Smart ways to keep more of your hard-earned money without having to sacrifice a thing. Get the Money Girl book at http://MoneyGirlBook.com
Money Girl
354 MG 8 Smart Ways to Spend Less Money and Save More (Part 1)
Building a portfolio with Fidelity Basket Profolios is kinda like making a sandwich. It's as simple as picking your stocks and ETFs, sort of like your meats and other topics. And managing it as one big juicy investment. That's pretty good. Learn more at Fidelity.com/baskets. Investing involves risks including risk of loss, Fidelity Broker Services LLC, Member NYSC SIPC. Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. You'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too. Aww, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com/bank, Capital One NA, Member FDIC. Hi, everyone. I'm Laura Adams, author of the award-winning book, "Money Girl Smarts to Grow Rich." Before we get started, this show is dedicated to Tia, a money girl listener I got to know while attending a wedding near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We started chatting over dinner. She recognized my voice and said, "You sound just like this Quick and Dirty Tips podcast I listened to." How cool is that? We talked for hours about podcast and how she saves money by growing a huge garden. In addition to the podcast, I write a free newsletter with tips and answers to listener questions that don't make it to the weekly show. You can sign up at quickanddirtytips.com. While you're there, be sure to connect with me on social media, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or read a transcript of this show, which is episode number 354, eight smart ways to spend less money and save more, part one. If you think saving money by cutting expenses is more hassle than it's worth, this two-part series is for you. You'll be surprised by how easy it is to keep more of your hard-earned money without having to sacrifice a thing. I'll share the best ways I save money and time every day, and I'm not talking about saving just a few bucks making coffee at home, although I do that too. In part one, I'll cover four clever money-saving tips, and then four more advanced strategies in part two. If you're ready to keep more of your money by spending less, it's time to reevaluate how and where you're spending. Here are four tips to cut the cost of items you're already buying and get much more for your money. Savings tip number one. Shop anywhere, but buy online when possible. For many items, you'll come out ahead purchasing them online. Here's why. You stay focused. When you wander around a brick-and-mortar store, it's easy to get distracted by in-store displays, sell items, or trying things out, and end up buying much more than you really need. You save time. Chopping online is much faster and more efficient than battling traffic, parking, and long checkout lines in local stores. You get free shipping. Many large online retailers offer free shipping to keep you loyal, so you get what you need without having to pay for transportation or go anywhere. You don't have to handle what you buy. Having items delivered to your doorstep or apartment mail room saves you from having to do the heavy lifting, especially for bulk orders. You can easily compare prices. Searching for an item online shows you a variety of sites that sell it. It's easy to see which merchant has the lowest price, an upcoming promotion or free shipping. Now, I'm not saying that you should not support hard-working mom-and-pop merchants in your community if you need to or want to. But even when I'm shopping locally, I may decide to wait and see if I can get a better deal online. Sticking to an online purchasing strategy makes the most sense for items like certain clothes, electronics, gifts, and non-perishable groceries. And speaking of non-perishable's, that's savings tip number two. Order non-perishable groceries in bulk. They're perfect buying bulk online. Bulk simply means purchasing more of something you normally buy at once, which typically lowers its unit price. For instance, buying one box of 50 garbage bags may cost 15 cents per bag, but buying 250 of the same item may reduce the cost per bag to 8 cents. I always buy garbage bags, paper products, cleaning products, soaps, items, and office supplies in large quantities because I'm certain that I'll use them. Additionally, some grocery items with long shelf lives, such as coffee, popcorn, cereal, rice, beans, pasta, and canned food may be smart bulk purchases, as long as you know you'll consume them before they expire. I love Amazon's Subscribe and Save program because you get up to 15% off a huge selection of grocery, personal care, and household items, plus free shipping. You set up the delivery schedule you need by customizing the frequency you want to receive new orders. You're only charged when items are shipped and you can cancel your subscription at any time. It's a really great way to manage bulk orders in one place. I'll include a link to this and all the other resources that I mentioned in this show on the Money Girl page at quickanddirtytips.com. I love learning and anything that makes learning easier. If you're a parent and your child needs some homework help, then Ixcel is a right for your family. Ixcel is an online learning program for kids covering math, language arts, science, and social studies. Ixcel has interactive practice problems for topics from pre-K to 12th grade, and everything is organized by grade and subject. As kids practice, they get positive feedback, awards, and explanations for wrong answers. Ixcel figures out what your kids need more help with and recommends more topics to practice. Their videos, lessons, sample problems, and learning games too. One subscription to Ixcel gets you all subjects and all grade levels. Membership started just $9.95 a month. It's no wonder Ixcel is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts. I think the positive feedback that Ixcel gives is really crucial when it comes to learning. So make an impact on your child's learning. Get Ixcel now, and Money Girl listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Ixcel membership when they sign up today at Ixcel.com/MoneyGirl. Visit Ixcel.com/MoneyGirl to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Canva presents the killer of productivity. It was an ordinary workday until... Oh no, this meeting. It could have been an email. Run. Canva had a creative solve. Shh. Get email. I'll just put the info the team needs in the Canva doc, and I'll make it visual with images, charts, and graphics. Bring productivity killers to justice with creativity. Love your work at Canva.com. Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet, with no fees or minimums on checking accounts, and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. You'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Oh, really? Thanks Capital One Bank guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com/bank. Capital One NA member FDIC. Saving step number three. Online discounts and coupon codes are golden. When you're shopping online, never check out before checking for ways to get even more savings. There are some great cashback and discount code sites that can really sweeten the deal. Ebates is one of my favorite ways to cut the cost of just about any online purchase. They get a commission from over 1700 of the top online stores when you buy something. Instead of keeping the commission, they share a portion of it with you. I've seen cashback rates as high as 8% depending on the store. It's completely free to join and use Ebates discounts. You just search for the store you want to shop and click through. Then you get your payment four times a year by check or PayPal. Another smart way to save is to use discount codes for a percent or dollar amount off your purchase. You've seen a place to enter these on most online shopping carts. But if you don't have a current code to enter, you can't take advantage of the discount. Did you know that you can find these secret promotional codes for thousands of online stores at sites like RetailMeNot.com, and CouponCodes.com. They keep an up-to-date database of discount codes that can save you huge amounts of money. Savings tip number four, buy perishable groceries from the source. There's one type of purchase that usually does not make sense to buy online, perishable groceries. Not only can grocery delivery be expensive if it's even available where you live, but the quality of the food may be subpar. The trick to buying high-quality food at low prices is to shop farmer's markets. You can choose from a variety of seasonally fresh fruits and vegetables from the people who grow them or broker them. Depending on where you live, some bigger farmer's markets also have a variety of fish, meat, bread, coffee, condiments, and pre-prepared salads. Find out where the best farmer's markets are in your area and check them out. Be sure to take cash since most don't accept credit cards. Making it a routine to visit the farmer's market every week can also be a fun family outing. Even if you have to drive to another city or town, the savings and quality you get can really be worth it. I hope these tips give you some ideas about ways to save. Give me in part two of this series where we'll cover four more money-saving strategies to spend less every day. I'm glad you're listening to Ching. That's all for now. Courtesy of Money Girl, your guide to a richer life. Canva presents your work horoscope for this week. Deadlines are in retrograde, which we all know can bring some intense energy. Our advice, fend off this forecast with Canva. Like Canva Whiteboards to counter creative blocks and Canva Docs for clarity and communications. If you have any sales deals coming through, results will be in your favor with Canva presentations. Manifesting many wins for you. It's a great week to love your work at Canva.com. At Capella University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think. With Capella University, learn more at Capella.edu. [BLANK_AUDIO]