10 tips that will help you save money on your daily expenses
At the beginning of the new year, like so many other people, you will be overflowing with good intentions. One wants to stop smoking, the other wants to lose (even) more weight, and maybe you want to do your best to have more money left.
If the latter applies to you, start with efficient shopping. By simply being smart, you can save a considerable amount on an annual basis. The good news is that it doesn’t have to cost you anything, just a little perseverance.
How can you save money on your daily expenses?
There is a good chance that you will fall prey to the clever temptations of the supermarket just like everyone else. It is not so much the shopping list that makes it so expensive, but the impulse purchases.
With the tips below, you ensure that you can never give more than what is important to save money on your daily expenses.
Make your coffee and take it with you
The most important tip: make coffee at home and take it with you in a travel mug. That is a lot cheaper than buying your daily cup of coffee at a coffee shop.
This saves you money and on an annual basis that can add up to a considerable amount. If you like to drink coffee, you save enough that way to book a nice holiday.
Make your own packed lunch
Life becomes even cheaper than just ignoring the gas station sandwiches and bringing your lunch from home. There’s nothing wrong with embracing the old-fashioned if it also saves you a hefty amount of money. Buying several food/snacks quickly costs a lot of money or more, and then you keep it in your pocket.
Plan meals per week
For dinner is that you can significantly cut if you know well in advance to plan. Decide on Monday what you want to eat for the rest of the week and put together your shopping list that way.
If you manage to limit yourself to the things on your list, you will never lose too much money.
Check Ads
If you want to get serious about saving money, check the advertisements of the supermarkets. You can gain quite a bit of advantage that way. The latter is certainly the case if you have a large freezer.
Buy only what you need
It sounds like kicking in an open door, but only buy what you will actually use. If you will stock up on certain items, make sure that they have a shelf life.
Use the right apps
Apps can be a useful way to save money. This way, you can find out exactly where certain products are the cheapest and which offer you want to take advantage of.
Match your meals to the offers
As we said before, it can be smart to plan your meals a week in advance. It’s even smarter to base those meals on what’s on offer. By doing your shopping in this way, you are even cheaper.
Go for the house brand
You soon notice that there are different brands in a supermarket. You have the expensive A-brands, the private label, and the budget brand.
The difference in quality between an A-brand and the private label is often so small that it is worth choosing the private label from now on. You certainly don’t eat less because of it, but you do get a lot cheaper.
Freeze the leftovers
If you want to be even smarter, cook more than you will eat from now on. The big advantage is that you can freeze the leftover part and reheat it another time.
That way, you take full advantage of the offers in the store, and you also spend less time preparing your dinner. The fact that you also produce less waste is a nice bonus.
Stock up on emergency
If you are a bit smart, you make sure that you always have something at home that you can prepare quickly. This can be useful if you come home a little later than planned, for example, because of sports or after going out. It doesn’t even have to be very complex.
In many cases, you can suffice with a pot of noodles. You can put a nutritious meal on the table in five minutes.