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Ask HN: What's your favorite way to save money?

164 points by jmaccabee ↗ HN
My startup has been kicking around the idea of developing a Chrome extension to help save you money.

I've been wondering - what are some of everyone's favorite apps or extensions for saving money? I've heard of Ebates, Honey, and Ibotta. Is there a need that's currently going unmet?

Would love to get potential user feedback. Thanks!!

194 comments

[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 214 ms ] thread
codegeek
Give me a chrome extension that always alerts me if I am missing a possible coupon on an e-commerce site that I am on. For example, automatically check sites like retailmenot.com etc and tell me possible coupon codes for a product i may be checking out without applying any coupon. Bonus points if u also apply that coupon for me :)
jmaccabee
Thanks! Are you interested specifically in coupons? One thing we've been brainstorming is an extension that offered a more comprehensive set of ways to save - coupons, cash back, deals, etc.

Is that something you'd be interested in?

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jasonpeacock
How about something that prevents purchasing, or forces a 1-day wait. The best way to same money is not to spend it, and most of us don't need half the stuff we buy....
swalsh
Oh man, what a great idea. Especially as you start shopping around, you can build a broader profile of a customer's shopping habits, which could be sold for better targeting advertising.... oh wait... argh why does my mind always go there.
EdHominem
Have a meta-site, like a pluggin, with a shopping cart. You browse other sites such as Amazon, EBay, Anandtech, etc and it creates a registry of things you want.

On the backend it can solicit better offers from other merchants on the same and similar merchandise.

Also, as you note, the customer's data could be sold and (partially) turned into a rebate. Perhaps the site could also tell you which extra data (your gender, age, other purchases, etc) would be the most valuable and you could choose to release these facts.

jrcii
You can already do this with Amazon's Add to Wishlist bookmarklet which lets you add any product from any page on the web to an Amazon wishlist.
tonyedgecombe
I use Amazons wish list for this, most of the stuff I put in there never gets purchased.
sdegutis
Show me a free alternative to some product show-cased on HN.
fleitz
Ad Block Plus, no ads, no desire to purchase the products I didn't see.

Seriously, not buying stuff / eating out is the best way for me to save money, especially if I spent the time that I would have been shopping / going out, working.

Something that might be an idea is linking to a savings account and adding a button beside the purchase link on amazon, etc, like "Save money instead, if you saved $56.32, you'd have $2345.54 in total savings" it would be epic if it went into a GIC or something not very liquid.

jmaccabee
I really like this idea!! Thanks
charlieflowers
That is an EXCELLENT idea. You'd get a bunch of customers on reddit.com/frugal
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s_kilk
I just record all my discretionary purchases in a spreadsheet and recoil in horror at the end of the month.

My monthly spend has been steadily dropping since I started doing this about six months ago.

EDIT: I seem to have misunderstood the topic of this thread, but, as another commenter puts it, the best way to save money is to not spend money in the first place.

iamdave
On that note though, while I realize there are plenty of apps that will do this sort of thing for you, I really wished there were that did it with this level of simplicity.

And I don't mean create an account for Mint or Level or any of the other bountiful budgeting services out there and merely export to a Spreadsheet. I (personally) literally only want something that can connect to my accounts, see a transaction, and update a row. Nothing in the middle.

Does it exist already?

fakename
I record all my spending manually with Expense Manager [ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.markushi.ex... ] Dead simple. Add an amount, give it a category, add a note (optional). See trends, exports to excel. Every attempt to use mint, level, etc has resulted in confusing duplicated entires or entries that don't show up until I've forgotten what they are.
iamdave
This is perfect. I have one of those phone case/wallet combos and cards are right there with the phone so I can quickly enter purchases.

Thanks!

tonyedgecombe
For me I don't think that would work, manually handling the receipts and entering them in a program is part of the process of understanding my spending.
fossuser
Simple does it: https://www.simple.com/

It's a bit of a hassle to switch since you need to set up direct deposit and wire your money over from your existing bank. Once you've done this though if you use the debit card for purchases everything is tracked with nice graphs and decent software.

Downsides:

- No branches, it's a bit of a pain to get a cashier's check on short notice.

- Can't use rewards credit card if you want to actually take advantage of it.

I find the automated data collection and graphs is worth the 2% 'cost' of not using a rewards credit card.

