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How to Save Money in Your 20s

07.13.2020 by admin // Leave a Comment

Saving money in your 20s will help you achieve financial stability. A lot of people in their 20s are dealing with student loan debt and aspiration for days of having a strong financial cushion and achieving their dream lifestyle. While it’s easy to think that financial planning may be pointless at this stage, the baby steps taken now will create a financial foundation. Increasing your income is most important, but spending less than you make is a close second. Increase your income, be smart with your spending, save money and invest are the recipe for success. Here are tips on how to save money in your 20s to set the stage for a strong financial future.

Increase Your Income

It’s not about what you make, it’s about what you spend is true. However, it’s a lot easier to save money when you make more money. Your lifetime earnings are decided in the first decade of your career. As a result, increasing your income in your 20s is especially important.

There are several ways to increase your income. First, hustle at your job and create a plan to double or triple your salary. This plan may include strategic networking to get promoted or switch industries, identifying what you need to do advance your career, get another degree and / or expand your skill set. Second, build additional streams of income. In order to begin generating passive income, you need to have money first. To build wealth quicker, start a side hustle in addition to your day job. As your income increases, keep your spending flat. This will allow you to save even more money in your 20s.

Save Money In Your 20s by Being Frugal

Now that you’ve focused on making more money, how do you avoid spending your entire paycheck? Control your expenses. Do you make more money than your friends? Doesn’t matter, spend as if you make less. Consistent saving and investing, especially in your 20s, can be an effective way to accumulate wealth. The more you save in your 20s, the less you have to save later in life due to compounding. See how even small savings amounts can add up over time with this compounding interest calculator.

In your 20s, this means being frugal for a few years. You don’t have to be frugal forever. The longer you’re able to live frugally like you lived in college the easier your finances will be. Being frugal also doesn’t mean never having fun. You don’t have to cut back in all areas either, the single most important expense is housing.

Save Money On Housing And Live with Roommates

Some of the best ways to save money in your 20s include being smart with housing. Housing is likely the largest expense in your 20s. Once you sign a lease, you’re stuck with that expense until your lease ends. Don’t become “house poor.” Experts say housing should be no more than 30% of your gross income and that includes all housing expenses. However, this doesn’t mean you should spend 30% of your gross income. The less you spend on housing the more money you’ll have available to save, pay down debt and spend on other things you enjoy. Want to live in a certain location? You may have to settle on the amenities and living with roommates.

The most sure way to save money on housing is to live with roommates. Not only are you able to spend less per month on rent, you’re also able to split utility bills, and split buying the furniture. It’s expensive to furnish your first place. Splitting these costs will save you a ton of money the first few years and enable you to start building a savings cushion. Bringing your own lunch can save $7 / day or $140 / month. Being smart with your housing can save you hundreds a month and thousands a year.

Buy A Used Car or Skip The Car Altogether

The next biggest cost you’ll likely have is transportation. Sometimes, a car is unavoidable. You need it to get to your job and back. But, with remote working increasing, public transportation and rideshares becoming more available can you skip the car for a year or two for a little inconvenience?

Before you buy a car, do the math. Can you use public transportation, bikes and ride shares? How much will this cost you per month? Then, compare this to how much it’ll cost you to own a car. Don’t forget, the money you spend on a car could have been invested and earning you more money or paying down debt. Car expenses also include maintenance, gas, parking, insurance and depreciation. If you can, skip the car. If not, spend as little as you can on a car in your 20s. You can always get a nicer car when you have more money.

Save Money on Food and Drinks

There are ways save money on food and drink and still have fun. You can still go to restaurants and bars and save money in your 20s. Take advantage of happy hour specials. Go over a friends house and have a drink before heading to the bar. When you get to the bar, limit yourself to one drink. Invite people over to watch sports instead of going to a bar. Take advantage when there is free food at events. Bring your lunch. Set a monthly budget for eating out and going to bars. There are plenty of ways to continue to enjoy eating out and also save money.

Eat at home for all other meals and bring your lunch. Planning your meals and using coupons on groceries will save money. Don’t order takeout and instead save your eating out money for when you go out with friends.

