1. Avoid Daily Food Purchases Pack your own your lunch (from food in your house) every day for work and you could easily save $25 or more per week. This tactic saves—at a minimum—of $1,300 per year. or more than $50,000 over a 40-year career!
2. Gasoline Many automobile experts agree that using a higher grade of gas than the manufacturer recommends is a waste of money—especially at current prices. Premium grades cost about 20 cents to 40 cents more per gallon than regular unleaded. My personal advice is to use either a mid-grade or regular gasoline, but combine them with gasoline performance-improving additives (which you can purchase at any store) every other week. The potential savings are obvious.
3. Renting Books, Magazines, DVDs and More OK, I admit, I am guilty of this one (book are a personal vice). I buy a lot of books. In fact, the average American household spends about $200 per year on books, either traditional or E-books (U.S. Census Bureau). Many newly published books (along with movie rentals and much newer music) can be borrowed for free from any of the nation's 17,000 public libraries.
4. Alternative Transportation If you live close enough, try walking to work. You will not only get free exercise (something truly needed considering the collective American waistline), but also save a tremendous amount of money. According to data, the average America worker commutes by car to the tune of about $4,000 per year (gasoline, repairs, wear, etc.). Imagine having that extra money in an interest-bearing account…
5. Skip the Convenience Store This is a big one. Avoid convenience stores if you can. Many of the products purchased at local convenience stores and gas stations are routinely more expensive compared to the same item purchased at a local supermarket. In fact, if you were to make a shopping list of the same items, and purchased the same items at a supermarket and a convenience store, the spending difference could be as high as 45% cheaper for the same exact items!
6. Save your change I honestly don’t know where I got this habit, but for quite a long time, I avoid spending pocket change unless I absolutely have to. Instead, I stash my change—sometimes even single dollar bills—in a plastic jug in my bedroom. Not only does this help reinforce the habit of saving in general, but it comes in handy for those trips to the Laudromat, through the toll booth, to keep feed parking meters, and the various other situations requiring change-at-the-ready.
7. Break a Truly Bad Habit On occasion, I have mentioned the monetary benefits of maintaining good health (such as healthy food purchases and their long-term benefits in saving potential medical costs). But don't overlook the financial benefits of quitting a bad (and costly) habit. Buying a single pack of cigarettes per day will cost you on average about $2,000 a year; consider the amount over a multiple-year time-frame. Not only will quitting yield immediate monetary savings, but could quite reasonably save your life.