Pamar
Every month i create a file (e.g. 201605.csv for May 2016) where I write date, description, amount and category, manually, using whatever editor I have at hand. The files reside on Dropbox so I can also update these via smartphone when needed. And I wrote (like 15 years ago?) a very simple Perl script that pointed at csv files will summarize expenses and income by category, and provide totals (along as percentages, i.e. stuff like

"BOOKS: 23.75 / 0.31% of total monthly expenses"

That's all. Being .csv it can be manually updated, ported wherever I can run Perl, imported in Excel or in any DB I may care for etc. If I want to run analysis I can paste together all the files and run R on these etc. etc. etc.

I have maybe 20 categories, so it's easy to assign to them and I don't have to agonize for hours about how to tag any non-recurring expenses.

This has proven to be enough for me. YMMV, of course.

codersteve
>> I really wished there were that did it with this level of simplicity.

The desktop version of YNAB was pretty much like this.

superdog683
if you use apps. and a spread sheet to keep track of all misc. expenses then i would say too much time and effort.

my simple way is take the misc. expenses $ money right off the top when cash check. i put the cash in my pocket. $800 every two weeks. and i use cash for all misc. stuff. use the credit card for fixed monthly expenses and pay maintenance stuff like insur, etc elec. check. so if run out of cash then done till next check. and usually have left over dont usually spend full $800 i just throw it in the drawer until it piles up and then spend it on something or divert to invest. acct.

koolba
Create a chrome extension that somehow keeps people working as if you're busy making money, you're generally not spending it.

Something that disables access to HN would probably be enough.

drinchev
My father always says : "saving money is the beginning of being poor".

So I always try to save money by thinking how can I make more. These days money = time is a strong equation, so just don't loose your time and use it in a way to make money.

Stop thinking about saving money and spend your thoughts on revenue stream. That's why I rarely use services like that and don't count the pennies ( I'm neither rich nor bragging )

patmcc
Certainly it's good to increase your revenue, but saving money is often much more valuable; a dollar saved is $1.4 earned, assuming you live somewhere with a high marginal tax rate.
elsewhen
this is true, but the most you can save is 100%, but earning potential is generally unbounded. if you do not have marketable skills, then saving may be the only way to go, but if you can develop a valuable skillset, you can earn significantly more than you can save.
kamaal
Firstly they are not mutually exclusive.

Secondly, though there is no upper limit to how much you can earn it rarely works that way in the real world. People who are not saving money are doing it for many psychological reasons, like being unable to resist the temptation to spend on things. And most of the times they don't like it after they do it.

Lockyy
Earning may be unbounded but so is spending. Unless you have a baseline lifestyle that you maintain then any increased earnings will just be eaten by increased spending since you'll already have convinced yourself that saving is pointless.
charlesdm
Whenever I've had cashflow problems in the past, for me, spending less was never the solution. Having a good idea (and thus, making more money) always was.
kranner
Extrapolating from the past doesn't always work. In this case maybe you are not accounting for future illness or burnout.
pjc50
It's great that you can have profitable ideas whenever you need them.
charlesdm
The thought of running out of money can often be a great motivator.
fleitz
The people who spend the least are the poorest. If you we're thinking about putting your money into something worthwhile you'd very likely get a tax credit, also here's the kicker, the most you can get your expenses down to is $0, what you can get your income to is limitless.
dwaltrip
Also, frugality reaps increased benefits as the income rises. If one can maintain the same cost of living while earning more money, you end up with huge % increases in discretionary cash that can be used for all sorts of great things: investing, philanthropy, starting a business, saving for future personal projects, travel, etc.

Example: earn $100k, $35k goes to taxes, spend $50k a year = $15k discretionary. Increase income 50% to $150k, taxes become $52.5k, spend the same $50k = $47.5k discretionary. So total income only increased by 1.5, but discretionary increased by a factor of 3. Of course, this is a simplistic example -- tax rates aren't constant for one thing. But the principle is very powerful, and the effect strength grows as the income increases. Using the above numbers, 2x the initial salary results in a 5x increase in discretionary income.

