10 Money Saving Tips for Creatives
Hello!
It is time to talk about one of my favorite topics in the world, angora bunnies. No! I’m kind of kidding. We’re here to talk about saving! Woot Woot woot!
These are some ideas for you to consider when it comes to saving money! You may know some them, some of these are obvious, but hopefully some of them will be new to you so that you can save a little bit of extra cash, invest it, and hopefully it can lead to more financial freedom in your life.
So let’s jump straight in:
Eat before you actually go out. This one is a little obvious but with this tips, you’d probably end up spending less when you go out with friends to eat. If you know that you’re going somewhere expensive to eat then maybe just cook a meal at home and just grab an appetizer or drink. So maybe just grab snack or drink instead, and hopefully you can save more money from not having to spend on entire meals.
Buy secondhand or refurbished. My computer right here was purchased second hand. I bought it form apple’s refurbished website where you can save a couple of hundred bucks purchasing refurbished items that works just as good as the new product. I’ve also purchased most of my camera gear second hand such as my Sony A7S II, lenses, Smallhd screen, and lights. I’ve been able to save a ton from just doing this. I’ve also bought my TV refurbished and what refurbished means is that a customer may have bought the product, they may have not liked it or there was technical problem, and the product was brought back to the company. A lot of times the company take the product, fix and repair the parts, and since they can’t sell it as brand new, they sell it as refurbished.
Meal prep. A lot of people when they come home from work, they just feel super tired and don’t feel like cooking an entire meal. I mean don’t get me wrong I enjoy cooking but I don’t always feel like starting the whole cooking process when I feel tired. This is where meal prepping comes in handy. So when you go to the grocery store, just buy a couple of extra ingredients that you can use to cook a couple of extra meals for your week. My fiancé and I love doing this because then we can plan our weeks better by knowing what nights we’re going to eat at my house and when we’re going to eat out. With this you don’t only save money but time too. Meal prepping also holds you back from having to use services like Uber Eats or Postmates because when you’re super tired you start to thinking of the easiest way to get food, but if you choose to meal prep, you can avoid eating junk somewhere else and save that cash money.
Wait before buying. When you’re about to make an impulse purchase, stop yourself, and ask do you really really need this. Does this add any value to your life? And this is especially for expensive items! What I recommend is making yourself wait AT LEAST 24-48 hours before making that decision. I’d say that 9 out of 10 times I just forget about the purchase after two days. Also you don’t have to apply this to every single purchase, maybe make it to where if you’re purchasing something that’s over $100 then take the day or two. I hope that this encourages you to get out of the impulse mindset and into a more controlled and relaxed mindset where you really think DO I REALLY NEED THIS? Are there other things that you could put the money towards such as investing, saving up for a trip, or giving it away to someone in need.
Drive less. All I’m talking about is to try not to use your car as much. Are you having to spend a ton of cash on gas every single week? Is there public transportation available in your city? Do you have a bike you could use instead? With having a car, you don’t only have pay for your gas, but you also have to pay for your oil changes, tire changes, and many other unexpected repairs that come up over the years.
Buy in bulk. When you buy things in bulk, the cost per unit goes down. If there are things that you tend to spend a lot of money on such as rice, beans, toilet paper, paper towels, and toothpaste then it’s best to buy them in bulk this way your cost per item goes way down.
Declutter your stuff. Marie Kondo your life baby! Dig around your room, garage, and attic and start to get rid of stuff that you haven’t used in the past year or two. A lot of times your just holding onto items that are getting devalued as time goes, so it’s best to just sell it and save the money. Make that money work for you. There’s a ton of websites where you can just sell your stuff and also local stores like Buffalo exchange or other vintage stores that would take your clothes and give you cash in return.
Bargain. Duh Mika that’s obvious. But I hope that this is a good reminder for you. Try not to pay the full price for anything unless it’s your only option. Now a days you can look the price of anything up online. Make sure to do your research and know what price the item goes for. If you’re buying something on Facebook marketplace or craigslist, just throw a lower price and see how the seller responds. A lot of times if the seller’s trying to get rid of that item quickly, the may be prone to sell it for that price.
Renegotiate your bills. Now this isn’t something that you can do with every single bill but I’ve been able to do this my internet bill. Right now you can pick up the phone and call your service provider and try to renegotiate your bill. Recently my internet price sky rocketed and went up by like $40 a month so I called the company and was like, “Hey! Yes, I wanna cancel my bill because the price is too high” and after a couple of minutes of negotiating my bill cost less than what I was originally paying for AND had faster internet speed.
Educate yourself through reading books, blogs, and watching videos of what’s worked for other people and how you could apply those methods to your life. Obviously there are thousands of ways that you could be saving money at this moment but most of the ways that I’ve discovered have been through just researching and also asking my friends what’s worked for them.
Thanks for reading! I also want to hear your thoughts! Do you have some money saving tips?