Lately, with the purchase of our next home, and trying to save for our little one’s college fund, we have been thinking a lot about ways we can increase our savings. Not major changes to our lifestyle, but small steps that make a big difference over time. We are trying to make realistic and lasting changes that we know we can stick to. We love to eat out, so eliminating that is a non-starter. We love to travel, so that is not going away. But there are ways we can make an effort to save a little each and every day. Here is how we are doing it: 

(1) Coffee at home

We are starting our day with easy savings. We used to get two large Peet’s Coffees each and every day. Over the course of 6 years (how long we have lived down the street from Peet’s) that adds up to a nice chunk of change. So a couple months ago we invested in a nicer coffee machine and started buying Peet’s beans fresh every week. 

(2) Cancel memberships you don’t use

Blake and I were VERY guilty of having memberships we never use. It’s easy to keep them under the justification that you’ve “just been so busy, you’ll start using it soon.” But month after month they went unused. So we finally cut the slack! It feels good and responsible to trim that excess off our monthly nut. 

(3) Workout at home

You know I love my SoulCycle. No workout has every made me feel as good or happy as SoulCycle does. And I do not plan to stop SoulCycling anytime soon. BUT, I can get the benefits from Soul doing it once or twice a week, as opposed to 4 times. I’ve started to find ways to workout at home, and at $35 a pop for SoulCycle, that really adds up quickly. 

(4) Use credit card points/miles for travel

Like I said, we LOVE to travel. And when it comes to travel, I am a bit spoiled. I love luxury travel, I love first class, and I love to eat really well while we are on vacation. Those things add up. Blake travels for a living so we have bazillions of miles. Sometimes, I have a very specific location in mind or a specific resort in mind so we pay cash instead of using our miles. For our last trip we planned everything around getting the most our of our points! We were able to save so much that way. 

(5) Eliminate food waste

We used to be TERRIBLE about food waste. Not only is it a bad habit, financially speaking, but it is just wasteful in general. We could have perfectly good leftovers in the fridge, but I am craving sushi, so the food goes to waste. We have been making a conscious decision to use the food in our fridge before it goes bad. This morning we really wanted to go out for brunch, but we had all the fixings for pancakes, eggs and avocado toast, so we made it at home instead. 

What are some ways you save each month? Find out more about how COUNTRY Financial can help you achieve your financial goals HERE! 

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