Lastly, this strategy also provides great protection against a decrease in income.

uola
Agreed, but there's also a fine line between frugality and being cheap. You should optimize what you get for the money, not lower your quality of life in an unsustainable way.
dwaltrip
Of course, all things in healthy moderation. In the end it will come to what one is willing to do personally. But we shouldn't confuse "spending money like my coworkers or peers do" with "maintaining a good quality of life", even if there can be some correlation. I think most people will not have a problem becoming "cheap" (to me this word means: a person who expresses their frugality in a dickish manner)
vthallam
I believe this too and most of the tech people do that i guess, since they their skills are in demand. But there are millions of people who have standard revenue streams and not everyone can be entrepreneurial in finding new ways to make money than worry about pennies. These apps are aimed at those, showing people who they are wasting money and also ways to save it.
Havoc
A mix is the optimal approach. Investing some time into cutting the low hanging fruit on the expense side is certainly worthwhile.

People just take it to far...you can only cut thing so far before it screws up your lifestyle so yeah after cutting the obvious its about more revenue as you say.

kaolinite
I used to use this excuse to justify ridiculous levels of spending. My time is valuable, etc. It's definitely true for some people but probably not most and certainly not me. Unless you actually are earning more (and saving it too, not just spending it) as a result of this mindset, I'd recommend reconsidering.
drinchev
I find it more like a mindset than an actual excuse.

E.g. I want to buy a Tesla and I don't have the money. I say to myself : "Now it's not the time." instead of "Let's save some money!".

If you have millions and you want to buy 10 cars, then I think you have a problem with your ego.

uola
I think the point is that it's very easy to convince yourself of the time is money concept when you really just don't want to care about money or want fancier things. While forgetting that money is also time.
evm9
Of the two (money coming in and money coming out), you can only restrict money going out so much.

You have your basic expenses you need to live (food, shelter, water), which cost most people at least tens of thousands per year.

If you live miserably only allowing money out to expense those needs, you're still only saving tens of thousands.

You have a lot more ability to increase money coming in than money going out.

I think this is the point OP's father was trying to make. Don't get stuck in a loop of allowing your employer to pay you $xx,xxx (or $1xx,xxx) for decades and restrict yourself for your whole life just to retire old and live an average lifestyle. Take control of your life and control your success.

d4mi3n
100% agree with this, though I've seen it worded differently.

Rather than worrying about optimizing spending I find it much easier to maximize my earning potential. Negotiating a better salary will often net one more money over time than chasing coupons.

readme
I'm sure your dad has a lot of money and all, but saving money works pretty well for most people.
iofj
Look at the interest rate. Now look at inflation (not "core" inflation, the one you pay). Saving, money in bank, is not a good investment atm. Or put differently, it's at best as good as gold bars under the bed.
readme
So yes, you not only have to save the money. You need to invest it.

I was not going into explicit detail, but pontificating on the idea of saving as opposed to spending.

With that said, one of my banks offered me a 3.00% APY on a CD the other day. Still not really enough for me. I would prefer to throw the money in index funds and wait longer.

[dead] iofj
Investing it is rapidly ceasing to be an option. For instance, you cannot realistically defend that the old risk profiles still work for balanced portfolios (bond-stock risk split) at this level of central bank intervention.

Btw: where do you get 3% APY ?

charlesdm
Saving money is the beginning of being poor. Investing it, however, is not. You don't actually need a ton of capital to make decent income off of compound interest (capital gains), which is taxed at a lower tax rate (or not taxed at all in some countries). If your money is working for you, you shouldn't have to worry too much about saving on purchases.

That said, a lot of people are completely stupid with money. Some people will try to save money by cutting expenses everywhere and then, for example, proceed to overpay €10-20-50k on a house. Or not negotiate high random fees, ever.

tamana
I see you are in Europe. In USA it's overpaying $100K-$500K for a house.
scotu
Investing is also not as easy as saving. How does someone goes from no-invesment-knowledge to not-loosing-money in investment (and possibly "decent income off of compound interest")? Just trusting the bank guy?
charlesdm
Rule 1: Never trust the bank guy. With the exception of perhaps private banking (though fees are high there), if those people really knew how to make money, they wouldn't be working at a (consumer) bank. They'd raise a $10-20-50m fund and make a killing for their clients and themselves. It's that simple.

