…How to save money.

One of the things I can’t thank my parents enough for is teaching me how to be responsible with money. I’ve never been a reckless spender and it took me a long time to get a credit card, I wanted to make sure I would be able to use it responsibly.

One thing I do wish I started doing sooner was saving money. I had a summer job the year I turned 15 up until I graduated college, so I’ve always had a good work ethic. The problem was, I didn’t think about what to do with my money. During college, whatever I made during the summer had to last me all year. I never thought about what would happen if I had an emergency. One year, I had $20 to my name when I went home for the summer. I was going to start making money the next day, but that was the day that really made me think — what if something happened on my drive down home and I needed money?

The year I graduated college my parents gave me some graduation money with the intent of having me open a savings account. After that, I got a job serving at a restaurant where I was able to make a decent amount and I was paying very little in rent. As I watched my savings account grow, I liked knowing that I had money in savings that could help me in emergencies. My savings account was completely off limits unless it was an emergency. In the four years I have had my account, I have only touched it twice. Once to get my car fixed, which cost $3,000 (I know, I know, I was extremely ripped off, but that’s another story…), and the other time was to put a down payment on my braces (not a necessity but I figured I could dip into my savings for something like this).

I have always been known in my friend group and my family to be the best with money. My boyfriend tells me all the time that he has never met anyone that was better with money. So what’s my secret? Be realistic. One of my friends asked me a few years ago how she could save money. She couldn’t understand how she was making significantly more than I was but was only saving a few hundred a month, tops. And she had a lot of credit card debt.

Here’s what I told her, and my first tip: One month, preferably a non-holiday month or a month where you know you spend a lot more, write down every single expense. Rent, bills, groceries, everything. That pack of gum, happy hour with friends, literally, every dollar or time you use your credit card, write it down. From there, see how much you spend a month and how much you make.

It’s that simple. It will open your eyes on what you spend on the most. Sure, a $15 restaurant bill doesn’t seem like that much, but if you’re doing it a lot, it could cost hundreds of dollars a month. See where you could cut back.

My next tip: Plan ahead. If you know you need lunch for work, make a meal plan for the week and go to the store. Sure, it takes more time but it ends up saving possibly hundreds of dollars a month and that’s only lunch. Add a $5 cup of coffee 3 times a week, that’s $60 a month. Buy a coffee maker and save money.

One thing I notice is most people spend money on things that are not necessities, like clothes. Do you really need to spend $100 on clothes a month? I don’t think so. Here’s one of my biggest tips: Clothes always go on sale, at some point. I honestly never buy clothes at full price because I know it will go on sale at some point. Sure, it’s annoying not being able to buy something, but it has saved me thousands of dollars throughout the years. Seriously, thousands.

My friends sometimes think I’m annoying for doing stuff like that, but hey, it works. Another thing I love to do is when I go out to eat I’ll pick whatever will get me leftovers for the next day. If I’m paying a few extra dollars for my meal but getting two out of it, I think it’s worth it.

And sometimes I think about how I would rather get a new pair of jeans instead of an expensive meal. Don’t get me wrong, I splurge every once in a while (in reality, my definition of splurging is probably different than everyone else’s). It is nice knowing I can do that and I won’t be hurting for money.

A few tricks I have used to save even more money is to start my own savings tricks. For a few years I did a saving trick that at the end of the year, saved me more than $1,300 and I barely noticed. You do this for a full year, starting whenever you want. The first week of the year you set aside one dollar. The next week, you put aside two, then three, etc. I know it sounds a little ridiculous that by week 52 you will have to find an extra $52, but if you break it up it’s only about $7.50 a day, which isn’t too bad. And it’s bananas to think that you will have more than $1,300 with such a small trick.

I think what helps me save is that I like knowing I have emergency money in case something happens where I need money or if I lose my job. I think that alone should be the push you need. Especially if you have a family to take care of.

My point of this article is to show that if someone like me, who was making minimum wage working at a restaurant, could save money, anyone can. It just takes will power sometimes to not overspend.