How to Save Money Every Week

How to Save Money Every Week How to Save Money Every Week How to Save Money Every WeekYou arent going to save all the money you need at once. You need to do it graduallyâ€"and these expert tips will help you save on a weekly basis.Building up an emergency fund is a great way to protect yourself during financial emergencies. Otherwise, you could end up relying on short-term bad credit loans and no credit check loans (like payday loans, cash advances, or title loans) to bridge your financial gaps.Saving money can be hardâ€"especially when you’re first getting started. But the more regular habits you build, the easier it will be! That’s why we reached out to a whole bevy of experts to ask how folks can start saving a little bit of money every week. Here’s what they had to say!Pay yourself first. Ben Watson, CPA,  virtual CFO of  DollarSprout.com  and founder of  Fiscal Fluency:Set up an auto-draft from your paycheck and put money into a separate account reserved for savings. Just like many people do with their 401(k), split your paycheck into different bank accounts so that it limits the amount you can spend.Use cash.Kristen, founder of  Mom Managing Chaos:Studies have shown that it is harder for you to part with cash than it is to hand over your debit/ credit card. The added bonus here is that once the cash is out, it’s out. No overspending.Get rid of unused subscriptions. Kinika Armstrong, financial coach and founder of Essence of Finance:Beware of subscriptions that you do not use. Subscriptions that are automatically charged to your debit or credit card can add up, especially the ones that we hardly use anymore.Go public.Joy Hearn, founder of  Cards and Clips:Instead of driving around town to get everywhere utilize public transportation to get to those non-urgent places. $30 for a monthly transit pass versus $30 a week in your car is a huge difference maker.Top and bottom shelves.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Top and bottom shelves at the grocery store tend to have the cheapest products. Did you know that the m iddle shelves are where grocery stores stock the more expensive items? Check the top and bottom shelves for the best prices.Earn supplemental income.Andrea Woroch, consumer-finance expert:Spending less is definitely a must for people trying to save money weekly, but just as important is making a bit more money. Luckily, today there are tons of flexible, fun ways to go about supplementing your income. For example, one way to get away from stressors and maintain some freedom is by spending quality time with fun-loving pets.Apps like Rover.com can connect you with good paying dog-sitting and dog-walking opportunities in your area. Sitters are able to choose their own rates and have the flexibility of scheduling work around their availability. Rover sitters/walkers can easily find a gig daily and earn well over $1,000 per month. That kind of cash influx goes a long way when trying to save.Eat at home.Shelley Meche’tte, Certified Life Purpose Coach:We all do it. Grab a coffee and a don ut on the road.  Decide to eat fast food for lunch because we didnt take time to pack a lunch.  Or grab dinner on the way home because its easier. Statistics show that Americans spend on average about $100 per month on fast food.  Thats $1,200 per year! Imagine what could be done with that $1,200.For one week, keep a strict log of how much you spend on outside food.  At the end of that week, take a look at how much you spent each day and where you spent most of that money.  If most of it came simply from coffee, make a commitment to your financial success that you will limit your outside coffee intake to three days a week.  Take the money that you would have spent for the other days and place that into your savings.If your money was spent mainly on picking up dinner after work, decide that you will limit that by doing meal prepping a few days a week.  With just a few minor adjustments, you will be on your way to better financial security and possibly, even a better eating pl an.Make your savings hard to reach:Kinika Armstrong:Put your savings in an account that you do not have immediate access. A bank account without a card, where you have to go in branch to withdraw. The more work we have to do to access our savings, the less likely we are to burn through it.Go generic.