Wouldn’t it be great to take a day or two off work and just hop in the car and head out on a road trip without worrying about expenses? Well, with this summer savings guide, you might be able to pad your bank account with enough savings to do just that!
- Plan your budget for the summer
Track your expenses
One of the most important things you can do to start saving for the summer is planning out your budget. An easy way to do this is to set up a spreadsheet to track your bills. The spreadsheet can help you track potential areas where you may be able to cut back on spending, and you’ll see the fastest ways to improve.
Set savings goals
Additionally, it’s important to think about setting up some savings goals, so you’ll have progress you can track before the end-of-summer road trip you’re planning. But also, once you have your spreadsheet set up, you can set different savings goals whenever you’re interested in another trip, or a major purchase or even just to provide yourself some more stability in your finances.
- Eliminate expenses
Cancel those subscriptions
When you’re evaluating your own expenditures, a great place to start is subscription services. A good way to cut down on unnecessary spending is to go line-by-line on your bank statements to see who’s charging what to your card. If you find a lot of unnecessary subscriptions you’d forgotten you signed up for, start canceling!
Skip the carwash
Another way to save some money in a quick timeframe is to do some chores you normally pay other people to do. If you clean your car at a carwash, try washing your car at home. You could also pause a gym membership, or any subscriptions you’d like to keep while you’re saving toward your goal.
- Use cash for purchases
One thing you can do to help prevent overspending is to leave your credit card at home and just use cold, hard cash to pay for goods and services.
- Order your groceries in the app
Lots of grocery stores have free pickup for groceries when you order them in the store’s app. If you’re not inside the store, you probably won’t be tempted to purchase unnecessary goods on impulse.
Often, the apps will have digital coupons and give you access to the store’s weekly specials, which can help you save money as well.
Most major grocery store chains offer this feature, so consider taking advantage and save on your food bill!
- Cut down on energy costs
During the summer, energy costs can go through the roof. Cutting energy costs could save you money and help you get to that end-of-summer road trip with a bigger budget than you expected.
Optimize your air conditioning
No one wants to be hot inside their house, but turning the air conditioning up a couple degrees has potential to save you money on your power bill. The money you save on your power bill can help you fill your savings bank account by the end of the summer.
If you don’t want to raise the temperature, that’s fine too. You can keep your curtains and blinds closed during the day to keep your home a little cooler. You can also make sure your doors are closed and your weather stripping is in good condition.
These steps can help insulate your home further, which means the money you spend on temperature control will go further.
Wash your clothes in cold water
A great way to save on energy costs is to wash your clothes in cold water. This can save on your power bill because you won’t have to use your water heater on water that’s going to get dumped into your sewer line in an hour.
- Set up a savings bank account
If you haven’t set up a savings bank account, this is something you should consider. Savings bank accounts can help you by paying you interest on the money you’ve stored in the account. Some savings bank accounts have restrictions on how you can access your money, and some allow much more open access to it, but might not pay as much interest.
If you don’t have a savings account, talk to your bank to get information on what they, or any other bank you’re interested in, has to offer.
- Make extra cash – sell your old stuff
Selling some of your older possessions rather than throwing them out could be a great way for you to find some extra income you could put towards your savings. It could also help you clean out your home!
Use online selling resources
Digital marketplaces, while they come with some inherent risk, can be your go-to when you need that extra cheese for your road trip. Make sure you do your due diligence when using resources like these.
Have a garage sale
If you’re able to have a garage sale, this is another excellent way to declutter your home and make some extra money at the same time. Check with your local officials to see if you need a permit for a garage sale before you have one.
- Save on entertainment
With all these savings steps, you might wonder how you’re going to make it to the end of the summer. Fortunately, many places have free events and activities for you to enjoy. You probably also have some built-in entertainment at home. Break out those old Covid-19 quarantine tricks and you’ll be able to make it to the end of summer without going crazy from boredom.
Focus on free events and activities
The easiest place to find free events is likely your city’s calendar. Most cities have a calendar of events they publish online, and you can use that to find some cheap or free entertainment.
Another place you might check is your local college campus. Colleges, local or otherwise, often have free events you can attend, such as speeches or presentations.
Your local library might have free classes on how to improve your spreadsheet skills, which could help you visualize your budget better.
Many communities also have free local newspapers. These will often have lists of events you can plan to attend, and they’re often cheap or free.
At-home entertainment
This may be less fun for someone starved for entertainment, but the early days of the pandemic weren’t that long ago. If you got into a hobby back then, you might want to revisit that hobby today.
You could also pick up a book you’ve been meaning to read for a while, but just never got around to reading.
Another way to keep yourself entertained for free is to focus on that DVD collection. Watch a movie you haven’t seen in a long time or invite some pals over to have a TV show party.
Saving money isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but with some time and energy sunk into it, you may be able to save up for that end-of-summer road trip you’ve been waiting to go on. Enjoy reaching your savings goal, and don’t forget the snacks for your road trip!
