8 Ways That I Can Save Money On A Limited Budget

by Caro‘s Lines

On Friday, I listed the 10 ways that I have found that I cannot save money and most of them are the ways that are recommended to save.  So how have I managed to save money while being on such a limited income?

The first and most important step is that saving money has become a priority.  Circumstances over the last year have decimated my retirement fund and all of my scant savings. Anything outside of my meager budget became an emergency even something as small as an extra tank of gas. In November, facing a dismal holiday season, I took a long hard look at my financial situation, started Oh My Aching Debts and began the road to financial recovery.

It has taken me six months to find ways that I can actually save money on my somewhat meager income of $12,000 a year.  I have learned to be creative, frugal and to develop some additional sources of income.  But again, and I can’t stress this enough, saving has become my number one priority and once it became a priority the rest just fell into place.

Here are the ways that I have found that I can save money:

I have made saving money a reward. It used to be that putting money into savings was more of a punishment than a reward.  Changing my priorities has meant that every dollar I put in savings is a reward and makes me feel good about myself.
Develop an additional income stream and designate that money solely to savings.  I have tried several different things from selling things on eBay to doing notary loan signings to hobby income.  The money from each of these activities went directly into savings.

Save my change every day.  I started dropping my change everyday into a jar.  It is a small amount, usually less than a dollar a day but it adds up over the course of a month and over the past few months I have been able to save almost $200 this way.

I snowflake money into savings.  No matter how hard I try, I end up buying soda and snacks.  It’s a habit I have tried to break but I guess it’s a luxury that I will end up never giving up entirely.  If I manage to go one or two days without purchasing any, I reward myself by dropping that money into my change jar. If I really, really, really want something frivolous and don’t buy it, I drop that money into savings as a reward.

I have found ways to save a dollar at a time.  Every day I put one dollar into savings for each dog that I groom.  Some days this is two dollars and some days it is five.  The trick is not to wait until the amount gets bigger than five dollars so I do it daily instead of weekly.  You and I both know that it works out the same but it is so much easier to drop one, two or three dollars into that jar than it is a twenty dollar bill at the end of the week.

I make a game of it.  I make a challenge to myself every week to see how much money I can squeak out of my budget to drop into savings.  Things like an extra trip to the grocery store can cost me as much as $20 in fuel so finding ways to eliminate trips or having a friend pick things up for me when they are in the city can save me money.  This goes back to snowflaking but it has the added allure of being fun.

I make things myself with what I have on hand.  There are a ton of forms that I use in my business.  Post cards, invoices, receipts, grooming records, appointment books, etc.  I have found that when I already have the supplies on hand, I can save money by making these myself and printing them out.  The savings will level out when I have to buy card stock but for the moment, I have it on hand.  At home, I make notepads out of scratch paper and find new uses for things I would have thrown away.  When I know I am saving a dollar or two, I drop that money into savings.

I don’t count my money.  I know this seems strange but when I drop a dollar into the jar, it ceases to exist.  I don’t think about it or about how much money is in that jar until I am ready to deposit it into the savings account.  That has a totally separate existence from my budget.  The amount that I put into it isn’t in my budget and the amount that is there is not included in any of the calculations for the coming month.  I never, ever allow myself to think that I can pay for this or buy that by using the money in that jar or account.

Those are the ways that I have managed to save more money on my limited income.  None of them by themselves adds up to a hill of beans but when I add them all together at the end of the month, I am always surprised at the amount that has accumulated.  I really don’t miss the money out of my budget and that is  the beauty of snowflaking whether it is to pay off debts or increase savings.  The tiny little amounts aren’t painful but they add up quickly.

What are some of the ways that you have found to put money into savings?  Do you have a regular amount that you save each month?  Do you have a savings goal monthly, annually or just a total amount?

Related posts:

1. 10 Ways That I Can’t Save Money by Nieve44/La Luz Several people on Twitter were talking about...
2. Saving Money in Small Ways Not having a lot of money to save makes trying...
3. Frugal Upstate: 25 Things I Do To Save Money Frugal Upstate: 25 Things I Do To Save Money Dawn...
4. Seven Ways Cooking Ahead Saves Time and Money Whether you cook a week in advance or a month...
5. Daily Snowflake of Savings – Save 10% on Gas I am heading off to the big city tonight for...

Tags: emergency fund, savings