What Are Your Favorite Money-Saving Habits?

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Note from Kat – I first asked my fellow writers here at Corporette if we could team up on our favorite money saving habits and tips and tricks — and everyone’s advice was so good I thought I’d make a series out of it! (‘Tis the season, right?) Today, Elizabeth is sharing her money-saving habits with us. Huge thanks to Elizabeth!

Elizabeth’s Money-Saving Habits

I like to think of myself as being flexibly frugal. I don’t drive a fancy car and I will absolutely not be paying full price for shampoo, but I will pay extra for upgrades that make my life easier or more comfortable when the situation calls for it.

Big Stuff

Cars

I bought my mid-size SUV in 2017 with a 0% APR loan and I plan on driving it until the wheels fall off. If I were a person who got a lot of pleasure out of driving a luxury car, I might prioritize this differently, but as long as it’s getting me from Point A to Point B safely, I’m just fine. I’m hoping to get a few more years out of this one before switching to a hybrid or electric car. 

Housing

Housing is the biggest line item in my budget, so when I bought my home as a single person several years ago, I was really cautious about not getting out over my skis with a house that was more than I could comfortably afford.

Rather than let my mortgage broker tell me how big of a mortgage they thought I could qualify for, I did the math ahead of time and told them the maximum amount that I wanted to be approved for. This saved me from being tempted (or pressured) into falling for a house that would cost more than I was comfortable with.

Small Stuff

Meal Planning

Without a loose plan, I turn into an absolute gremlin in the grocery store. I’m not as militant as some folks are, but I try to come up with 3-4 dinners that I know I’ll make at some point over the course of the week.

I pick up groceries on Friday night or Saturday morning and spend an hour or two on Saturday or Sunday getting stuff ready for the week. This usually means making some kind of protein/grain/veggie that can be combined in different ways for my lunches, and chopping vegetables and prepping proteins for dinners. I find that if I have some stuff ready in advance, I’m not as tempted to order takeout just because it’s late and I’m tired.

I can always tell the difference in food spending between the weeks when I had a good plan in place and the weeks when I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

Toiletries

I have a teenage daughter, which means my budget for skincare/haircare/bath items is close to the GDP for a small country. I try to save money where I can by stocking up on our most-used items at a discount. This usually means checking the CVS and Target ads on Sunday mornings to look for sales and signing up for loyalty programs that send digital coupons to my email every week.

For example, at the time of this writing, I’m looking at the digital coupons available on my CVS account and I have $5 off Neutrogena facial products and $5 off Differin adapalene products. I also have an $8 off $40 coupon and a 30% off one regular-priced item coupon that were emailed to me earlier this week.

Combining all of those, I can buy the moisturizer and acne treatment that get used most frequently in our house for less than $20, rather than the $35 or so that they would normally cost elsewhere. I know this sounds time-consuming, but I swear it takes me no more than a few minutes and it allows me to keep a small stockpile of items purchased on the cheap. It probably saves me a few hundred dollars over the course of the year. And most importantly, it saves me from having to run to the store at the last minute because we’re out of tampons or toothpaste. 

Huge thanks to Elizabeth for sharing her habits with us! Readers, what are your top money-saving habits?

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / johnkwan.