I was living my life out there in the world and was recently asked for some lower effort tips to save money that weren't terribly intimidating for a busy person that feels bad about their spending but doesn't know where to begin. I came up with this short list as a response, and I figured it was worth expanding into a whole piece.
I am OK with buying prepped ingredients and cooked food at stores or restaurants if they are at price parity including the things I would need to prepare the food and they aren't using ingredients I dislike. If it costs me $2 a bowl for a bento of kosher chicken and pesto pasta and the store sells it with real pesto (not sunflower seed oil and mozzarella, olive oil, basil, pine nuts and parm) for $2, I'm buying.
I reshop my insurance every year. All my insurances. Home, car, life, health, every year. If I don't need it anymore then it's gone. Sometimes I save $40 a month. Sometimes everything on the market is ridiculous so I stay put. Loyalty doesn't always pay.
I look for great deals. If I can buy broadband for $25 a month and I'm paying $80, I'll call my internet guy and negotiate to see if I can get to that price or I'll call back the $25 company. That's saving money every month for you to make two phone calls while eating ice cream, and usually these are rates good for two years or more so you can save $55/month*24 months= $1320.
I'll share information with people that seem like they want to know and they share info back. Like, you can get $200 for signing up with a chase bank account and setting up direct deposit. That's straight cash.
If there's something, anything, that you pay for and nobody uses or needs, stop paying for it. I quit paying for Netflix and Hulu. I can watch Netflix for a month and then quit again for the cost of one movie ticket so why pay every month? I didn't go to Sam's Club for a while so I canceled their fee. I didn't buy anything from Amazon for 6 months so I canceled prime after signing up for free shipping on some stuff... The list goes on.
Finally, read your statements. I take about 20 minutes once or twice a month and just read my bills. All of them. Like, how much are they and did they get paid. This is pretty easy since you can do this from your phone or tablet for most bills.
Hopefully someone finds this information useful. Times are tough and money doesn't go as far as it used to in the past decade.
