Frugal living expert Nicholas Garofola loves adding to his savings accounts. He has learned from experience, and on his YouTube channel he shares what it looks like to quit bad spending habits and start saving money quickly.
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As a minimalist, here are several of Garofola’s top tips for easy ways to save money and pay your bills.
Save for Things That Lower Expenses
The notion is simple: Save up to buy something once, so you do not have to keep paying for it in the future. This means you can also save on your future monthly expenses. The best way that Garofola can describe it is to save a lump sum of money to pay off a debt so that you can get rid of a monthly payment that might never go away otherwise.
Another method of applying this is by purchasing reusable items (like a refillable water bottle) as opposed to disposable things — like plastic bottles of water.
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Take Small Purchases out of the Routine
Garofola knows from personal experience that little purchases or impulse buys day after day can add up. Cutting those out of your routine when online shopping or at the grocery store can help you save money in the long run, particularly if they are “wants” as opposed to “needs.”
He recommends that everyone examine those small-but-frequent purchases in their lives and try to reduce the amount of spending on them, if not forgo them altogether.
Eat Meals Instead of Snacking
Preparing meals and cooking at home with the direct goal of making them delicious and nutritious has helped Garofola from constantly snacking and grazing, which was also costing him lots of money at the same time. He has noticed he is buying less when grocery shopping, is less hungry overall and saving money because he is not eating out of boredom.
Allocate Where Income Is Going
According to Garofola, this applies to any size of income. Garofola found that for him, once he set aside what he needed to pay his bills, he was more intentional about his spending rather than losing track of it.
“I evaluated what was left over and looked to see what could be taken from there to save, which was usually as much as possible,” he recalled. This could result in starting an emergency fund or finding a high-yield savings account with better interest rates to grow your wealth faster.
Prioritize Debts First
Do you have debt? Garofola suggested that making sure you pay those down and then off be your number one goal when it comes to saving. In his own life, Garofola noticed that once he got rid of his debt, his savings grew exponentially faster.
Share Subscriptions
While it might go against most terms and services, Garofola noted that from time to time, it can be beneficial to share subscriptions with friends or family members you trust. You all get the same benefits of the subscription without all of you each paying for your own, a seemingly innocuous expenditure that can add up.
Repair, Don’t Replace
If something is broken, fix it rather than throw it out and get a new one. Some things might require an expert, like a mechanic repairing your car, but other small DIY maintenance jobs for things around your home, office, or neighborhood can usually be made whole again for a fraction of the cost, according to Garofola.
Try Bartering or Trading
“If you are looking to buy something used or even know somebody who you might want to trade favors with, this is definitely worth trying out,” Garofola shared. Admittedly, it might not work on the cashier at the grocery store, but there are plenty of online platforms and sites where you can meet other people interested in this type of transaction.
Caitlyn Moorhead contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Easy Ways To Save Money, From Popular Minimalist Nicholas Garofola
