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With so much economic uncertainty in the U.S. today, you may have already tried cutting expenses and thinking about the best ways to save money. Once you’ve reduced your streaming services to your two top favorites and virtually eliminated your costly latte habit, what other changes can you make to save $100 a week?
How To Save Money: 12 Tips To Save $100 a Week
Here are 12 tips you can use to help you save that extra $100 a week:
- Create a budget
- Invite your friends to do fun things at your home
- Take a staycation
- Switch cell phone providers
- Negotiate a better deal
- Shop around for home heating oil or gas
- Eliminate unnecessary subscriptions
- Cancel your gym membership
- Meal plan on Sundays
- Switch to store brands
- Shop at the Dollar Store
- Eat just two meals a day
1. Create a Budget
When you’re first learning how to save money, you’ll want to evaluate your budget. A budget is just a list of your income and expenses.
Understand the difference between non-essential and essential expenses. Then, evaluate how many of your non-essential expenses you can reduce or eliminate.
2. Invite Your Friends To Do Fun Things at Your Home
Cutting non-essentials from your budget doesn’t mean you can’t make time for fun. Before your friends invite you to another happy hour with pricey co*cktails, invite everyone to your place for a movie or game night.
Entertaining can be expensive, so don’t be afraid to ask friends to bring their own choice of beverages and agree that everyone can chip in for pizza. You can provide the popcorn and a few other snacks. Even better, start a weekly tradition of gathering at someone’s house on a rotating basis.
3. Take a Staycation
Instead of a pricey vacation, consider a staycation or a road trip to local attractions. Autumn is the perfect time for hiking and appreciating the fall foliage in many parts of the country.
4. Switch Cell Phone Providers
The cell phone industry remains highly competitive, with multiple carriers vying for your business and loyalty. Call around for prices on a different plan. You might be overpaying with your current carrier if you don’t use all the services provided.
5. Negotiate a Better Deal
Did you know you can negotiate with credit card companies? If you have a good track record for on-time payments, they might lower your interest rate.
Of course, this only makes sense if you are carrying a high-interest credit card balance. And, if that’s the case, you might be able to save even more money by transferring that debt to a 0% interest balance transfer credit card so you can pay it off faster.
6. Shop Around for Home Heating Oil or Gas
With winter on the horizon, your household bills may rise as you begin heating your home again. Call around for the lowest prices for gas or oil heat. It may not be a bad idea to top off your oil tank now, before winter comes, to get a lower price, too.
7. Eliminate Unnecessary Subscriptions
Americans spend an average of $219 per month on subscriptions, according to a study by C + R Research. What’s worse, people surveyed thought they only spent about $86 per month.
Chances are, you have some subscriptions you don’t use and may have forgotten about. One of the easiest and best ways to save money is to use a service like Rocket Money to find and cancel subscriptions you don’t need.
8. Cancel Your Gym Membership
On the topic of subscriptions that you don’t need, a gym membership may rank high on this list for many people. If you go to the gym several times a week and can’t imagine life without it, by all means, keep your membership.
But if you haven’t gone in months, consider working out at home instead. You could save between $40 and $70 per month. If the social aspects of a gym keep you motivated to work out, consider inviting friends to ride bikes or jog together, or look for free classes within your community.
9. Meal Plan on Sundays
People who meal plan say they save $100 or more per month on groceries. Meal planning eliminates running out to a restaurant or ordering pricey take-out because you don’t know what to make or forgot to defrost dinner.
You can save even more time and money by prepping make-ahead meals for the week on Sunday evening. Incorporate foods you can toss in the crockpot or air fryer for an easy weeknight dinner.
10. Switch To Store Brands
You can slash your grocery bills even more by switching to generic, or store-brand, items in many product categories. For instance, some Kirkland Signature brands sold at Costco are just as good as their name brand counterparts, for a fraction of the price.
11. Shop at the Dollar Store
TikTokers like @DollarTreeDinners swear by the tasty meals they can prepare from dollar store finds. For instance, she recently shared how to make 12 meals for two people for $10.
Considering the average person spends between $250 and $450 per month on groceries, making three days’ worth of meals for two people for just $10 represents substantial savings. If you kept that up for the whole month, you’d spend just $100 in groceries for the month, not counting snacks and beverages.
12. Eat Just Two Meals a Day
One key to keeping your grocery bill low is simply eating less, or at least, less often. The health benefits of intermittent fasting, or only eating within a 6- to 8-hour window each day, have been well-documented by researchers. Intermittent fasting may be equally healthy for your wallet. Just make sure you’re getting enough calories, but not too many, during your eating window.
Final Note
Learning how to save money may seem overwhelming at first. If this is the case, start small. Choose one change you can make this month. Then, every month for the next year, pick another of the best ways to save money and try it.
Your bank account might look very different by the time the end of 2024 rolls around.
FAQ
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding saving money.
- How much can you save with $100 a week for a year?
- If you were to save $100 per week for a year, you'd have an extra $5,200 to show for your efforts on day 365. But if you invest that money in a high-yield savings account at 5% interest, you'd have $5,329.67. You'd make over $329 without doing anything different other than choosing the right investment vehicle.
- Is saving $100 a week good?
- Financial experts largely agree that any amount you can save is a good start. If you put $100 per week into a long-term investment that yields 7% over time, at the end of 20 years you'd have $226,674.78, which could be a good start on saving for retirement.
- How can I save $100 fast?
- There are many ways you can save $100 fast, including negotiating with your cell phone carrier or home internet provider for a lower rate, eating at home more often and eliminating unnecessary subscriptions. See the list above for more ideas to save $100 in a week.
Our in-house research team and on-site financial experts work together to create content that’s accurate, impartial, and up to date. We fact-check every single statistic, quote and fact using trusted primary resources to make sure the information we provide is correct. You can learn more about GOBankingRates’ processes and standards in our editorial policy.
- Johns Hopkins Medicine. "Intermittent Fasting: What is it, and how does it work?"
- U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2023. "Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Three Levels, U.S. Average, August 2023"
- GoodRx Health. 2023. "The Average Cost of a Gym Membership — and 10 Ways to Save."
- C+R Research. 2022. "Subscription Service Statistics and Costs."
- WCPO. 2022. "How weekly meal planning can save hundreds of dollars on groceries."
