The Covid-19 pandemic has made us all anxious and according to a 2021 NextAdvisor study, 51% of Americans experienced financial hardship and increased stress when it comes to their finances during the pandemic.
To help alleviate any financial stress that you may have, here are 5 tips that you can easily implement to help you save more money in 2022 and take control of your financial future.
1. Commit to a 30-Day Money Savings Challenge
We’ve all heard of Dry-January - the month when people abstain from consuming alcohol for the first month of the year. In order to save more money, consider extending this principle to your finances as this can be an easy way to pad your wallet. In this challenge, for 30 days the goal is to commit to not spending money on non-essentials ie: eating out, extra coffee at your local coffee shop, shopping for clothes, etc.
While a no-spend month may sound daunting, the challenge aspect may actually be fun and it’s one of the best ways to quickly reduce expenses and have more cash available at the end of the month.
For this challenge, start by setting 1-3 financial goals you want to meet - and to make it stick, write them down on a piece of paper / post-it note and affix it to a place where you will see your goals daily, ie: bathroom mirror, on the fridge, on your desk.
Some of the best goals you might want to put in your challenge include:
- Dine in instead of dining out for the month
- Pause / cancel subscriptions that no longer serve you.
- Depositing an extra $100 into your savings account by the end of the 30 days (the amount can really be whatever is most realistic for you).
- Save $500 for an emergency fund
Once you have your goals, you can plan out how you want to meet them and then commit to sticking by them for the month. Since you’ll be competing against yourself throughout the month, you’ll have a more immediate purpose for getting organized financially, and the competition will help you have fun while you manage your money. When you meet your goals, you’ll not only have more money, but you’ll also feel an incredible sense of accomplishment.
2. Limit Your Non-essential Spending
Did you know that the average American adult spends close to $1,500 a month ($18,000 a year) on non-essential items?
One great way to save money is to take a look at your non-essential spending, and decide what items you would like to limit, and put the ‘extra’ money that you did not spend in a HSA.
Here are a few examples of things that you can eliminate from your budget:
- Nights out at a local watering hole
- Food takeout from your favorite restaurant
- Streaming services or music purchases
Bonus:
If you buy your favorite latte every day from Starbucks, you can save some money by brewing your coffee at home a few days a week. According to NextAdvisor, brewing your coffee in a coffee pot only costs $0.03 per cup.
3. Track Your Spending
Many people simply don’t take the time to track their spending. In fact, a recent study found that Americans devote less than two minutes per day to managing their personal finances. With so little time spent on managing household finances, it’s no wonder that 56% of Americans don’t know where their money is going every month.
Tracking your spending each month will let you know where your hard-earned money is going and help you see where you could easily save money. For example, if you use a bill-pay app and notice you routinely spend $200 a month on new clothes that you don’t really need, you can make a goal to only spend $100 a month instead. By building the discipline to sit down and review your finances consistently, you can visualize where your money is going and take steps to reduce non-essential spending.
4. Switch to Paperless Billing
By switching to paperless billing, not only will you save a tree, this small change can also help your finances. When you receive, and pay, your bills via the mail, you’ll lose money paying for postage and envelopes. Since paper bills are easy to misplace and forget, receiving paper bills can also put you at risk of late fees.
If one of your billers offers paperless billing and you sign up for it, they’ll email you a copy of your bills in a PDF, or another digital format, and will offer you an online option for paying the bill. By having your bills sent to your email, you’ll be less likely to misplace them, lowering your chances of paying a bill late and avoiding paying the dreaded late fees.
5. Start Using a Bill Pay App
The average American family has over 20 bills to pay a month ie: utilities, insurance, cell phone, car payment, credit cards, etc. Instead of tracking your household bills on an excel spreadsheet, or relying on your memory to keep track when bills are due, bill pay apps help you to easily keep track, pay, and manage your finances from the convenience of your phone.
Bill pay and management app TiFiPay helps you save more by knowing exactly where your money is going, and it helps you track all of your bills in one place. With this single view you can easily cut out non-essential expenses and track spending which can lead to increased savings.
The TiFiPay app also removes the stress of monthly bill pay and reduces the chance of late fees by allowing you to set up payment reminders, see lists of what bills are due when, and pay your bills directly from the app. With all of these features at your fingertips, you can more easily implement the other tips recommended in this post to track your spending and save money.
The bottom line
Now that you know the top financial tips for 2022, you might be interested in using TiFiPay. By taking the stress and inconvenience out of modern bill paying, we help our users have more fun with their finances and reach their financial goals. When you use the app, you’ll know exactly where your money is going and more easily cut out nonessential expenses, leading to increased savings.