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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Erica Adams of SmartyPig, the online savings company. Be sure to read to the end for your chance to win a $50 savings card.
In an ideal world, the need to constantly obsess over your finances would never happen. But the world we’re currently living in, especially from a financial perspective, is far from ideal. Money makes the world go ‘round. And in almost every corner of the globe, money is tight.
The good news is your finances don’t have to be difficult or demanding at all, especially when it comes to saving. You don’t have to obsess over saving money when it’s made simple.
Earlier this week, financial guru Suze Orman appeared on the Today Show stressing the importance of saving. We at Smartypig could not agree with Ms. Orman more. Whether it is saving for the eight-month emergency fund she suggested, saving for your children’s future education or saving for the dream vacation you’ve always wanted to take, SmartyPig has made it easier than ever to reach your goals without the constant worry.
You tell us how much you want to save and for how long, and SmartyPig does the rest. Really. Each month, on the day of your choice, SmartyPig deducts the desired amount out of your existing checking or savings account and adds it to your goal. You also earn one of the highest interest rates (3.05% APY), and if your friends and family want to chip in to help out, we’ve got the social aspect covered to. No worrying about manually transferring funds between accounts or driving to the bank. No worrying about your money working for you. No worrying about staying the course. SmartyPig is simple, smart saving at its best.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to put down the plastic and avoid future debt. Financial sensibility for your family is just a few clicks away.
CONTEST RULES
Want to win a $50 SmartyPig savings gift card? All you have to do is leave a comment below detailing how you can double the $50 in 30 days through changes in your personal spending habits.
For example, drinking coffee at home can save you about $50/month, which would easily double the gift card amount.
Come on, be creative. Show us all how we can save a few bucks. The most creative answer by Friday at 5 pm Pacific wins the $50 savings card, which will be mailed directly from SmartyPig. Please use your email in the appropriate box when commenting so I can contact the winner (your email will not be visible to others unless you use it in the Name field).
The winner will be posted in this space by Monday. Good luck, and thanks for sharing your ideas!
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About Betsy
My change to my personal spending habit has to do with fuel perks. In our area, we have Giant Eagle grocery store that offers fuel perk savings of .10 cents for every $50 spent on groceries. This really adds up in savings!! They have also added a savings of 1% for every 10 gallons of gas purchased off your grocery bill! I can track all the savings and pledge to put those savings into a savings plan. If I win the smartpig gift card, I will have that savings auto drafted out of my account plus will put the $50 into the smartpig savings plan as well. Never really thought about actually putting away those savings! I save on an average of anywhere from $15.00 – $20.00 of gas everytime I fill up! Wow…what an eye opening moment! Thanks for helping me get there!!!!
Thanks so much for hosting this awesome giveaway!
We are going to be saving at least another $50 dollars by ditching our cell phones and using Skype instead. We are also considering buying some decent walky-talkies to use when my wife and I are running separate errands. While the walky-talkies might cost a little bit more upfront, we’ll be saving at least $50/month in the long run by using this communication model!
If I exercise more than I won’t spend as much money on buying trendy diet food products. That’s an easy 50$
I plan to barter instead of purchase for cycling gear on Craigslist.
My plan has to do with food. I spend a fair amount of my income on food, be it eating out or just shopping at the fancier grocery store so I can get better produce. Anyway, my plan is this:
Step 1: Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) – local food fresh and direct from the farm, not even the fancy grocery store has much of that
Step 2: Use the CSA box each week to create delicious home cooked meals and bring the leftovers for lunch
Step 3: Buy only the minimal ingredients I need to create simple meals from the grocery store
This will save me at least $50 a month, because I will eat out much less (can’t waste food so I will eat in at least every weekday). I will spend less at the grocery store by only buying minimal ingredients and no packaged foods (talk about a budget hole). Leftovers at lunch means no temptation to eat out (that’s $7-10 per meal right there). Finally, the CSA is a good deal ~$28 for a box (about 2 canvas grocery sacks) of fresh, organic produce!
Of course, the extra $50 will go into my SmartyPig account and add to my savings!
