This is a partnered post with Capitol One Bank. All opinions are my own.
Bryan can attest that I have a taste for the finer things in life. I am a person who can walk into the store and immediately spot the most expensive item as the one I like. Thankfully for him, I rarely act on these impulses. My kids learned at an early age to ask, “Do we have a coupon for this?” Most of us want to save money, but it can be hard to do because of financial constraints (like a child with two rare diseases!) and deep-rooted spending habits. It’s hard to find ways to save money for big purchases, especially when we have a child about to go away to college, but Nicole Lapin and Capitol One bank have teamed up to provide some tips to help.
1. Cut out one “luxury” item. If you have high-interest debt, cut out one luxury expense—like dining out weekly or a pricey monthly salon visit—and put use every available dime toward paying down your debt. I’ll be honest, we didn’t have a lot of luxury items to cut, other than dining out which I really like, but we did cut out cable and replace it with Netflix. We are saving almost $900 a year and the kids haven’t missed cable.
2. Work as a team. If you and your spouse are trying to save for a shared expense, such as the down payment on a house or a new car, try a friendly competition. See how much change you can save or try to match each other’s savings. You can easily track it all with 360 Savings from Capital One’s My Savings Goals tool.
3. Take advantage of tax refunds. Stop seeing your annual tax refund as free money. It’s not free money; it’s your money. It’s a great addition to savings or to use for one of those goal purchases!
4. Analyze your budget. When it comes to financial goals like saving for a college education, get into the nitty gritty – no detail or expense is too small when you’re trying to get a sense of your overall financial picture, especially when it comes to saving.
What is your best tip for saving money?
My oldest is in college now and we have learned that look for as much financial aid as possible. There are scholarships and such out there if you know were to look.
I also love to eat out, but it can cost so much. I found that I have a few favorites from a couple of different restaurants. I started to google copycat recipes for those favorites and omg it saves me so much money. In the fall, I used to spend a small fortune at Starbucks for Pumpkin Spice Lattes, now I make my own for a fraction of what I used to spend!
Some great saving tips for college which will be so helpful for my family as my younger brother is stepping in to college this year. I agree cutting out luxury expenses will play a major role in saving more & working as a team always helps any family.
I have a taste for the finer things too. Unfortunately, I don’t get to bite much lately, so money saving tips are always welcome. And college can be SO expensive.
These are great tips. I bet they are much needed since college is starting back within the next few weeks.
I haven’t had cable in years. I can’t even imagine how much money I am saving by not having it. I was paying around $100 a month for it.
Oh do I know about cutting cost and saving money. We did the dave rambsy fiancial money make over the greatest tips I have ever had was every dollar you spend has to have a name. We had categories such as rent, food, instead of bills it was divided into even more detailed like electric bill, storage unit, car insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, internet, gas in which we alloud only so much per month because gas trips are what can cause over draft sometime,then we went down to netflix, xbox live. We cut the cost of cable. That alone saves us over 50 a month. That 50 not going on cable go towards paying for cellphones. We have money set aside for clothes, shoes, toys, hygine ect… Then we have some blow money meaning we can spend with out thinking about it with that I’ll have coffee with a friend or join a jazzercize class like I have recently.
When we saved for our car we put in like 100 a month and used tax refund so the major purchases are saved until after income tax. Things like hair nails ect fall into blow money.
We were living with people for the first part of our marriage while my husband looked for work. Now we live in a two bedroom beautiful apartment. In a nice area. Inpulse buying is what straps us of our true happyness I think. That’s what the blow money is for and once it’s gone it’s gone. No credit cards none of that stuff will help get down that debt just following simple plan and sticking to it and updating it is key.
These are very helpful tips. My niece is off to college. I will share this with her.
These are great tips. I will have two kids in College this year. We have been trying to stick to home this summer instead of traveling like we usually do.
College is very important, so we do save as much as we can for it. You are right about working as a team
We do all of these things! Luckily, hubs & I are both done with college, whew!
This stresses me out big time. College is so expensive.
My husband went away to a university which cost so much more money instead of staying local and taking his credits needed at a community college. He could have saved so much money if he did that.
My stepson is off to college later this month and thankfully he is in bootcamp right now and the army is paying a big chunk of his tuition. I don’t know how kids these days do it.
Neither of my kids use cable. They just use Netflix when they need it. I think it saves them quite a bit! Budgeting is super important when in college.
Those are great tips. We are trying to start saving now while they are young.
Great tips! My only tips are never shop while hungry or feeling overly emotional. It’s the only way I save haha!
These are fantastic tips! I sure wish I had saved more for college, that’s for sure!
Being able to save money for college is a must these days. It’s sad that college isn’t just free for students in this country.
Our biggest way to save money is by simply staying home on the weekends and avoiding going to the grocery store without a list. You must have a list!