Limiting spending on food and drinks is a great money move in your 20s because it starts developing discipline around spending money. It’s hard to say no to always going out with friends and spending money on food and drink but it adds up. But, this is small amounts of money compared to later on. If you can’t say no to going out to save money, how are you going to do when you’re invited on $1,000+ vacations? Practice saving money here and the discipline will spill over to other areas.

Be Frugal With Your Vacation Spending

The best time to travel is in your 20s when you have less responsibilities and more time. This is also when you have the least amount of money so how do you best balance this? Save money in your 20s by taking road trips. Rent a house with friends to reduce spending on lodging. Split a hotel room with 3 other friends to reduce costs even more. There are also plenty of ways to save money on travel, you don’t have to give up travel entirely.

Another option? Work for a global company and take advantage of traveling for your job. It’s much cheaper to spend 2 extra nights in Europe when you’re flying there for work than paying for an entire Europe trip. At minimum, sign up for every single travel loyalty program. This way, you can accumulate points to use for free nights, free airfare and free car rental days. You can also get a good rewards credit card and redeem for free travel.

Limit Spending on Clothing

When you first graduate college you will need to spend some money on clothing. Your college wardrobe won’t suffice for a professional wardrobe, attending weddings, etc. Spending money on clothes in unavoidable. You can continue wearing free t-shirts for a while at home, at the gym and on weekends but at some point you will want to upgrade there too. When you do spend money on clothing, take advantage of sales. Also take advantage of shopping second hand like on Poshmark and even sharing clothes with your roommates if you can. To start to build a wardrobe, buy 1-2 nice things a year like a good pair of black heels and a nice leather black tote.

Take Advantage of Company Benefits

Salary is important, but don’t forget about job benefits. Job benefits include vacation time, health insurance and 401(k) match benefits but did you know there may be more benefits to help you save money? In college you were able to get discounts with your college ID. Post college, look for ways to use your company ID to save money. Some health insurance plans offer money towards a gym membership every year. Depending on the industry and area, companies may offer free or discounted food, free gyms on-site, discounts on auto insurance, discounts on personal travel and more. Look at your internal company site to learn more about perks offered by your company.

Track, Manage and Reduce Your Spending

Now that you have those saving money tips, know how you are spending your money today. Can you use any of the tips above to save money? You must spend less than you make in order to save money in your 20s. To do this, you need to understand where you’re spending your money. When you just graduate, you’re adding a lot of new expenses. For the first few months, track every expense and see where you’re spending your money. Don’t change any behaviors, only add tracking what you spend and follow how you normally spend your money. At the end of the month look back at what you spent your money on. Do the same for the following month. Are you spending more or less money than you are making? Were all those purchases necessary? How did your spending change month to month?

Create a Budget

Saving money in your 20s starts with having a budget. Create a budget that works for you and isn’t too restrictive, otherwise you’re less likely to follow it. There are plenty of apps like Mint which make this process much easier. First, input your regular bills like rent, electricity, internet, etc. These are all of the bills you must pay. There may be ways to decrease these bills later, but for now put what you pay today. Set aside money for the things that bring you happiness and finally add in everything else. Be realistic too – you’ll need clothes and you’ll be invited to a lot of weddings in your 20s.

It’s ok if your budget is imbalanced when you first add everything together. Budgets take multiple iterations to get right. Keep shifting around numbers until you’re able to balance your budget. If you find that no matter how much shifting you can’t find ways to save money with your current income though then you need to start looking at ways to make more money.

Set a Savings Goal and a Retirement Savings Goal

You want to save money in your 20s, but how much? Give yourself a goal for how much you money you want to save per month. It doesn’t have to be a high number – you can start with even $5 a paycheck and increase it. Use this money to start building your emergency fund, so if any emergencies arise you have cash to cover it. You can find a calculator here to help identify how big your emergency fund should be. And, don’t forget to save enough money for retirement to get your employer match if they offer it at minimum.

One trick to avoid cutting spending is to move more of your saving towards your 401(k) contributions. 401(k) contributions are pre-tax, so you’ll reduce the amount of taxes you owe in your budget. Once you’ve identified how much money you want to save, or can save, automate it! One of my favorite money saving hacks is to automate your savings. Take these steps to automate your savings and watch your savings grow.