I will take the $50.00 Gift Card, deposit it in a SmartyPig account, then have another $50.00 put in monthly. Voile! Doubled in 30 days!!!
It is Graduation Season again. So far, I have attended two college commencements and will be organizing one of my own. (Commencement is this Wednesday, May 20th.) In another month, it will be time for the public school graduations.
Of course there are festivities, and the cost of putting on a graduation party can be enormous. This is where the SmartyPig savings gift card come in.
$50 could get you plasticware, paper plates, and table liners for an indoor, paid gathering. Or, by being Smart and using SmartyPig methodology, that $50 could cover the bulk of your food costs as well as the picnicware at a graduation picnic in the park.
My friends had their graduations in nice restaurants, at $20 per person. I, on the other hand, will use the same amount to feed and entertain my guests in the park, on Wednesday—pavilion and all.
It’s not about getting rid of fun things to save money, it’s about looking at money in a different light.
Netflix instead of Blockbuster.
Leftover for Lunch
Use Mother Nature instead of YMCA.
That’s more than $50 a month… I’m sure I can find more if I look hard.
2 things I can do – I live only 1.5 miles from work but rarely walk – so if I start walking every day and also walk to my Post Office and Lcoal Store I can cut my gas consumption to almost 0. Additionally I usually go shopping at the closest grocery store which also happens to be the most expensive. Last week I happened to be in the next town for another reason and shopped there for my weeks groceries. I was shocked to realize that my usual groceries came out about $60 cheaper than I was used to! So if I save gas locally and combine trips to the next town to take advantage of lower grocery prices I should be able to save $50 a month without a problem!
We recently saved about $15/mo by switching from qwest to vonage for our home phone.
1. I will walk to and from work for a month-it’s only about a mile, and I’ll bring my lunch for a month.
2. Instead of registering for pricey kick-boxing classes this quarter, I’ll dust off my exercise tapes at home through the summer.
3. Instead of buying Hallmark cards for special events this summer, I’ll make my own cards using paper, ribbon, stickers and other art materials I already have at home.
4. I cut coupons from the Sunday paper for the grocery store every week and save about $25/month off our grocery bill. I’ll visit couponbug.com and a few other sites to expand my coupon use .
Doing all of that, I’l easily be able to quadruple the $50 gift card inside of 30 days.
I could double the $50 amount by cutting soda out of my diet for a month. I drink at least 3 sodas a day and most are vending machine or store bought. If I chose to drink water or bring soda along from home it would reduce my costs spent on soda. Within 30 days I would have $50 or more.
I am going to shop at Trader Joe’s instead of Whole Foods. Easy $50. TJ’s is so cheap in comparison.
Switched to a local repair shop that only charges for labor and no upcharge for parts. Huuge savings!
Buying items i know i will use in bulk, even things like granola bars, chicken, oatmeal etc.
Everytime i bike to work during the day i save at least 3 dollars from the meter, i do that about 5-10 times a month for 15-30 dollars in savings. not counting money saved in gas.
I can see many ways of doing it:
1. Transfer money from my banks savings account to a high yield savings account like ING, SmartyPig, etc and start earning interest on it.
2. Switching to MagicJack from AT&T. Magicjack costs only $20/year and will work on your broadbank connection. This saves me so much in a year in long distance calls, its unbelievale.
I can do 2 things to double the $50.
1. Mulch my flower beds which, with the HOT Texas summers will save me at least $50 per month on my water bill.
2. I have been in the habit of going out to eat breakfast on the weekends. With tip, gas, etc. I usually spend $12-$15 each time. So, if I eat breakfast at home, not only will I save gas from driving to the restaurant 6-8 times per month, but I can save almost $100!!!!
There you go…I win!
We’re dropping our landline and the daily newspaper (sorry publishers)! Not too original, but realized that we haven’t had a personal call on that phone for ages, and we always read the paper online. a-HA moment. Plus, no more bundling papers! No driving to recycling center. That will save us over $80 a month in cash alone.
