When it comes to achieving financial peace and independence, every little bit counts. Eat out less. Bring lunch to work. Save your loose change. We’ve all heard these common ways to save money. For a fresh perspective on living below your means, check out these nine unique money-saving tips. They’ll help you to reduce your expenses without sacrificing the things you enjoy.
1. REVIEW AND BUNDLE YOUR INSURANCE POLICIES.
Before blindly renewing your existing insurance policies each year, check out the rates of competitors and make sure your coverage meets your needs. Also, consider bundling your policies. Most insurance companies offer discounts for using the same company to multiple types of coverage -- homeowner’s, automobile, boat, umbrella policy, etc.
2. SCHEDULE A HOME ENERGY ANALYSIS.
Go green and save some green. Contact your local energy provider to find out if it offers any energy-efficiency programs that can help you reduce your gas and electric bills. Some providers offer customers free home energy assessments, where a certified technician comes to your home, identifies ways to lower your energy costs and even install energy-efficient products, such as light bulbs, power stirps, and shower heads.
3. ELIMINATE YOUR CABLE BILL.
Sign up for an internet streaming service such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime, which are a fraction of the cost of your typical cable provider. Additionally, you may want to consider entertainment products such as Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire. And, don’t forget you can rent movies and TV series DVDs for free from your local library.
4. USE UPROMISE FOR EXTRA COLLEGE SAVINGS.
Are you allocating money to help fund someone’s education? Consider joining Upromise, a free loyalty program, where members accrue credits on eligible purchases that are directed to a college savings plans or used to pay down student loans.
It’s a simple way to boost saving for college by getting cash back for online shopping purchases and trips to restaurants. That cash back can accumulate and be invested for a child, grandchild, or any young person in your life.
5. USE GOOGLE FLIGHTS TO SAVE MONEY ON AIRFARE.
Google Flights is a useful online tool that searches all airlines to find you the best deal. You can even get suggestions of low-cost places to fly to around the world by simply putting in your home city and the dates you want to travel. If you save your itinerary, Google will track flight prices and email you an alert if they drop.
6. USE GIFT CARD GRANNY TO SELL UNUSED GIFT CARDS OR BUY NEWS ONES AT A DISCOUNT.
Gift Card Granny is an online gift card exchange. You can either sell your unwanted cards for cash or buy gift cards you want at a discounted price (sometimes up to 50% off). It features a handy extension on the Chrome web browser that alerts you when discount gift cards are available as you’re shopping online.
7. PLAY MORE GOLF FOR LESS WITH GOLFNOW.
Whatever you love to do for fun, there’s sure to be more people like you and companies that want your business. That means there’s also probably services out there that will help you do what you love – for less.
Take golf, for example. GolfNow is an online service that consolidates available tee times for many courses near you at discounted rates of up to 25-50%. Every time you use the service, you accrue award points that you can redeem later for money off another tee time.
