Home \ Blog \ Everyday Savings Tips From American Savers

Everyday Savings Tips From American Savers

August 10, 2012

By Katie Bryan, America Saves Communications Manager

No one knows better than Savers how to find the extra dollar here and quarter there that, over time, add up to substantial savings. Here are a few of the tips they gave us for our summer 2012 American Saver newsletter:

"Take advantage of the change you find on the street by putting a jar in your kitchen to collect money you find on the ground. My wife and I do this regularly. Since 2008 we have found over $500. How do we know? We take the money in our jar and put it in a 12 month CD at the end of each calendar year."

Loyd Ford

"It takes more energy to keep an empty freezer/ refrigerator cold. I take empty water bottles, milk jugs, and juice jugs and wash them out and refill them with water. I place them in the freezer and remove them when room is needed. I place the frozen ones in the refrigerator, which helps keep that cool too. I also use the smaller frozen bottles to keep coolers cool."

Kelly Navarro

"Birthday and holiday shopping doesn’t need to be a huge hit on your finances. Every paycheck, buy gift cards to popular retailers (but make sure they aren’t cards that expire or lose value after time). $10-15 per paycheck is very easy to budget and manage. Then when birthdays or the holidays come along, you have all of these gift cards and can either give as a gift or shop for a gift for the recipient USING the gift cards. That way you won’t be facing massive credit card bills in January (with interest added)."

Jennifer May

"While doing laundry, use HALF a cap full of liquid detergent instead of a whole one and cut dryer sheets in half and you will have twice as many. Also use cold water in the washing machine instead of warm, as well as scrub the dryer lint trap clean. If you take the trap and run water through it and the water sits on the top, air flow isn’t getting through wasting you money. Also, stop using paper towels! Cut up an old towel and use it for rags."

Elizabeth Stimpert

"If you're constantly making the same purchases, like sodas or candy bars from the vending machine, crunch the numbers and see how much you are spending. Then, visit your local grocery store to see if you can get the exact same items cheaper. Put the money you saved in your savings account or put it toward debt repayment. There's nothing like getting the same products you already use for a far better deal!"

Melissa Crawford

"SAVE THE EXTRA- each month track your spending on bills, clothes, gas, misc., etc. Anytime you spend less than you did the previous month save the difference. By saving the difference you will begin to spend less in order to increase the amount of money in your savings account. This encourages saving and strategic spending habits, which lead to financial responsibility."

Sheena Williams

"Start your kids out saving 10% of their allowance, put it in the bank and let them watch it grow. Once a year allow them to take some of the savings and spend it on something. They have to see a benefit to saving or it has no tangible meaning for them."

Sue Giskaas

Additional articles to help you save:

America Saves is a campaign coordinated by the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
and is dedicated to helping individuals save money, reduce debt, and build wealth. CFA thanks Capital One
for its generous in-kind contribution of design expertise for this website.

Privacy Policy - Contact Us