Either you go with low fee index funds (i.e. Vanguard S&P500, which tracks the market and will require the least amount of effort) or you learn about investing by putting in the time to understand things properly (which might lead to higher returns but can take a lifetime).

scotu
bank guy: I somehow suspected that

thanks

superdog683
one can spend end less amounts of time on "investing"

i like macro-economics and treat it as a hobby.

others that may have little interest in the subject could take a simple route.

25% gold/silver 25% blue chip dividend or index fund 25% property or rental 25% in your business or hobby, if you spend/invest in what you know and like will usually do well same with work do what you have passion and ability=success

if #3 and 4 dont apply just put 20% gold/silver and 80% in 10 different good dividend paying blue chip. why gold and silver?? because inflation protection against fiat currency. another note now not the time to by stocks, now is time to sell. buy after next correction.

duckingtest
That would be a very bad advice to Michael Tyson or every other athlete who went bankrupt after spending hundreds of millions.
kamaal
With all due respect to your father but that is seriously very bad advice.

It's almost impossible to fill a container leaking all the time.

Also make note a lot of people have gotten rich by saving and investing than have people who went into doing start ups or 'revenue stream' or such.

UK-AL
It's good advice, but it can be misinterpreted. You either spend 3 hours cutting coupons every few days or you can spend three hours learning new tech or gaining a qualification or going to meetups. Spending some money on books/taxi's etc to do so.

The best payoff is spending the money. However there is a "poverty" mentality where people would be scared of spending that money. You need to avoid that.

On the other hand you could buy a gimmicky fancy tv or keep your decent old one. Obviously just keep your old one.

Just optimise for the best expected payoff. For that you require a mix of saving, and spending.

shoo
I think a good distinction is hinted at in your last line "optimise for the best expected payoff". This form of spending is perhaps better termed investment.
superdog683
i think its a good point too much time spent saving money is wasted time. my rule of thumb is can i save more that i get paid at work?? so if you get paid $100/hr. you can clip coupons 3 hours and save 20 bucks or stay at work 3 hours and make $300 i am a dyi person but if i can pay someone to do the job less than my pay i just work extra hours and hire that person.
hacknat
I agree, I have a set amount of money that comes out of my accounts to go to my retirement account (well over 10% of my income), but it is my only abstract use of money. I really don't care where my money goes after that. I obviously use some of the rest to shelter, feed, and clothe myself, but the surplus gets spent (I have a 3 month savings reserve that I will replenish if I ever have to tap into it), other than that, what should I be saving money for exactly?
tonyedgecombe
If you are very poor then clearly doing something to increase your income makes a lot of sense.

For most people on HN I'm not so sure, most roles have a ceiling that is very difficult to get above without moving into upper management or starting your own business. The odds don't look so good then.

On the other hand having some FU money will improve your quality of life significantly. Just being able to say no to that morally questionable feature your boss is asking you to implement or turning down a weekends work when you want to go to a friends wedding has a strong impact on your well being.

Having savings and investments means having choices, having debts imprisons people.

mseebach
There's a distinction between "saving money", as in putting it in a savings account, having a nest egg. That is clearly a good thing. The other, which is what the OP is about, is "saving money", as in paying less for things. This is rarely a good investment in terms of the time/happiness/convenience/actual money saved trade-off. A somewhat extreme example is clipping coupons - the cognitive load of planning around saving a few cents on butter is simply not worth it for most people (and also, there's the subtle bias in altering your behaviour to take advantage of an offer). Another saying in the same vein is "penny-wise, pound-foolish".

I know someone who carefully plans and then spreads the weekly shopping trip between up to five different grocery stores -- and also complains that they have too little time. I and several others have tried connecting the dots for them, but it's clearly become an obsession (and needless to say, it's not like they track their spending and saving on this -- just assumes that they are saving loads).

Obviously, there are things that make sense. Of course you should shop around and negotiate for big-ticket items. It might well make sense to alternate weekly shopping trips between two different stores with different strengths (one might be good for fresh produce, but expensive for staples and household goods etc).

> For most people on HN I'm not so sure, most roles have a ceiling that is very difficult to get above without [...] starting your own business

Hacking on a side project is one of the things you could do once you stop spending hours saving dollars.

