Saving hacks to actually save your dollars

“But I neeeeeeeeed it,” you say as you buy the $25 insta-famous burger. Or the $200 dress. Or anything that you don’t actually need.

But with Christmas and the silly season approaching, saving money is more important than ever – all those summer parties and Christmas presents do require money, after all. But when burgers are delicious and dresses are so prettyyyyy how can saving money be easy?

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There’s those obvious saving tips – like bringing lunch to work, using a budget planner and refraining from going out and spending $150 on tequila shots – but what about the tips you haven’t had drilled into your head time and time again (but still choose to ignore)?

Luckily for you (and us – we love tequila) ING have released a whole bunch of hot savings tips. Here are the best 10:

Automate your payments
This is saving for dummies. If you have money transferred to your savings out of your pay automatically, there’s no chance you’ll be able to spend it. Because you don’t have it! You can also auto-pay into bills accounts so that if you only have two dollars left by the end of the month you can eat your 69c mi goreng with ease knowing you’ve already taken care of your bills.
Delete your debit/credit card details out of your favourite websites
This might sound pointless, but between clicking ‘buy now’, finding your credit card and entering all your details – you might find you don’t actually need whatever you’re buying.
Get a round-up feature
Heres a fun fact: Every purchase made through the ING Orange Everyday Account is rounded up to the nearest one dollar or five dollars – then transferred to a savings account. Eight dollar tequila, two dollar saving. Genius. There’s also apps like Acorns, which do the same thing – but instead of putting your spare change into savings it invests it.
Do more with your food
Why buy a face mask when you can mix honey, lemon and sugar together to make your skin glow? And if you bought broccoli at the beginning of the week but have completely ignored it in favour of takeout – don’t throw it out. Simply cook and freeze for when your body is a temple again.
Do your grocery shopping online
Have you ever got to the checkout and been completely shocked by the amount of money you seemed to have spent on pringles? Avoid that by shopping online – where you can see the dollars build up in your cart as you go.
Pot your own herbs
Before you groan about the effort it takes for this one – basil costs between four and five dollars in the supermarket. When you can buy plants for two dollars and have unlimited basil! And who doesn’t want unlimited basil?
Buy produce that lasts longer
Before you buy a ton of ripe avocados only to have them go all brown and yucky an hour later – think about what will last longer if you don’t eat it right away. Sweet potatoes, winter squash, garlic, apples and carrots all last longer than your average fruit and veg.
Lock in 2018 trips early
This is another obvious one. Flights. Are. Cheaper. In. Advance. Not two weeks before you decide to go. But to make the most out of booking in advance, check out websites like ‘I know the pilot’ for the cheapest deals in advance.
Sign up for voucher alerts
Coupon websites like Groupon offer ridiculous amounts off activities, restaurants and everything in between. Half price laser hair removal and 80 per cent off a fancy restaurant after? Yes please.
Don’t buy on impulse
Instead of shopping like the world is ending tomorrow, try and wait a month before you buy anything – that way you’ll figure out if you actually want it. It may be hard, but so is life, sweetie. Especially with no savings.

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