20 Ways to Save $5 a Day

Need $100 this month? Who doesn’t! The trick is in finding an easy way to save that cash in small increments. The good news is you can add an extra Benjamin or two to your bank account by taking advantage of these simple ways to save $5 a day:

Delay Your Dry Cleaning

Dry cleaning bills add up quickly. Suits, wool sweaters, and other dry-clean garments can handle multiple uses in if they’re not soiled or smelly — and that can save you a pretty penny.

Say No to Soft Drinks

Depending on where you’re buying your soft drinks — some vending machines cost up to $3 a pop — and how much soda you’re drinking, you can easily stash five bucks away if you cut out sugary drinks for a day.

Skip the After-Work Happy Hour

Skip the after-work watering hole this week to avoid drinking your paycheck away. Doing so can easily save $10 to $20 by staying away from beers, shots, and mixed drinks.

Put Your Gym Membership on Hold (If You’re Not Going Often)

You should be making the most of your gym membership on a regular basis — not only to get your money’s worth, but also to stay healthy and active but if you’re been slacking lately or just don’t have the time right now, put your membership on hold.

Cancel an Unwanted Subscription

We all sign up for a subscription service at some point or another; perhaps it’s time to cut the cord on unwanted magazines, music, or product boxes that arrive every month and say so long to this budget-zapping burden once and for all.

Brown-Bag Your Lunch Instead of Buying It

If you’re prone to buying lunch every day, pack one instead. A brown bag lunch can save money and help you avoid the totally unhealthy food you’re springing for otherwise.

Make a Purchase With One of Your Gift Cards

When you feel the urge to spend — a chronic problem that affects about 10% of the Western population — go through your wallet to see what gift cards you have.

Shop For Groceries When What You Need Is on Sale

Instead of heading to the grocery when over your run out of something, keep an eye on the circulars for your regular supermarkets and flag the deals to take advantage of so you can stock up on sale.

Print Out All Those Coupons in Your Email

I get a million marketing emails, and just like the gift cards, I like to use those deals — like a BOGO lunch or something similar — when I want to treat myself while minding my money.

Bring Your Own Snacks to the Movie Theater

I know there’s probably an ethics lesson in here somewhere, but if I’m paying $20 or more for a movie ticket, I make sure I stuff my pockets with $1 boxes of candy I get from my local convenience store to offset the would-be cost of overpriced cinema fare.

Plan a Date Night In This Weekend

You don’t have to go out and drop coin to have fun. Make a few munchies, break out the board games, and remember how much fun you can have by not going broke every weekend.

Drink Water From the Tap

If you’re in dire straits and need a bottle of water from the quick mart, I get it. But for every other time that isn’t life-and-death, carry around a refillable bottle. It will save you a bundle on water, which is free everywhere except the quick mart.

Submit Your Receipts to Cash-Back Apps

There are several apps that give you cash back on participating groceries items, including Ibotta, Checkout 51, and MobiSave. I always cross-reference my receipts with these apps when I’m done shopping to see where I can save. As a result I’ve made about $100 in the last year-and-a-half.

Sell Something You Don’t Need

We all have at least a few items in our possession that we don’t need or want anymore. And it’s easier than ever to sell your stuff thanks to apps like Wallapop that make the process as simple as snapping a pic, naming a price, and uploading it to the app.

Walk, Bike or Carpool

I primarily work from home now. But when I worked in an office I established a carpool routine with one of my neighborhood coworkers. He’d take one week and I’d take the other, and both of us cut our monthly fuel bill in half.

Eat Your Leftovers Instead of Ordering In

How much food do you waste per week because you’re not consuming your leftovers? Instead of eating out tonight go through your fridge to take stock of your leftovers. Then get creative and repurpose those boring ingredients into a whole new meal.

Count Your Loose Change

Rummage through your car, your change purse, under the couch cushions, inside the washer and dryer, and all the other places change is kept, lost or hidden to see how much you come up with.

Pour Yourself a Cup of Joe Before You Go

Coffee is so simple and cheap to make at home, why — whhhhyyy — are you still in the coffee shop everyday? Skip the Starbucks line for that expensive latte and pour yourself a cup of joe before you leave the house this morning.

Buy Snack Foods in Bulk and Portion at Home

Think big when you buy snack food at the grocery store. For example, you’re usually better off buying pricey snack nuts in a large container and portioning them at home.

Consume More Free Entertainment

Instead of going to the cinema or even renting a DVD from a kiosk, search online to see what you can find. There’s tons of free content — including full series and movies — that you can binge watch all weekend long without spending a cent.

Photo Credit: Andy Macguire