Where Do You Put the Money You’ve Saved?

Where should you put the money you’ve saved? Money saved in your 20s should first be held in a high yield savings account as part of an emergency fund. Unfortunately, there have been interest rate cuts across the board including high yield savings accounts, so you won’t make much money here. But, it is better than nothing. Nerd Wallet shares here the top 10 best high yield savings accounts. You can also look for banks offering sign up bonuses.

How to Save Money in Your 20s Summary

How to save money in your 20s can be summed up in a few simple steps. Increase your income and keep your spending flat, saving the difference. Be frugal for a few years. This includes living with roommates and spending as little as possible on transportation. For all other expenses prioritize what brings you happiness and cut back spending in other areas. Set a savings goal and stick to it. Yes, saving money in your 20s is harder than saving money in your 30s. Your salary is lower and you don’t own much yet, increasing your initial expenses. But, your lifestyle expectations are also the lowest. The more you can save when you’re young the easier it is as that savings will continue to generate passive income for you. Set yourself up for success by saving money in your 20s.

Here are more smart money moves to make in your 20s.

12 Simple Ways to Save Money During Coronavirus

04.12.2020 by admin // 1 Comment

how to save money during coronavirus, saving money during coronavirus, simple ways to save money, how to save money during the coronavirus

No one prepared for a global pandemic and significant disruption to daily life, personal finances and businesses whether you have an emergency fund or not. More than 16 million Americans have lost their job in the past 3 weeks. Regardless if you’re in this situation or not, it’s important to save money during coronavirus and create an extra cushion just in case.

The most important thing to getting back on track financially is to generate income. This can be done through your career, a side hustle or passively. However, if your current income has been disrupted it will take more time to develop a new plan of action. In the meantime, an immediate action you can take is to cut expenses. Start with cutting your largest expenses to make the biggest difference and work your way down to cutting back on the smallest expenses. Here are 12 simple ways to save money during coronavirus.

Create a Budget or Financial Baseline

Before you start cutting expenses to save money during coronavirus it’s helpful to know first where you are spending money today. How much money are you spending on housing, transportation, bills, food and other items? This is helpful whenever you’re looking to start saving money, but even more important now with all this uncertainty. Even if you don’t know exactly how much you’re spending in each category a ballpark number or a range will help you prioritize where you should look first to cut expenses. Then, start looking at simple ways to save money on household expenses. Household expenses are usually your largest expenses and provide the most opportunity to save money.

Reduce or Delay Mortgage Payments

The CARES Act recently put in place two protections for homeowners with federally backed mortgages. The first is a foreclosure moratorium and the second is a right to forbearance for homeowners who are experiencing a financial hardship due to the virus emergency. The Consumer Finance Protection Board shares more information along with helpful resources on what you need to know, which options you qualify for, how to get mortgage relieve and more.

Reduce or Delay Rent Payments

The CARES Act included a little bit of protection for renters. For renters that are renting from an owner who has a federally backed mortgage there is a suspension or moratorium on evictions and you can’t be evicted for non payment of rent for 120 days beginning March 27,2020. In addition, many states have suspended all evictions and foreclosures due to the pandemic. For more information, go to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. You are also always able to call your landlord and see what options there are for flexibility. Having a conversation with your landlord instead of assuming you’re out of luck is always best.

Creative Ways To Save Money on Rent

There are creative ways to save money on rent in the short term if your landlord is willing to negotiate. For example, can you pay less rent now and make up the payments later? Pay less rent now and extend your lease? Help with maintenance like painting or yard work in exchange for lower rent? Are there construction projects the owner wants to do in exchange for lower rent?

One time I was renting and our landlord wanted to expand a half bathroom to include a shower. This would have been a significant living disruption for two months. As a result our landlord offered us a rent reduction. Our landlord wanted to do this because once our lease was up he’d be able to charge a lot more for rent. We ultimately declined the offer. In times like these there are situations where both you and your landlord can come out winning.

