How To Save Money Daily

It can be very simple to save money every day. I do. First how much do you spend at a coffee shop getting a cup of coffee in the morning? You can eliminate or significantly reduce this expense by making your coffee at home and putting it into a travel mug to take on the road to work or wherever you are going. Even if we allow for the cost of the travel mug; you will recoup that in the first week.

Consider this if you buy one cup of coffee a day and pay $1.50 for that and do this five times per week, you spend $7.50 per week, and over 4 weeks that is $30.00. Now if you buy more than one cup a day that savings goes up.

How often do you buy a donut, bagel or other snack to go along with that coffee? Let us say it is three times per week and each snack costs one dollar that is another three dollars per week or twelve dollars per month. Add the cost of the coffee and your expense now totals a minimum of $42.00 per month or $504.00 per year.

Now what about lunch, do you pack your own or buy it? If you buy lunch three times a week and pay an average of $5.00 per meal that is another $15.00 per week or $60.00 per month. This works out to $720.00 per year bringing our total up to $1224.00 per year.

Now may not seem like a lot but the money could be set aside for a retirement plan, an education plan or to pay down debt.

The best way to start incorporating these daily savings into your routines is for one week, keep track of every coffee, tea, juice, milk, pop or whatever type of drink you prefer, that you buy during the working day, starting from the time you leave home until the time you come back home.

Keep track of all the food items, junk or healthy, that you buy each day during that same period.

At the end of the week, review the list and add the money spent up.

Now I know people will go to great lengths to justify their treats and we should treat ourselves but it does not have to be daily. Allow yourself a treat a week if you must.

If you get into the habit of making your own coffee and packing your own lunch and snacks, you will not only save money each day but you will also save something that is equally as valuable, time.

If you have your coffee already in your travel mug you can avoid the morning drive thru traffic or standing in line for coffee. This time can be better used.

You also skip waiting to be served for lunch and waiting to pay when you pack your own, again time that can be put to better uses and reduce the rush we often find ourselves in every day.

I have just touched the tip of the unconscious spending behaviour that many people indulge in each and every work day and often on weekends. If you go to the mall, does it include a trip to the Food Court?