Are you wondering how to save money for a car? These five simple steps will walk you through how to save for a car quickly and easily.
One of the biggest purchases that most people make is their vehicle. Many times, people are faced with taking out a loan to purchase a vehicle, but there is no reason to pay interest for a car that will go down in value.
You can easily save more money by saving up and paying cash.
After learning about how to save money for a car, you’ll be all set with the tools for purchasing a vehicle of your choosing with cash.
This post is all about how to save money for a car and seven simple steps to get you there quickly and easily.
1. Decide on what type of car
Step one is to decide what type of car you want and you can save the money for. There are many options available at varying prices, so this is a crucial step.
One consideration is if you want to purchase a new or a used car. There are several pros and cons to each type of purchase.
New Car
Pros of buying a new car:
New car smell
Longer time before repairs needed
Low mileage
Cons of buying a new car:
Will cost more money
Will pay more
Depreciates faster
Will pay more for a vehicle that will lose value faster than a used car
Requires longer to save for than a used car
Used Car
Pros to buying a used car:
Depreciation value
Lower insurance rates
Can get more options for a lower price
Cons to buying a used car:
Reliability may be reduced depending on the make, age and mileage of the vehicle
Choice may be more limited
If you’ve never purchased a used one before, you might check out this used car buyers guide.
Dave Ramsey recommends not purchasing a new car until you have a million-dollar net worth, because the value depreciates. Whether you agree or disagree with this suggestion, keep in mind that a car will never be worth as much as it is brand new.
2. Decide how much you want to spend
3. Consider other expenses
There are many expenses to owning a vehicle besides just the purchase price. Being able to afford these other expenses could directly impact how to save money for a car.
Some other expenses to consider include:
Tags, Tax, and Title
Every time you buy a vehicle, whether it’s new or used, you will be required to pay for the tags, taxes, and title.
The amount for car insurance can vary greatly depending on your state, the value of the vehicle, your driving record, and any discounts that you might qualify for, such as good student discounts.
Call your insurer before purchasing to get an estimate of your monthly premiums to be sure you can afford the insurance for that vehicle.
Regular Maintenance
So types of regular maintenance that you will want to budget for include oil changes, tire rotations, and air filter changes. Every few years, you will also need to buy new tires and brakes.
Future Repairs
At some point in the life of any vehicle, it will require repairs. Anything from needing new spark plugs to a new transmission.
It is wise to keep in mind the need for future repairs before your purchase to be prepared. Because it will probably be a while before you need these types of repairs, you should have plenty of time to save up for them.
4. Find out how much your current car is worth for sale or trade in
One of my favorite tools for determining car value is Kelley Blue Book. You can go to kbb.com and put in all of your information about the vehicle you currently have, or there is an app. It will give you a very accurate picture of how much you could get on trade-in or sell.
Be sure that you know the year, make, and model of your current vehicle. You should also know what style your car is, such as limited, sport, etc. The program will ask you for the number of miles on your car and all of the features that your vehicle has.
Once you’ve put all of this information in, you can see the value of your vehicle based on the overall condition. It will give you an approximate value for Fair, Good, and Excellent conditions.
5. Create a car savings account
It will be very helpful if you create a special savings account specifically for your car fund. If you’re planning on saving for a year or two, you can open a money market account. It will grow very little, but it will earn a small amount of interest.
If you are going to be funding your purchase over less than a year, then just opening a regular savings account will be sufficient.
By using a separate savings account, instead of keeping cash, you are more likely to be successful with your savings. It’s easy to go remove some cash for pizza or to spend money out of a checking account with a debit card.
By using a savings account, you have to actually go to the bank to remove the money, and this sets you up for success. If you are looking for successful ways on how to save money for a car, this one can be a make or break.
6. Fund your savings account
I highly recommend automating your savings, by auto-deducting the amount you are saving each month from your check. By automating, you cut the risk of spending that money on something else each month.
Many banks now have the option of either scheduling a bill payment or a transfer to a separate account on a given date each month. Set this to come out the day you get paid or the day after.
These are all great ways to stay motivated on your savings journey for how to save money for a car. Use one or more of these ways for ultimate success.