Come armed with data to the conversation with your landlord, especially if your lease is ending soon. Know current market rates and how much your landlord would be able to get if they listed it now or in a few months. If your lease is ending soon negotiate a better rent. Ask if you can go month to month so that you have flexibility to move if you need to.

Reduce or Delay Student Loan Payments

The CARES Act passed in the United States included a provision to help student loan borrowers. All federal loans are temporarily suspended retroactive to March 13th and interest will not accrue through September 30th. Most federal loans qualify but not all so make sure to check the details before making any assumptions. For loans that do qualify, this should happen automatically but make sure to continue checking your statements. If you can afford to continue making your federal student loan payments during this time consider doing so. All payments will go towards paying the principle and you’ll be able to pay down your balance faster.

Even if your debt payments aren’t covered in the stimulus bill that doesn’t mean you don’t have flexibility. You always have the option to call your servicer and understand what options you have.

Reduce Transportation Expenses

Data shows Americans spend roughly 13% of their income on transportation. When you’re looking at options for cutting your expenses, transportation is one of the top household expenses to make an impact.

Negotiate or Reduce Car Payments

Don’t forget, it’s always better for both you and the lender to work together. It’s more expensive for your lender to repossess your car. Even though the CARES Act didn’t provide specific relief around car payments you still have options. To see what options are available to you, you must call your lender. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends asking to change the date your payment is due, request a payment plan or ask for a payment extension / deferral. Here is their advice on how to handle these conversations with your auto loan servicer.

Reduce Auto Insurance Payments

If you’re in a shelter in place area and are driving way less you have an opportunity to save money on car insurance. Don’t hesitate to contact your car insurance company and negotiate. Several car insurance companies such as Progressive and Allstate have already announced they will be offering partial refunds to customers. While this is a great proactive step, you may be able to negotiate more if you’ll be driving less for longer than they’ve assumed.

Trip of a Lifestyle called their auto insurance to let them know they were driving way less due to social distancing. Their provider ended up giving them an immediate partial refund on their current 6-month billing cycle, in addition to the automatic discount they are giving everyone next billing cycle. It only took them 7 minutes and was well worth it!

Reduce Spending on Gas

Since you’re likely driving less you should automatically be spending less on gas right now. In addition, oil prices have drastically reduced due to a combination of oversupply and reduced demand. Even when areas start opening up again expect to pay less at the pump. Do your best to estimate how much you were previously spending on gas per month and how much you expect to pay a month in the next few months.

Reduce Spending on Ride Shares and Public Transportation

With only essential businesses open in many places and many businesses moving to work from home the amount you spend on ride shares and public transportation should automatically be reduced. As areas begin reopening, continue to look for ways to keep this expense at a minimum. For example, now that you’ve shown you can be productive working from home, can you continue to work from home a few days a week?

If you aren’t commuting and normally have a monthly ride share pass or monthly train card don’t forget to cancel or pause it.

Reduce Spending On Food and Alcohol

Instead of ordering takeout cook as much as you can. It’s harder to use coupons and sales to get good deals on food right now but it is still cheaper to cook yourself than ordering takeout. There are plenty of tips for beginner cooks to help you get started. If you’re used to cooking but aren’t sure what to make here are meal ideas for breakfast, ideas for what to cook for dinner and recipes with few ingredients.

To reduce your food spend even further, consider buying less alcohol and planning out all of your meals so you waste as little food as possible. Food costs are rising at grocery stores but by planning as much as you can you can mitigate the amount these costs rise. Not sure how much you were spending on food in the first place? If you don’t document where you spend your money look at your last few credit card statements or think back to where you have spent money the past month on food and restaurants. This will help you develop a baseline.

Reduce Additional Household Expenses

Staying at home full time may actually increase some of your household expenses such as electricity, gas and water. When you look at your total household spending it’s important to take these potential increases into account. To make up for these increases can you cut your expenses anywhere else?

Reduce Internet and Cable Bills

A simple way to save money during coronavirus is to make a quick call or email to your internet and cable provider. Call and see if there are better deals on your internet and cable package. If you can’t negotiate the amount you spend, can you negotiate a better internet speed or cable package for the price you’re paying today? With no sports on, can you move down your cable subscription or even cancel it entirely? Many of the streaming services offer a week or month free if you’re not a current customer. You can take advantage of these one at at time.

