11 Ways to Save Money & Get Out of Debt
Last year we managed to pay off our maxed out credit card, bring our credit line down a bit and save money. Then Christmas came and although we may not be where we started our debt has climbed back up. Now with the holidays behind us it’s time for a reminder on how we’ve come this far in our debt-free journey and what else we can do to take us closer to our dream of one day becoming homeowners.
11 Ways to Save Money & Get Out of Debt
- Coupons and price matching can help a lot when it comes to saving money. Food, health & beauty products, cleaning supplies and clothes can be expensive. Learn the basics of couponing and yes, this includes the slang for better understanding. Create an email account strictly for the purpose of collecting coupons, visit the websites of the stores you frequent the most & the brands you love and sign up to receive coupons and discounts.
- Shop the deals. Just like using coupons and price matching, shopping the deals and stocking up on the products used on a daily basis will help you save money on your grocery bill.
- Buy in bulk but only when it saves. My name is Amanda and I’m a bulk-a-holic! I love Costco - partially because I can have a free meal (thanks to the samples) & shop at the same time but mostly because I can buy in bulk. Meats, spices, coffee and sometimes health and beauty products I buy in bulk when it’s a “good deal”. The meat gets seperated into individual meal portions & thrown in the freezer; spice, pasta noodles & rice get put into jars for easier access. However check your flyers and money saving apps before you venture on a bulk shopping spree know your prices. Not all deals that look like you save money actually save you money.
- Prepare meals ahead of time. We’ve all had those days or nights; no matter how hard we try we just can’t sleep, work was crazy or we just don’t feel like cooking…let’s order a pizza or stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, right? Wrong, having meals prepped that you can take out of the freezer and throw in the slow cooker or oven can save you a ton of money. Breakfast, lunch or dinner prepping ahead will make you a winner (I know cheesy, right? I just couldn’t resist).
- Get a second job. Part-time, weekends, even one day a week…every little bit helps. Bonus if it’s somewhere you shop, most retail stores have a great staff discount you can take advantage of.
- Start a “Home Party Sales Career”. There are so many opportunities to earn a little extra income. Tupperware, AVON, It Works…just make sure it’s with a company whose products you would buy too. For a one-time fee (the cost of my books), I sold AVON for a while. Doing so didn’t bring me great riches, I spent my earnings on new books and with the rest I managed to feed my makeup addiction for a few months.
- Surveys for gift cards. There are websites like Swagbucks where you can do surveys, search the web, play games and more to earn points or in this case swagbucks to use towards gift cards at your favourite stores. Save your gift card earnings for birthday gifts, holidays or to get that gorgeous purse you’ve been dying to buy.
- Sell your unwanted items. Technology today allows us to do virtually anything and that includes online garage sales, gone are the days where we had to set up tables and place colour coded stickers on the items we were selling. Varage Sale, Kiiji, local Facebook groups…there are endless possibilities on getting rid of your junk for cash, literally at your fingertips.
- Open a savings account. Have the bank take out a pre-determined amount each month not too much that it will break the bank but just enough so you have something tucked away, doing this will make it so it’s not missed when the time comes for it to go.
- Not to be repetitive but…Any extra money put into a savings account or use towards paying off debt. You know that saying “The more money you make, the more you spend.” it doesn’t have to be true for you. Take all your earnings from your second job, home party sales career, from selling your unwanted items plus your coupon savings and save the money or use it to get out of debt.
- If you have a credit line, reduce it as much as you can. One of the biggest mistakes we ever made was getting a credit line. Not that it hasn’t helped but no matter how much we pay off it doesn’t seem to go away. Now, every time we pay $1000 we call the bank and get them to lower the limit. This brings down our interest rate and makes it so we can no longer dip into it. Once low enough we will be turning it into a loan, possibly making our payments higher but untouchable which means easier to get out of debt.
What are some ways you can suggest to save money and get out of debt?
20 Comments
Randa @ The Bewitchin' Kitchen
Great tips! I’m a bulk-a-holic too. I just spent $150 on meat but I’m good for a few weeks! It was a great deal too 🙂
Amanda Komoski
It’s great with things you can freeze or stuff that doesn’t have a best before date, but when I go to Costco I usually buy fruits and veggies that I have good intentions on using that usually end up going bad.
Aimee Geroux
These are all such great ways to save money to get out of debt. Being an extreme couponer the #1 was music to my ears. People sometimes don’t realize how MUCH they can save just by price matching and using a few coupons or rebate apps.
I think my suggestions would be to reduce your BILLS. Call your cell phone company and see what they can do to reduce your bill but not reduce your service much. CUT THE CABLE - get an android box and unlimited internet and stream this can save you thousands depending on your current cable package. See how you can reduce your heat and hydro bills. Put on an extra layer of clothes and turn down the heat a bit, cook and do laundry on off peak hours - even if that means eating after 7pm.
Amanda Komoski
Those are all great suggestions Aimee! Reducing your bills can save you a few hundred dollars a year, we cut off our home phone since we both have cell phones and that alone saves us $40 a month. If I had it my way we’d cut our cable too but since my hubby is such a sports nut I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Little Miss Kate
My biggest tip is to stop focusing on the “Stuff”, because your kids really don’t need another toy.
For Christmas each of our kids only had 1 present under the tree from us, because they don’t need anything else and I don’t need to shop for the sake of saying I bought them things.
Angela V
Great tips! I think not using a credit card to begin with is so important. I only use a credit card that I pay right away after using.
Julie Syl Kalungi
Very practical ways to save money and get out of debt.
The best way though is not to get into BAD DEBT in the first place… See there is Good debt and bad debt. If the debt one carries is not income producing and self servicing then thats bad debt to be avoided. I understand that many students get into debt to get a University education…thats sad yet for some.
Amanda Komoski
So true and that’s exactly how I view our credit line.
Roz Tanner Evans
great tips. I especially like the idea of selling unused things.
Claudia | ImagesByCW
That’s a great list of tips to save money and / or pay back to get out of debt. Unfortunately I cannot add anything that hasn’t been said already, so I’ll simply say: Good luck and all the best on your journey!
Amanda Komoski
Thank you Claudia!
Bismah
These are all great tips and totally doable. I am with you on being cautious when buying in bulk as there are times when it may cost you more. Also checking out expiration dates can keep you from losing money.
Amanda Komoski
Yes! Many of times I’ve bought meat without checking the expiration date (DOH!) only to have not packaged them up and thrown in the freezer on time.
Elizabeth Matthiesen
I think one of the most important tips is that if you do use a credit card, pay it off completely at the end of the month. The rate of interest is way too high and it gets very difficult to get out of the debt.
Amanda Komoski
Yes, so true!
loucheryl
I really love the tips. All good ones. I am going to sell some of my boys things they no longer need.
Amanda Komoski
It pays to do this once they’ve grown out of playing with or wearing the item. It also leaves you feeling clutter free.
kathy downey
Thanks,those are all great suggestions i will be using come Spring
Debbie White Beattie
You given some really good tips and some of them I already do. (coupons, price matching etc)
Victoria Ess
I definitely need to work on putting my money into a savings account. Thanks for the tips!