11 Painless Ways I Save Over $500 a Month

I recently looked at my family's spending for the entire year of 2024, and let me tell you, it was an eye-opener!  I spent quite a bit that I just didn't see any value from.  I made some major cuts, though, and most of them were entirely painless!  Keep reading or check out the video here to see what I cut and where you could probably make some easy cuts that you won't even notice!

1.  Always go to Aldi first!

Groceries are a huge expense, and they keep getting higher.  No one wants to give up the food they prefer.  I used to play the coupon game, but it takes soooo much time!  I just don't have the time or energy to do that anymore.

Now, the best way I've found to save money on groceries is to just commit to going to Aldi first!  Then I might still need to stop somewhere else for something super specific, but if I buy the bulk of my groceries from Aldi, I end up saving so much money without a lot of extra effort.

Here's what I love about Aldi:

• There are no games.  There are no coupons or special sales at special times.  You just go, buy your groceries, and always know that you're getting a really good price!
• They don't have a ton of variety.  I tend to make a LOT fewer impulse purchases at Aldi simply because they don't have as much stuff!  There are only a few different types of cookies instead of a hundred!
• It's a lot faster.  Because the store is smaller and there are fewer items, I can get in and out so much faster than at a typical larger grocery store.  Aldi really does simplify my life!

2.  Use Rakuten

If you're anything like me, you do a LOT of online shopping…probably too much, LOL!  But realistically, online shopping is just so convenient and easy that I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

Rakuten is a plug-in that you can download and add to your chrome browser.  It don't think it really encourages me to buy more.  But it does give me cash back on things I'm going to buy anyway!  Once it's installed in your browser, you just have to go to the website you want to buy from.  You can still take advantage of sales and coupons, but then Rakuten also gives you a small percentage of cash back if you make a purchase!

It doesn't require you to do anything other than click a button to take advantage of the cash back.  Sometimes Rakuten will even suggest coupon codes I didn't even know were available.

Every couple of months (or maybe quarterly??) Rakuten will send you a check in the mail.  Or you can set it up to automatically deposit into your Paypal account.  It's super easy!  It adds up to a few hundred dollars cash back for me every year, and it's really painless and simple.

3.  Declutter and sell online.

One of the most common pieces of advice to save money is to eliminate the “fun” stuff like fancy coffee purchases or manicures.  But this can be a bit painful, LOL!  Instead, my suggestion would be to declutter and sell your stuff online.  And then let yourself use whatever money you make for the “fun” stuff!

I always say the goal is to get the clutter out of your home.  You shouldn't hang onto stuff for years with the intention of selling it (and then never actually selling it, so it just hangs around your home).  But if you know that you get to use the money for fun, it can be really motivating to actually sell your stuff!

I have a whole video about how I use Facebook Marketplace to sell things when I declutter.  You can check it out here for more details.

4.  Get free audiobooks!

I just LOVE listening to audiobooks!  Audible.com is probably the most common place people think about when they want an audiobook.  However, I get most of my audiobooks for free through my library.

My library uses two apps, Hoopla and Libby.  They each have different selections with some overlap.  Usually I can find what I'm looking for from one or the other.  On Hoopla, there is no waiting list.  On Libby it's similar to a physical library where you might have to place a hold for a popular book.  Both apps have e-books as well as audiobooks, and the selection is HUGE.  And it's absolutely free!  Check into your local library to see if they offer these apps.

5.  Reevaluate your streaming subscriptions.

When I looked back over our expenses for the year, I realized we had a lot of streaming services we weren't even using.  We watch a little TV but not a ton.  But the streaming services all seem to have something we like.

I decided we had too many to use all of them.  So I started to unsubscribe.  Then I thought about a way to take advantage of all the services but not pay for them the whole year.  From now on, I'm going to re-evaluate quarterly.

I tend to get really into a show and binge-watch just that one show (and really nothing else) until I'm all caught up.  So I'm just going to subscribe for a couple months, then cancel and subscribe to a new one and then repeat the process.  But I don't need all five services all at once because I just don't watch that much TV!

6.  Park your emergency fund in a high yield MMA.

If you have an emergency fund sitting in a checking account, move it over to a high yield money market account ASAP!  I used to just have mine sitting in my checking account, but that earns no interest.  If it's just going to be sitting in an account, it might as well be in one that earns at least a little interest!

Ask your bank if they have an account like this, and if not, there are tons of online savings accounts where you can move that money to take advantage of a little higher interest rates.

7.  Work out at home.

My husband and I have both been focusing on our health over the last couple of years.  We had a family membership to our local gym.  And I have been doing some personal training.  This was a really big expense for us.  Our kids don't even really use it, so it's just for my husband and I.

We decided to cancel our membership and start working out at home. Personally, I get super intimidated in the weights area, so if I were on my own without the trainer, I just wouldn't do it at all.  We ended up buying a new piece of equipment that gives us a lot of weight options and virtually coaches you through workouts.  For us, I think this will be a nice solution, and because we were spending so much on the gym and personal training, it will pay for itself in about a year.

But you don't have to spend a ton on equipment.  Even a small set of weights and a few bands can help you get a good workout at home.

8.  Upgrade your subscriptions to pay annually.

Most of us have some sort of subscription that we use.  It could be phone apps, pet subscriptions, beauty subscriptions, etc.  Almost all of those give you a discount if you pay annually.

This only makes sense for things that you know you love and will keep for a year.  But once you're sure you want the subscription, you might as well take advantage of the annual discount.

I do this with my fitness/food tracker (I use MacroFactor).  I know I will use this long-term.  The monthly price is about $15, but the annual cost is around $80.  That's almost half price!

9.  Stretch time between haircuts.

This idea works for all beauty treatments, really.  My hair is cut pretty simply and is relatively healthy. I also don't color my hair.  So I can get away with having a haircut once a year.  This saves me a TON of money.

I used to get my nails done.  I loved having them done, but it bothered me when they started to grow out, so I would go every three weeks.  What I didn't love was how much time I spent at the salon and how much the gel damaged my nails.  So I stopped all together.

My friend does her nails at home once a week (with regular polish).  With all the practice she's had over the years, she's gotten pretty good at making them look nice as well as last for a full week.  Or you could just opt out of polish entirely like I did.

The point is to think outside your normal routine and try something different.  You might find it's not as painful to change your beauty routine as you thought!  Could you get a facial every other month instead of every month?  Switching things to bi-monthly means they're half price over the course of the year!

10.  Set reminders on your phone.

Often I would sign up to try something (an app, a service, etc.) without intending to keep the subscription.  But if you don't cancel these things in time, you get charged for something you don't even want!

When signing up for something like this, I always set a reminder in my phone to go back in and cancel by a certain date.  However, now I go one step further with this.  Instead of just setting the reminder that I might snooze on, I attach a consequence.  Instead, I'll say “Cancel X or pay $50!” That usually gets me moving on the cancellation, LOL!

If you want more details on how I use these reminders, check out the video here.

11.  Take advantage of your library!

Did you know your library has more than just books?!?  Most of us know they have videos and magazines, but our library has soooo much more!  I had no idea what they offered until I was in with my kids.

Your library might be different.  But ours offers board games, cake pans, a 3D printer you can use, bird watching kits for kids.  They also have programs and classes (lots for kids but some for adults, too).  They have storytimes, petting zoo visits…all kinds of things for FREE!  It's totally worth checking out to see what extras your library offers.

Hopefully this gave you a few ideas to save a little money this year.  The only way I knew what I was spending is because I track my budget through software.  If you want more details on how I budget, check out my budgeting video here!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives