How To Save Money Fast On A Low Income Budget In 2024

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the average household spends more than $3,000 on food alone away from home. Although food is a basic necessity, if you want to save money on a low income you have to reduce the money you spend on food. Personally, this can be one of the most difficult things to do – food is very tempting, so many occasions I ended up overspending on food. 

If you’re a foodie like me, it would be very challenging to spend less on food. But this is how I have been able to reduce my spending on food recently. I always make sure I have what I’ll eat already in mind and because  I’ve had this particular food in mind for a long time, it becomes difficult for me to spend on other foods once I get what I wanted.

Here are other ways I believe might help you spend less on food:

• Write the things you need before visiting the grocery or supermarket.
• Prepare food in bulk to help you avoid the temptation of visiting a restaurant, supermarket, or grocery store after work.
• Avoid going out by ordering a $5 meal which would be delivered to you within a few minutes. 

5. Spend Less On Transportation

Car payment, car insurance, car repairs, daily maintenance, and fuel are some of the things that can drain your money away. But there are ways you can reduce the money you spend on transportation to enable you to save more money.

Here are the various ways:

• Get rid of your car payment. Do you know that the average car payment is around $525 per month? Letting it go would help you save a lot of money.
• You don’t need that second and third car. Let them go in peace.
• Look around for the best car insurance. 
• Don’t drive more often – You can take advantage of the public transport, you can carpool with your colleagues, you can use a bicycle or walk.

6. Buy Used Items

Most often we’re tempted to go for a brand new version of items when we go out shopping. You don’t always have to buy brand new clothes, furniture, appliances, and other items while you can get their second-hand version. 

This habit will help you save so much money. The majority of second-hand items are in good shape and sometimes very difficult to tell as to whether they’re second-hand or not.

You can get second-hand items online from these sites:

• ThredUp
• Poshmark
• eBay
• Swap
• Tradesy

7. Try Coupons, Vouchers, Cashback and Discount Codes

These are pretty fast to start with if you want to save a lot of your money – with coupons, you shall be able to purchase what you want for less than the amount.

There are many services and sites that let you pay less to shop – here are the best 4 apps I recommend:

• Ibotta – Get cashback deals for your grocery shopping. Read more about Ibotta. 
• Rakuten – Get between 1% and 12% cashback deals for shopping. Check out Rakuten.
• Dosh – Get cashback for shopping, hotel booking, and dining. Check out Dosh.
• BeFrugal – Find coupons that apply to your purchase and get cash back at more than 5,000 stores when you shop. Check out BeFrugal.

8. DIY

If you’re a low-income earner, it isn’t every problem that you have to call an expert to get it fixed. There are blogs and youtube videos about how-to’s that will teach you how to fix things on your own. You, therefore, have to take advantage of the tutorials and videos available online.

However there are some technical problems( eg. Fixing faulty electrical cables) around the house that would require an expert’s knowledge and for that, I don’t suggest you do it yourself.

But for things like fixing the popcorn ceiling and fixing leaky bathroom pipe or kitchen – I think you can learn how to fix them yourself.

9. Increase Your Earnings

You cannot depend on low income forever – you’ve got dreams that you have to make a reality. And besides, there’s nothing that is impossible to achieve. 

Traveling the world, buying your dream house and car, etc would actually take long time to achieve if your only option is saving part of your low income. You might finally get there but maybe when you’re very old that you can’t enjoy what you desired all that long. MJ DeMarco calls it, rich in a wheelchair. 

You can accelerate the process by starting a fast lane side hustle. Most recommended is an online side hustle, while you work a day job. Blogging, vlogging, dropshipping, freelancing, affiliate marketing are some of the hustles that can give you financial freedom very fast when done right. Increase your income so that you can save and invest more.

Suggested Post: Amazing reasons why you should start an online business

10. Be Responsible For Your Health

Take good care of your health – because there would be no happiness in your life without good health but healthcare can be very costly. As of July 2020, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, the average annual cost of health insurance in the U.S. was $7,470 for an individual and $21,342 for a family. Even so, there are few known ways you can reduce the insurance cost.

You can stay healthy by;

• Eating healthy foods like fruits and veggies.
• Working out regularly. 
• Visiting the hospital for medical checks regularly. So in case you don’t have a health insurance, this is the right time to open a Health Savings Account.
• Getting enough sleep.
• Quitting drug intakes.

11. Spend Less On Entertainment