Want to save $10,000? I share tips on how to save money during high inflation across our lifestyle and household budgets.
How has inflation affected your buying habits? If you’d like to save money, it would be helpful to carefully evaluate your household and lifestyle expenses to identify what things you must live with and that which you can live without.
If you want to save the most amount of money, then it would be optimal to live below your means where more money is coming in than going on.
You’re deciding to eat more of your cake later than eating it now to maximize money savings. I hope these tips can help you too so that inflation is not totally eroding your purchasing power.
The average American household in 2022 has these top 3 expenses in: 1) housing (33%), 2) transportation/commuting (16%), and 3) food (13%); followed by personal insurance/pensions, healthcare, and cash gifts/contributions. Within the pension figure is likely the 6.2% that goes to Social Security.
Our biggest expenses in housing and transportation are heavily energy-dependent such as our utility bills at home and our gasoline costs in commuting.
Some ways to reduce our energy expenses may be to do things like carpool if you’re returning to office, scouting Gasbuddy for the cheapest gas in your area, and using Chase Freedom to get 5% cash back on gas station purchases from July through September 2022.
Maybe consider biking or walking more instead of using your car to go to your local grocery store or library and bring a backpack so you’re getting exercise while saving money.
Housing costs can be tougher to save on, since we often need to use our AC to stay cool in the summer or our heaters to stay warm in the winter.
Aside from using a mini-fan on your phone, I share a number of ideas on how to save on your air conditioning bill this summer. I enjoy how eating spicy foods can cool you down.
With rent and home prices soaring by 15-20% in each of the last two years, we may finally be seeing some reprieve with mortgage rates hitting 6-7% to start cooling down the real estate market.
Some ways to save on housing would be to move to a cheaper location, pool our money with others like roommates or co-owners of a home, and identify some energy efficiencies in the home like buying energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs.
The average American household’s expenses totaled over $61,000 in 2020. Looking at a cost breakdown of this figure, I believe people could be immediately saving $10,000 in several categories, which is saving over 16% of household expenses.
People can save $6,000 by cooking more food at home, which means you’re not eating out as much or using food delivery apps (which have a lot of surcharges and fees).
I go over all the major categories of household expenses and people could be saving another $3,000 on entertainment and I provide a couple of suggestions with streaming services and TV options.
People can also save $1,000 on vices and books, which means people could be saving at least $10,000 overall to offset the effects of high inflation.
I share changes to my food purchases that I’ve made as a result of higher inflation, such as buying cheaper vegetables and alternative milks instead of what I used to buy more of. I offer my personal money saving tips on food and energy.
If you’re interested in learning how to take control of your finances and start becoming an investor like Warren Buffett, check out my free PDF guide: https://michellemarki.com/resources/
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