Many people think that because they are living from paycheck to paycheck, they are too poor to save money for a rainy day. If all of your money is spent before you receive your paycheck, thinking about the future seems less important than concerns about your daily needs. Fortunately, there are many methods you can use to save when you don’t make a lot of money. Here are seven of the best ways to save money when poor.
Save Change
Saving change is one of the most common saving methods for those with lower incomes. Make a habit of paying with purchases with whole dollars and don’t spend your change. Find a place where you can store the change when you get home each day. When your saving vessel is full, deposit the amount saved into a savings account.
Enroll In Automatic Roundup Program
Several bank programs allow you to save money automatically by rounding up the transactions from your debit card and depositing the difference into a savings account. The Acorns app deposits the money into an investment fund and invests in the account owner’s prechosen stocks.
Keep $5 Bills
A variation of the saving change technique is to save every $5 bill you receive. The amount is so low that you won’t really miss it. After a few months, deposit all of the $5 bills you saved into a savings account and start over.
Put Away $1 Daily
A dollar a day doesn’t seem like a large amount, but putting a dollar away each day gives you $365 after a year has passed. That amount of money comes in handy when you have an unexpected expense.
Reduce Expenses And Save Difference
Most of us have expenses that we can cut without disrupting our quality of life. Some stop buying coffee on the way in to work. Others get rid of their cable packages and rely on free TV and library rentals for their entertainment. Review your budget to see what expenses you can reduce or eliminate and put the difference in your savings account.
Research Government Programs
Programs to help the needy may be available to you if your income is low enough. Programs such a food stamps, WIC, reduced income housing, free school lunches, Medicaid and Medicare, may be enough help to free up more of your income to pay off debt and save for the future.