- Use Balance Transfers
- Refinance Your Loans
- Live Frugally
- Set Up Automated Transfers Between Your Checking & Savings Account
- Round-Up What You Spend And Invest The Difference
It’s no trick that one of the quickest ways to save a lot of money fast is to keep it in your bank account. So, below are some hands-on ways you can tweak your cash flow by bringing down your expenses (sometimes even without getting rid of anything).
Create A Budget
Now before you do anything, you’ll want to know how much or how little of your expenses you need to change. And putting together a budget sheet is step 1 in any financial strategy.
To create a simple budget sheet, all you’re doing is calculating your monthly cash-flow by adding how much you make post-taxes (income) and subtracting it against your total monthly spending (expenses).
Step 1: Calculate your total monthly income (post-tax)
Step 2: Calculate your total monthly expenses
Step 3: Subtract your expenses from your income = your cash flow
Important: Before you can start managing your money, you first have to know what your finances are. So therefore, step 1 in any financial strategy is to create a budget sheet.
How Much Do You Save Now?
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average American saves roughly 7.65% of their income. Where do you stack up next to this? Do you save more or less?
Let’s assume you already created your budget sheet and found that out that you save 7.65% of your income already. We’ll work on doubling it to 15% (adjust it according to your own goals).
Note: To increase your cashflow – either increase your income, decrease your expenses or both.
How To Save Money Fast:
Now that you know 1) where you are (created a budget sheet) and 2) know how much you want to save, it’s time to start tweaking your spending until those 2 match:
1. Use Balance Transfers
You can save a lot of money fast just by transferring a high balance/high APR credit card to one that has a lower interest rate or is still in it’s promotional APR period.
Credit card interest can sometimes feel like one of the most burdensome things to deal with. Especially if you’re only making the minimum payments on them each month.
In most cases, it almost always makes sense to transfer out your full balance(s) from all your cards that are carrying interest. The transfer fee is a small price to pay in comparison to what you’ll save in the long run.
Note: Every $1,000 of credit card debt is roughly $20.83/mo of interest (based on a 25.24% APR).
Make sure you understand what the balance transfer fee % is before proceeding.
2. Refinance Your Loans
Another trick on how to save money fast is by refinancing your loans.
Whether it’s an auto, mortgage, or personal loan – make sure you have the best possible interest rate for each one.
Google what the national interest rate averages are for each type of loan (with your credit score) and compare your rate side-by-side to the national average.
And if you feel you’re overpaying on any of them, call your lender and see if they’ll refinance at a lower rate. If not, go on Credit Karma and check out if you’re pre-qualified for anything.
Tip: Google what the national averages are for each loan type compared to those with a similar credit score as you. If you’re paying too much, do something.
This may result in a hard inquiry. Please do your homework and double check before submitting or agreeing to anything you are not familiar with.
3. Live Frugally
One of the most cold-turkey ways to save money fast is to drastically cut your spending on “everything but the kitchen sink”, for lack of a better phrase.
Basically, only spend your money on essential things like food, water, and shelter – and let everything else take a backseat.
Just think of it like, “every dollar you don’t spend, is another dollar you saved”.
Example: Brewing your own coffee at home costs 16¢-18¢/cup, while buying a cup costs between $1-$5. If you have 1 cup 5 days a week, you would save an extra $176-$1,206 a year ($17-$120 a month) just by changing that one thing.
Note: Every dollar you don’t spend, is another dollar you saved.
Related Article: How To Live Cheaper: 12 Clever Tips For Frugal Living In 2021
4. Set Up Automated Transfers Between Your Checking & Savings Account
An easy trick you can do to save money fast is to simply tell your bank to automatically transfer a set amount from your checking into your savings account every time you get paid.
You can set it up however you want. You choose the day, the amount, and how often you want it transferred (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc).
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data that says the average American saves roughly 7.65% of their income and we set a goal to double that.
So, if you’re going to save 15% of you’re income, do the math on what 15% of your paycheck is – and automate that much to be transferred to a savings account every time you get paid.
This is a great and predictable way how to save money fast and reach your goal in a strategic, automated fashion.
Reminder: Before doing this, be sure to structure it so you’ll always have enough in your checking account to cover any reccuring bills taken from your account each month.
5. Round-Up What You Spend And Invest The Difference
This savings strategy is geared more towards those who spend a lot, unlike the frugal living approach.
You can use apps, like Acorns, that will automatically take the rounded-up amount of change left over from every purchase you make and put it into an investment account for you.
If you’re not good at saving or setting aside money on your own, using an app that’s built to do it for you is worth giving a shot.
*Acorns has a $1/month service fee.
- Downloadable income and expense budget worksheet