Reasons Not to Use Credit
There can also be many reasons that purchasing a car with credit can be impossible or a really poor choice. If any of these apply to you, you should avoid purchasing a vehicle with credit:
Credit score under 670
According to Experian, having a credit score under 670 can cause your interest rate to be incredibly high, which would cause you to pay an unreasonable amount of extra money each month. Some people can end up paying upwards of 15.99% in interest.
Even if you have a credit score between 670 and 739, your interest rate may still cause you to pay double the amount in interest over the amount of the loan.
Debt-Free or FIRE Lifestyle
After the struggles and job losses that came with the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, many more people have adopted a debt-free or FIRE (Financially Independent Retire Early) lifestyle.
To be free from the struggles to continue paying on debt when hard times hit, many are opting out of using debt to make purchases.
Bible Believer
While the Bible does not say that it is a sin to use debt, it does state many times that we should not be in debt to anyone. Here are some bible verses that illustrate that point:
”The rich rules over the poor, and the borrow is slave to the lender.” -Proverbs 22:7 ESV
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” -Romans 13:8 ESV
“Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?” -Proverbs 22:26-27 ESV
Benefits to Paying Cash for a Car
There are many fantastic reasons to purchase your next vehicle with cash and avoid the headaches and expense of credit. Here are just a few:
Flexibility
Buying a car with cash gives you a great deal of flexibility, regarding what vehicle you purchase. You are no longer limited to what a loan company says you are eligible for.
Your savings is in your hands, having the ability to save as little or as much as you’d like for your next vehicle.
No Interest
By paying cash, you are guaranteed to pay zero interest throughout the life of the car. Instead of paying several thousands of dollars extra to a loan company, you can pay that money to yourself.
Pay Yourself
Paying cash for a car allows you to have great flexibility with your money. Instead of paying a monthly car payment, you can pay yourself by investing that money in long-term savings or investments.
Using the benefits of compound interest, you can grow the amount of money you would have been paying for your car payment. Several years down the road, your investment will have grown exponentially, while your car will have gone down in value.
Freedom
As I mentioned above, many people are seeking a debt-free or FIRE lifestyle, and to do that, you must eliminate things that hold you back. Having debt is one of those things.
By eliminating the debt that you could use purchasing a car, you gain the freedom of using your money the way you want, having the vehicle you want, and being able to make decisions about your life that you might not have been able to make before.
My husband was recently able to quit a difficult job and pursue a new career, and we would have never been able to do that if we were still weighed down by payments. I highly recommend making following the steps below on how to save money for a car, instead of using credit.
Practically Murphy-proof
When your vehicle is paid for in full, you don’t have to worry when Murphy strikes with a job loss, medical emergency, or other unexpected events.
While there will still be issues that arise running your vehicle, worrying about making a car payment during an emergency will not be one of them.
After following these seven simple steps for how to save money for a car, you will be set up for successful savings.
I hope these steps on how to save money for a car have been helpful to you in your journey to meet your money-saving goals.
Do you have other tips for how to save money for a car? I’d love for you to share them in a comment below!
Crush all of your money goals with these five tips for a save money plan you can stick to. These money saver ideas are simple and very effective.
If you are like me you may have struggled with saving money. Maybe you get started and then get sidetracked with life. It’s easy to put off saving for another day.
One of the most effective ways to stay on track with saving money is to have a good plan.
After learning these five ways to implement a solid save money plan, you’ll be on your way to meeting your savings goals for an emergency fund, to travel, for a new car, or any goals you have for the future.
This post is all about how to start a save money plan for meeting your savings goals.
1. Set Savings Goals
The first thing to get started with a plan for saving money is to set your goals. To get started you should identify the types of goals that you have, and what you’ll be saving for. There are two types of goals, short-term and long-term.
You should ideally have both long-term and short-term goals in your save money plan because you will need both at different times. You will want to ensure both are included as you proceed through the succeeding steps.
Short term goals
Short term goals can be for things that you’re going to use your savings on within a couple of years or less, such as:
Car repairs
Future car
Vacation
Medical procedure
Clothing
Christmas
Gifts
Home Downpayment
Long term goals
Long term goals are typically savings that require many years to accumulate, such as:
Retirement
Investments
College Funds
2. Use a planner
Using a planner became key in my own journey to controlling my finances and saving money. Planners help you keep track of future events and purchases, as well as track past events and purchases.
