It is easy to save money when you aren’t living paycheck to paycheck. A healthy financial situation gives you the incentive and the means to save money. However, it is possible to save when you’re broke.
On the surface, this seems like a contradiction. Thus, for instance, maybe you are just a few weeks into a new job or even a few months out of college. In such situations, you would think that your attention will be more on paying your bills and surviving from one day to the next. That is one route to follow if you are looking to survive. The good news is that it is indeed possible to do more than survive. You can save money and even hit some financial goals along the way.
This guide will take you on a deep dive to learn the best tips and tricks for how to save money when you’re broke. The suggestions here include passive income ideas to explore in this area. Thus, you may have to get a part-time job. Furthermore, you would have to get your spending habits in check. If you are broke, then it is probably not in your best interest to spend money. The suggestions are mostly practical and easy to implement. If you are interested in improving your savings even while broke, dive in!
Why You Should Save Money Even When You’re Broke
It is always a good idea to save money, whether broke or not. However, more specifically, why do you need to go through the stress of saving, even when you don’t have enough? Below are a few reasons it’s smart to save, even when it’s challenging.
Financial Independence
The ideal financial goals should include financial independence. Here, you are not gunning to be extremely wealthy. Rather, you are focused on making enough money to care for your daily needs and pay bills. Evidently, when you are broke, you are certainly not financially independent. Bills pile on, and you may even have to rely on others to get by. Thus, the first goal of saving money, even while broke, is to get out from under such a situation.
Investments
For most people, having a full-time job is not enough to take care of their needs and prepare for the future. This is sad because while financial independence secures your present, investments secure your future. When you are broke, you will be unable to meet the regular day-to-day expenses. However, when you save money, even when you are broke, you can have some extra money to put aside for the future. Some of the suggestions here offer you ways to make more income even when broke. You can then put this aside for future purposes.
To Set Up an Emergency Fund
The best time to prepare for an emergency is before it arises. Thus, you need to have some extra cash to address any such emergencies when they come up. Unfortunately, this can be quite a challenge when you are broke. However, intentionally saving money when you’re broke will ensure you have some free money to handle emergencies and set up your emergency fund.
Buy a Home
Buying a home is something everybody should be working towards. But, again, someone who is barely getting by will definitely not have enough to set aside for building savings. You can, however, decide to be the exception. If you intentionally look for ways to make and save money when you’re broke, you would be able to have some money set aside for a home. Granted, it isn’t broke saving money that you’ll need here. However, even saving up the huge sums needed to buy a house in today’s world is possible.
How To Save Money When You’re Broke
This list contains just about anything you can think of when it comes to ways to save money when you are broke. Thus, there surely will be a suggestion that suits you. So, find below the ways to start saving money even if you are broke.
Cut Unnecessary Expenses
If you are broke, the chances are that you are spending much more than you earn. Another guess is that you are also probably paying extra for some things you do not need. Cutting out some of these things can free up funds that you could then channel into your savings.
You may be wondering where you can cut expenses from. The truth is that sometimes you could spend so much on frivolities without even realizing it. Thus, the first thing to do is to take a hard look at your monthly expenses. Take care to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb. Consider the ones that are indispensable. When that is out of the way, then pay attention to the ones that aren’t. This category will include monthly subscriptions, a gym membership, for instance, and trips to the grocery store that is unwarranted.
Do not hesitate to cut expenses that take more than they add. To make it easier, you can imagine the money paying for your new home or a vacation somewhere sunny.
Open a Separate Savings Account
Having a separate account solely dedicated to your savings efforts is one way to save money even when you are broke. There are several benefits to making this move. The first is that setting apart an account strictly for savings gives it an air of seriousness. Furthermore, it also helps keep you disciplined. With all of the bills you have to take care of in a given month, you could lose track of the need to save. Savings accounts make sure you do not lose track of the goal.
It is easy to set up a savings account. There are even options for running online savings accounts. Financial institutions often offer incentives if you want to open a separate savings account. Some of the perks include eliminating fees or giving you a zero-minimum balance option.
However, some banks might not support giving you such benefits for operating a savings bank account. Thus, they could still take cuts in the form of ATM or transfer fees. In such situations, these deductions could also help check your spending habits.
Sell Unwanted Household Items
Instead of waiting for the next paycheck cycle to come around, you can make moves to start saving money by actually earning some. To do so, you can explore selling off some household items that you no longer need. If you search hard enough, you will definitely find a household item you can dispense with. Selling unwanted items not only available funds in your checking account but also is one way to free up space in your home.
The good thing is that these days, there are several spaces, most of them online, where you can sell used items for a profit. Some of these places include Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, NextDoor, etc. Of course, how much money you make will depend on the platform and the quality of what you are selling. Nevertheless, this strategy earns you money and so is a formidable means to save money when you’re broke.
Buy Used Items
You may still need to buy things even while broke. But this means that you cannot be picky about where you buy clothes, shoes, or other items. Spending money on luxury goods goes against savings culture. Hence, if you need to spend money on any item, look for the cheapest place to buy it. Some of these places include thrift stores.
You can buy really good used items in thrift stores. You can save a few bucks when you use this option. There are online platforms you can even buy used goods from. They include eBay, Poshmark, LetGo, and Facebook marketplace. This is a perfect way to save money when you’re broke.
Pay Off Debt
Everyone should aspire to be debt-free. However, if your job always leaves you broke, you have a greater responsibility to stay away from debt. You will find it hard to save money if you are battling with credit card debt, late fees, student loans, or any debt at all. Furthermore, you will find it harder to reach your savings goals if you constantly pause to pay for one debt or the other. Hence, one way to actually save money could be to pay off your debts.
To do this, you could attempt to minimize your interest rates. However, if you want to employ a hands-on approach to reducing your debt, you should create a debt plan. This plan is an excellent way to get rid of your total debt and make sure you don’t fall into more debt.
In your debt plan, write down all of the debts you owe in the order of priority. Then look at your budget and consider all the money you get in a given month. Decide how much from the budget can go to offset your debts. Because you listed the debts in order of priority, some might get just a few bucks per month while others get huge sums. Keep paying off the debts till you have nothing else left.
Earn and Save Money with Apps
There are apps with which you can make money simply by signing up and using them. This is perfect if you are broke because you will not have to spend your cash. Most of these apps are free. They also require you to performs tasks that you can comfortably execute during your spare time. More so, they have no stringent rules.
Furthermore, you can also save on some apps. Acorns is a perfect example of such an app. Acorns Round-Up investment account saves any spare change that you have. This way, over a long period, you will be able to accumulate a tidy sum.
Try a No Spend Period
The last tactic on our list is to try a no-spend period, typically a month. Here, you will live on a very tight budget. You will only spend on true necessities. Hence, you will have to use public transportation, eat at home, and cut out entertainment subscription offers that do not add significantly to your income. You will also not indulge any safety net of any kind – that means no borrowing.
This great idea is one of the best ways to save money when you’re broke because it gives you a double win. You will have more cash than you’d typically have at the end of this period. Furthermore, you will have become more aware of the things you truly need in your life.
Final Thoughts: Saving Money When You’re Broke
The last thing on your mind when broke is ways to save money. However, feeling broke, being broke, and remaining broke are not the same. You have the power to change the latter. With more money, you could make a huge difference in your debt payments and could even revamp your social life in the process. Please make no mistake; it will take a lot to get you from being broke to having huge sums saved up. But what is there to lose? Putting in the work needed gets you great returns and little repercussions.
