challenge or a game with your wife and kids to start saving. Put it all straight into your special account
3. Stop wasting money on Junk
I can’t even begin to start on how many things I’ve purchased that were frivolous or used once and never used again. I admit it it’s a problem, but I’m far more aware of it now than I ever was in the past.
It’s the whole need vs. want theory. I can’t tell you how many guitars (expensive ones too)that have come and gone in my house and guess what… I only need one (guitar players will argue this to the death! Lol) I’m not that great I’ll never be a rock star and the one I have is a beautiful ax. I don’t need 5.
I’m not suggesting being a minimalist but I do love the concept. If you sit back and take stock of the stuff you have the clothes you don’t wear, tools you don’t use, books you don’t read, furniture that is never sat on… there are so many things you can sell that people want using craigslist or Kijiji and put it all straight into your special account.
Do you have a car you don’t need? This is a hard one, but if you have two cars take stock, do you need two cars? Can you sell one and get a less expensive one, or can you sell one and use a rental, bus, uber or car share program when you need it. Consider the cost of gas (Ummm which keeps going up!), maintenance (an oil change is $90 now) insurance and the initial cost you could save thousands of dollars on this decision alone.
I know its hard to even fathom this one but Trust me it can be done, I sold our second car and bought a Honda Ruckus (a super cool moped. yeah I know) and have never looked back. Savings went straight into the special account.
4. Track Where Your Money Goes
It goes without saying if you don’t know what you are spending your money on you have to start here. I’m not talking about creating a budget but rather just understanding what you are spending your money on. Me its coffee, I’m a coffee-a-holic but I try my best to make it at home I have a cup at work to fill at the coffee shop. (It keeps it warmer longer so I don’t drink as much) I still buy my coffee on the way to work and during the day, but I know what I’m spending it on.
We’ve cut the cable and cut the home phone line. Everything we do in the house is online, so we have an unlimited internet package. There are four of us in the house and I call the cell company almost monthly asking if there is a better plan for our phones, without fail there usually is and our bill gets lowered. That’s $120 a month saved and $1440 a year in the special account.
Are you spending too much on dinners out, stuff for the house, in my wife’s case too many shoes?
I have found I’ve wasted so much money on our kid’s activities, whether it was karate, Tae kwon do, swimming, gymnastics, art classes, music lessons etc. I’m not suggesting do not put your kids in this stuff they need to be active and play with other kids. I dropped $1400 on my daughter’s Kickboxing class (a 1-year membership) and she had to stop a month later to bring her grades up. I wasn’t able to get my money back from the club, I did, however, sell it online. The point is in the case of kids, only by monthly memberships regardless of how good the deal is if you pay for the year up front at any point in time they may not be able to go or want to go. Save your money.
The better handle you have on what you are spending your money on the better chance you have of making a better choice or not spending it at all. More money in your account to put into your special account.
5. Bring your own lunch
Want to save more money… this is the number one way! The invention of the Instant Pot you can make a week’s work of lunches for the cost of one lunch. The Instant Pot is a miracle device that you can sauté, pressure cook, slow cook and more, it’s amazing.
There are so many wicked recipes online you’ll never get sick of it. I use locking plastic containers so they don’t leak in my bag. I make my lunches every Sunday it takes 30 minutes at the most and BAM you just saved approx. $40-$50 a week just on lunches. $2400 a year… come on you can do this it’s too easy.
Save More Money – Conclusion
So there you go 5 easy ways to save and make money to pay off your bills faster or make more money quicker. They are easy to do and easy to plan. You can easily save $5000 a year with small changes and make upwards of $5000 – $10,000 by working a side gig, sell your unwanted stuff and reducing your travel costs by getting rid of a car and finding an alternate way to commute to work.
It’s your money keep it in your pocket instead of somebody else’s.
If you enjoy this site and would like to blog yourself you can its fun and very rewarding. I’ve purchased many classes to learn how to do it properly and the only one I’d recommend is Alex and Lauren over at Create and Go. There is no magic pill, its work but not really because your blog should be about what you love or are passionate about. Alex and Lauren made the mistakes so you don’t have to.
They teach you everything you need to know to be successful. They make over 150K a month with just two blogs. I’d say they know what they are doing.
My review of their course Launch Your Blog Biz can be found here and check my resources page for other recommendations.
As always if you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch at the team@wickedretirement.com