Hi Guys!!!  I’m currently able to put a little under $2,000 dollars a month on my student loans and I wanted to give you guys a glimpse at things you can do to save a little more money for whatever finance plans you have. I won’t take up too much of your time, but I want you to try to think of other ways you can save more money!

1.  I DO NOT HAVE A CAR NOTE!!! According to Experian the average new car note is $554 and the average used car note is $391. My 2016 Nissan Altima was totaled in 2017 shortly after moving to Texas. One of my drunk neighbors hit it while it was parked. I was distraught at the thought of it, but because of this my entire car was paid off by her insurance company ( I wasn’t upside down).  I had the option of starting from scratch and it was more of an inconvenience. I went 4 months or so without a car because I couldn’t bring myself to commit to more debt. I rode my bicycle to work from time to time (6 miles each way), UBER’d and caught rides from my friends or brother if the weather was bad. Then when I was home in Saint Louis, my bestfriend and I were leaving her neighborhood and I saw a Nissan Altima nearly identical to mine with a for sale sign in the window. I called the owner who wanted $6500 for it and was able to negotiate him down to around $5500-5800 I can’t recall exactly. I had the car looked at by my mechanic and boom! I drove back to Texas all by my lonesome with my 2007 Nissan altima with about 90,000 miles on it! I still have that car today and we will be celebrating our 3 year relationship this year! 🙂 That car basically paid for itself in a year!
2. CHEAPER CAR INSURANCE: For most of my adult life, I drove newer, fancier cars. I’ve had a 2011 Chevy Impala in 2011, a 2012 Dodge Challenger in 2014 and a 2016 Nissan Altima in 2016. Newer cars cost more to fix when they are damaged and on top of that I was a terrible driver. My car insurance was generally around $250 a month from the time I was 21-until I turned about 27/28. Now that I have an older car and a better driver’s record, I pay a about 70-80 bucks for liability, UMPD and Comprehensive coverage (I know that is still high for an 07, but remember I have a bad driving record/ live in Houston lol). I’d also say shop around for better quotes from other insurance agencies. I saved over $600 a year by switching from one car insurance to another.
3. NO CABLE/ INTERNET: That saves me about $100 or so a month. I watch regular TV (love love love ION) and if I want to watch Netflix, or Hulu I watch them from my phone or use my hotspot to download the eps onto my iPad.
4. APARTMENT HOP: When my lease was coming up for renewal, I called my apartment complex to see if I could get a month free, like they were offering for new residents moving in. They told me no. I found another apartment that was offering half off the first month and the rest of the current month free if I moved in ASAP. PLUS, the rent was $70 dollars cheaper a month. I paid movers $200. By saving $70 dollars extra a month, that’s $770 over 11 months. Half off of rent the first month saved me about $500 and the last week free saved me about $250 bucks. All in all that’s $770+$500+250-$200= $1320/12 = a savings of $110 a month!
5. DON’T USE CREDIT CARDS!! I looked at my credit card statement with Chase at the end of the year and the statement said I’d paid over $600 in interest throughout the year. That is about $50 a month. I called to try to negotiate my interest rate. They wouldn’t budge so I transferred my balance to BOA with a balance transfer rate of 0%. FUCK EM.
6. MAKING COFFEE AT HOME CAN SAVE YOU A WHOLLEE “LATTE” MOOLAH!  According to an article posted by FOXNEWS:
   

   “Millennials are spending more money on coffee than retirement plans!”

   According to the article, the average American spends approximately $1,100 a year– or $3 each day– on coffee. I can attest to this as I was buying coffee/ hashbrowns every day from Dunkin’. My total would be about 3-4 bucks a day. Not a lot of money? Multiply that by 5 then again by 52. That’s 90 bucks a month, over $1000 a year (See they were right)!

7. Don’t use gym memberships. I use the gym in my apartment complex, run and bike for exercise. No gym? No problem! There are a plethora of weightless workouts on IG and Youtube. Gym memberships run anywhere from $10 to $50 a month. If you are going to get a gym membership, make sure you use it! I work for a great company that will reimburse a lot of your out of pocket if you are going to the gym at least an average of 3x a week.
8. LEARN TO DO YOUR OWN HAIR!! There was a time when I was paying $250 per hair style back in Saint Louis. Box braids, Senegalese twist, sew ins. They each cost me $250 a pop. Now, I know how to do at least box braids and sew ins myself. #schmoney.
9. LADIESSSS…… AVOID THE NAIL SALON LIKE ITS A PLAGUE. I’d spend $40 on my hands, $30 on my feet and $10 on eyebrows plus a tip every visit to the nail salon. Now I just go to get my feet touched on and rubbed down. I saved a lot because of that.
10. Shop around for the best utility companies if that is an option in your city. I was originally paying over $.20 per kwh and was recently able to find a company that charges $.116 per kwh. #winning! That saves me about 40-50%! It’s great!

Any other money savings ideas? I could use some tips. My budget is pretty bare bones lol.