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Buy generic and skip the name brands. Did you know most name brands and generics are made in the same factory? Buying generics is a crazy easy way to save yourself some money without expending a lot of extra effort.Imagine youre living life in the 50s.Phoebe Howlett, founder of  The Chance of Choice:Simply put, people in the 1950s didnt have food on the go and easily within reach. Coffee, lunches, snacks to go, it wasnt a thing.If you wanted lunch and snacks you brought the food to work with you, if you wanted a hot drink you waited until you got to work. The millennial age of convenience everywhere has made it so tempting not to save. But taking on this conce pt is one of the easiest areas to save money. Make your own lunches, whatever the evening meal is, make slightly more or get a loaf of bread, meat, and salad to make a sandwich. My lunches worked out to cost me on average, one dollar during the week, rather than $10-12 dollars it would cost for a drink and food on the go.Mid-afternoon will strike and you may be hungry. Try your best to pre-empt that you’ll probably be hungry at around four pm when you do your groceries and buy whatever you would normally go out and snack on. Live like they did in the 50s rather than in the age of convenience and you’ll save money.I actually did this and noted down the savings. I was a culprit for taking convenience food up on its alluring offer while I was at work. I was amazed at the results.Get organized.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:The better organized you are, the better handle you have on what’s in your house, what you are spending your money on, and where things are getting off track. Yea h, getting and staying organized requires effort, but you can save yourself a lot of money and heartache if you stick with it.Eat your groceries.Kinika Armstrong:We are all guilty of buying groceries, and the right after that going to eat out because we have now lost the energy to cook after all that grocery shopping!Use the three-day rule for purchases. Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Have a limit for big expenditures. If it’s over that certain dollar amount and if it’s not a need (food, shelter, etc) then wait for three days before deciding to purchase. Many times, when you aren’t at the store looking at it, and once you’ve come home and had time to think about it, you’ll realize you don’t really need it after all.Create a budget and savings goal.Ben Watson:Prior to each month, create a budget or spending plan for your finances so that each dollar is assigned a purpose before you receive it. By following this plan, you’ll help keep money from slipping through your finger s and going to places you didn’t intend it to. Break the budget out into weeks so that a portion of each week’s income is put into savings.Cut the cord.Joy HearnInstead of paying high monthly fees for cable and satellite television, take advantage of streaming devices such as NetFlix, DirectTv Now, Sling, and PlayStation Vue. Users save as much as 50 percent on their home entertainment.Buy in bulk.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Buy in bulk. You can often get a much better deal per unit if you buy a lot at once. Great items to buy in bulk are diapers, toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, and meat.Give yourself an allowance.Kinika Armstrong:Yes, just like when you were a kid. Allow yourself a certain amount to spend each week and stick to it. This will help you feel less restricted, as you still have money to spend while also achieving your goals.Keep the change.Shelley Mechette:One of the simplest ways to save money on a weekly (or even daily) basis is to keep the change that yo u receive when breaking a bill instead of spending it.  Take that change and place it into a large empty bottle. You will be amazed at how much small amounts of change adds up. Depending on how often you break a bill, you could save several bucks a week.Simply dropping fifty cents per day in your change bottle will give you $3.50 by the end of the week. This may not seem like much, but without doing anything extra if you simply allow this to multiply, you will have saved $182.00 by the end of the year.Open an automatic savings account online.Joy Hearn:Online accounts limit access to funds making it easier for the individual to save money. Open an account with zero monthly fees and start off with an automatic transfer as low as $25. It adds up fast.Cook more vegetarian meals.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Meat is definitely one area in your grocery budget where you tend to spend more. Consider incorporating a few vegetarian meals into your weekly meal plan!Set a limit on when to stop spending.Kinika Armstrong:This can be $50. Once you get to $50, you are no longer going to spend. The following week do not go past $100 and so on. If you do this every week at the end of the month, you should have saved $200.Put your savings to work.Andrea Woroch:Every time you successfully score a deal, put your savings to work. Whether you save with a coupon or by comparing prices, move those extra funds into your savings at the end of the week. And always get in the habit of shopping savvy to stretch your dollars so you have more to apply to your savings