Everyone (regular folks) looks for realistic ways to save money. Whatever the reason, whether to afford necessities, prepare for the future, or make large purchases, the goal is almost always to improve one’s lifestyle. We’ve all heard the sordid cliche advice that Millennials should buy fewer lattes, cut out subscriptions and cook at home instead of eating out. All those things suggest overspending in the first place and, in my opinion, are more about removing too many simple joys than lifestyle choices that encourage saving.
We want to save money, not dull our lives so much that we no longer want them, and make them mere survival existences. That said, let’s talk about lifestyle choices we can make that will encourage better-saving practices without sucking away our souls.
8 Lifestyle Choices to Save Money
1. Track Your Money
Tracking your money and making and actively maintaining a budget will be your friend. I advocate for observing your spending for at least three months before making a budget. Doing so allows you to see where your money is actually going versus where you think it is. It can be quite an illuminating experience to see your habits on paper. When you observe your spending before attempting to reign it in our reallocate, you’re in a better position to make realistic cuts, not just ones you think you should be able to cut. Remember, realism is your friend when managing and looking to save money.
2. Single Income Living
Years ago, when I got pregnant, and my husband and I decided I would be a stay-at-home mom, living on a single income was a necessity. Now that we are a steady, two-income household, we have more or less a similar lifestyle. Living on one income depends on many factors, and the rapidly escalating cost of living everywhere will have something to say about this. Still, if you have a two-income household and can live on one (or even one and a half of said two incomes) while saving or investing the other, you will make twice as much headway in your family finances as you would if you took on expenses that deplete both incomes each month.
I’m not suggesting living so low below your means that you are miserable. You are meant to enjoy life now. The future is not promised, but it is coming, and we should prepare for its arrival.
3. One Car, Not Two or Three
Everyone in your household with a license does not (always) need a car. If your situation demands it, that’s understandable. However, we have been taught that two-parent households need two vehicles, primarily when schedules differ. You do not. We have never had two cars in my home, and I firmly believe we are all the better for it. Twice, I recall, we almost got a second car to make our lives and routines easier, and both times, we decided not to.
The first time, we decided not to, as we were trying to avoid two car payments. The second time, we paid off the car and did not relish returning to a car payment. So, we made do. More often than not, we made it work when my husband worked brutal hours, and I was a stay-at-home mom; we make it work now because my husband works remotely and I work hybrid. Ultimately, managing our lives to accommodate the realities of a single car was easy enough to do without creating an additional expense or liability.
I know the single-car setup will not work for everyone at every stage. I just found that when we looked at the bigger picture, we could make it work more times than we couldn’t, and that was our cue that a second car payment, maintenance, and gas bill were just not worth it. Besides, we are almost always together, and I love being a passenger princess, so it is another bonus for me.
P.S. My husband enjoys driving me around. Most of the time. Ha!
4. Take Public Transit to Save Money
Additionally, if you live in a big city with varied, reliable means of transport, you may not need a car at all. For example, someone in Toronto or anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area can save money by relying on the excellent public transport system. A car may not be necessary to travel between the Go-Train, the TTC, and buses.
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5. Avoid Fast Fashion
For as long as you live, you will need clothes. But how many new clothes do you really need? And if the answer is a lot, do you wonder why that is? Fast fashion may be cheap and give you trendy looks, but they die out quickly in the grand scheme. I much prefer dropping $60 on a good pair of Levi’s or shoes I will get five to ten years of wear from rather than buy something more fashionable and worry about how obvious it is that I’ve worn my own clothes x number of times, or have a piece of clothing fall apart after a few turns in the wash.
Besides, the environment will thank us. I’ll admit that shopping for clothes is not where I find my joy as a woman. But I am in my grown-woman era, and as I try to find my style,
6. Avoid Credit Card Debt
It’s a trap! Those offers for more credit from financial institutions? Traps! They want to make more money and think you have it. Hence, credit cards. Debt. Please don’t fall for it. My mindset is that if I can’t afford it from my bank account balance now, I can’t afford it on my credit card either, with no exceptions. Unless it is an emergent situation, that should be your mindset, too. Credit cards are not ‘free money’. They carry nasty interest rates and are ‘free’ to use for three weeks minimum and six weeks maximum. After that, your pocket will be under seizure. Getting out of the minimum balance trap will be hard once you fall into that trap.
7. Awareness of Consumerism
In this climate, we are constantly being sold to everywhere we go and in everything we do. I can see how we feel; we always need something else or something new to make us happy. Influencers are everywhere: on Amazon, TikTok Shop, buying directly from Instagram. If we are cognizant, though, we can do better. We don’t need to buy, buy, buy. It is all marketed intentionally to make little knick-knacks and gadgets attractive.
I went and watched the Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy documentary on Netflix, and honestly, it pissed me off. There’s something sobering about realizing that your human psychology is being used against you, to your financial detriment, while large corporations perpetually report increases of staggering billion-dollar profits.
So now, I leave things in my cart for at least two weeks, sometimes months. You know what I found? After a while, I deleted them because my interest waned with time. That time is what we need, what is being eliminated intentionally. Funny, it’s also the time scammers try to eliminate when they send urgent phishing messages. I wonder why.
Conclusion
Anyway, these are my two cents on lifestyle practices that keep me in check without de-colouring my life. Let me know if you see one or two that you practice in your home or plan to take away to try.
Comment on some lifestyle choices you consciously make to save money.
Xo, Shandean.
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