Smart Ways To Put Money In Your Piggy Bank

Photo: Freepik

A purchase that makes a person happy is money well spent. That said, there are certain things I skip in order to achieve bigger goals, such as to have an emergency fund, or buy a higher ticket item. In New York City I am sometimes surprised when people who are low on cash think nothing of dropping the few dollars they do have on temporary things like $2 bottled water, or $5 frappucchinos. If you apply yourself you can drink water and coffee for free! At the risk of outing myself as parsimonious, below are costs I shy away from ...

5 Smart Ways To Put More Money In Your Piggy Bank:

1) Subway and bus fares - Savings: $5.50 a round trip - Walk if possible instead of paying for subways and buses. It's fantastic exercise! Other than for safety (late at night), distance (a trip to Brooklyn or Queens) or time (I'm running late) I walk everywhere.

2) Manicures and pedicures - Savings: $30 - $60 depending on the salon. Multiply by number of times per year!

photo; istock

While homeless after my building's fire, I tipped my hotel maid $40 one day. She was lovely and a diligent worker, a single mother who told me she lived at home with 8 people, including her two young boys aged 10 and 8 years old. At the time she said the following Saturday was her birthday, and she would spend her tip on a manicure. Indeed, it was her birthday, as well as, her money to do whatever she liked, but every person is different, and I tend to spend even windfalls on articles that last. In general, I say a woman in her 20s should experience a couple of manis and pedis; then stop going to the salon and trim and polish her own nails. Put the savings in a jar to see how it adds up! One day the sum will pay for something pricey ... a necessity, keepsake-luxury or vacation!

3) Coat checks - Savings: $5 to $10 - Whenever possible I simply hold onto my coat. Short of carrying it on stage to make a speech, nobody will notice if you keep your coat discreetly at your table. Middle class, bourgeois that I am ... I'd rather the $10 stay in my wallet to go for something I value.

4) Bottled water - Savings: $1 to $2 per bottle - Carry your own water from home and look for drinking fountains. In a pinch after washing your hands in a public bathroom, cup your hands to drink the running water from the tap. It's the same exact water that runs in the kitchen. Bonus: Save the environment by ditching the plastic.

5) Forgo coffee stops close to home - Savings: $3 - $7 - When I'm all alone, readers, I'm too cheap to buy a cup of coffee while out in my own neighborhood. With a friend I consider the expense of a neighborhood coffee shop inexpensive entertainment. However, me, myself and I will just have to make coffee for me, myself and I at home. On the other hand, if I'm in a neighborhood far away from home I will stop for coffee -- it then becomes an opportunity that only costs a few bucks to sit down; people watch; and take in the local color. Do my coffee-spending-choices make sense to anybody else?🐖🐷🐽

And, it goes without saying: Take advantage of any and all free samples of coffee sent by the Coffee gods (i.e. displays set up to promote products) while you are out shopping.

Where else to save: 

1) Ask yourself if you benefit from costly cable TV, or is free broadcast television combined with the internet and reading books enough to entertain you?

2) Examine your telephone habits: Do you need both a cell and home phone, or can you cut one? Then look at your telephone plan to see if you have the right cost efficient plan for you.

Spending more doesn't always give you a better quality of life. But mindful spending on things that matter usually does. As does living debt-free and freedom from work just to pay bills. What gives your life meaning? Figure it out and happiness will follow.


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