But, the point is, time is a strictly limited resource. Money has steeply diminishing returns around those ceilings. Stop wasting time saving small amounts of money and spend it getting the most out of your time (whether that's working on your revenue streams, or doing any of a number of activities that makes you happy).

uola
"Hacking on a side project is one of the things you could do once you stop spending hours saving dollars."

Hacking on ever recurring side project can also be a huge time sink, especially since projects tend to have a disproportionate reward at the end.

blfr
most roles have a ceiling that is very difficult to get above without moving into upper management or starting your own business

Considering we're on a Site Formerly Known as Startup News, starting your own business should definitely be a real option.

31reasons
Its been said many times that you should never start startup to make money. The opportunity cost and uncertainty makes its a very risky way to make money.
SixSigma
Why not both?

A penny saved is a penny earned.

mancerayder
The other one I like is, "You can always make money back, but time you can never get back." My dad said that, and he was poor for a period of time in his youth. He later was an entrepreneur (but not of the tech kind, and not of the rich kind, more the independent kind that had $0 and no job, and later a staff of around 20, in the span of a few years).

I cannot relate to the extreme savings world that isn't necessary. For example, I had a friend who made much more than me but quite enjoyed the 'optimization' or 'life hacks' mentality including reducing his electrical expenses throughout his house, living in a studio, being vegan and finding tricks to spending no money on stuff. He had a system where the farm would deliver (in NYC) organic produce based on what was available seasonally, for a subscription fee, making his food experience cheap. He would sign up to those free loans the banks would give, the ones where they'd send a check and you had no interest for 8 months, and he'd put it in a CD for exactly 8 months to pocket the interest and pay it back. etc. And he made a lot more money than me (and still does).

I can't live like that. On the other hand, I'm not the impulsive/blind spender that needs a wife/husband/'life hacks'/software to keep his spending under control. I'm also a privileged tech worker with a comfortable (but not braggable) income.

myroon5
Where can one find these free bank loans? Seems like a good opportunity.
nstart
I like to approach this from a perspective of if I save y many hours by buying some service or product, then if my time is valued at x per hour, am I making a profit? Once that is considered I also consider if I can make that money back. So instead of cleaning the house myself, I might hire a team to come do it. During the time they are cleaning my goal is to do some kind of work that helps me earn that money back ideally.

There was a time I bought a Mac book pro. I felt it would save me developer time and focus compared to my old HP laptop. So I set out to earn that money back in 6 months (did it in 4). I feel like this complete approach helps.

the_watcher
Great. The question was "what is the your favorite way to save money?", not "what's the best way to increase my net". The two ideas of increasing income and saving money are by no means mutually exclusive, you should answer the side that he asks for.
hkmurakami
Automatic deduction into a 401k plan.

Separate bank accounts for everyday spending and long term saving.

johnloeber
Not quite on-topic, but I think that for a normal tech worker, it's usually easier to increase your revenue stream than to increase your savings.
swolchok
On the other hand, if you're in CA and subject to a 50% marginal tax rate, saving $1 has the same impact as making an additional $2.
kearneyandy
I like https://paribus.co/ It automatically requests refunds for things you buy online that drop in price. It's nice because it's very passive and it's basically found money when it works.
vemv
Seems a scumbaggy app to me (even if it's legal). If you buy something for $X, it's because you can afford $X at that point in time and you agree that that's its value.
imgabe
Many credit cards offer "price protection" or something where if the price drops with X days after you buy something they'll refund you the difference. It doesn't seem scumbaggy to take advantage of a service a company offers you.
joshdickson
Worth noting that Amazon recently discontinued its practice of supporting these refunds, which was a major use case of this app. If you're someone like me who primarily is buying from Amazon, this won't help you on that.
onion2k
I read a lot of philosophy books. They taught me to think deeply about the things that make me happy, and it turns out most of the things that make me happy are essentially free (reading, coding, etc).

I doubt it'd work for everyone, and it would be tricky to turn in to a Chrome extension, but something that put a Stoic quote in to Amazon's checkout page might help people.

tue4Iezi
Any book recommendations on this?
onion2k
Anything by Alain De Botton but especially "Consollations of Philosophy" and "Status Anxiety", "How To Live: Micheal De Montaigne" by Sarah Bakewell, and "Philosophy for Life" by Jules Evans. None of them are hardcore academic works; they're just really interesting introductions to how philosophy can actually be useful.
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vemv
There's https://digit.co :

Every few days, Digit checks your spending habits and removes a few dollars from your checking account if you can afford it.

paloaltokid
Just be careful! If you make a large deposit to cover an upcoming expense Digit can go crazy and pull too much money because it thinks you've had an influx of cash that it can squirrel away.
tedmiston
It's a cool concept, but I won't use Digit personally because it doesn't provide clear financial benefit to me.