Some ways a planner can be used to help with your save money plan is for meal planning, habit tracking, preparing for upcoming special occasions, and tracking bills and purchases.
My favorite way to use a planner is in the bullet journal style. I like to use the Moleskine Dotted Notebook for creating my planner. If you aren’t familiar with bullet journaling, you can read more about it here.
Bullet journaling requires setting up each page in your planner to meet your unique needs. If you want an “already done for you” planner, I have used the Happy Planner Notebook successfully before. This style allows you to customize and add your own pages if you want.
3. Make a budget
Creating a budget is a game-changer for taking control of your money. So often, the word “budget” is associated with restrictive living and sacrifice, but this just is not true. A budget puts you in charge of your spending.
My favorite part about using a budget each month is getting to decide what spending is important to me each month.
To create an effective budget for your save money plan, follow these 5 easy steps:
List your monthly income
List your bills in order of due date, such as:
Housing
Electricity
Water
Transportation
Insurance
Bills
List your monthly expenses, such as:
Food
Gas
Eating Out
Blow Money
Entertainment
List your monthly savings
Long term savings
Short term savings (Sinking Funds), such as:
Future vehicle savings
Pet care
Christmas
Gifts
Clothing
Home Maintenance
Adjust your budget until you have all of your income distributed, and you have zero dollars left over.
Tracking your spending is an important part of your save money plan. To keep track of your purchases,
I recommend tracking your spending daily, to always know how much money you have available, and staying on track with your plan.
Write down each expense for the day, and deduct that amount from your income. Write down which category that expense belongs to in your budget; such as food, housing, etc.
Keeping track of every expense that comes out of your account will help you stay focused on your plan.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use Spending Tracker, I like to use this one.
5. Use cash envelopes
One of the best ways to avoid overspending is to use the cash envelope system. This has helped my family to stay on track with sticking to a budget.
For certain categories of spending, it works to withdraw the amount for that category and place that amount into a cash envelope. When you need to buy something in that category, you pay with the cash from your envelope. When all of the cash is gone from the envelope, then you stop spending in that category.
Here are the steps to using the cash envelope system:
Identify a category for cash, such as groceries. In our example, we’ll say we’re budgeting $400 for groceries each month.
Withdraw $400 and place it into a cash envelope labeled “Groceries”.
Every time you go to the store and buy groceries, you pay with the cash from your envelope. IMPORTANT: You must make sure you know how much you can spend each week, so you do not run out of grocery money before the end of the month.
Write the date and how much you spent on the envelope, to track your cash spending.
When your envelope is empty at the end of the month, you must quit spending in that category.
6. Think of Spending Annually
This mindset shift can be incredibly life-changing when it comes to spending money. If you think of your purchases in terms of how much you are spending on that item every year, you can get a bird’s-eye view of your spending habits.
For instance, if you routinely stop for a drink in the morning on the way to work and spend $2.50. That spending can easily add up to $600 a year. Is that drink worth $600, or could you put together your own drink at home and use that money for something more worthwhile?
7. Cut Spending
So, if you want to create great progress with your savings goals, it’s a great idea to cut your spending. There are many benefits to spending less, including focusing on priorities, spending time on more worthwhile things than shopping, and living a life of contentment.
Some tricks for cutting your spending can include:
Have you had trouble saving money? The 26 week money challenge can help you save lots of money in small bi-weekly steps.
What is the 26 week money challenge?
This challenge happens over the course of either 26 weeks, which is 6 months, or over the course of one year or 52 weeks. Most people complete this challenge over 52 weeks, and put the money into savings every two weeks. This challenge is perfect for those who are paid bi-weekly or every two weeks.
The challenge starts small with only saving $3 the first week and works its way up to saving $101 at the most in one week.
By the end of the challenge, you will have saved $1,378 at the end of the 26 weeks.
What are the benefits of completing the challenge?
There are many benefits to completing this savings challenge, such as
Builds up your saving muscles– It makes saving money a habit that you can continue through the rest of your life.
Starter Emergency Fund– When you finish, you will have a starter emergency fund to put margin between you life’s emergencies.
