1. Invest a daily dollar amount
Like piggy banks from childhood, there is something to tucking money away where it’s not meant to be touched again, unless for a rainy day. Setting aside some cash on a daily (or weekly) basis can add up quickly, so you can have a generous spending budget for or during your vacation. Whether it’s five dollars, 10 or 20, whatever you can commit to will help with the financial heavy lifting.
2. Give your credit card a rest by spending in cash
Credit cards are our best frenemies; sure, they are a great financial lifeline, but they can quickly snowball into a source of trouble. If you’re committed to saving real money for a trip away, stick to spending what you physically have and tuck the credit card away for a nice little nap.
3. Skip the takeout for a while
Unfortunately, your parents were right — there is food at home, or at least, it’s cheaper to stick to cooking and eating at home. UberEats and Doordash are convenient for work nights but not for your pocketbook, especially when saving. Cutting out this all-too-familiar crutch will prove to reap major financial benefits and strides, and pretty immediately, too.
4. Limit your social spending
Look, we all love Taco Tuesday and getting cocktails after work on Friday, but the reality of the situation is that it’s definitely adding up monetarily. This is not a proposal to end social spending entirely; sometimes, a little drink at the end of a long week is an incredibly necessary evil; this is just a suggestion to let up on the amount of splurging during nights out — which is all too easy. So maybe limit the drinks to one, eat at home or maximize happy hours. You don’t have to end your social life to save a little, but you may want to consider how you spend in social settings.
5. Break down your current spending habits
We all fear opening our credit card apps and sitting with the consequences of our own incredibly liberal tapping of cards, but if you want to actually save some money, you need to be honest about the root of your spending blind spots. It’s probably not your daily Starbucks hurting you, *collective sigh of relief* but it most certainly can be your online shopping or all the active subscriptions you forgot to cancel. We’ve all been there and done that, and the quicker these pesky money-wasters are nipped in the cancellation bud, the quicker you’ll see your savings grow.