I will go to the Farmer’s Market down the street on my bike, picking up great local food and avoiding the $20 in pre-packaged food I usually get at the super market. I will open my windows and turn on a fan instead of using the AC in my apartment, saving about $20 in electricity costs. I will stop buying water bottles every day ($1.32 every day= $39) and use a reusable one. I will pass the mall and go to the thrift store to find a dress for an upcoming wedding, saving $30. I’ll have 109 more dollars in my smarty pig account by the end of the month. Oink.
Cooking at home from scratch – saving on convenience foods and take out is not only better for my financial health but my family’s health, too. Who needs all those franken-foods when there’s a "made with love" alternative.
(As a side note, just this week we’re already in over $50 on food we shouldn’t really be eating!)
I bought a PC to TV adaptor for my laptop so I could get rid of my cable which was costing me a amall fortune. It’s amazing how many shows are online and for free!
Also, trying to live without cable has forced me to do things outside when there is nothing on but Tyra’s Next Top Model and I heard that too much Tyra is bad for your health. I have started a vegetable garden and save so much money! Honestly, I used to buy a bag of spinach every two weeks, but never ate enough of it before it went bad. Now I walk outside in the morning clip what I want and eat it that day. And don’t get me started on the tomato’s I’m growing. I’m even giving those away as gifts so others can start growing their own food.
Savings is roughly $55.00 a month, and $660 a year!
1) No more girl’s night out at trendy bars. I’m pretty good at mixing my own cocktails at home. The girl’s will come over to my place instead. Easily I save money there because there is no overpriced drinks, bigger portions served, and no tipping the bartender. In addition, when I get invited to go out for a party or social event, I’ve been saying "No". It hurts, but the debit card thanks me later.
2) Limiting my trips to the grocery store once every 2 weeks. I’ve recently started collecting coupons. The savings are amazing.
3) I’m swapping clothes with girlfriends who wears the same size as I do. In return, no more shopping! Traded clothes are new to me!
4) I pay way too much money to Verizon. I have learned that Sprint offers a similar phone plan with more features for about 20% less. If I can shave at least $30 off my monthly phone bill, I’d be elated!
I can go on and on but these 4 things I’ve done this month already and I’ve reaped some rewarding benefits.
I will not eat out on the weekends. I will go to the grocery store and get things that are on sale.
I could save $50 or more very easily by researching "want" purchases more thoroughly and then postponing the decision to buy at least a day for every $50 of value. So it would really only take me a day to save $50…
I would drop my cell phone monthly plan and change to a pay-as-you-go cell phone. Then I control the monthly bill instead of someone else!
I could easily double my $50 by bringing my lunch to work. As much as I love eating out, I think I would love a fatter wallet a lot more.
It seems like I’ve already done most of what people have suggested above… so I’m going to have to get EXTREME…
I’m going to shut off my hot water heater for a month. Since the weather is nice enough that I’ve already turned off the furnace, that should reduce my natural gas usage to just about 0 (I won’t cook anything in the oven or on the stove either!) Since my average gas bill in May/June is just about $100, I’ve not just doubled, but TRIPLED the $50! And that doesn’t even count the money I’ll save on my water bill because I won’t want to stay in the shower for more than a minute or two. Of course, that may mean I have to spend more on deodorant and cologne in order to mask the smell of my only partially-washed body.
But, of course I’ll make sure that extra money gets deposited into my SmartyPig account! Because I probably won’t win the contest if I don’t say that.
I work at a restaurant where I get a meal per shift. Rather than eating it during my break, I will
be taking it home to share with my wife, since it’s enough food for a lunch for two. If this happens 3-5 times per week, that exceeds $50, and it means we share a lunch together several times a week! Good for the pocketbook and marriage.
I spend far and away the most money on food, after rent. I absolutely love going out to eat though, and i think i balance eating out nicely with planning and cooking meals at home. Therefore, i’m thinking of starting a bi-weekly "family" dinner with friends. One week we cook for them, two weeks later they cook for us. That’s easily $50 in savings, when we’re talking about cutting out a dinner for two at a restaurant each month. And, it’ll be a great way to spend more quality time with friends!
I plan on making my own lunch for work every day instead of buying microwaveable meals! They cost upwards of $2-3/day and I figure by making a salad or a sandwich I can save at least half of that! Plus a homemade meal would be more nutritious.