You can start any time– Many people think they need to start a big challenge at the beginning of a new year, but it is not necessary. You can start it any month and any day of the year.
First step to financial freedom– If you wish to pursue financial freedom, you will have completed baby step 1 of Dave Ramsey’s baby step plan for financial peace, which I highly recommend.
Influence– If you have children, showing them your dedication to saving and taking control of your money can have a positive influence on their future.
4 simple steps for competing the 26 week money challenge
1. Use a visual tracker
Many people have success with staying motivated for the 26 week money challenge by printing out a tracker and placing it in a prominent place. Check out this 26 week challenge tracker.
If you don’t want to use a pre-made tracker, you can always create your own to put on your refrigerator or in a planner. In my own experience, if you keep the tracker in a prominent place where you and others in your family can see it daily, you will be more likely to follow through each week.
So, step one will be to print out a visual tracker or create your own and place it in a place that is easy to see on a daily basis.
2. Designate an envelope or a bank account for your savings
You can choose to save two different ways, electronically or with cash.
If you want to save in a bank account, then each week, you will transfer the amount into that account.
The important part to this step is that for the entire year, you must not remove money from where you have deposited it.
3. Color your tracker
Each week when you save the correct amount, color in the icon on your tracker that corresponds with that week’s savings.
By coloring in your tracker, you will stay motivated as you see the more and more icons being colored in.
4. Celebrate your dedication to success
Celebrate each week as you meet that week’s savings goal. There is no need to wait until you’ve saved the total amount, since you’re building savings muscles, each week is a celebration.
As you color in each week’s icon, find a fun way to celebrate. You’re changing your life and taking control of your money, and that is worth celebrating!
A Modified Challenge
I’d like to mention a slightly modified option that may work better for you than the traditional way of completing the challenge.
If you happen to be starting the challenge at the beginning of the new year, you might notice that you’re saving only $10 in the month of January; however, you’re saving $204 in the month of December. This could prove challenging with the holidays.
One way that you could modify the challenge is to choose any dollar amount that you want to save each week. For instance, if you happened to get a bonus at work one week, that might be a good week to save the $103. If you’re having a tight week, because it’s close to the end of the month, you might want to save a lower amount.
As long as your icons are all colored in by the end of the year, and you have saved each amount, then you will still save the full amount.
This is just another option, and you can decide which way works the best for you.
If you would rather do a weekly savings challenge, you might be interested in the 52 Week Money Challenge instead.
I hope you have great success in completing the 26 week money challenge, and it helps you to reach new goals!
If you complete the 26 week challenge or have completed another money challenge, please let us know in a comment below. I’d love to be your new cheerleader!
Saving money can be tricky, but you can use the 52 week money challenge to baby step your way to a year’s worth of savings.
There can be many obstacles to saving money, and if you’re like me, you may wish to save, but frequently fail to follow through. In addition, you may be one of the 78% of Americans that live paycheck to paycheck.
Using the 52 week money challenge, saving makes saving money motivating and a game.
You’ll learn how to use the 52 week challenge to save $1,378 in one year in five easy steps, and exercise your savings muscles for continued savings after the challenge.
This post is about how to save with the 52 week money challenge.
What is the 52 week money challenge?
The challenge is a way to save small amounts of money each week, and by the end of a year, you will have saved $1,378.
In this challenge you’ll start by saving $1. Each week, the amount saved increases by only one dollar, until eventually you’ve saved enough for a starter emergency fund.
Benefits of completing the challenge
There are several benefits to completing this challenge:
Builds up your saving muscles– It makes saving money a habit that you can continue through the rest of your life.
Starter Emergency Fund– When you finish, you will have a starter emergency fund to put margin between you life’s emergencies.
You can start any time– Many people think they need to start a big challenge at the beginning of a new year, but it is not necessary. You can start it any month and any day of the year.
First step to financial freedom– If you wish to pursue financial freedom, you will have completed baby step 1 of Dave Ramsey’s baby step plan for financial peace, which I highly recommend.
Influence– If you have children, showing them your dedication to saving and taking control of your money can have a positive influence on their future.
One great way to stay motivated while completing the 52 Week Money Challenge is to use a printable tracker.
