Top 11 Easy Ways How To Save Money Fast on A Low Income

Saving money can be difficult, especially when your income is low. However, it is not impossible! So if you’re wondering how to save money fast on a low income, I got you covered.

I remember when I first got married back in 2011 and my wife and I were making $1000/month between the two of us, and things felt impossible at the time. But we got serious about our finances and made it work with some of these tactics I’ll share today — and if we can do it, SO CAN YOU.

There are many ways that you can save money fast, even on a tight budget.

You just need a solid financial plan.

In this blog post, we will discuss the top 10 ways to save money quickly and easily. We will also provide specific action items that you can begin implementing today to start saving more money than ever before!

10 Tips on How to Save Money Fast on a Low Income

1. Create a Budget

One of the best ways to start saving money is by creating a budget and sticking to it. A budget will help you track your expenses and make sure that you are not overspending each month.

There are many different ways to create a budget, but here is a simple way to get started:

• Write down your monthly income.
• Write down your monthly expenses. This could include rent/mortgage, car payments, groceries, utilities, etc.
• Subtract your monthly expenses from your monthly income. This will give you an idea of how much money you have leftover each month.
• Look for areas where you can cut back and save money. Maybe you can downgrade your cable plan, or cook at home more instead of eating out.
• Stay disciplined and stick to your budget! It may take some time to adjust, but eventually you will get used to living on a tighter budget.

One of the best free apps for building and tracking a budget is the EveryDollar App.

You have to learn how to budget money before you’ll ever be able to gain true financial freedom. It is the essential first step to enduring financial wellness.

2. Cook Your Own Meals

One of the biggest reasons people overspend each month is in eating out. It’s so easy to go through a drive-thru or pick up takeout on your way home from work, but just eating out once per day can easily add an extra $300+ per month for one person!

While there is nothing wrong with this occasionally, it can quickly become a habit that is bleeding you of money.

Doing your own grocery shopping and cooking your own meals at home is a great way to save money. 

And not only will you save money on your food budget, but you will also be eating healthier, which will save you money on health costs down the line!

3. Evaluate Your Housing

If you are finding it difficult to save money, one of the best places to start is by evaluating your housing costs. 

Are you paying too much for rent or a mortgage? Could you downsize or live in a less expensive area?

There are many ways to reduce your housing costs and living expenses, and it all starts with evaluating your situation and seeing where you can make changes.

Here are a few ideas:

• Check out websites like Craigslist or Zillow to find cheaper housing options.
• Move to a less expensive area. This could mean moving out of a big city and into a smaller town, or vice versa.
• Consider renting out a room in your house on Airbnb. This can help to offset so4.me of your monthly housing costs.
• Buying blackout curtains for windows that get a lot of sunlight to reduce your electricity cooling costs.
• Waiting until nighttime to run your high-energy appliances like driers and water heaters.

4. Pay Off Your Debt

One of the best things you can do to save money is to pay off your debt. 

When you have debt, you are paying interest and fees on top of the amount you originally borrowed. This can add up to a lot of money over time!

Paying off your debt will help you save money in two ways:

1. You will no longer be paying interest and fees on your debt.
2. You will be less likely to overspend since you will no longer be using your credit card as a crutch.

If you are struggling with debt, there are many ways to get started on paying it off. Here are a few ideas:

• Create a budget and stick to it. This will help you track your expenses and make sure that you are not overspending each month which would push you further into debt.
• Create a Debt Reduction Plan. This will help you figure out how much money you need to pay each month towards your debt in order to be debt-free within a certain amount of time.
• Begin the Debt Snowball. This is a simple, yet powerful, way to pay off your debt. You start aggressively paying down your smallest debt first (regardless of interest rate), and once you pay it off you take all the money you were using to pay off that smallest debt. You keep using 100% of the funds from the last debt repayment to attack the larger debts until they’re all paid off.
• Use a Debt Calculator to see how long it will take you to pay off your debt if you continue making the same monthly payments.

There are many different ways to pay off your debt, but the most important thing is to get started!

5. Start a Side Hustle

Perhaps the best way to save money on a low income is to actually work on earning more income.

Many times (especially on a low income), you can only limit how you spend money so much before things start getting extremely tight.

That’s where starting a side hustle comes in.

If you already work a full time job, I recommend finding some work online that you can do around your day job.

If you don’t like any of those ideas then check out my extended article on side hustle ideas to get your creative juices flowing; and then get to work earning extra money so you can finally begin saving like you desire.

