Saving tips, from an accounting major!
- Drifted Diamond
- Mar 6
- 6 min read
Oh wow. Look at you, stepping into building financial freedom and making your success happen, I love this for you.
You've come to the right place because as your favorite financial coach and accounting major, I will give you tools, tips, and tricks to make your savings dreams a reality. I am a busy mom of six, a student, and a careerist, I am constantly searching for the next big idea, especially in financial freedom. I continue to remove barriers and help promote financial literacy by using my experience with businesses and personal finances to bring you to a grounded place within your budget.
Firstly, I have created a safe space and judgment-free zone. I am all good vibes and positivity; I love numbers and will help you to find balance and peace of mind in your finances. The good thing is I've gained experience understanding clients' spending trends and ways most people can cut expenses. I will give a quick overview of a few ways.
Meet and Greet
As a coach, when I think about finances, I must wire myself to realize everyone is different and has various expenses and spending habits based on many factors.
Even so, there is a commonality in every category of expenses though. For example, we all eat so why not create some savings on a necessity?
I hear a common mindset, " I work very hard and want to spend the earnings from working", and I'm here to tell you that you are correct.
"Coach, coach why is that correct?" Well because. I think we should all fill our cups with happiness and fulfillment in life, but what if there was a way that you could still enjoy things that make you feel whole and safe while saving and creating that next step into freedom? Trick question, you can do that, and that is why your favorite coach is giving you some gems to get you started.
I will give you some broad advice on proven ways to reduce common expenses and help you save. These are all tips you can start using at once.
Subscriptions
The first way to cut down on your monthly expenses is by reducing subscriptions. There are so many subscriptions out there, so I like to think of subscriptions like alcohol: use these items in moderation. I'm going to show you some examples that you may have to consider.
If you can't just drop your subscriptions (guilty), lower your tier on subscriptions. Some subscriptions have a tier setup, meaning smaller packages that cost less and higher packages that cost more.
Let's think about it: ✍
For example, if you have a TV/movie app like Netflix, these apps often have the basic viewing package and multiple user packages that cost more. Some gyms also use this method. At my local neighborhood gym, you can have a basic one-person pass for 25/month or a VIP pass allowing you to bring a guest and participate in group sessions for 55/month. These prices have a 30$ difference. Boom there's savings, and you still get to go the gym, just at a limited access.
Duplicate subscriptions- This was a big savings tip for me. I have kids, with different personalities and different viewing habits. So, at one point I had 5 different TV subscriptions plus cable, which totaled a little over 250$ a month. To reduce expenses, I decided to keep cable TV and 1 bundled TV subscription. I was able to reduce my entertainment bills by over 150 dollars a month. Who can use an extra 150 a month? Me!
Meal routines
There are always savings when it comes to mealtimes and depending on your lifestyle here are some ways that may help you.
Shopping for groceries in bulk- I am a busy parent and one way I cut back on my monthly grocery expenses is to buy certain items with longer shelf life in bulk. For example, my common seasonings, granola bars for snacks, peanut butter, and rice.
Let's think about it: ✍
My monthly snack budget calls for 18 granola bars a week. My weekly list at a non-bulk store has a pack of 18 granola bars for 6.50/week that's 26 dollars a month. Then at my local bulk store, there are 36 in a pack for 8.00 which costs 16.00 a month, for the same number of granolas bars a month but discounted based on where I bought it from. Boom baby, a whole 10-dollar savings. Now imagine if you can save on bulk items for other things like toilet paper or laundry soap.
Use certain stores- The options on where to shop are endless these days from walk-in stores to online retailers. So why not use your options? I will shop at 3 different stores in a week to get better deals. I also became a member at stores to get automatic coupons and member-only discounts.
Reduce pleasure items
I believe everyone should find peace and best wishes in their everyday lifestyle. That applies to a plant parent who can't resist a good plant holder or a book fanatic (guilty) who visits the local bookstore once a week. There are endless ways to spend your day without spending all your pay. Simply put!
Entertainment- Entertainment can also fall in the category of subscriptions, but what about other entertainment like movie theaters or concerts? These can be reduced as you see fit and depending on your goals and time strains. I go out every weekend and entertain myself but since I have a major trip in mind and need to step up my savings, I minimize what entertainment to pay for and which ones to take the free route for. To get even more savings I change the time during the week I adventure out, Tuesdays typically have movie theater discounts and arcades have Wednesday savings by nearly half. Reminder it is important to set boundaries, If I hit my budget for the week, all remaining outings must be free or very low cost like hiking, trail/bird watching, library reading, and sightseeing.
Beauty services – This is a huge one, especially amongst the ladies. For me, beauty is necessary to make me feel whole and complete because when I look my best, I perform my best and influence others to allow their light to shine. I do bracket off an expense in my budget to support my salon, nails, facial, and massage costs. What I have learned is that when I need to save more money than usual, I can cut a service for this month and self-apply what I need.
Let's think about it: ✍
Instead of getting a pedicure every 3 weeks like normal, I only go into a salon every 6 weeks, in the meantime, I give myself an at-home pedicure with a peeling foot mask while skipping a salon pedicure. Once I applied this principle for 4 months, I only skipped 2 salon pedicures, but I cut my beauty expenses by nearly 200 dollars. Wow, we are on a roll!
Low-cost travel- Okay, I'm a huge travel girly, I love to immerse in the culture and differences of each city, state, and country. Now even though all those things are great, travel comes with cost. So, since I will never give up travel, I must make savvy ways to save on my lifestyle. You can read more about my travels and getaways here. [blog here]
Share cost
This advice has saved most of my larger expenses and I use this method often. Cost sharing, if I take a trip that includes friends or family we find an Airbnb, to house us, and we can split the cost rather than individual hotels.
Let's think about it: ✍
Our family winter trip landed us in Aurora, CO. If we were to get individual hotels, we would have needed 4 hotel rooms totaling 1100. On the other hand, we found a 4-bedroom Airbnb rental for the same amount of days in a private setting with a backyard and a fire pit for a part of the cost totaling 875. Hold on, is that savings? Yes, you're so intelligent and I knew you would get this savings thing handled.
Always remember to track your goals and progress using notebooks or planners. You can start with my perfect printable planner to monitor weekly, monthly, and yearly goals.
The takeaway is no matter your lifestyle or spending habits I believe there is always a way to grow your savings and cut back on things that can hold off until another time. You can follow me for more money talks and how to get and keep your coins right. Coins add up to dollars and then to financial freedom. Until we talk again friend, au
-Bre Jay 💜
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