We all know that trying to save money on a low income is a tricky thing to do. Especially when your basic living expenses take up the bulk of your paycheck.

The best way to save money on a low income or any income is to take an honest look at your expense and to become more methodical with how you spend your money.

Budget

Most people hate budgeting, but even if you don’t want to budget long-term, it is a good idea to get a general idea of what your finances look like for a couple months.

The way you budget can be as simple or complicated as you like, but it needs to be accurate in order for it to work.

Check out How to Make a Budget.

Shop Sales

Sales can be awesome at some stores. You should really become familiar with the sales ads at each store you are interested in shopping at. This will let you see what their sales generally look like and how cheap things could go.

Shop Clearances

Clearances are easy to forget about if you are busy or trying to stay on budget. Shopping outside of your shopping list can be difficult if you are someone that kinda blacks-out while shopping.

If you are one of these people, then you might want to consider keeping a secondary list of items that you don’t need immediately, but are looking out for should you find a good deal. You should also remove the item from the list once you buy it so you don’t accidentally buy duplicates.

Clearances are one of my favorite ways to save money on a low income because they let me buy nicer items and more items than I’m normally able to afford.

Buy Discounted Giftcards

Discounted giftcards are a great way to save money at many different stores and restaurants. They help you save money on a low income by making your money stretch. Depending on when and where you get them, you can save 1%-12% or more off the purchase of the giftcards.

You can even get a physical giftcard to give to someone as a gift in addition to the virtual giftcards you could email someone.

Coupon Cabin and Target are my favorite places to get giftcards.

I get 5% back with my RedCard all the time, but sometimes they even have 10% off sales in addition to the 5% you get back with the RedCard.

Coupon Cabin is pretty consistent with their giftcard discounts. They are especially great for restaurants and clothing stores.

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Consider Getting a Credit Card

Credit cards are a great way to save money while purchasing things you were already planning on getting.

Department store cards like Walmart and Target are a great option, especially for people that are looking to build credit. Cards like these will either give you a percentage of your purchase off either as an immediate discount or as cash back, depending on the card.

Cash back credit cards work well for stores that don’t offer credit cards, or as a catch all card until you can get more cards from other stores.

These are more great ways to save money on a low income by making your money stretch. You can use the money you are saving on future purchases, or depending on the card you can even get the money deposited into your bank account.

Use Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are a great way to save extra money in addition to what you saved by buying discounted giftcards.

You click on the link before you make a purchase online and the cash back amount will be credited to your affiliate account after you receive your items and after the cash back processing period is over. Coupon Cabin is my favorite for this too.

Food

Groceries and restaurants are another large expense in your budget. If you are able to save money on food, you could reallocate this money to some of your debts or investments.

Cut Back on Restaurants

Restaurants are expensive, especially considering that if you go to a healthier restaurant you will probably have to tip the server. If you want to save money on a low income, try to dine out only on special occasions.

When you make food at home, you will generally have leftovers, that might not always be the case if you are eating at a restaurant. Also, you won’t have to drive anywhere so that will save you gas money.

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Sign Up For Rewards Programs

Depending on the restaurant you are going to, they might have a rewards program that will help you save money by usually getting money off your purchase or by getting free items such as an appetizer or birthday dessert.

Make sure that you are giving them your account information every time you dine so you don’t miss out on any rewards.

Pick Economical Meals

If you are dining with young children, you might be able to get away with getting them an extra side and sharing your entree with them instead of getting them a meal of their own. At some point this will no longer work and you won’t have a choice but to get them their own meal. So try to take advantage of this while you still can.

Shop the Weekly Ad

If you buy food when it goes on a sale, you are able to either spend less or get more food than you would have otherwise. If you have space in the freezer or use some other food preservation method to store this food for a later date, you won’t have to buy this food when it is now longer on sale.

Buy In-Season

Food is much cheaper when it is in season because it is readily available and suppliers don’t have to put in as much work to preserve the food, because it is immediately going out to the grocery stores.

When you buy food out-of-season, you are paying for the cost of the food and the cost of keeping it fresh until the grocery store needs another shipment.

