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Now I know what you might be thinking. “YoungMoneyFinance, $110 isn’t all that much money. I spent that much taking my girlfriend out to a nice dinner this past weekend.” Or, “I spend that much in gas each week.” Well: a) you clearly haven’t read my article on the 3rd Cardinal Rule of Personal Finance (incremental growth) and b) your math must be off because saving $110 each month would net you an extra $1,320 each year. Take a good hard look at your finances and your budget. Are they where you want them to be? Are you saving as much as you’d like for your retirement or even saving in your emergency fund? Do you have enough there to really be able to go out and enjoy yourself on the weekends? If the answer is no (which I assume it is; for me personally I’m not there yet), keep reading, see if you can apply some of these tips and see if you can come close to saving $110 this month.

1. Iron your clothes instead of taking them to the dry cleaners. $32 saved. (4 shirts each week at $2 per shirt). It blows my mind how some of my coworkers never iron their clothes and always take them to the dry cleaners to get them washed and pressed. It takes me less than 10 minutes to iron my shirts every Sunday night and I’m set for the week.
2. Brownbag at least once each week. $28 saved. ($7 per lunch). Come on, it can’t be that hard to pack your lunch at least once each week. Grab some bread, meat and cheese and you’ve got yourself a sandwich. You can still go out with your buddies to the food court; just bring your lunch with you. Bringing your own lunch doesn’t mean having to sacrifice your social life at work.
3. Carpool once a week. $20 saved. (Ok, now it’s tough to estimate but let’s say between gas, maintenance, parking and frustrations that it costs you $5 each day to go to work). Go green while saving some green. Now, not everybody can pull this off – but with a little planning you could make it work. There’s gotta be someone in your office that lives close to you that wouldn’t also mind saving some green. Plus, it’ll help you get to know a coworker or two.
4. Lower your thermostat by 2 degrees. $10 saved. (Energy.gov found that you can save 1% of your electric bill for every degree you lower per hour period). Come on now, does your house really need to be 78 degrees this winter? (apologies to my readers in the far north or Canada) You’re a Young Professional, your blood probably isn’t as thin as my poor grandma’s was, and your body can take it a teensy bit cooler in the house. Put on an extra hoodie or layer. You’ll survive and your wallet will thank you. At least turn it down a couple of degrees when you’re at work.
5. Only buy what you are going to eat from the grocery store. $20 saved. (Assuming you waste 10% of your $200 monthly grocery bill) I saw recently that the average American throws out and wastes 25% of the groceries they buy. I know that milk only stays good for so long and that those silly bananas go bad way too quickly. A little planning will go a long way here. Plan your meals out and be intentional about the way you eat. “Sorry fellas, I’ve got a nice meal in the crock-pot waiting for me at home, perhaps I’ll join you for drinks later?” Wasting less and only buying what you’ll eat will put more green in your pocket.

These steps aren’t foolproof and certainly aren’t guaranteed to save you $1,320 per year. They will, however, cause you to look deeper at the way you spend and change the way you think about your money. By doing a couple simple things each month to eliminate waste from your budget, you’ll be able to, in your own way, save $110 this next month.

Be sure and share the article on Facebook so your friends can also save $110 this month!

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