10 WAYS TO SPEND MONEY WISELY

Are you stressing out about your spending? They say Work Hard Play Harder right? Well, I prefer Work Smart Play Smarter. Spending $300 on a fun weekend, or $150 on groceries but just for your self doesn’t seem like a good idea … Believe me, I have done that. So today, I will talk about 10 tricks that I use within the past 3 years to help me spend my money more wisely. 

1)Coupons exist. USE IT!!

You would be surprised that most people are careless about coupons because they are either lazy or just don’t care about saving nickels or dimes. Like everything else, getting good at using coupons takes practices. I force my self to look for coupons every time I make a big purchase, buy groceries, or plan a big trip. Here are a few apps I put on my phone to help me get in the habit of using coupons:

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  VONS – BEST FOR GROCERIES: This app is beneficial when my fiance and I groceries shop weekly. Not only the apps alert what items are on sale base on different categories, but it also accumulates points. These points save us gas money. 100 Points = 1 Reward = 10¢ OFF per/gal at Cheveron or Texaco 

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  IBOTTA – BEST FOR CASH BACK: Use this app and you can earn cash back on numerous stores all over the country. Before visiting any stores, whether it’s physical locations or online, Ibotta shows any items that have cash back available. Take a photo of the receipt, upload it on the app and you will receive cash back to your account within 24 hours. 

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  GROUPON – BEST FOR GOODS, THING TO DO AND GETAWAYS: I guarantee you will find some of the best vacation packages on here. Be careful when shopping for goods though. I had some bad experience when I purchased shoes. Make sure you do your own research and read reviews before make the decision.

Related: WHY I SPENT $1,638 ON FOOD & DINNING THIS MONTH

3) Stop going out on the weekend

According to EventBrite.com, and average night out cost about $81. Don’t get me wrong, I love going out. But spending around $81 a night may be up to 3 night on every single weekend doesn’t sound fun to me at all. Here are some home activities that you can with your friends and families instead of going out:

• Movie Night
• Board games
• Wine night
• Pot Luck
• Read a book night
• Yoga
• Or just talk

4) Pick up extra shift at work or doing group activities on the weekend

Having too many times on your hands will make you do silly things: “Let’s go on Amazon and buy some new videos games,” or “I don’t like this couch, let’s get a new one.” The point is to keep your self busy. If you know that you have a terrible online spending habit, get away from the computer and distract yourself by hanging out with a friend. Picking up an extra shift at work is not a bad idea either because you make money instead of spending money.

5) Use Money Management apps to track spending

I currently using 3 apps: Mint, Personal Capital and Clarity Money. Essentially they all have the same goal: help me understand my spending habit and alert me I go out of budget. After I link my bank accounts and credit cards to the apps, they will do all the work. I talked into more details about each app in the blog post “How to Track Your Expense“

Related: HOW MUCH MONEY SHOULD I SAVE PER MONTH?

6) Save money on groceries by meal prepping

After college, I decided to focus on a healthier lifestyle: consistent gym schedule and good nutrition. Meal prepping is probably one of the best financial decision I have ever made. It’s not only helped me save money, prevent me from food’s impulse spending, but also free up my schedule and allow me to accomplish more.

We spent around $130 a week on groceries for 2 people. The food we make last about 4 to 5 days. This works out perfectly because it allows us to try something else during the weekend and not get sick of eating the same foods 7 days a week.

Related: HOW MEAL PREPPING FOR THE PAST 4 YEARS HELPED ME SAVE MONEY

7) Eat a healthy breakfast

Can’t stress this enough: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. No matter how busy I am with work, getting a good breakfast is my morning priority. My breakfast on the go consist of oats milk and nuts, (or bagel with cream cheese, or frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich), and some sort of fruits. On my day off, I try to incorporate more protein into my breakfast: 2 egg yolks, 4 egg white, scramble together with some spinach.

Benefits of eating a healthy breakfast:

• Fuel your brain and body to be more productive
• Prevent impulsive spending on snacks. If you don’t eat a good breakfast, you are more likely to grab a quick snack. Sometimes it can be a cooky, or even a piece of candy

8) Stop using credit card, cash only

Credit card creates a bad habit: mindless spending. It’s easy to take out a credit card on every single purchase. All you have to do is swiping without even think about how much money you have left in your account or the balance you have racked up. 

Benefits of Cash:

• Helps me keep track of how much money I have left
• Make me think twice before handling a 20 dollar bills to someone else when I actually see it leaves my hands
• A visual budget right in front of me versus something that I actually need to log in online to keep track

9) Talk about money with your self or your significant other

Before making any purchase, ask yourself: “Is this worth it?” “Can it wait?” “Do I have a bill coming up?”. Be realistic about your money. Stop fooling yourself by saying, “I deserve this, I have been working hard all week.” You should know how much money coming in this paycheck and how much you have to spend on bills. Creating a habit of answering these questions help me understand where my money goes.

If you are living with a significant other, it is essential to get a second opinion because you are not living for yourself anymore. Every spending will affect not only you but the other in the same household. 

10) Create a Budget

Many of the above topics revolve around one essential solution: Create a Budget. If you think creating a budget is difficult, trying to stay within that budget is even a harder thing to do. Like I mentioned before, it takes time, practice, and lots of dedication if you want to be stress-free financially. 

Related: HOW MUCH MONEY SHOULD I SAVE PER MONTH?

Hope you like this blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter to get the best tips on personal finance. Remember, spend your money wisely.