Meal Prep

Meal prepping allows you to take advantage of shopping in-season and shopping the weekly ad. It also allows you to have meals prepped for the week so you aren’t as tempted to go out to eat.

You are also able to make healthier foods than you might get at a restaurant, so you will probably spend less money on clothes because you won’t gain as much weight and you will probably also spend less money on doctor’s visits

Batch Cooking

Heating up food takes a lot less energy than cooking the food from scratch. If you batch cook your food at the beginning of the week, you are also able to spend much less time in the kitchen during the week because you won’t have to prep the meals each day and rewash the same dishes over and over throughout the week.

If you really want to, you can even meal prep for the month and batch prep a set of the same meals for particular days of the week.

Cooking with the lids of your pots and pans on will help retain the heat in the pot or pan, so your food will cook faster.

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Cook Less

Try to make meals that don’t require a lot of cooking, you will save time and money on utility costs. You also won’t have to worry about reheating the food either.

Lower Utility Costs

We can’t do anything about the rising utility rates, but we can change how much we spend every month on utilities.

Power

If you haven’t already, switch all of your lightbulbs over to LED lightbulbs. They will save you a significant amount of money on your electricity bill.

You should also make sure that you and your family are cutting off lights and appliances once you are done with them.

Consider getting motion lights for your outdoor lighting that remains on all night or even all day and all night.

Gas

If you have gas in your home, one of the best options is to cook less and batch cook if you have a gas powered stove and oven.

If you have a gas water heater, you should consider turning down the temperature on it. This can save you a lot of money, especially if you don’t use hot water in your washing machine and if you don’t have a dishwasher, because the only hot water you would be using would be for washing dishes, cleaning around the house, and for your showers.

Water

Consider putting aerators on your faucets to decrease the amount of water that comes out of the faucet.

Make sure that you are using the appropriate settings on your washing machine and dishwasher. You should also make sure that the washing machine and dishwasher are loaded correctly and fully according to the settings you have set.

Lower Transportation Costs

Keep up with your car maintenance, especially the repairs that affect your fuel economy. Consider regularly giving your car a fuel additive, this will also help your car’s fuel economy.

Check Your Subscriptions

Forgotten subscriptions are one of the sneakiest expenses you might have. It is a good idea to make a reoccurring Google Calendar (or whatever calendar you use) event so that you don’t forget that you are paying for a subscription. Once you cancel the subscription, you should delete the future events for that subscription.

Understand How to Shop Better at Different Stores

Many stores sell the same thing, but you should know what the sales and clearances look like at these different stores. This includes what each store will put on sale or clearance depending on the season.

Find a Cheaper Phone Plan

Every year, you should research what phone plans are available in your area. Some carriers provide cheaper phone plans each year.

If you are someone who has a contract, research whether or not you really need the phone and plan that you have. Check with other carriers and see if they offer the same or similar phone and same or similar phone plan.

Find a Cheaper Internet Plan

Call your internet company and see what deals they can give you. You might be able to downgrade your internet plan to save money, or you might be eligible for a discount.

Ditch Cable and Satellite

Cable and Satellite are INCREDIBLY expensive! If you can’t afford it or don’t use it enough to make it worth it, you should consider using a streaming service, it is significantly cheaper. Cable and Satellite are terrible about adding on extra costs that weren’t mentioned in a promotion’s cost. You REALLY have to read the fine print with them and hold them to their contract.

Be a Scrooge

Don’t feel like you have to play Santa every year. If you can’t afford to give everyone and their mama a gift, that is fine. If you have kids, try to afford a reasonable gift for them, but remember that the best gift is a roof over their heads.

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How to Save Money On a Low Income: Summary

The best way to save money on a low income is to budget. If you don’t budget, you can’t see where you are wasting money and change your behavior.

Lowering utility costs, transportation costs, food expenses, cutting back on your bills and general shopping expenses can all help you save more money.

Discounted giftcards are a great way to save money, but ultimately, don’t spend if you don’t need to and especially if you can’t afford it.