Kinney Chaos

Experience the Ordinary

You are here: Home / Archives for money savings tips

money savings tips

15 Tips on How to Save Money

By 3 Comments

If you are like most of us at some point, you have wondered how to save money. Maybe you are getting into Travel Hacking or want to find a way to get fly for cheap. So you start asking yourself a bunch of questions: What’s the fastest way to save money? And my favorite how to get a bunch of money quickly? Sometimes it’s your bad money habits causing the issue. Read below to find a few tips on how to save money.

Budget Tips

If you are looking for the best tips on creating a budget and paying off debt, I would recommend you hook up with Dave Ramsey. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite tips.

  1. Track your expenses. This seems easy but you may find it’s harder to do than you would think. There are lots of ways to do this, from checkbook registers to apps, to excel spreadsheets. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just find a way to do it and track your expenses regularly. *** Read about The 5 Best Budget App (s) to Make Your Life Easier
  2. Create an Emergency Fund. At some point, you will have an unexpected expense. Prepare for it, don’t be blindsided by it.
  3. Calculate purchases by hours. Is it worth spending 19 hours worth of work on that purchase or is that money best allocated somewhere else?
  4. Use the 24-hour rule. Think over every single nonessential purchase for at least 24 hours before you buy it. This time frame allows you to evaluate if you need another pair of shoes or a purse or that ice cream treat. Waiting 24-hours is super easy to do online, add things to your cart and just leave it. Plus you never know if you will get a coupon just because you left something in your cart.
  5. Pay off credit cards every month. Stop giving the banks your hard earned money in interest.

Saving for your future

  1. Take advantage of retirement matching. Don’t let your employer keep the money they will give you for free. If your company matches money you set aside for retirement, make sure you are taking full advantage.
  2. Tax Returns or Windfalls. We’ve all probably received an unexpected cash payment at some point. It could be an extra $20 or way more. Either way don’t rush out to spend it. Put all or some of it away into your savings account, so you have it when you need it.

Bad Habits

  1. There is no competition. Do not self-impose a lifestyle competition for yourself and try to keep up with your siblings, neighbors, etc. You don’t know their life situation; they don’t know yours. Trying to compete isn’t fulfilling. No one wins this imaginary competition when trying to figure out how to save money.
  2. Emotional Spending: Don’t do it. Stay away from the store and online websites when you are feeling incredibly emotional. It doesn’t matter if you are super happy or super sad any extreme can lead to unnecessary spending.
  3. Having Super hard to imagine goals doesn’t help you at all. If your goal is to pay off $100,000 that’s ok, but it might be too hard to believe, and you may not see any progress if your progress is slow. Instead start with easy to reach and measure goals. Grab our FREE ebook to help you set realistic goals!

Random How to Save Money Tips

  1. Store that loose change. Don’t be tempted to grab it and go make that candy bar purchase. Put it into a container at the end of each day and don’t touch it again until you can take it in and deposit all that beautiful loose change into your savings account.
  2. Unsubscribe from those oh so easy to temp us emails. You know the marketing emails meant to attract you to your favorite stores, treats, offers to good to refuse… Yeah, those… unsubscribe so you aren’t tempted.
  3. Designate one day a week to be “No Spend.” One way to help you figure out how to save money is to make a day where you do not spend any consciously. This requires you to eat at home, pack a lunch, play games for entertainment, etc.
  4. Drink more water. Seems easy – for me it isn’t. I like my coffee. But drinking more water is cheaper, and healthier for you too!
  5. Save 5% on all Target purchases: If you have to purchase something, maximize your savings any way you can.

Leave us a comment with your best money savings tip! And if you haven’t already, grab our FREE ebook to help you set realistic money savings goals!

Five Percent Off All Target Purchases

By 1 Comment

If our family isn’t getting stuff from Amazon, Cheyenne and I are picking up stuff from Target.  About two years ago I looked into the Target Red Card option on recommendations from some of the travel hacking websites. Doing this would give us five percent off all target purchases. Since we are shopping there anyway this seemed like a smart idea.

2 Card Options for getting Five Percent Off all Target Purchases

You can either go for the standard credit card, or the option I prefer of a debit card.  The debit card option connects to your checking account.  They give you a card, that can only be used at Target and all purchases are five percent off.  Several days after the purchase, Target does an electronic bank transfer from your checking account to cover your purchase.  You do not need to maintain a secondary account.  You do not need to worry about making a monthly payment.  It is just like using your debit card.

Gift Cards

One of the nice things with this Target Red Debit Card and earning five percent off all target purchases is that you can use it on gift cards too.  When we first started looking at taking Cheyenne to Disney, this was the easiest way to save money on park tickets and the Disney Resort.  You are able to purchase Disney Gift Cards and get five percent off the cost.  That means you spend $95.00 for a $100.00 gift card.
It isn’t just Disney gift cards.  Over the years we have picked up Subway, Starbucks, Ebay and iTunes gift cards. This is just another way we have earned five percent off all target purchases.  Even with my Vegas vacations I have purchased cards for Denny’s (late night diner meals on the Strip) and Southwest Airlines to pay the taxes on the flights.  They sell Delta cards as airline options and I have picked up some of the Southwest cards for friends just to get them five percent off their flights to help drop their costs on their trips.

Other Money Saving Tips at Target

Even if you aren’t saving five percent off all target purchases make sure you are taking advantage of other perks. Any time you can save money on items from toilet paper to Red Vines licorice, its a win and will add up over time. Another perk to take advantage of is the Target app.  If you scan the items as you put them in your cart, it will search if Target has a coupon or deal for the item.  We have saved over $300 each year for the last two years just using this app.
Sometimes it isn’t just about traveling, but how to save money to allow you to splurge when you are on those trips.  This debit card option is a no-brainer for anyone that shops at Target.
If you shop on Amazon check out our article on ways to save money on those purchases too! If you have other ideas on Money Saving tips leave a comment or contact us!
Help us share how to save money by sharing this post with your friends or on Pinterest!
Want to learn how to save 5% on all Target purchases? Read our article and then share with others! #target #moneysavings #travelhacking #moneytips #savingonadime #helpsaving