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If you opened up this article, you’re probably someone who cares about their finances and wants to make a positive change. Whether you want a little extra money to save, to invest, or simply to enjoy, there are a few ways you can cut down on your expenses and plan for what you’d rather be doing with your hard-earned cash. 

Here are a few savings hacks to try out in 2022.

Review What You’re Spending

Of course, the first place you need to look toward is your existing spending habits. If you’re overspending on restaurants, clothing and random odds and ends, there is no ‘hack’ to fix this – it comes down to willpower and dedication. 

However, you might also be able to reduce some of your essential expenses too. Review your insurance and check out Progressive insurance reviews to see if you might be able to get a better deal. Consider downsizing your home to reduce your rent. Focus on saving energy or walk more to save on gas – there are plenty of changes to be made.

Pay Off Your Debt

The whole world is in debt – you don’t need to be following its lead. Rather than saving or investing right now, focus all your additional cash on paying off your debt as soon as you possibly can. 

Once this is out of the way and off your shoulders, that portion of your monthly income that would normally go to debt repayment will be yours to enjoy as you please. Save it, invest it, or splurge on something you know you deserve. 

Start Meal Planning

Another tip is to use meal planning to save money and time. This will simply involve deciding on your meals for the week ahead, or at least 3-4 days in advance, and doing all your shopping around this plan.

In this way, you’ll buy only the ingredients you need, and you’ll be far less likely to waste food. You can plan ahead for nights out or when you want to order in instead of cook, and you could also cook and freeze any meals that end up not being eaten, which will give you something to pull out of the freezer on busy days.

Use the Envelope Method

If you’re a chronic overspender, you might want to try out the envelope method of budgeting. This involves taking your money out of the bank (after immediate payments, of course) and portioning off the cash into categories.

You can allocate an envelope to each category – such as groceries, eating out, clothing and other variable and non-essential expenses. This way, when a particular category’s envelope is empty, you know that you’ve reached the end of your spending for that specific area.

Some people might struggle to work with cash, but this is a great way to limit yourself by force and might be a good idea to use for a short period of time until you’re able to trust yourself to use that same rule without the envelopes.