goals.For instance, always look for coupon codes via sites like CouponCause.com which offer over 50,000 online deals to over 11,000 popular retailers like Macy’s, Kohl’s, and JCPenney for free shipping and money off your order.Also, compare prices using free shopping apps such as Flipp to review store circulars and deals all from your phone so you always know who has the best offers on the items you need/want to buy so you d on’t waste time driving around town.Partner up.Kristen, Mom Managing Chaos:Get an accountability partner. Having an accountability partner can help you stay on track and steer you away from bad decisions.Fall back.Joy Hearn:Having a social life is great, but if you’re not careful it will cost you. You don’t have to go to every event you’re invited to, especially if it involves spending money you did not plan to spend.Be consistent.Kinika Armstrong:Finally, be consistent!  Think about the long term benefits. Nothing beats consistency and a week of saving will inspire you to save for a month, and then two months and so on. The joy of seeing your savings account grow will be an inspiration to continue on.The more savings you have, the less likely you are to need to rely on a  personal loan,  installment loan, or online loan in a time of financial need. To learn more about saving money, check out these related posts and articles from OppLoans:Save More Money with These 40 Exper t TipsHow to Separate Your “Wants” from Your “Needs”Financial Basics: Expert Tips for Smarter SpendingEmergency Funds Are Important: Here’s How to Start Building OneDo you have a   personal finance question youd like us to answer? Let us know! You can find us  on  Facebook  and  Twitter.  |  InstagramContributorsKinika  Armstrong  is the founder and financial coach of Essence of Finance. She is a certified financial education instructor. She is also a law student. After her studies led her to some alarming statistics about the saving habits of millennials,  Kinika  started fiercely sharing information and tips with her friends and family to help them to improve their circumstances and save for their goals. Through her business, she pursues her passion for helping millennial women manage their money!Joy  Hearn  is an extreme saver to who specializes in helping people save money. Her formula is simple: spend less, save more.    In 2017 she created Cards and Clips, a Facebook page that gives weekly tips educating people on how to slash their grocery bill in half by 50 percent  or more. Soon afterward she began sharing tips on how to save not only on groceries but on anything. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.Five years ago, Phoebe Howlett was diagnosed with illnesses that made her so ill, they said she would never be able to recover to lead a normal life again. However, she completely changed her lifestyle, diet, exercise, and attitude to lifeâ€"and with these changes came her recovery.  She now wants to show that everyone  can make the most of  their life,  creating?The Chance of Choice.Kristen aka Mom Managing Chaos  is frugal living and budgeting enthusiast. She lives for spreadsheets and list making. She started Mom Managing Chaos  back in early 2018 with a passion for helping others simply and organize their life and finances so they can spend time living, not simply surviving.Shelley Meche’tte  (@ShelleyMechette) is a Certified L ife Purpose Coach, Speaker and Women’s Change Agent, dedicated to the empowerment of women through strategized personal and professional development.  She is the author of 70 Days of Happy: Life is BETTER When You Smile and the founder of the organization The PowHERful Woman. Shelley has been featured in Ask Men, Great Work Life, UpJourney and more. She has also been seen on The Chundria Show and The YES! Show.Ben  Watson, CPA is the virtual CFO of  DollarSprout.com  (@DollarSprout)  and founder of  Fiscal Fluency, a personal finance and business coaching company. He equips small businesses and entrepreneurs with the skills and accountability to manage their businesses with confidence rather than fear. He’s also the co-creator of the  Business Launch Kitâ€"an  online course with simple to follow steps of how to create your own business without making a mess.Andrea Woroch  is a nationally-recognized consumer-savings expert, writer, and TV personality who is dedicated to helping Americans find simple ways to spend less and save more without sacrificing their lifestyle. She is a regularly-featured contributor for popular shows like Today, Good Morning America, FOX Friends, and KTLA Morning News. In print and online, her advice has appeared in popular media such as New York Times, USA Today, Money Magazine, Cosmopolitan, People, Consumer Reports, Reader’s Digest and many, many more. Read more about Andrea at  AndreaWoroch.com  or follow her on  Twitter.