These 4 Simple Things Saved Me $6,000 in a Year

There are lots of moves you can make to manage your personal finances, with varying degrees of effort required. In general, it seems like the bigger the move you make (like staying out of credit card debt or getting a higher-paying job), the bigger the payoff for your finances. But I like to remind myself that the smaller moves I make can also add up to big things over time.

I'm not a proponent of cutting out the little joys in your life just to save a buck, but I am here to say that there may be some easy changes you can make to save a substantial amount of money without affecting the quality of your life.

Recently, I did the math on a few money moves I've made to find out how much they save me, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn I was up several thousand dollars -- without even noticing how it happened. Here's a look at four of them.

1. Clip grocery store coupons

I shop at the same grocery store almost every week, and I signed up for the free shopper's membership card. This gives me easy access to discounts, and a way to track how much I save by seeing the amount printed on my receipts each week. My store makes it really simple to scan coupons while I'm shopping or ahead of time on the app or website, and it's saved me a significant amount of money.

By purchasing items with eligible coupons or that are marked down when using my shopper's card, I regularly save 10% to 15% off my total on each shopping trip. (Full disclosure: It's been a little less lately thanks to the inflation we've all been dealing with, but I've started to see the savings trend back up again.)

My husband and I spend somewhere around $400 each month on groceries. If I apply an average of 12% savings on those bills, I come out ahead about $576 each year.

2. Work an extra 30 minutes each day

As a freelancer, I have a lot of control over when and how much I work. Around the beginning of 2022, I tried an experiment: I started my work day 30 minutes earlier than usual, effectively working eight and a half hours each day. I quickly realized that I didn't even notice the extra 30 minutes, and I've continued doing it ever since.

My average hourly rate on those 30 minutes of work is $37. Accounting for a few weeks off each year, this adds up to an extra $4,440 annually.

3. Check out books and movies from the library

I finagled my way into a career where I get paid to read books, but I still enjoy reading in my free time, too. In recent years, I've come to rely on my local library to keep my bookshelf full. I just looked at my library history, and I've checked out 26 books and ebooks in the past 12 months. The average price to buy a new book is $23.90, so I've saved more than $621 on books alone.

My husband and I used to go to the movies at least once a month before the pandemic, but over the past few years, we've relied on streaming services and checking out movies from the library. An average ticket at my local theater costs $12.92. By visiting the library for blockbusters once a month instead of the theater, I save about $155 each year on just the cost of my tickets.

4. Use credit card rewards to pay for travel

I keep a few credit cards in my wallet that I like to use for different purchases. One of them is a travel credit card that earns rewards I can apply to future travel spending. By using a card that earns a higher rate on a particular type of spending rather than paying for things in cash, I'm able to supplement my vacations without spending more money.

I took a look at my account recently and saw that I've redeemed 22,792 rewards points in the past year. By booking through my credit card's travel portal, those points are worth 1.25 cents each, which gives me a total savings of $284.90.

Spend wisely and well

All of these changes have been so small that I don't even notice them, yet they've helped me add a total of $6,076.90 to my wallet over the course of a year. I recognize they may not all work for you, though, and that's okay. But I hope you'll at least feel encouraged to take a look at your own finances and see what little tweaks you can make. You may be surprised by how big of a win they turn out to be.