Little known ways to save more money

3 Little Known Ways to Save Money Effortlessly

Guest Post by Simon Cave of The Becomer

Saving money is a challenge because of the effort it requires. You have to track your expenses, constantly keep an eye on your bank account, think about your monthly bills, deal with the unexpected expenses, etc. It’s a lot to keep up with!

Luckily, we’ve got 3 genius ways to help you save money effortlessly. These simple tricks will make saving so much easier, without the hassle.

Let’s dive in and start saving!

 1) IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a website that allows you to connect different applications together such as Facebook, Twitter, Text, Dropbox…to perform certain actions. For example, you can create the following connection to save money:

If you send a text and tag it #cargas, then IFTTT will send your gas spending to a Google Drive spreadsheet

If you send a text with #Finance and indicate how much you spent, then IFTTT sends the information to your personal budget spreadsheet.

IFTTT is an excellent way to automatically track your expenditures so that you can see where you spend the most and act consequently.

READ: How to Build Your Credit Quickly

2) Invisiblehand

Invisiblehand is a free and powerful extension for Chrome and Firefox that automatically notifies you if the product you’re shopping for is available for a cheaper price from another site.



Let’s say you see a computer on Amazon that costs $1200, Invisiblehand will automatically give you a link to competing websites that sell the same product for less than $1200.

Invisiblehand is the easiest way to save money when you buy products online.

READ: How to Shop Free on Amazon

3) Automate your finances

What if you could both save money and invest it without even thinking about it? With the following system, you can automate your finances in a couple of hours and enjoy its benefits for years.

savingmoney

Here’s how it works:

1) First, you have to set-up a direct deposit for your paychecks. 6% will automatically get contributed to your 401(k), and the 94% remaining will go to your checking account.

2) From your checking account, you must set-up 2 automatic transfers. 5% to your saving account (you can use that money to invest or pay for big expenses) and 5% to your Roth IRA.

3) Set-up electronic pay for your bills that you pay every month and that you can’t pay by credit card (mortgage, rent, gas, electric bills…)

4) Pay all the other bills (gym, Netflix, Starbucks…) and your discretionary spending on a rewards credit card so that you maximize the rewards/cash back you earn.

By automating your finances you’ll have more time for the things you enjoy doing and you will be on the right track to becoming wealthier.

 

 About the author: Simon Cave is passionate about Digital Entrepreneurship and Personal Development and helping people reach financial independence on his blog The Becomer. 

17 thoughts on “3 Little Known Ways to Save Money Effortlessly”

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  3. Those sound like great apps I haven’t used any of them before (and you know I love my apps) so I’m definitely going to check them out. Thanks a bunch!!

  4. Automating your finances is a great way to control your spending (as long as you’re working with available cash and not buying on credit) and I imagine that it would help many people with their budgeting: thinking about how to spend their (available) cash more effectively while (automatically) saving for their retirements and paying off their debts.

  5. I’ve never heard of Invisiblehand but I’ve heard of other sites just like it. I’m always trying to find the cheapest price for items I buy online which seldom happens.

  6. Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom

    Invisible hand sounds pretty amazing! I’ll have to check it out next time I want to shop online!

  7. Wow, I have never heard of IFTTT. That looks great! I need to check it out.

  8. IFTTT and Invisiblehand are new to me. I have never heard of them before. I will have to check those out they sound great. The rest I try to automate as much as possible.

  9. Invisiblehand is unknown to me until now. Very cool I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for mentioning it!

  10. Shannon @ Financially Blonde

    I signed up for IFTTT with the intention of working on stuff only for my blog, but I am constantly amazed at how much I can do with it. In fact my intern this summer pointed out all of the various formulas I could create. This is a great reminder that I need to spend more time using tools like this.

  11. Will - First Quarter Finance

    I automate my finances and it rocks!!! I truly don’t miss the money one tiny bit – and it allows me to save about 85% of my income.

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