This post aims to be the ultimate resource on giving you ways to save your hard-earned money. The tips are divided into the categories below to make it easier to go them through.
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Disclosure: This article does not include investment-, dietary-, or health and exercise advice, and is for informational purposes only. If you need such advice, turn to professionals.
You may get by by sharing the internet of your phone to your other devices. Negative point to to consider of this is to consider that using the hotspot feature of your phone puts a lot of strain to its battery and can thus shorten its lifespan.
According to an international survey made by YouGov in 2024, those who subscribe to services, more than half paid for one or more services they don´t use. Check your bank balance and see if you can find any unnecessary fluff that may be costing you potentially hundreds of dollars per year.
Contact the customer service and ask politely if you could get the service with a reduced price. More bargaining power you have, the better. For example, you can point out that you stop using the service if the price won´t go lower.
You can also mention that you would prefer to switch to a competitor´s service. One other option is to log in to the account settings section of the given service and start the unsubscribe process from there. Many service providers automatically offer you a special discount at this point as a last resort to keep you as a paying customer.
For example, a family subscription for Apple Music is 16.99 dollars per month in the US. Up to six family members can use the service for this price. In comparison, inidividual subscription for Apple Music is 10.99 dollars (pricing as of 21st of July 2024).
Many products and services are offered with a trial periods. Utilize these to find out if you actually find the purchase as useful as you thought. Alternative is to rent a product for a short period to see if it meets your expectations. If not, you probably saved a considerable amount by renting it.
Direct-to-Consumer companies sell their products directly to customer without retailers. This lowers costs and also often trickles down to the prices paid by the customers.
Examples of Direct-to-Consumer companies:
For eyewear: Zenni Optical, Warby Parker
For bicycles: Canyon Bicycles
In many cases, the version of a product that is marketed for men is more affordable than the one for women. Often both versions are close to identical functionally. An example of a product type that tends to be more affordable for the male version are razors.
By ordering the printed images from your photographer you are likely paying more than simply asking the image files from the photographer and then ordering the physical images yourself.
Many products are frequently updated with new versions. This is especially true for tech devices. When the latest and greatest version arrives to the market, the previous version often gets discounted, even though the differences with the latest one may be miniscule.
Many things are relatively easy to fix or make. By watching a YouTube video of the subject you can save huge sums. Just don´t do things that require a training and cerfication, put you or other people in danger.
Get money, more space and have less to worry and to maintain? Sounds a pretty good deal!
If you plan carefully and have discipline, Black Friday can actually be a great opportunity to save. This requires you to evaluate in advance what products you actually need, follow their prices and then get them on Black Friday if they are on a good discount.
Buying higher quality products usually come with higher upfront costs but pays back in a longer time period. Below some of the benefits of buying higher quality products:
Get familiar with Courtney Carver´s Project 333. It is one of the most popular minimalist challenges where you only use 33 items from your wardrobe during a three month period.
Oftentimes service providers offer their services with discount prices if you commit to them for a longer period of time. If you use a service you find useful, check if they offer such discounts.
Check experts on the topic for more inspiration, e.g. The Points Guy.
There are various versions of packing challenges. Perhaps the best-known is the version popularized by The Minimalists. In this packing party, all belongings are packed to boxes. Then, the challenge participant only unpacks those items from the boxes he or she needs. After three weeks the items that stay in the boxes can be sold, donated or recycled.
When diseases or conditions are catched earlier they are more afforabable to cure and/or their advancement can be slowed down more effectively. Thus, it is definitely worthwhile to check your condition regularly.
When making your own carbonated water you not only save money but also reduce plastic waste. Using this method can also reduce your exposure to microplastics.
Shop owners prefer you to spend more. One of the tactics they use is to put the more expensive versions of an item to an eye level and more affordable ones to positions that require more effort for the shopper to pick them.
If you use a mix of 50% drink – 50% water you will get double the amount to drink and your teeth will also thank you as the acidity goes down which helps you to combat tooth erosion.
Paying with physical bills and coins makes you consider the purchase in a much more tangible way than just seeing numbers on a screen.
In a no-spend challenge you only spend money for the necessities (food, shelter, medication, hygiene etc.) as long as the you decide the challenge to last. You may be surprised how much extra money you are left with at the end of the challenge. Taking this challenge can greatly help you to rethink your typical expenses. You can use our free printable to keep track of your progress with the challenge.
Libraries ain´t just about books anymore. Many of them nowadays also offer i.a. the following items to borrow for free: movies, video games, board games, sports equipment and tools. Often the libraries also offer services you can use to borrow e-books, e-magazines and audio books.
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