Ways to Save Some Real Money

Forget cutting out your daily coffee—here is how you can save some real money

A lot of people encourage others to save by telling them they should cut the simple pleasures out of their lives that brighten up their days. If you want to cut your daily delights like your cup of coffee or your latte, that is up to you. Cutting a $2 coffee each work day can save you a few hundred bucks each year if you make your own, but how would you like to keep your small pleasures and focus on saving thousands of dollars instead? If this appeals to you, read on.

Take Fewer Grocery Store Trips

Keep a grocery stash. By stockpiling groceries, you'll not only be able to purchase more items when they're on sale and save them for later (just stick meat and bread in the freezer), but you'll also be able to make use of Leamy's other big idea: Skip shopping trips. She says that many people can get by on the food they already have for a week, so why not skip shopping once a month or once a quarter? If you're used to shopping very week and spending $7,500 a year, then skipping the trip once a month could save you $1,800, or 24 percent of your annual grocery bill.

Elisabeth Leamy, author of Save Big: Cut Your Top 5 Costs and Save Thousands!, recommends skipping at least one trip to the grocery store per quarter. By creating meals out of the food already at home, she estimates a typical family that shops weekly and spends $7,500 a year can save $600 a year. If that family can skip one trip a month, the savings will come to $1,800 a year.

Stockpile Food 

If you have room in your pantry and an extra freezer in your basement, you can take advantage of sales and buy in bulk at the reduced price. Then, you can save the extra chicken—or bread or ice cream—for another day. Leamy estimates stockpiling can save almost $6,000 a year.

Use Online Coupons 

By using online coupons from a website such as www.CouponMom.com instead of relying exclusively on the circulars that arrive with your Sunday newspaper, Leamy says that you can save time—and money. She suggests searching www.CouponMom.com once you know what you want to buy (say, Nestlé chocolate chips) to identify sales before shopping. Leamy estimates the typical family of four can save almost $8,000 through creative couponing.

Price Match 

Wal-Mart, Target, and other big stores (and the occasional mom-and-pop one) often match the lowest prices of competitors. That means you don’t have to run around to multiple stores to get all the best deals. Leamy recommends bringing circulars on shopping trips just in case you need proof.

Buy Used Vehicles 

“Cars these days are really well built, so the risk is lower than it used to be,” explains Leamy. Since new cars depreciate significantly as soon as you drive them off the lot, buying used is a much better financial choice, she adds, and can save drivers tens of thousands of dollars.

Make a Deal 

Leamy says home buyers (and sellers) should negotiate with their real estate agent so the agent takes only a 2 percent commission, rather than the traditional 3 percent. For a $250,000 home, that will save $2,500.

Appeal Taxes 

When home values go down, the assessed property taxes are often higher than they should be. In fact, Leamy says that 60 percent of homes are overvalued for property tax purposes, but only 2 percent of homeowners bother appealing those assessments. A successful appeal can save thousands of dollars.