Money Saving Ideas You Can Start Immediately

Baseball player turned humor author Sam Ewing once wrote, “Inflation is when you pay $15 for the $10 haircut you used to get for $5 when you had hair.”

Inflation is on the rise, so you have to look for new ways to save money if you want to stay on budget. Here are some ideas you might want to check out:

Use cash to buy gasoline. Prices at the pump have skyrocketed recently, so saving even a few pennies per gallon can add up. The National Association of Convenience Stores says that 75% of us use a credit or debit card to buy gas.

But many places will give you a break for paying with cash, in some locations up to 10 to 15 cents a gallon.

Why do they do it? Because credit card companies like Visa and American Express charge gas stations about 25 cents whenever you use their card. Another reason is that paying with cash means you have to go inside to pay, and you’re surrounded by convenience foods that many folks end up buying.

You might also consider using for all of your spending outside the house. Studies show you can save from 10 to 30% at the register when using cash only. That’s because it’s more difficult to part with real dollars than plastic. Try setting aside one day a week when you don’t spend money. Bring leftovers to work instead of eating lunch out. Pass up convenience store coffee that day. Stay off-line, so you won’t be tempted to buy something on impulse. It will still be there tomorrow if you really need it. When you do go online, you can save money by using an incognito browser that deletes your browsing history. Companies then can’t see things you’ve been looking for and then raise prices on you. Sadly, this happens.

If you’re buying a major appliance, ask the sales rep a simple question, “Is that the best you can do?” Our friend Dave Ramsey advises to always ask for a discount. You may not get it, but it doesn’t cost anything to ask.

You can also ask for a discount if you’re paying cash for a big ticket item. If the item is on backorder, which many are these days due to interruptions in the supply pipeline, ask for a discount for having to wait. Again, it never hurts to ask. If you see an item online for a certain price, but a local retailer has it in stock at a higher price, ask if they’ll match the lower one. Have the online offer on your smartphone ready to show the sales rep. Many stores have a policy that they will match a lower, bona fide offer. You can also implement the 30-day rule for anything costing over $100. If you see something you want, not need but want, wait 30 days before purchasing it. If you find that after that time you still want it, go ahead and buy it.

But in many cases, you’ll discover that the urge to buy the item is gone, that you really didn’t want it that bad, and you’ve saved yourself some money.

Proverbs 21:20 reads, “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.” Another way to save is by actually doing it on payday. There’s a tendency to spend freely on payday and later realze you haven’t saved anything. Instead, put something into savings before you spend anything. That way you’ll know how much you really have in disposable income. An even better idea is to make your savings automatic. Have your bank or credit union automatically put some of your paycheck into savings. Out of sight, out of mind. You can also sign up for paperless billing and auto pay with service providers like AT&T and Xfinity and some utilities. Many offer discounts on your monthly bill for signing up. It also makes it easy to manage your account with your smartphone. You should also start your Christmas shopping now. Make a list of everyone you’ll give a gift to at Christmas. Then set your total budget for gifts. There’s always a lot of hype about sales during the holiday shopping season, but if you give yourself months and months to find an item, odds are you’ll beat any price you’re likely to find during the Christmas crunch.

Those are some money saving ideas to help you beat inflation. We hope you find them useful.

You can also listen the related podcast on this topic.