Did you know that restaurants charge a 300 percent markup? This means that for a $30 entree in a restaurant, the actual cost of the food you are eating only costs $10 if you make it at home.
With that said, if you regularly spend $3000 a year ( that’s how much the average American spends in restaurants per year), you could save up to $2000 if you cook and eat the same food at home!
When we eat out, here are a few strategies we use to lower our bill:
1. Don’t order drinks.
A glass of iced tea or soft drink costs around $3 and that’s a savings of $12 for a family of 4 if you don’t order drinks. It might not seem much but it can easily add up if you dine out weekly. I do this not just for savings but also for health reasons.
Potential monthly savings: at least $30 per month/ $90 in 3 months
2. Eat out for brunch or lunch.
Dinner is generally more expensive than brunch or lunch. So, schedule eating out for brunch or lunch to save a few bucks.
3. Buy discount gift cards.
Using discount gift cards when eating out is one great way to save money! For example, if you frequent Applebees, buy a discount Applebee’s restaurant card online through sites like Swagbucks to save 20% or more!
4. Use Groupon
On nights you eat out, grab a coupon or deal from Groupon to save up to 50% off your meal!
Potential Savings in 3 Months: If you spend $3000 per year in restaurants, you could easily save $500 in 3 months by cooking and eating the same food at home!
A fun way to save money is by tracking it! Use this cute saving challenge printable to stay motivated while saving money!!
3. Meal Planning
Food is one of the top 3 expenses of U.S. households, accounting for 12.5% or just over $7000 in the average budget, of annual expenditures.
Fortunately, food is an expense you can easily cut back on if you meal plan. I was really surprised at the savings I’ve made since I started planning out our meals!
Here are a few reasons why you should consider meal planning:
- It can help you avoid buying extra ingredients you won’t eat and reduce food waste.
- It can help you create meals according to your budget.
- It can help you become more intentional about the food you eat. This means if you plan more healthy meals, you’ll eat healthy food.
Need someone create a meal plan for you?
If you don’t have time to create meal plans to follow every week, let Erin from the $5 Meal Plan help you!
For only $5 a month, Erin will email your weekly meal plan + shopping list, where every meal only costs $2 per person or $5 per family. You’ll also never worry about buying extra ingredients you won’t eat, hence reducing your food waste.
Potential savings in 3 months if you meal plan: $300 easy in 3 months.
4. Do It Yourself
Before you even hire help to fix something, YouTube it first or do a quick research online.
I even learned how to cut my own hair by just watching tutorials on YouTube and believe me it’s not really that difficult. It’s like anything in life–if you want to get better at it, practice more.
I am not saying you should give up all your little luxuries in life but if you have a tight budget and want to save some money, you can DIY certain things (and I don’t just mean cutting your own hair), achieve the same results and pocket the money instead.
Here are some other things you can DIY to save more money:
- Gifts
- Home maintenance
- Home cleaners such as detergent
- Home organizers or decorations
- Clothes (altering old clothes)
- Kitchen items
Savings goal from DIY projects: $50 per month/ $150 for 3 months.
5.Find FREE Money
This free money comes in the form of gift cards, bonuses, cash back, or cold cash. And I know that I keep mentioning cash back apps or websites on this blog but it’s because I use them and they pay me for doing things I normally do, such as shopping online or buying groceries.
Rakuten
Get paid for buying things you are going to buy anyway. Shop online using Rakuten to earn cash back and earn an extra $25 per every friend you refer to use it.
A bonus? Rakuten will give you $10 free for trying it. You’ll get this bonus after making your first $25 worth of purchases at any of Rakuten’s partner stores. Plus, you can earn up to 40% cash back on eligible purchases, too!
Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a search engine, cash back site and survey site in one. You can earn points (which you can redeem as cash) by using the app to shop online, answer surveys or watch videos. Receive a $10 bonus by signing up below.
Ibotta
Ibotta is, hands-down, my favorite free money source! Ibotta is a grocery rebate app that pays you for buying groceries at their partner stores.
Since joining Ibotta, I’ve received over $1000 in cash back and bonuses on things I regularly buy at the grocery stores such as toilet paper, toothpaste, bread, milk, yogurt, OTC medicines or even vegetables.
It’s FREE to join; you don’t have to connect a credit card to start using it, and it pays you for buying grocery items you need to buy anyway. You’ll alsoreceive a $10 welcome bonus for just trying it!
6. Make More Money
The ultimate solution to saving more money is, obviously, to increase your income.
Fortunately, there are so many ways you can make extra money today. For example, you can offer freelance services at Fiverr, become a petsitter at Rover, babysit at Sittercity.
Another quick way to make extra income is by delivering groceries for customers at Instacart or delivering food or packages for DoorDash. This side hustle idea pays $25 per hour.
7. Slash Your Cable and/or Internet
We cut the cord over 7 years ago and since then, we’ve been saving $800 per year!
There are a few cheaper alternatives to cable. There’s Hulu which costs only around $6 per month.
Then, there’s also Amazon Prime which not only gives you access to thousands of movies and TV series for only $99 a year; you also get free cloud storage with your account.
If you don’t want to cut your cable but still want to save money, use Trim. Trim will negotiate your Comcast bill and even your Internet and phone bill to help you save money. You can easily save 30% of your bill using Trim!
8. Sell What You Don’t Need
We all have too much stuff in our lives and we all have extra stuff lying around that we no longer use. Chances are, some people would be happy to pay for those things you don’t use anymore.
How about selling those things you have not touched in ages? Maybe you have a lot of shoes or clothes you no longer use and want to get rid of. You could make money selling them at sites like eBay or Craigslist.
Another popular site where you can sell your old electronics is Gazelle. Trade in your old LG Phone for cash at Gazelle and get an extra $5 Bonus on your first trade-in!
You can also sell used items such as books, DVDs, cell phones, Kindle devices, and more through the Amazon Trade-In program. However, Amazon pays only in Amazon gift card credit which is still fine if you shop at Amazon anyway and keep your cash in your pocket.
Amazon also gives you a free pre-paid USPS or UPS shipping label so all you need to do is send off the items you want to sell.
9. Open a New Bank Account
Opening a new savings or checking account is also another hack to get free cash and save more money.
Many banks are more than happy to give you a sign-up bonus when you open an online savings account or checking account with them. Here are a few examples you would enjoy by opening the following accounts.
HSBC Advance Checking Account – $350
Discover Online Savings – $150 or $200
Chase Bank Total Checking – $200
HSBC Premier Checking – $750
Bank of America – $100
Citibank – $200 – $600 depending on the type of account
Chase Savings – $150
There you have it–8 easy ways to save money in 3 months!
