Really Lazy Things I’ve Done to Save $8,000

Over the course of about two years

I remember a time in my 20s when I didn’t have a savings plan. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out I needed to save money outside of just contributing to my 401k, but it did take me quite a few years.

Since then, I’ve expanded my savings and investment strategies to align with being a grown-up (whatever that means!). But I was surprised when I realized I saved almost $8,000 in the last two years by employing these simple passive saving strategies — which I do “on the side” from my regular savings.

Is anything on this list groundbreaking? No, not really. But it all works.

#1: Set up a recurring transfer to your savings account.

Set this up today if you’re not already doing this. Even if the amount is SUPER SMALL, this is money that you’re not tempted to spend because it’s not in your checking account. I promise you won’t miss it, and it’s encouraging to see your emergency fund or rainy day fund grow.

I transfer $100 on the first of every month to my savings account. In the past two years, this has totaled $2,400.

#2: Use a micro-investing app

A micro-investing app allows you to automatically invest small amounts of money (even a few dollars) into a portfolio of stocks that are chosen for you — no special knowledge of investing or the stock market required.

I use Acorns, but there are several similar apps out there. The Acorns app takes each purchase in your linked account, rounds up the total, and invests it.

For example, if you’re a millennial buying avocado toast and squandering your future away, the round-up app takes your $9.34 check and rounds the total up to $10.00, putting that $0.66 aside to your micro-investing account.

Nay-sayers dislike that Acorns charges a $1.00 monthly fee for accounts under $5,000 (some think is too high for the service provided) and that there are limited choices for what portfolios you’re able to invest in. These things don’t bother me since I don’t invest too much money in this and it’s produced a small profit in addition to the money that I didn’t spend in the first place.

On top of the roundups, I also kick in an extra $25 every month. In the last two years, I’ve saved $2,115.85.

#3: Hide your raise from yourself

If you work a 9-to-5 job, likely you receive a small raise every year (unless you got a promotion, in which case: congrats!). Crunch the numbers and find out what your extra take-home pay would be, and then auto-transfer it out of your checking account.

If you’re able to continue to support yourself and living situation with a similar budget as the previous year, hide your raise from yourself and save or invest it instead.

I saved about $3,000 doing this in the past two years.

#4: Save your change and small bills. Yes, really.

When I was a little kid, I loved rolling spare change into those paper rolls, but I’ve upgraded to a Sharper Image digital money counting jar as an adult (which, if you look on the internet, is definitely marketed to children).

Are you going to get rich doing this? Not at all.

Part of my routine is to do a weekly check-in on Sundays. During this time, I chuck $1 and $5 bills from my purse into a box in my closet, and my spare change into my children’s money counting jar. My bank no longer counts change, so I use one of those coin-counting machines at the grocery store (which charges an almost 10% fee) when I’m ready to cash in.

I’ve taken home just over $250 in two years doing this.

Some final thoughts

A penny saved is a penny earned… and it can really add up after a while.

Money is obviously a very personal subject, and whatever you choose to do with the money you save is up to you (invest it, save it, buy a house — all the things grown-ups do).

With my spare change that I saved last year, I bought an expensive and totally unnecessary mini-printer to print photos from my phone, and I love it.