If you don’t want to use a pre-made tracker, you can always create your own to put on your refrigerator or in a planner. In my own experience, if you keep the tracker in a prominent place where you and others in your family can see it daily, you will be more likely to follow through each week.
So, step one will be to print out a visual tracker or create your own and place it in a place that is easy to see on a daily basis.
2. Designate an envelope or a bank account for your savings
You can choose to save two different ways, electronically or with cash.
If you want to save in a bank account, then each week, you will transfer the amount into that account.
The important part to this step is that for the entire year, you must not remove money from where you have deposited it.
3. Color your tracker
Each week when you save the correct amount, color in the icon on your tracker that corresponds with that week’s savings.
By coloring in your tracker, you will stay motivated as you see the more and more icons being colored in.
4. Celebrate your dedication to success
Celebrate each week as you meet that week’s savings goal. There is no need to wait until you’ve saved the total amount, since you’re building savings muscles, each week is a celebration.
As you color in each week’s icon, find a fun way to celebrate. You’re changing your life and taking control of your money, and that is worth celebrating!
A Modified Option
I’d like to mention a slightly modified option that may work better for you than the traditional way of completing the challenge.
If you happen to be starting the challenge at the beginning of the new year, you might notice that you’re saving only $10 in the month of January; however, you’re saving $202 in the month of December. This could prove challenging with the holidays.
One way that you could modify the challenge is to choose any dollar amount that you want to save each week. For instance, if you happened to get a bonus at work one week, that might be a good week to save the $52. If you’re having a tight week, because it’s close to the end of the month, you might want to save a lower amount.
As long as your icons are all colored in by the end of the year, and you have saved each amount, then you will still save the full amount.
This is just another option, and you can decide which way works the best for you.
Get paid bi-weekly?
If you get paid bi-weekly, you might be interested in the 26 week money challenge instead. This challenge has you save the same amount of money, but only save every other week.
You can read more about the 26 week money challenge here.
I hope you have great success in saving with the 52 week money challenge.
Have you done the 52 week money challenge before or another savings challenge? I’d love to hear about your successes in a comment below. Let me be your newest cheerleader!
Are looking for how to save money on electric bill without spending a small fortune first, here are twelve simple tips for you to try out today.
If you’re like me, your electric bill is one of your biggest living expenses each month. How to save money on electric bill becomes a challenge in order to lower expenses.
Many people give tips for lowering their electric bill that require even more money and even hiring others to perform tasks around your house.
Here you’ll see that you can get some real savings out of making several small and inexpensive changes around your house.
After learning these helpful tips, you’ll have some quick things to implement right away.
This post is all about how to save money on electric bill and twelve simple ways to get started today.
Take advantage of natural light
A great way to save money on your electricity is to take advantage of any natural light that comes into your home.
Instead of turning on the lights in your home, allow the sun to come in and light your rooms.
There are many benefits to using natural light in your home including the killing of bacteria and your exposure to natural vitamin D.
Use LED light bulbs
One of the best tips on how to save money on electric bill is to use LED bulbs. There are many different types of bulbs available, and they all use different amounts of electricity to run.
According to the Department of Energy, LED bulbs use the least amount of electricity, and they need to be changed less often than incandescent bulbs.
LED’s have been found to be up to 80% more efficient than using incandescent bulbs in your home. It costs roughly $1.32 to operate one LED bulb, as opposed to $6.60 to operate one incandescent bulb.
This can lead to a very significant savings on your electricity bill.
There is more than one advantage to washing your clothes in cold water. To begin with, you can avoid using hot water, which will lower your electricity bill.
According to one calculation, washing your clothes in hot or warm water will cost an average of $.68 a load. On the other hand, washing on cold averages about $.04 a load.
Another advantage to washing your clothes in cold water is that they will last longer, fade less, shrink less, and come out with fewer wrinkles. This can also cut down on the amount of ironing you need to do, thus saving more electricity.
This tip will not only save money on your electricity bill, but it can also help you save money on purchasing new clothes.
Line dry your laundry
Similar to the benefits of washing your clothes in cold water, there are multiple advantages to line drying your clothes.
According to Saving Electricity, the average savings per year by line drying is around $193. That is significant savings.
