3 Tips to Save Money During the Work Week

Raise your hand if you’ve ever checked your bank account & wondered where your money went. Your weekly spending may be the culprit for this disappearing act but here are some tips for stretching your money longer

Hello Loves! I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been looking for ways to save money. I’ve noticed that making random purchases during the week has caused my money to seemingly sprout wings and fly away! I don’t claim to be a finance expert but I’ve implemented a few tactics to help me save money. Small changes can take you a long way! Here are a few tips that you can implement now to help you save more of your hard earned coins.

Create a Budget

This is the cornerstone to tracking and evaluating your spending. I’m not much of a “cut out your $5 coffee to save money” girl but I do set a budget for things such as said $5 coffee. I create monthly budgets for things such as shopping, groceries, gas, and coffee as a form of discipline. Knowing I can only spend a certain amount on coffee a month keeps me mindful of how often I buy it. I keep track of my budgets through the Mint app. I like that I can easily see how much I’m spending in each budget category and get alerts when I’m nearing the max of each budget. Plenty of people create their own budget sheets via excel but having an app on my phone works best for me. Choose a budgeting option that you know will help keep you on track with your spending.

Pack a Lunch

One of the biggest things people spend their money on during the week is lunch. You can easily spend at least $10 a day buying food from restaurants for lunch. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a good bowl from Sweetgreen or food from the cafe in my building, but I do it sparingly. Packing a lunch does require a little more planning ahead but it’s so worth it! What usually works best for me is cooking a little extra when I make dinner and having the leftovers for lunch. Cutting way down on my weekly lunch spending has made a significant difference in how my bank account looks. If you buy lunch daily now, I challenge you to cut down to twice a week. See how big of a difference that makes then keep cutting down to only a “treat yoself” lunch now and then.

Take Public Transit to Work

Let me preface this by saying, I know taking public trans doesn’t work for everyone. My last job was in a very far suburb and I had no choice but to drive every day. Since I now work downtown, I was quick to ditch driving to work and switch to the train. I was tired of buying gas once, sometimes twice a week. Now I do less driving, which means less spending on gas. In addition to that, I can utilize my morning commute time to read, catch up on emails or do blog work as opposed to only being able to focus on driving. If you can make the switch, I highly recommend it.

I hope you all found this post helpful! I’ve been looking for places to save money so I can have better control of my money. What do you do to save money during the work week? These are three fairly simple and effective things that have helped me but I’d love to hear from you!