These 5 budgeting hacks save me more than $1,500 per month

I promise it’s not as hard as it sounds. Here’s how I did it.

I have always been the type of person to buy what I want when I want. Some may call me an impulse buyer, but I would just call it enjoying life.

I was never big on saving my money, didn’t have a budget to track my monthly spending, and not once did I consider my financial future. I was living in the moment and spending all of my money as if I were going to die tomorrow.

Then I went broke. I moved across the country and had $2,000 to my name. No house, no job, an old car that needed constant repairs, and a car full of “stuff” I didn’t actually care about.

This was my wake-up call. None of my possessions made me happier and the constant financial stress was driving me insane. I would open Instagram and see all of the millionaires out there and wondered if and when I could ever be one of them.

I started 2019 wanting to change. I watched YouTube videos, listened to financial podcasts, started following Dave Ramsey like a mad man, and soaked in every piece of advice I could. The result? I’ve been able to grow a savings account that’s almost as much as my yearly salary, all while paying off debt along the way.

Here’s how I did it.

1. Come up with a game plan

One of the biggest mistakes I found myself making was that I had no plan of attack. I didn’t have a roadmap for how I was going to get out of debt. I was living day by day and constantly found myself back in the habit of spending more money than I was making.

I finally realized that if I wanted to change what clearly wasn’t working, I needed to do something I hadn’t done — I needed to come up with a plan. I committed to putting half of my paycheck (after expenses) into a savings account. I was still able to have fun with the other half, but the first half would always go into savings.

There were times where I would have to adjust a bit. If I didn’t spend as much, I would contribute more to my savings. If an emergency came up that required a little more out of my savings, that was fine as well.

The point wasn’t to be so strict with myself that I couldn’t go between the two accounts if need be. Instead, it was more of a reminder for me of what my goals were. Once I saw the amount in the savings account start to grow, it motivated me to try that much harder.

The best thing you can do is come up with a game plan. Give yourself an allowance, know how much money you are wanting to put into your savings, and come up with a plan for how you are going to start saving more money.

2. Stop making dumb purchases

I was a bit of an impulse buyer. I would go to the store and buy anything I laid my eyes on. I honestly can’t begin to tell you how many unopened boxes I had just sitting in a corner. All I was doing was wasting my hard-earned money on things I truly didn’t care about or even knew I had.

Once I realized how much money I was actually wasting, it was easy to stop making dumb purchases.

Here’s what I did to eliminate my impulse purchases. If I walked through a store and wanted something, I would write down what the item was and how much it was going to cost me in the notes app on my phone. I would let it sit for a day or two and would then revisit whether or not I wanted it. If I actually wanted it, I would go back to the store and buy it. In most cases, I didn’t actually want the item and would just save my money.

3. Ditch the cards and carry cash

For me, credit cards make it incredibly easy to spend money. It was easy for me to buy more than I wanted or needed because I would just tap my card on the keypad and didn’t have to see my money disappear.

To help, I started carrying cash instead of credit cards. I took all of my credit cards out of my wallet and locked them in my dresser. I would go to the ATM once a week, would withdraw $200, and I would make that $200 last. It was a lot easier to stop spending money on things I didn’t need because I was actually seeing my money leave my wallet.

This doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy life or don’t use credit cards now. In some cases, credit cards can be nice in the sense that you can earn rewards from your spending. But when you are just starting out and looking to get your spending habits under control, leave the cards at home and start carrying cash. It’s a lot harder to spend money if you are seeing it leave your pocket.

4. Live below your means

For two years I had a 2 bedroom apartment that cost me $1,500 per month. That didn’t include electricity or internet — that was just rent. I wasn’t living with anybody either, so I was paying for all of it.

Once my lease expired, I decided to move in with a friend. Together, we pay what I was paying in a month when I was living on my own. I also have somebody to split the internet and electricity with, so altogether, I’m saving $800 per month just by having a roommate.

There are definitely times where I miss having my own space, but I didn’t need a 2 bedroom apartment for just me. While I was able to afford it, it wasn’t necessary. Plus, I tend to be a people person. I love going out and spending time with friends. Now I get to do that whenever I want.

5. Learn to say no

This is the part that might not be the most fun, but it helped me save a lot of money.

There were times where friends would ask me to go out and I would always say yes. Whether it was to dinner, the movies, or on spontaneous trips. Either way, I was always leaving whatever we were doing with an added expense, an expense that was not helping me achieve my financial goals.

I started cutting back on some of the things I was attending. This doesn’t mean I completely said no and never did anything fun, but I started cutting back ever so slightly. Even this small change helped me to save a lot of money.

If nothing else is working, there may be times where you will need to say no. If saving money truly is an important goal for you, you will have to change your current way of living and that might mean sacrificing some things.

For example, if your friends want to go out to dinner and a movie three times per week, maybe learn to say no once and go two times per week instead. You aren’t sacrificing much, but you are likely going to save a good chunk of money just by staying in one extra night. Over time, that can add up. Would you stay in one extra night to achieve your financial goals?

On a more serious note, maybe your partner wants to take a vacation every month. Instead of saying yes to this and spending a minimum of what is likely going to be $500, maybe commit to a vacation once every two or three months. That’s still a lot of vacations, but that’s not the point.

You don’t have to completely lock yourself away and sacrifice the quality of your life. Start small and say no to a few things that you don’t actually enjoy doing in the first place. Don’t feel obligated to do something just because others want you to. It’s your money and you worked hard for it. Do what’s going to benefit you the most and learn to say no.

As always, I am not a financial expert. I am just sharing things that have worked for me. It’s your money and you have to do what’s going to be best for you, but I hope you learned something and consider applying one or more of these tips. They helped me get my finances under control and I know they can do the same for you as well.