20 People Share Their Best Hacks To Save Money

The uncertainty of not knowing how long you'll be able to afford your bill is scary but real. In fact, many of us are living paycheck to paycheck and thus it is sometimes necessary to know some hacks that can help in saving some money for tough times. A Reddit user asked on Ask Reddit “What are some interesting life hacks for saving money?” Many people shared their weird, unusual, and helpful hacks in the the thread. Scroll below to read some of them. More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: BeccaaCat, cottonbro studio "Buy secondhand! Today I have secured myself a solid pine desk for my daughters room, no marks or damage, for £10, and a worn-once, three piece navy suit for my son to wear at our wedding next year, also for £10. I buy maybe 80% of my stuff secondhand. I bide my time, wait for a bargain, and I have saved sooooo much money over the years."

#2

Image source: meafloaf, micheile dot com "If you are getting married, send out wedding invitations to every billionaires address you can find. You have a 50/50 chance that their assistants will just send you a perfunctory gift without ever wondering who the hell you are. Free gifts!"

#3

Image source: Kings-x-Dynasty, behrouz sasani "Only drinking water is a solid one. Soda at restaurants or other drinks add up a lot."

#4

Image source: -thersites-, Bidvine "If you can buy a tool to complete a repair for the same price as the repair itself, buy the tool and repair it for free next time."

#5

Image source: Whatmeworry4, cottonbro studio "When buying online, leave items in the shopping cart for awhile. There is a good chance that the website is tracking this, and will lower the price overtime to entice you into buying. I've saved a lot by being patient. Like when I got a surround sound amp for $350 that was listed everywhere for $450 to $500, just by leaving it in the online shopping cart for a week."

#6

Image source: anon, Pixabay "Don't have kids."

#7

Image source: anon "10% of your paycheck goes into a savings account and 20% to debts. The remainder stays in your checking account to pay bills and feed/entertain yourself. Be disciplined and stick to the plan. If you can, increase the savings percent. When you have enough savings to fulfill an emergency fund, start investing. Calculate if you can afford things using these constraints, and if you can’t then don’t purchase them. Not exactly a life hack, but this plan will make you wealthy."

#8

Image source: kebabhue, lil artsy "I don't smoke but live my financial life as a smoker. Meaning every Monday I transfer the sum of one weeks worth of cigarettes to my savings account. If people that earn less than me can afford smoking, so can I."

#9

Image source: Trackull, Jack Sparrow "Always eat before going food shopping."

#10

Image source: -thersites-, Ketut Subiyanto "Making one extra payment on your mortgage per year will reduce a 30 year mortgage to roughly 17 years."

#11

Image source: _mexicola, Karolina Grabowska "I try to cost things as portions of better, or more fulfilling things i.e. A coffee is 1/10 of a new game. Ten meals out is a weekend away etc."

#12

Image source: Richards_Brother, Nothing Ahead "When at the grocery, look at the price/oz or whatever unit it is instead of the total price. It's usually posted in one corner. It's not going to save you tons of money, but it does add up. Plus it takes out the guess work when comparing similar items."

#13

Image source: Rwill113, Carol Pyles "Don’t buy something that you normally wouldn’t buy just because you have a coupon."

#14

Image source: turtle101z, Ron Lach "Live below your means."

#15

Image source: Bince82, Jess Ho "Learning how to cook pasta, rice and beans, soups, stews, polenta, grits, etc, really anything that costs very little and can feed a huge family. You save insane amounts of money, even if you are frugal in terms of buying cheaper things from stores (e.g. $5 sandwhich). For that same $5 you can make pasta with butter, cheese, and peas for the whole family. Or make beef stew with barley (chuck roast is really cheap and delicious in a stew)."

#16

Image source: anon, cottonbro studio "Get yourself a library card. It's not just books, but also movies, workshops, education, software, computer time, music. I've probably saved thousands on all sorts of c**p. If it weren't for the library, I probably wouldn't have been introduced to awesome books like American Gods, The Way of Kings, All Systems Down, or The Road."

#17

Image source: Gigglefruit358, Karolina Grabowska "I have a friend who, at the end of each pay period, moves whatever she has in checking into savings. It doesn't matter if she's got $5 or $50 in the account, it goes into savings the night before payday."

#18

Image source: joo_ish, Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas "learn to cook! 4 or 5 reliably delicious recipes will go a loooooong way."

#19

Image source: Creative_Uzername, Tony Webster "If you can avoid it, never take out a payday loan."

#20

Image source: RusoArmo, Pixabay "I don't spend $1 bills. I collect them in a box and at the end of the year I usually have a few hundred dollars."