Have you ever felt like it is hard to save money as a young adult? While I have already talked about why it is difficult for young adults to save money, it doesn’t mean it is impossible. If you are in college and wondering how to put money aside, saving money may not even be a question because of the massive amounts of college debt that you are facing. Again though, it doesn’t mean it is impossible. While going into debt may be the popular choice, avoiding debt and saving money now is certainly possible. Here are some practical ways that you can save money even in your youth:
Work an Extra Job: Young people in their 20’s are often classified as ambitious and idealistic. While you may not get your dream job out of college, there is nothing to stop you from using your youth and (most likely) good health to your advantage by getting a second job. It may cut back on your free time, but if it can help you prepare for big expenses coming up (or perhaps early retirement), why not make the sacrifice now?
Minimize Your Lifestyle Inflation: Instead of graduating from college and buying everything that you have ever wanted, try to keep as much the same as possible. You don’t have to stick with ramen noodles, but refrain from financing a new car and going into lots of debt. This will only increase your monthly expenses and limit your freedom. No one ever talks about it, but getting fancy cars or big houses puts a huge financial stress on you. It’s definitely not worth it. One of the easiest ways to save money is at this critical period where significant change happens. If you can resist significant lifestyle changes in this period of your life, it will not only save you money, but will make saving money later the norm.
Minimize Expensive Hobbies: Were you living it up while in college? Do you have expensive hobbies? Whether it was summers spent traveling, an occasional round of golf, or late night trips to taco bell, these things add up. Taking charge of our finances means starting to negotiate a balance between the positive long-term results of saving money now and not doing anything at all. While I am not a fan of shutting off your social life completely, there’s no reason you can’t find frugal alternatives to partying. Think about the benefit of an expensive night on the town after that night is over. You may have a good memory and a stronger friendship, but isn’t that something you can do while playing board games at home or finding some other cheap activity?
Learning how to save money while you are young should be a priority. Learn to take charge of your finances, making sacrifices now, so that you can be more comfortable later in life.
What are other ways young people can save money (without moving in with mom and dad)?
One of the best habits to develop as early as possible is the old adage to pay yourself first. In order to do that, automating your savings is easiest. Open a Roth and auto-draft $25/month into it to start. You won’t feel the pinch, and you’ll hopefully be motivated to save more as the balance increases.
Another one my current tricks is to automatically save while shopping: When the receipt says “You saved ___” on the bottom of it, I immediately transfer that much to my savings account. It’s sort of like the various banks’ Keep the Change program, but it adds up much faster!
I’ve been posting all the ways we’ve been earning extra money on my blog. Some of the ways only bring in a few extra dollars here and there but it all helps. We’ve been able to save up about $4000 over the last 10 months this way.
Learn a lot. Don’t mind spending money and time on your learning. That will help you save/make a lot of money in future
For me, the easiest way to save a lot of money per month was living with roommates. Sharing an apartment is a lot cheaper than living in a one-bedroom apartment by myself