We spend a lot of money eating out for lunch during the work week. While it’s a fun social event, we’ve decided to instead initiate patio lunches at our companies with our coworkers. Get away from our desks, while saving money. It involves some extra food planning, but just by preparing two extra servings of our supper the night before, we’re going to save aroundt $200/month!
The art of 10% to easily save $50.
Even in this rough economy I have maintained my 10% tithe at church. I began to think, how can I apply biblical principles to my own personal life in today’s economy? A business man challenged a group of me and some of my friends to cut out 10% of any expenses in my life that I could. He encouraged his employees at his company to do the same. The result was a savings of millions of dollars. I have began to apply this principle everywhere I could. I can cut 10% off my electricity bill by not using as much heat and turning off the lights. I can cut back on eating habits by adjusting my budget 10%. If you spend $100 on Starbucks a month adjust your budget to $90. I have cut back by 10% on everything from entertainment to energy and my cable bill (by slimming down the amount of channels). I saved much more than $50 the first month. Take the 10% challenge to see where you can slim down your expenses.
I’ve told my apartment to shut off the air conditioning in my unit. I live in AZ (100+ degrees everyday!) I’m sweating just a smidge. The only thing keeping me cool is the ceiling fan and the low electric bill every month.
I am trying to save money after finally paying off my credit card debt. Whoo hoo!
These are some of the things I have been doing to save money.
I love to go out to dinner but it can be expensive. I go just for drinks, happy hour or when there are specials for dinner such as ladies night or 2 for $22 deal. Sign up to be on your favorite restaurants’ email list and they’ll send you information on their specials or discounts for the week.
I also love buying books, but realized how expensive it is and how many books I have. There’s a fortune on my bookshelves. So I have emailed my friends to get together for a book swap. We have some wine, trade books and have a great time.
I’ve noticed I have saved a bundle just with doing these two things. It’s nice to know that I have money saved up growing interest for me and not for my credit card company.
I have been cutting my expenses down over the past 8 months to get out of debt and save more. I have been utilizing savings accounts that give me 5%, my IRA purchases when the stock market is down and not spending my monthly allowance.
I am a unique user in the fact that I am a live in nanny. I don’t have utilities perse. My monthly allowance counts for eating out, gifts to purchase, trips to go on, movies, basically anything that is not a credit card, IRA, savings acct, or bill. I plan on taking 10-20 dollars out of my cash envelope a week and putting it an other "savings" envelope so that I have bonus money at the end of the month to put into my SmartyPig accoutn one month, the next month my IRA etc.
Also I plan on going to the movies at 10am the first movie of the day at AMC and pay 6 dollars vs 11 dollars. I can eat breakfast at home and head out to the movies, and still have my complete day ahead.
I have also began a blog called the The Financial Nanny debuting tomorrow in which I discuss financial opportunities for nannies and others. I have listed on there how entering giveaways on blogs can save you money if you win the items. There have been strollers and carseats worth 100s of dollars, $50 gift cards to Amazon, SmartyPig and so forth. It costs nothing but your time to enter the giveaways and the opportunity to win a great item that cost you nothing but 5 mins of time!
I look forward to taking the 50 dollar challenge this month. Thank you for the opportunity to learn more ways to save $50!
I’m going to save money like the current administration is doing with healthcare. I’m not going to buy $50 of Xenedrin Pro or some other weight loss drug. Instead I’ll just eat right, excercise, and use restraint.