Other advantages to line drying include saving on dryer sheets, it doesn’t heat up your home, and it’s gentler on clothes, so that they last longer.
Implementing both washing your clothes in cold water and line drying could potentially save you up to $1.13 per load on average.
Turn off or Unplug any game systems
One surprisingly high use of electricity in your home might be gaming systems. I was shocked a few years ago to learn just how much power game systems use, even when they aren’t in use.
This article by Living Energy shows that just two hours of gameplay a day can add up to $29.50 a year to your electric bill. However, in standby mode, your game system can still use up to 15 watts.
By turning off or unplugging your game consoles, you can save up to 1411 watts per week.
If you’re using a gaming computer, the amount of energy used is even more shocking. One researcher found out that graphics cards can use between 300 and 500 watts alone.
If you’re like me, this information is staggering. By making the change to turn off your game systems when not in use, instead of just leaving them in standby mode or unplugging them could lead to a large amount of savings each month.
Air dry your dishes
My family started using this money saving technique about 10 years ago. Instead of turning on the heated dry feature on the dishwasher, we leave it off. Once the dishes have finished, we open the washer and let them air dry.
According to this homeguide, you can save about 15% of your dishwasher’s energy usage by making this simple change.
When possible, it can be a great electricity saver to use a lamp, instead of full room lighting. The savings would be based on the number of bulbs you normally use in your overhead lights.
If you opt for using a single bulb, instead of 4-6 bulbs at a time, you can save quite a big. If you pair that with using a lamp with LED lights, you can save even further.
The air filter’s job is to collect the dust and particles that would normally clog up your air conditioning system. By changing it regularly, you keep this from happening.
If your system becomes clogged, it doesn’t work as efficiently, which means it has to work harder to heat and cool your home.
This guide suggests you should change it on a regular basis based on what type of filter your system uses. If you’re using fiberglass filters, it’s recommended you change them every 30 days. If you’re using the pleated air filters, they can last anywhere from 3 to 6 months.
The manual for your HVAC system should give you the recommended changing schedule for best efficiency.
Use timers on electronics that plug in
Of all of the ways discussed on how to save money on electric bill, this is the one that I like using the most. Using timers is a quick and cheap way to make sure that electronics that plug into the wall don’t stay on all of the time.
You can simply plug a lamp or other small device into a timer, which then plugs into the wall. You can set it for the number of hours that you’d like that item to be on.
This ensures that the item shuts off at the normal time that you leave the house or go to bed.
On many timers, there are two sets of controls, so you can have the item on for a period of time in the mornings and a different period of time in the evenings, if you want.
These wall timers also have an on/off switch, so if you need that item on or off outside of timer hours, it is a quick flip of the switch.
Well, if you’re like me you might have heard your mom say this to you over and over when you were a kid…turn off the lights when you leave the room. All of those reminders are completely valid, since the Department of Energy reports the cost to light your home makes up about 20% of the electricity used.
If you opt for switching out your bulbs to LED’s, you’ll already save money, but you can further reduce your electric bill by being sure to turn off all lights when not necessary.
If you are using incandescent or halogen lighting in your home, you could be spending an additional $24 a year by leaving 10 bulbs on for just one extra hour a day. This may not seem like much, but often if bulbs are left on, they are on for a lot longer than just one extra hour.
In this case, follow mom’s advice and turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Use a Crock-Pot instead of the oven
An excellent tip for how to save money on electric bill is to use a crock-pot or slow cooker instead of your oven. This tip can also save you time on a busy day.
According to one source, the average crock-pot uses approximately 120 volts, and over the course of 8 hours of cooking, it will use only .9kWh. That is quite a bit less electricity than your oven would use.
In addition, using a crock-pot will not heat up your home, so it will also save money by not needing to run your air conditioner to cool your home down during cooking.
This tip may or may not work in your area, but if you are able to choose your electricity provider, this can potentially save you considerable money.
I live in Texas, and here we have the opportunity to choose our electricity providers. One thing that is obvious when choosing a provider is that there are large discounts offered to new customers.
Unfortunately, most continuing customers are not privy to those savings.
To use this information to your advantage, you can sign up for an introductory rate with a different provider each year.