Digit sits on your money collecting the bulk of interest and giving you a paltry 0.2% annually [0]. To be clear, I'm not dissing it... if it helps some people save more than they would otherwise, then that's great, but it's just not right for my use case. I feel similarly about Acorns.

That said, their concept is solid. I run the same strategy but a few times per month by hand and into an account with a good interest rate.

[0]: See "Does Digit cost anything?" and "What are Savings Bonuses?" on https://digit.co/about/faq

Havoc
I like the CamelCamelCamel.com extension for amazon. It does something useful - shows me price history graphs so that I can see if that 40% discount is actually a discount or a sales tactic...and they also allow me to set alert for the stuff I buy in bulk but need regularly (toothpaste etc).

The amazon prices seem to fluctuate enough to make this worthwhile.

tedmiston
Didn't Amazon block CCC because of the price history graphs? I could have sworn they were all blank last I used it.
Havoc
No just ebooks they can't track
3eto
Buying second hand. From utensils to a motorbike, the amount of money I have been saving is insane. Perhaps if the extension showed me the second hand value of the item or when available, where to get it?
tedmiston
1. Fatwallet

Until it was acquired a few months ago I was a longtime user of FatWallet to make a few percentage points back on the dollar at many stores.

2. Jet Anywhere

Jet.com has an incredible cash back program called Jet Anywhere. While the number of stores is small, the percentages are very strong. For example, 20% back at Nike or Saks Fifth.

What I'm getting the most out of though is plane tickets. Flight purchases through them get 5.6% back via Orbitz or 4.8% back via Expedia. After verifying you completed the travel, they dispatch cash back in the form of Jet Cash in 30 days. Many items on Jet are equal or cheaper than Amazon, so this is effectively cash. 5% back on plane tickets becomes a significant amount of money very quickly.

By the way — they do not have a Chrome extension and I have interest in working on one.

3. Cash back credit card

I also purchase everything on a card that gives 2% cash back on every purchase without exception. This is literal cash off your bill, not a rewards program.

I've received $100+ back from the first two methods, and even more from the third.

---

I'm really passionate about the topic of "money hacking" and happy to discuss more via email if you're interested. I'm currently writing a few blog posts on personal financial habits myself.

ap0
What card are you using with universal 2% cash back?
xur17
I use the Citi Double Cash which gives 2% cash back, with no annual fee.
tedmiston
I'd prefer not to list my specific card provider on a public discussion board out of security consciousness.

That said, NY Times ran an article on "the holy grail" 2% cash back credit cards last year [0] which includes four:

- Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard

- Capital One Venture Visa Signature

- Citi Double Cash MasterCard

- Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express

[0]: Credit Cards With 2% Rebates, While (or if) They Last http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/your-money/credit-and-debi...

dhruvkar
Citi Double Back is one with 2% cash back. Also Chase AARP gives 3% on restaurants and gas (no cap), my two bigeest expenses outside of rent.
Phemist
I guess this only works for people with good credit rating, where the risk of defaulting is low? It seems to me this would be you getting back the 2% default fee on credit card transactions, that has been featured on HN before - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11887469.
tedmiston
That's pretty crazy, and I don't think it would fly here, though I never shop at Walmart.

Perhaps it's different in Canada but Visa and MasterCard are the most popular credit card brands in the US.

The only time I've seen something related in the US is at discount grocery store chain Aldi's (it has some commonalities with Walmart) which has a 0.5% surcharge to pay with a debit or credit card in the US and Australia. They had been doing this internationally for a while, in countries where they accept credit cards at least, and Europeans seem to be more accepting of it than Americans, but it only became consistent in the US over the past year or so.

sawthat
Don't use credit cards. I also recommend YNAB: https://www.youneedabudget.com
sushid
Definitely use credit cards. If you know how to manage your finances (i.e. spend about 40-50% of what you make and save the rest), it shaves off 1~2% off of all your purchases.