Well, I’ve already done the easiest thing I could do to save at least $50 a month, I quit smoking. $200 monthly EASY. Not very creative but it’ll have to do
Well Hello there, some interesting reading among the comments. 10% guy sounds the saniest of the bunch , but I’m going for cold shower guy, I mean that’s commitment. But anyway focus back onto me…
Lately I have been seeking ways to improve my overall life, I am one of the fortunate ones who does what they love for a living ( I’m a dance teacher), I live in a tropical paradise (FL) I am in a commited and happy relationship (5 and 1/2 yrs) Still my job does not issue any health benefits, I do not have an IRA, term life insurance, a will or savings of any kind, fly by the seat of your pants no longer seems like the right path, we had some job loss and road bumps the past two years but in the past month I have started to look to solutions for generating income and also finding places to save (btw, we have no cable, no house phone, we share a car I own, we rent an apt with limited ultilites, blah blah blah what I mean to say is we are poor) My newest choice of action, for your little experiement and also for myself is to cut out drinking, I don’t mean a boycott of fluids of any kind with a video camera filming my slow and painful dehydration until you give me the gift card ( although not a bad idea) I mean no more wine for me for a little while. I know, I know lock me in the room with the guy who quit smoking and see who comes out alive. But this would save me at the least $40- a week at $160- a month that could add up and maybe I could finally start that IRA, now if only I had somewhere to put it?….hmmmm… If a pig oinks in a vault does anyone hear it? …the answer is no b/c the pig is surrounded by money which completely absorbs the sound…hehe
The easiest thing for me to do is to stop shopping – I’m a new mom and infant clothes are just too cute!
Seriously though, I’m going to start planning meals by week. We usually go to the grocery store about twice a month. We go aisle by aisle and load up the cart with whatever looks good and spend a few hundred bucks. There’s no rhyme or reason or strategy involved. We usually end up with a pantry and refrigerator full of random items, and then we waste the food and money when we don’t use it. So, I’m going to start making a list of meal ideas by week and only shop for ingredients to use in those meals. Then, we’ll be able to choose what’s for supper off that list … and we’ll know we have all the ingredients.
Let the savings begin!
I’m going to do food swaps with my friends. I often make casseroles because I convince myself that it’s cheaper/easier to buy and cook in bulk. But since I’m single I either end up getting sick of the casserole or it goes bad before I can finish it! My friend once offered to give me some of the big pot of chili she made – I turned her down because I tend to be a picky eater! But I’m going to talk to her about starting to trade extras, so that they don’t go to waste. This will allow me to buy more items in bulk, which I believe could save $50 a month.
When we are tightening up, we may still go out for our weekly "Date Night" dinner, but we order ice water and forego the average $2.49 per soft drink/tea per person, and we skip the appetizers, which average about $7.99 per meal. This easily saves us over $50 in a month…and the water is better for us anyway!
One thing I’ve learned to do to easily save money is to ease on the gas pedal. People accelerate so much after a red light only to stop one block down due to another red light. I’ve found that if you see a red light coming up, just take your foot off the accelerator and coast all the way though. Not only do you save gas, but if timed correctly, you’d be rolling at 15 mph and the light turns green saving you a ton of cash because you did not have to accelerate from 0-15.
Not only that, coasting saves your brakes! So I’ve saved money by easing on the gas (At least $50/month) and I’ve saved money in the long term by preserving my brakes for a longer period of time.
I would avoid spending money on coffee. I buy 3 coffees a week, but can do it at home. That’s about a 12 dollar savings a week, so that would save about 48 dollars. Plus the gas money to drive out of the way to get the coffee would be saved as well.
I could double the $50 by first buying a pump with a special adaptor for my bike tires, normally they are about $20 but my wife works at the sporting goods store so I get a 50% discount, so its $10. By riding my bike to work everyday I can save about $60-$70 a month on gas (I drive a gas guzzler). I would then take the left over $40 and purchase a Sam’s club membership so I can buy groceries in bulk and save. I would save about $100 a month on groceries. With the $50 I could save $170 a month and put it in my smartypig account.
Did you know that there are more benefits to being a AAA member than just towing and repair when your car breaks down? I was unaware of all the special discounts available to AAA members until researching ways that I could save $50 for this contest. As a college student, I’m always searching for extra savings and discounts, and the little offers from AAA have the potential to really add up. For instance, in April, I went to Dunkin’ Donuts before class three times a week. A coffee and bagel rings in around $3.15, so I probably spent close to $40 throughout the month. By simply showing my AAA card at the register, I could have saved 10% on each purchase. When I needed an outfit for a presentation a few weeks ago, I spent close to $65 at New York & Co., which has partnered with AAA to offer a 15% discount on its fashion retail. I missed out on savings of $9.75. I met with my friends from school three different nights in April at Zebb’s Bar & Grill; the 10% discounts available there could have shaved a total of $4 off my meals. Barnes & Noble gives 5% off of one item purchased online, meaning I could have spent $19 instead of $20 on the book I gave to my mom for Mother’s Day. Seems minimal, I know, but what if I had purchased a $200 text book?
