{"id":1750,"date":"2014-11-12T00:15:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T08:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2014-11-11T08:00:20","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T16:00:20","slug":"how-to-save-money-fast-a-step-by-step-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/how-to-save-money-fast-a-step-by-step-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Money Fast: A Step by Step Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/SAVE-MONEY-FAST.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1751\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/SAVE-MONEY-FAST-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"How to Save Money Fast - A Step by Step Guide\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/SAVE-MONEY-FAST-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/SAVE-MONEY-FAST.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a>There are times in your life when the ability to save money fast becomes a high priority. I\u2019ve certainly been there before!<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re saving for a large purchase like a down payment for a home or car, or just need some spending money (<a title=\"7 Christmas Shopping Apps and Websites to Save You Time and Money\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2014\/10\/15\/7-christmas-shopping-apps-and-websites-to-save-you-time-and-money\/\">Christmas, anyone?<\/a>) you can save money at a semi-fast pace. There\u2019s only one prerequisite: you have to be willing to work hard!<\/p>\n<p>Since this is something I need to do right now to I thought I\u2019d share my step by step guide for saving money fast.<\/p>\n<h2>Calculate Your Bare Bones Budget and Live On It<\/h2>\n<p>Your bare bones budget is the amount you need to hit all your necessary living requirements \u2013 nothing more nothing less.<\/p>\n<p>In your bare bones budget you\u2019ll include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rent\/Mortgage<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Auto Insurance Decoded: Understanding Your Auto Policy\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2013\/08\/01\/auto-insurance-decoded-understanding-your-auto-policy\/\">Insurances<\/a>\/Property Taxes<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"5 Things You Should Stop Doing to Get Out of Debt\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2014\/08\/06\/5-things-you-should-stop-doing-to-get-out-of-debt\/\">Debt Repayments<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Utilities<\/li>\n<li>Transportation<\/li>\n<li>Babysitting<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"7 Tried and True Ways to Save on Groceries (No Coupons Required)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/2014\/09\/03\/7-tried-and-true-ways-to-save-on-groceries-no-coupons-required\/\">Food<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other unnecessary spending such as eating out, entertainment, and \u201cblow\u201d money is excluded. Only spend what you need to survive!<\/p>\n<p>Put every single dollar you have left over in an online savings account. (I prefer online because the money is till accessible but not immediately accessible. Since it typically takes 2-3 days to transfer online savings money to your regular checking you won\u2019t be making any impulse purchases!)<\/p>\n<p>And lastly, look for ways to save on your current expenses. Can you save $50-$100 a month by switching cell phone carriers? What about downgrading your cable package or opting for Netflix? What expenses do you have that are unnecessary \u2013 gym memberships and magazine subscriptions you don\u2019t use?<\/p>\n<p>Be ruthless when cutting your expenses. There are literally ways to save on every single thing you\u2019re spending money on.<\/p>\n<h2>Work More<\/h2>\n<p>When it comes to saving money fast there are really only two steps \u2013 spend less and make more money. <strong>There\u2019s no magic pill or fairy dust, it all comes down to hard work<\/strong>. If you\u2019re really trying to save money quickly you need to put in the hours.<\/p>\n<p>If working more hours at your regular job isn\u2019t a possibility I highly suggest that you create your own part time job by freelancing. When you freelance you have the ability to earn more money than you would working for a traditional employer and you can set your own hours.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Things You Can Be Doing<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to working more and spending less you can also do a few of these things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sign up for bank bonuses (Many banks will give you money by opening up an account with them. Just be sure to read the fine print.)<\/li>\n<li>Sell some of your old stuff for fast cash.<\/li>\n<li>Sell old cell phones, computers, and other electronics. (You can get money for them even if they don\u2019t work! Just type in Google \u201cwhere to sell old cell phones\u201d and you\u2019ll get a list of places!)<\/li>\n<li>Take surveys online. (Taking surveys won\u2019t make you rich by any means but you could add an extra $20 or so to your savings per week by doing this.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Saving money fast all boils down to your willingness to work hard. It\u2019s not easy but it can be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are times in your life when the ability to save money fast becomes a high priority. I\u2019ve certainly been there before! Whether you\u2019re saving for a large purchase like a down payment for a home or car, or just need some spending money (Christmas, anyone?) you can save money at a semi-fast pace. There\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[422,32],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cultofmoney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}