The cost of living is increasing and frankly things are more expensive than they've ever been. Learning how to save money is a vital life skill, and so we've got you covered with some easy-to-implement, practical tips. Between easy life hacks and forward-thinking financial solutions like Scotiabank's new Momentum Savings Account, that can help set you on the right financial path.
Track Your Spending
Tracking your spending seems like a tedious thing to do, but figuring out where you're spending your money is the first step towards knowing where you can save and where you can't. There are numerous personal finance apps out there that can make tracking costs easily. Mint, Freshbooks and YNAB (You Need a Budget) are good options. Fixed costs like your rent or mortgage likely won't fluctuate, but keeping track of your expenses for a month may help you realize that you're spending more than you ought to on take-out coffee or happy-hour pints.
Piggy Bank
This sounds like a joke, but piggy banks work because they get your loose change out of sight. "Out of sight, out of mind" is a saying for a reason; if you can't see the stack of coins that would have inevitably ended up on your dresser, you won't have the opportunity to spend it. Try out this old-school trick and make a point of emptying it once a month and taking the contents to your bank.
Cut Your Cable
Cable-cutting is all the rage these days, and for good reason. Traditional cable packages are oftentimes costly and usually don't have the content that matches your interests. Combining a few streaming services is a good way to get what you want without paying for things you don't. Bonus: you can stream shows when it is convenient for you.
Think Outside The Box
Programs like Scotiabank's "Bank The Rest" are a neat way to put away some cash. If you enroll in this savings program, purchases you make with your debit card get rounded up to the next $1 or $5 (you choose). The difference between your purchase and the amount it gets rounded up to gets deposited in your savings account. For example, your purchase of $4.23 will get rounded up to $5. The $.077 of your own money will be moved to a savings account of your choosing.
Automate Your Savings
We live in a digital age, and doing your banking from your phone or laptop is just the way things are, now. Automating the transfer of $200 into your savings account every month, for example, is the higher-concept iteration of the piggy bank's "out of sight, out of mind" idea. You should give it a go, because it's easier to save towards a goal like a home or a vacation if you combine active strategies (making choices like having one fewer latté) with passive ones like pre-authorized contributions.
Scotiabank's new digital MomentumPLUS Savings Account is an innovative solution for customers interested in high-interest savings. Fully customizable, MomentumPLUS offers customers the choice of up to five different savings periods – 90, 180, 270 or 360-day periods, to save for different things, all within the convenience and simplicity of that one account. A longer savings period earns a higher interest rate provided no withdrawals are made. The longer you save, the more interest you earn helping you reach your savings goals faster. Open an account online or learn more here.