If you already have streaming services and taking advantage of the free month isn’t an option look at how much cable, internet and streaming services cost you today. Cutting the cord may not save you as much money as you think if it’s bundled with your internet. Your Average Dough created a breakdown of every single cable, streaming and internet expense to see how much money they could save (without negotiating).

Reduce Cell Phone Data Plan

Are you using less data on your cell phone because you’re always home and connected to wifi? Consider reducing the data package on your cell phone plan and using your wifi for data more often.

Remove As Many Non Discretionary Expenses as You Can

Every purchase you avoid to save money during coronavirus, even if it’s only $5, will help create a financial cushion. It’s easier to avoid non discretionary expenses now because so many businesses including bars and restaurants are closed until further notice, travel is restricted and sports are paused. If you’re not sure how much money you spend on discretionary purchases every month look at your last few credit card statements or think back to where you have spent money the past month or two. This will help you develop a baseline. If you’re still not sure think about a few things you bought recently and ask yourself if it was a purchase you could have delayed or went without.

Delay Purchases Until Later

Because of the situation we are in, there may be necessary expenses that you can delay until later. For example, do you really need a new pair of pants or shoes when you’re working from home or can that wait? Is that thing on Amazon truly a need or is it a want that can wait a couple of months? Personally, I need a new pair of running sneakers but since I’m socially distancing I’m going to hold on this purchase until I see a good sale.

Call Someone Instead of Buying Them A Gift

A simple way to save money during coronavirus is to call someone instead of buying them a gift. A call or video chat is a great way to show someone you care about them and they’ll probably treasure it more than a material item.

Don’t Avoid Spending Money At the Expense Of Your Mental Health

It’s important to not take cost cutting too far. Mental health is really important. The virus, cabin fever, worrying about the health of your friends and family and job changes is a lot all at once. Don’t completely deprive yourself of happiness to save a few dollars. Be smart with your spending and wait a few days before you hit buy on the discretionary purchase.

What are simple ways to save money during coronavirus that you’ve found?

How to Save Money Hosting Thanksgiving

11.17.2019 by admin // Leave a Comment

Hosting Thanksgiving: Table with apple pie, gold pumpkin Thanksgiving decoration and a few other Thanksgiving desserts

The cost of hosting Thanksgiving adds up quickly. According to a survey by Lending Tree it costs on average $334 to host Thanksgiving, or about $31 / person and takes 11 hours of time to prep. If this is your first time hosting Thanksgiving you may also need to buy additional kitchen tools and serving trays. The food, kitchen tools, and decoration costs all add up. Additionally, preparing the menu, shopping and cleaning take up a lot of time. Planning ahead will reduce the cost of hosting Thanksgiving and reduce the planning time. Here are ideas to save money and time hosting Thanksgiving in 2019.

Save Money on Thanksgiving Food

The easiest way to save money on Thanksgiving food is to not prep the entire meal yourself. Create a menu and when people ask what they should bring let them know which dishes are an option. If you already have enough food, ask someone to bring drinks, paper towels or paper plates.

Create a Thanksgiving Menu – And Stick To It

Not sure what to make? Here are ideas for what to make for Thanksgiving dinner. And, if you usually don’t make big meals, don’t forget to check out meal planning tips and tricks.

By creating a menu for Thanksgiving dinner and sticking to it you’re ensuring you won’t buy ingredients you won’t use. Don’t cook too much food either. While food can always be eaten as leftovers, if you don’t eat it in time it’ll go to waste.

Save Money on the Ingredients

The turkey will be the most expensive food item. To save money on the turkey and all other ingredients look for store coupons and manufacturer coupons. Some grocery stores even have turkey points which you can collect throughout the Fall and redeem for a turkey during Thanksgiving. It is cheaper to buy a frozen turkey than a fresh turkey. Don’t forget for every four pounds of turkey it takes a full day to defrost. You’ll need to take the turkey out of the freezer days before Thanksgiving. Plan ahead! And, if you forget here’s a backup plan for how to cook a frozen turkey.