If your area allows you to choose your provider, looking into changing providers for the best rates could be an excellent way to save money on electric bill.
I hope you try out some of these tips on how to save money on electric bill.
Do you have other ways that you use around your home to save money on your electric bill? I’d love for you to share them with us in a comment below.
Want to save lots of money on your online purchases, but don’t want to spend all day looking for promo codes? Honey does all of that work for you. You can save money with Honey today!
You may be like me and when you’re shopping online and you get to checkout, you see the space for a promo code and refuse to finish your purchase until you’ve checked all over the web for a discount.
I have spent so much time doing this over the years; however, now I understand how much I can save with Honey, I’ll never do it again.
You’ll see how easy it is to find discounts on online purchases, and make sure you’re getting the best deal before you part with your hard-earned money.
After learning about these three great reasons to save money with Honey and how simple it is to use it, you’ll be ready to start saving today.
This post is all about three great reasons to save money with Honey and how you can start saving right away.
What is Honey?
Honey is a free Google Chrome extension that runs in the background of your Chrome browser until it locates a discount for you.
When you visit one of the over 40,000 sites that team with Honey, you will see any discount that is available for the item(s) that you are wanting to purchase.
The icon at the top of your screen will turn orange, and you can easily utilize the extension to enable a promo code or discount, if one is available.
3 Great Reasons to use Honey
1. Amazon Best Price Tool
When you use Amazon, Honey will show you if the item you’re looking at is the best price or if there is another seller with a better price on that item.
This tool will also show you recent price changes. For example, I was planning to purchase a watch for a gift. With the Best Price tool, I was able to see that the seller had recently raised the price on that item by $15. With this information, I chose to wait to purchase.
This tool can help you to not only find the best price, but also make more informed decisions on the purchases that you’re making.
2. Droplist
Honey’s droplist is a great way to keep tabs on items that you want to buy, but are waiting for the price to drop.
You can add an item to the Honey droplist, and they will send you a notification if the price drops.
To activate this feature, all you need to do is turn it on to download the app and activate it on the Honey site. Then, just browse the 1000’s of stores registered with Honey and add any items you want to be notified about to your droplist.
3. Honey Gold Rewards
Honey’s Gold Rewards is their cash back system. As you use the honey extension, you can earn rewards by shopping with certain retailers.
As of the writing of this article, some retailers, such as Kate Spade, CVS Photo, and Gap Factory will earn you 1%-8% cash back. Others, such as Nike, Sephora and Macy’s can earn you double rewards.
Honey also gives you a friends and family link just for you. If anyone uses your link to create an account and earns points on a purchase, you can qualify for 500 points. (Terms apply.)
Some of the rewards that you can unlock include shopping credits, gift cards, or cash transfer to your PayPal account.
Honey does have to store some of your information in order for the extension to work. According to their privacy policy, they collect technical information about your device to make sure their extension is working.
You can choose to create an account, in which they will collect your email address. You will need an account in order to use their Droplist and Honey Gold Rewards features.
Honey states clearly in their privacy policy that they will never sell your information.
In order to make an informed decision about using Honey, I’d encourage you to read their short Privacy Policy to see exactly how your data is used.
3. At the top of your browser, find the gray puzzle piece and click it. It will open a list of all of your extensions.
4. Click on the push pin next to the Honey app to pin it to your toolbar. This will keep it visible, so that it can alert you to savings that you might be interested in.
If you’d like to use the Droplist or Honey Gold Rewards feature, you will need to have an account.
Click on the Honey icon at the top of your screen. It will be orange if you are on a page that has savings. It will be gray, if you are not. It will open a box.
2. Click on the icon of the person at the bottom of the box.
3. Click on the “Account” tab, and fill out your information.
I hope this helps you save money with Honey and see how you can easily get started right away.
Have you had a great experience with Honey that you’d like to share with our friends, I’d love for you to write it in a comment below.
Hi, I'm Carrie. Welcome to my blog, Carrie Jay Budgets. I'm an educator, life long learner, and mom to three kids. I learned the hard way that saving money and budgeting is essential to living a life of freedom. Read more about my journey.
This website contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on a product link, I may receive a commission. This website is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program where I earn advertising fees by linking to amazon.com.