The purchase that I’m kicking myself for now is the brand new set of car tires that cost $240. As a AAA member, I would have saved $12, and with the flat repair that I needed in March, I would have saved almost $15! (There are many savings I’ve missed out on with my car; it’s not too reliable, which is why I’m saving for a new one on SmartyPig.com!) Another big way I’m going to save in the future is on the costs of printing. I go through a lot of ink and paper when doing coursework and research, and rack up costs of around $210 each year. The website http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/ is a wonderfully unique tool that I think will cut my costs by 1/4. I probably print an average of three extra pages for each online article I use, so the ability to remove the excess information on a page could save me around $4.75 a month. Ingenious! Alright, the moment everyone’s been waiting for… the grand total in monthly savings: $50.50.
That’s over $600 a year! For me, saving money has never been easier than with the help of AAA, Printwhatyoulike.com, and SmartyPig!
I’ve been saving for my son’s college education on SmartyPig for a couple of months. I’ve found it to be a great way to save, and I love the company’s philosophy.
-Get a free Puget Sound Community Card which gives you back a 3% rebate on all local participating green businesses like PCC that you can either get plain cash back or choose to donate towards a non-profit cause. Over 300 local stores participate…
-Forget cable bills and get free TV online at hulu.com, abc.com, etc. I have a DSL data line only (with no landline) for $20/month and pay $20 for my ISP (internet service provider) of which 100% is donated to a non-profit. While we chose not to have cable to declutter our minds of the usual junk, I love not having TV and watch Simpson’s or South Park whenever we want.
-Repair broken items rather than buy new items. When my watch "broke" rather than buy another watch for $30-40, I simply got it repaired for under $10! When my vacuum broke, rather than buy another vacuum for a few hundred dollars, we repaired it for $30.
-Rather than purchase $7 eco-friendly or regular cleaning products, use what’s always worked–baking soda for 99 cents. Not only does it clean, it deodorizes and acts as an all in once cleaner. Check it out at http://www.nwei.org/files/EcoCleaners.pdf
According to the Washington Toxics Coalition, using disinfectants serves no useful purpose, other than, making money for the company!
One more tip. Check out the non-profit ECOSS at http://www.ecoss.org/green_business.html where they give free energy efficiency consultations that save tons of money on your water and electric bill. You can get low-flow toilets and shower heads that hugely reduce your water bill and help the earth reduce dirty water that then needs to get filtered or gets dumped into clean waters. All that shampoo has to end up somewhere! You can get free home energy assessments, just talk with Donna Shirrey, founder of the Zero-Energy Home in Issaquah. http://www.shireycontracting.com/images/news/425%20mag%20Sept%2008.pdf
I was able to more than double my smarty pig by donating plasma. I get around $50.00 a week and have been doing this for almost two months. The extra $350.00 more than helped me fund my smarty pig goals much faster than expected, but has produced a tool to help me eliminate use of credit cards.
I can save $50 and more a month by having "meatless" Mondays and Wednesdays. I will buy my veggies / fruit at a local market, and make complete meals for the whole day with them.
For one month, on the weekend days, I’ll eat two meals a day instead of three (a late breakfast and an early dinner). Three meals a day normally would cost me an average of $6 for each meal. ($18 / day or about $540 / mo.). If I eat just two meals a day for the four weekends, I’ll reduce my meal cost to $492 for a savings of $48! ($6×8 days) I’ll drink water instead of a cola or juice for two of those meals and save an extra $2.00 for a total of $50.00!!
So not only will I be saving $50, I’ll be taking in less calories, losing weight and reducing the amount of paper and plastic trash I’d be creating! Yay me, savings account AND mother earth!
Now, if only I could discipline myself to do this EVERY day of the month… :-/