This is even before mileage, hotel stay, etc. rewards come in.

tedmiston
More precisely: Don't use credit cards to carry a balance.

By not using credit cards, you're giving away 1–5% free reward money from cash back programs. Not to mention the additional purchase protection you receive from shoddy vendors, like bars padding tips.

sawthat
Best way to not carry a balance is to not have a credit card. It's very easy to say "don't carry a balance" but most people do. When I used credit cards I often carried a balance, despite my best efforts. If you have the discipline to NEVER carry a balance, more power to you. But most people don't and the points just aren't worth it.
tedmiston
That's fair.

I've never felt like it's taken much discipline for me personally, and I've never carried a balance on any credit card. I try to live far under my means and mostly just spend money on food, coffee, travel, and a laptop. Most of the rest of my "things" are hand-me-downs.

One "hack" that works for me is reviewing each transaction and paying the card in full every week. If I see it especially high one week then I spend more conservatively the next. I don't do any explicit budgeting, but being conscious of the big picture helps me.

kyleblarson
Zillow: use it to buy a house that's not in the Bay Area and move to a place with a reasonable cost of living.
paloaltokid
My strategy: * use mint.com for budgeting and expense tracking. * a budget line item is "savings". * set up an automated transfer from my direct deposit checking account to my savings account. * fire and forget.
jheriko
not spending. :P

its a shame banking services are still pretty archaic in their infrastructure - with secure access to user data through a good, secure, api, i'd love an app that would give me alarming notifications if i was spending money out of my account. :)

ziggit
I like simply using the approach of pretending a portion of my income doesn't exist at all. I've got a Money Market account that I shuffle money over to automatically, and in a reasonable enough quantity that I don't have to run the risk of tapping into it.

I make a point to never look at my paychecks and never check the balance of the account, and instead simply deal with my post tax, post saving total.

It doesn't lend its self to an app, but it has served me well over the years.

kamaal
1. Learn cooking: Saves a lot of money, healthy and a lot of long term advantages.

2. Learn to do the 'beginning with the end in mind': A lot of us here in India go and buy a plot on a reasonable loan, and then try to clear it off within 2-3 years. This way you get to acquire a resource, make a investment, and are forced to save up every month to clear the loan. This is more like forced savings. Repeat this for a long time, and you will get really really rich.

3. Keep a diary: Keep a habit tracker, try to get a continuous streak of $0 expense days.

4. Pick up a hobby like music: Gets you entertainment without bills for TV/Cable and things like that.

5. Buy for need and durability: Don't buy everything that you see people buying. Buy only if you need something and buy durable stuff.

There are a range of other things I do. But it might get a little too long for a HN post.

suranyami
This is a great set of suggestions.

On the cooking side of things, I found I was spending a lot of money buying lunches. Sydney is a VERY expensive city: a 'cheap' lunch in the CBD costs at least $7. So, we're talking about saving at least $35-50 per week. Over a year, that's approx $1500-2000 per year. And often, it's not as good as things I like to make for myself.

So I cook double-or-triple the quantities of recipes on the weekends... I take pride in making complex curries, slow-cooked casseroles and the like. Usually, doubling or tripling the quantities does not change the cooking time significantly and there are economies of scale with the costs as well.

Then, I package up the extra into lunch and dinner-sized portions for myself, wife and family for the week in the freezer.

This way, we all get cheap lunches (cost approx $1-2) and gain extra time at dinner during the weekdays (no cooking! just re-heat and add rice/salad/veges).

I'd say that as well as saving $1500-2000 per year, it's also saved us an hour or 3 every single week. Frankly, it's worth it if just for the time saved.

cscharenberg
Slow-cooker meals are indeed great. Very cheap to fix, makes big quantities, and they can be wonderful. Throw things in at 8am, at 5pm you have hot, delicious food in quantities to throw a dinner party or eat for days.

My wife and I did a "month of slow cooking" to try recipes. Most were good and many are part of our regular cooking rotation now.

kaybe
5. I wish there was a definite way to determine quality beforehand easily, but in most cases it's a huge hassle. Also, customer feedback a few years down the line instead of right after the purchase would be nice because that's when the product's weak points really become known.