6 Creative Ways to Save Money - My Wife and I Save Over $700 a Month!

This past year my wife and I set out to trim our monthly budget with some creative ways to save money. Our kids are getting older and we are wanting to start traveling with them to places like Disney World. Besides adventures, we also are wanting to get more aggressive with our retirement savings. To help us save up for those adventures and savings we decided to start trimming our already lean monthly expenses.

The cuts we found save us over $700 a month!

When you already have a lean budget as we do, it can be tricky to save money. Sure you can cut out the fun stuff but I want to be able to enjoy life a little bit as well! The trick is to get creative and continuously be learning. Below are some examples of creative ways to save money every month. These are all personal examples my wife and I have implemented over the last year.

1. Internet ($15 a month)

I briefly mentioned this in a recent article but I had no idea you could use your own modem instead of renting one from the internet company. I knew we were paying $15 a month just to use their modem but apparently, you do not have to do this.

It is not that hard either! We ended up purchasing one from Amazon for about $50. It will pay itself off in 3.5 months!

Once you get it, you will unplug the cable company’s modem then plug in your new modem. While waiting for it to start up I plugged my computer directly into the modem. This allowed me to follow the instructions from Xfinity (URL provided by the modem company). Once done, I unplugged my computer and plugged that ethernet cable into our wireless router. This took maybe 10 minutes overall.

Once done, I returned the Xfinity modem and they took the charge off our monthly bill.

2. Phone Bill ($60-$70 a month)

We took a giant leap here. We have been with Verizon for almost 10 years but at $136 a month we decided this bill was WAY too expensive. After some research, we decided to move over to Google Fi.

Google Fi is a unique network that switches between the T-Mobile, USCellular, and secure WiFi networks depending on who has the strongest signal. We have only had the service for two weeks now. I have no complaints yet.

To help you save more money, you can bring your own phone. We ended up doing this. Be aware that the auto-switching between networks only works with compatible phones. You can see if your phone is compatible through the Google Fi website.

3. Subscriptions ($30 a month)

Subscriptions for streaming services or monthly boxes can really add up. This is what happened to us. We had way too much so we both discussed what needed to be cut.

Together we discussed what service we, individually, watched the most. My wife said Netflix and I said Hulu. The kids watch Disney+ the most which is another favorite for my wife and me. After our discussion, we decided to cut everything but Netflix and Disney+.

We also decided to get rid of my Adobe subscription because I was barely using it anymore and had access to the very old but still very usable Adobe CS5. Lastly, we decided to cut our Microsoft Office service and use Google Docs instead. This is a very viable substitution.

I recommend writing down every monthly subscription you have. Most of these subscriptions are wants, not needs. Because of this, I would go through your list asking yourself, “Do I really use this much?” and ranking them with how much you use them. Once you have finished your ranking, cut the bottom of the list.

4. Groceries ($50-$100 a month)

Groceries can be expensive! We spend anywhere from $100 to $125 on food for the week.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, King Soopers (Kroger) has made all of their digital which makes it easier to find deals for the week. We make sure that we take advantage every week. King Soopers also gives us loyalty coupons that will give us free items such as eggs or $10 off produce.

Some weeks, these coupons can drop our $125 grocery bill down to $100.

We also enjoy using the Ibotta App. This app is a creative way to save money which saves us anywhere from $5-$10 a week. This might not seem like much but it can add up throughout the month! Check out our Ibotta review if you would like to learn more about this awesome application.

5A. Refinance (Net Zero)

Refinancing and the next item, student loans, are tied together so that is why I named them 5A and 5B.

In the summer of 2021, we decided to refinance, not to lower our interest rate though. We already had the lowest interest rate. Instead, we were trying to tap into the $115,000 of value our house had increased in the first 12 months of ownership.

One main goal of our refinance was to get rid of our private mortgage insurance (PMI). After the 2008 housing collapse, PMI is required for homeowners to carry in they have less than 20% down in the home value. My wife and I were able to put 10% down on our $500,000 home. We needed to come up with another $50,000 to get above the 20% downpayment. This is where part of the $115,000.

The rest would go into helping us restructure our debt.

5B. Student Loans ($550 a month)

We refinanced with a goal not to take on more debt but to restructure our current debt. This time around we focused on paying off my $45,000 in student loan debt with the remainder of the $115,000.

While that debt still exists, we were able to cut the interest rate in half. We can now take this extra $550 and put it into our retirement fund so it can hopefully earn more money for us.

Creative Ways to Save Money Conclusion

It feels great to be saving this much every month ($8,400 annually). This money can go a long way for our future and for having adventures with our kids.

What is your favorite creative ways to save money!

Wallet Squirrel

Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!