6. Evaluate Your Transportation

Transportation costs can add up extremely fast, especially when you begin adding up the costs of car insurance, fuel costs, and general car costs (if you’re making payments, or even if you own the vehicle outright and are making repairs regularly).

One of the best ways to reduce your transportation expenses is by using public transportation when possible. 

If you live in a big city, this could mean taking the bus or train instead of driving. 

If you live in a smaller town, this could mean carpooling with friends or co-workers.

Another way to reduce your transportation costs is by driving a more fuel-efficient car. 

This could mean downsizing from a SUV to a smaller car, or even to a motorcycle.

There are many ways to reduce transportation expenses, but the overall quickest way to free up money here is by getting rid of a car payment (downsizing to a car you can just pay cash for), and cutting back on fuel consumption.

It may be painful in the short term to make those decisions, but you’ll be happy you did when you can start saving money like never before.

7. Choose Free Entertainment

Entertainment expenses can sneak up on you because they are usually spent a little bit at a time — but over the entire month or year these $10-$20 purchases really add up.

Ditch the multiple streaming services, the expensive cable TV, the movie theater tickets, and the expensive gym membership, and opt for free or cheap options instead.

There are many ways to have fun without spending a lot of money. 

Here are a few ideas:

• Have a picnic in the park.
• Check out books & movies from the library.
• Choose free exercise like running or hiking, or buy some cheap home gym equipment off Craigslist to ditch the monthly payments.
• Buy a few used board games and have a board game night at home.

You can still have fun without breaking the bank, and these options just scratch the surface.

8. Optimize Your Bank Accounts

If you’re paying unnecessary banking fees for your bank (whether that be service or overdraft fees), or if you’re not earning meaningful interest on your savings account, consider switching banks.

Capital One offers no overdraft fees on their 360 checking account and even offers a free higher yield savings account than banks like Wells Fargo.

You can even set up auto-transfers into your savings account after you receive your direct deposit from work. This helps put your financial plan on autopilot to ensure you reach your savings goals.

Evaluating your bank account can be an easy way to free up some extra cash each month if fees are eating away at your savings.

9. Shop Your Insurances

One easy way to free money up quickly is to shop your insurances to reduce insurance premiums.

Whether that be health, car, homeowners/renters, or life insurance, it’s important to make sure you’re not overpaying for the coverage you need.

I generally recommend using an independent insurance broker to do this for you (instead of going directly through the insurance company), as they can help you compare rates across multiple companies quickly to get the best deal.

But even if you don’t use a broker, it’s important to shop your coverages every few years to make sure you’re not overpaying. 

Money saved here is great because it requires no extra sacrifice other than a few minutes shopping around for the best rates.

Bonus tip: If you have a good driving record, consider using sites like Gabi.com to compare car insurance rates and see if you could be paying less.

10. More Mindful Shopping

Every day we are encouraged to make impulse purchases online through ads from social media or television. 

But you can save hundreds of dollars each month if you’ll learn to resist the urge to do your shopping online.

Here are a few tips:

• Delete all of the shopping apps from your phone. This way you won’t be as tempted to make purchases when you’re bored.
• Unsubscribe from all of the marketing emails from your favorite stores. This way you won’t be as tempted to make purchases when you see a sale.
• Don’t window shop online. If you know you shouldn’t buy something, don’t put yourself in the position to be tempted by it. Stay off the site/app.
• Practice the 72 hour rule. If you’re considering making a purchase, wait 72 hours before doing so. This will give you time to really think about whether or not you need/want the item, and it will also help to prevent impulse purchases.

Learning to be more mindful about your shopping habits can be a difficult but rewarding task and can save you tens of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

11. Start an Emergency Fund

If you don’t have one already, start an emergency fund as soon as possible.

An emergency fund is a designated savings account that acts as your piggy bank for when unexpected expenses pop up.

The main purpose here is to have savings set aside so that when the radiator on your car breaks, or you need new tires, or you have an unexpected housing repair, you won’t have to go into debt to pay for those.

You want to start with just $500, and then over time add more money to build it up to be 3-6 months of expenses in case you lose your job or have other major expenses pop up. 

When saving money on a low income, this is absolutely essential to have.

Bottom Line

Bottom line is that if you’re wondering how to save money fast on a low income, you need to start changing your lifestyle habits in order to gain some financial independence.

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten, so mentally prepare yourself to make some serious changes to improve your financial situation.

To get results that you’ve never gotten before, you’re going to have to start doing things that you’ve never done before. 

And my hope is that this article will give you a good jumping off place to get a head start on your path to true financial independence — even on a low income you can make it work.