Weird Ways to Save Money

There are a lot of ways to save money or get great deals. But here are a few odd tips you may not have thought of: 

1. Make Your Lunch after Dinner. I’m sure many of you have noticed that if you brought your lunch to work, you’d end up saving a ton of money, but how many of you actually get around to packing the lunch? You wake up, rush out the door, and say, “Oh well, I’ll pack it next time.” Not only are you wasting leftovers many times, but precious dollars. Packing your lunch as you put away dinner leftovers is a great idea, and I mean putting everything inside the bag or lunchbox you plan to carry. Place the lunch right in front of the fridge (in front of the half and half for you coffee drinkers) and you won’t miss it!

 2. Buy Extra. I’m not going to tell you to buy in bulk. Unless you have a lot of square footage in your home, this may not be a reasonable tip. I know that buying in bulk would not work in my home. So instead, I buy extra of non-perishable items I know I use often and frequently will make an extra trip to the store to get. Shampoo, soap, lotion, paper towels, etc. The saving from buying in bulk may not quite be there, but the time and money making extra grocery store trips is significant. 

3. Fill Up Your Cart, Then Empty It Out. This one sounds a little crazy, but I swear it works for me. Distinct from impulse buying, which is when you grab something and make a bee-line for the cash register – go through your favorite store and fill up your cart with everything you think you need or want. After a while, you will notice that set of faux granite coasters is a little much, and the cork will work just fine so you can really splurge on that cheese slicer.  Can you see where I’m going with this? Filling up my cart, then emptying it of the things that really don’t matter to me is something I’ve done my entire life. That way I have everything in one place to: a.) see how silly it was that I wanted so much stuff, and b.) weigh the pros and cons of spending my money on any of the items.

 What tips work for you – no matter how weird they sound?