I will share some ways that helped us pay off $30,000 of debt in our first few years of our marriage. I still use these tips now to save money for our current road trips.
Let’s break down the numbers to save $1,000 in six months:
$1000.00 in six months
$167.67 a month
$38.50 a week
$5.50 a day
Sometimes seeing those numbers helps you to see how possible it can be and how these numbers translate into your life. Maybe you spend $40 a week going out to eat with friends. If you cut that out completely, you could save $1,000 in six months. Or if you only went out every other week, you can save $500 in six months.
1 – Keep a detailed budget spreadsheet
I have kept a spreadsheet that shows my income and expenses for three years into the future, for years. What’s important about having the budget three years in advance is that you can see if you’re going to go into the red a few months out. If you are paid 26 times each year, you’ll have two extra checks!
The three year out method also helps you see what times of the year will be harder than others. An example would be a teacher’s pay schedule, which is sometimes 10 months with a paycheck and 2 months (the summer) without a paycheck. But this approach has some disadvantages and doesn’t show the full picture.
Epic tip – put those two whole checks into your road trip savings account.
2 – One of the most important things in saving money is to be very aware of your spending.
To get an accurate picture of every penny we spend, we use mint.com. It’s a free service that connects to all of your credit cards, bank accounts, etc. You can set up budgets for all areas of your life and get notifications when you’re getting close to a budget.
When we first signed up, I was shocked to see how much we spent on gas. It was much more than I thought we spent. What I love about mint is that is shows a very real picture of how things are, not how you want them to be.
It has limitations too, for sure. I received an alert that I was over budget for home insurance because I paid the balance in a different month than I had told mint I would pay it. I know I have the money there, but mint wants to show me a big red mark in that budget.
This is why it’s been helpful to use several methods to track our money and budgets. One thing you can do is split receipts. So if I go to Target and buy groceries for us but also some notebooks for our Journey With The Gs business, and supplies for our real estate investing business, I can split it in mint.
Another downside about mint is that it starts tracking the day you sign up, so it can take a month or two for an accurate picture of your spending. So make sure to sign up for mint.com today.
Epic tip – set a goal in mint to save $1000 in six months.
3 – Decide how you will divvy extra money
Throughout the year, you’ll likely get some extra money. Whether it’s a tax refund, a gift, or a quarter you find on the street. Decide how you will split up that extra money. For example, Bret and I have a real estate investing business. For every paycheck we receive, we have a set percentage to different areas of our life.
30% goes back into the business.
32.5% goes into our emergency fund.
32.5% is saved for taxes.
5% goes into our travel fund.
Epic tip – put 100% of your extra money into your road trip fund.
4 – Coupons
There are a TON of ways you can save with coupons! I’m not a HUGE couponer, but I picked up a few things. First, Target (and other businesses) take coupons from their website AND manufacturer coupons. If you can wait for a sale, some of the prices are crazy good. They have deals where if you buy X of a product, you get a gift card. In this same vein, you can use apps to earn credits towards rebates, one that I’ve used is Ibotta.
Epic tip – only buy things that you have a coupon for.
5 – Change your diet
One of the things we had to sacrifice for a little while was cutting out organic foods. I will say, this was the first thing to change when we had more breathing room. You can add new recipes into the mix…there are tons of random combinations that are super cheap. (Start with a Hamburger helper meal, add canned chicken and a few bags of frozen veggies. I made one recently and I think it worked out to be about $1 per serving.)
Epic tip – only eat ramen. Ha ha, just kidding, don’t change your diet that much!
6 – Stop going out to eat
There are no excuses on this one. Just don’t do it. If this is something that’s important to you, add it into your budget but only do this AFTER you’ve saved for your trip. Take the food you made from a random combination above to work. Hungry on the drive home? Be hungry until you get home or pack snacks for the car so you’re not tempted.
Epic tip – invite your friends over instead of going out to eat.
7 – Use the library
You can get most books and movies from the library. Make use of the request feature. I’ve seen a lot of recent DVD releases through the library. I’ve probably saved about $30 over the last 6 months alone not renting from RedBox anymore. Sure, it’s only a buck and change….but that adds up. If there’s something you really want to see, put in your request as soon as you can. I currently have a calendar reminder to check on a few titles when they’re released.
Epic tip – use the digital apps for movies, media, and books at your library.
8 – Combine driving trips as much as possible
Don’t get the groceries when you feel like it. Don’t return the movie now. Think through your to-do list of drives….what can you do all together? What can wait? Drive with your spouse/etc whenever possible. This can be hard if you have to wait, but again, be looking at the long term. If you have to sit and wait for something (maybe you and your spouse are taking the car into the shop while running errands), take one of those books from the library! We love shopping at Aldi’s and Big Lots for the great prices.
Epic tip – downsize to one vehicle for your household. My husband and I have shared one vehicle since 2015. It is possible.
What about you?
I’d love to know what works for you! Have you tried any of these ways to save money? Do you have other ways that work better? Let us know in the comments below!
We have used RV Trip Wizard to plan every trip since we got on the road in November 2020. We love RV Life so much that we have partnered with them. If you’re looking for a planner for your RV trip, this is what we use!