Save Money on Thanksgiving Kitchen Items

You’ve now figured out what to make, but do you have all of the kitchen tools required? Hosting Thanksgiving is a big undertaking and you will need more kitchen items than usual to cook and serve the full dinner. In addition to the usual cookware, there are kitchen tools you rarely use that you’ll need for Thanksgiving. This includes items like a turkey roaster, baster set, cooking thermometer, potato masher, baster set, turkey lifters, chopper, zester, apple peeler, pie tins, drying mat, flavor injector, cooking twine, and gravy strainer.

Wow, that’s a lot! And that doesn’t include the usual items like serving bowls, serving utensils, measuring cups, mixing bowls and a mixer. You can always go to a store and buy these items but it adds up! Don’t worry, there are a few things you can do to save money here.

Borrow Thanksgiving Kitchen Tools from Friends

First, see what kitchen tools you can borrow from friends and family. Is anyone coming over early to help and they can bring a few items with them? Are any friends not hosting Thanksgiving that have some of the items above and will let you borrow them?

Scour Local Estate Sales for Kitchen Tools and Cookware

You can find deals on cookware, serving items and more at estate sales. An estate sale usually happens when there is a death and the family is trying to sell almost everything in the house before putting the house on the market. Estate sales are a great place to find complete sets of holiday table decorations, cookware and high end decorations as the family is trying to sell most of the stuff in the estate all at once.

To find local estate sales, enter the town + estate sale into Google. If you live in a city, you may have more success looking at close suburbs. This is also a great time to buy furniture or other household items you still need for your home.

Look For Kitchen Tools and Cookware on Craigslist and LetGo

Often when people are about to move they will try to get rid of stuff to make their move easier. When it’ll cost more to ship something than buy something new they will want to get rid of it. Looking for kitchen tools, cookware and other kitchen items at moving sales is a great opportunity to spend less acquiring these items. Since fewer people move in the winter the best time to look for moving sales are in the spring and fall. But, you still may find a decent selection in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.

Use Coupons When Buying Items for Hosting Thanksgiving

When you must buy an item look for coupons and deals. The deals won’t be as good as after the holidays but you can still find 10% or 20% off the store coupons. Bed, Bath and Beyond always has 20% off coupons. Bed, Bath & Beyond usually accepts coupons that have expired as well. For higher end kitchen items Bloomingdales Home has Friend & Family sales (it’s free to become a loyalist). However, deals on the kitchen items you need may be better on Black Friday or Cyber Monday so it’s worth holding out if you can.

Ask for Thanksgiving Kitchen Tools on your Wedding Registry

Today, 66% of married couples have lived together before they walked down the aisle according to the NCBI. When you’ve already lived together there are less things you need from a traditional wedding registry. If you already have most of the household basics, use this opportunity ask for kitchen tools you need to host holidays. While this may be too late for this year, this will help you host Thanksgiving in the future.

DIY Thanksgiving Decorations To Save Money

Are you crafty? The best way to spend less on Thanksgiving decorations is to do it yourself! You can make DIY Thanksgiving decorations for centerpieces, table decor, outdoor decor and more. DIY Thanksgiving table decorations that are cheap include fruit displays (that you can eat later!), candles, repurposing fake pumpkins from Halloween, pine cone wreaths and pumpkin pie place cards.

Look for additional inspiration for DIY Thanksgiving Decorations on Pinterest.

Budget Your Money and Time Wisely

Spending an average of $334 and 11 hours to prep to host Thanksgiving is a lot of money and time. It’s easy to overspend during the holidays on food, decorations, kitchen items and gifts. Create a budget for how much you want to spend hosting Thanksgiving and stick to it. Don’t be shy to let people know what food or drink they can bring over when they volunteer.

Balancing all of the shopping in addition to work, holiday parties and other events makes time really tight. Be mindful of how much time you spend researching what you want to buy, looking for deals and actually shopping. Consider hiring a cleaning service. Follow this hosting Thanksgiving checklist to minimize planning time and reduce the stress of planning the day. Don’t forget to take time for yourself and enjoy the season. It’d be better to spend a little more money and be happy than save a little more but miss out on all of the fun.

What are ways you’ve saved money on hosting Thanksgiving?