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Chelsea and friend-of-TFD Erin from Broke Millennial talk about the innovative ways to save more money when you're already being very frugal. You can catch Chelsea and Lauren talk more ways to save money here: https://youtu.be/LxBzy10He5o.

www.brokemillennial.com

How Broke Millennial Stopped Being Broke:
https://youtu.be/poc9L0aZYA0

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Hey, guys. It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet.

And this week's video is brought to you by Skillshare. And this week, we are bringing back, by popular demand and the incredible view count on our first video together, the inimitable Erin. Lowry-- a.k.a.

Broke Millennial. Hello, everyone. Great to be back.

And as you can see, we are in a hotel room because, as you guys might remember from last year, we are at FinCon. And we'll link you guys to our first video with Erin in the description so you can check that one out. But this week, we thought we'd do something fun and talk about the ways that you can save extra money-- the unique and sort of weird ways-- if you're already saving a lot.

So obviously, if you are someone like Erin who is very much on top of their money game, it can often feel like, if you're already doing everything, if you're already saving as much as possible, and if you're already really paying attention to what you spend, it can feel like, well, what else is there to do? And it's difficult also when you're on a super low income because you feel like, my budget's already so tight. Like, what more can I realistically cut out?

But we found at The Financial Diet, particularly from hearing from not only just our audience, but all of our different contributors, that there are endless ways to trick yourself into A, spending and saving in different ways, and B, noticing those changes way less. So to get started, I wanted to ask Erin about one of her best tricks for just saving more money, even when she already feels like she's really saving a lot. So my number one way that I save money is to nickname my savings accounts.

And what I mean by this is, depending on your bank, most banks allow you to go in and actually change the title from Savings Bank Account Number 572601 to something really specific. For example, I was just saving up for a trip to Japan so I had changed it to Japan Trip June 2017-- as specific as you can get. And the reason you do this is, it throws up a little bit of a psychological block so that when you want to pull a little bit out because something fun is happening this weekend, you're like, now?

Or do I want to save for Japan Trip June 2017. And you were also telling me about something specifically to do with $5 bills. This one's a little bit quirky, so bear with me.

Living in New York City, I actually still use a lot of cash. And every once in a while, I like to do what I consider the juice cleanse of financial stuff. And that's, do a cash diet.

And one thing I read about recently was, somebody was saving every single $5 bill that he got back in change. So let's say I take a $20, and I go buy a latte, and they give me a $10 and a $5, I take the $5 home, and I put it in a jar. I know it sounds really weird, but I've actually saved almost $300 in the last four months by putting away $5 bills.

Whoa. So something that I have found is really helpful for me for saving money in a place where I spend all the time and am very, very likely to spend irresponsibly is, for me, I love going to the grocery store. I love shopping for groceries, and particularly if I go to a nice grocery store.

Do not let me within 50 feet of a Dean & DeLuca because I will just burn an entire paycheck on just beautiful tiny toasts and weird vegetables I've never heard of. But I find that when I'm doing my regular grocery shopping, something that's super helpful to me-- because not only is it accessible, but it's also something I don't have to think about-- is I take two reusable bags with me that I use to shop. And one of them is only allowed to be filled with produce.

And it can be fresh produce, and I actually buy a ton of frozen produce, or even canned produce. But it has to be produce. Because A, it's better for you, B, it's generally way less expensive, and C, it forces you to make the bulk of your meals out of these items.

And then, the other bag is where I put everything like meat, dairy, packaged and processed foods-- all of that other stuff. And by doing it that way, not only do you start the shopping trip with all of the produce, and realize how much use you can get out of all of this stuff. By the time you're at the end of your shopping trip and you're looking at getting, like, yet another seasonal flavor of Oreos, you're like,.

I already feel like I have enough groceries. But they're so good. To be fair, I have never been more burned than by the Golden Oreos with the pumpkin spice filling.

No. They literally taste like a Yankee candle. Also the mystery flavor-- like, Froot Loops or whatever it is.

Oh, it's Froot Loops? Is that what the flavor is? I mean, that's my guess.

You can enter now and try to win $50,000, or whatever the prize is, but--. That's my financial strategy. --I think it's Froot Loops. Do you have any savings tricks that are around specific types of shopping or purchases like that?

Online-- Ebates, and Mr. Rebates, and any of those type of sites. I actually have a little extension in Chrome for Ebates at the top right-hand corner of my browser.

If I'm on a site-- let's say I'm on Old Navy and shopping for something-- it'll flash red at me, and say, like, hey, you could get 2% cashback if you click through our portal. And for those of you who aren't familiar,. Ebates, and Mr.

Rebates, and similar sites are cashback portals. So if you actually click and go to Old Navy, or Banana. Republic, or whatever you're buying through their portal, they get a little kickback.

And then, they give you some cashback in addition. So it's a really easy, passive way-- if you're already making the purchase because you need it, and not because you're compulsively online shopping, it's a great, little way to get a kickback. Also, I'm in the middle of planning a wedding, so I'm buying a lot of stuff off Etsy right now.

And Etsy does a little bit of cashback through Ebates. So every single time I shop through Etsy,. I go through Ebates.

And it's a tiny, little cashback. And then, once a quarter, they send you a check. And that check immediately goes into my honeymoon savings fund.

Cool. Damn, you are just full of insights. I'm on it.

One of the things when you're considering savings is, where are you putting that money? A lot of banks just give you 0.01% interest on your savings account. But there are others out there that give you closer to 1%.

That might not sound like a significant difference, but that could add up to an extra $10, $100, $200 for you over the course of the year. And, yeah, you're not going to get rich off that money. But it's an extra great meal when you're taking a trip.

It's an extra dress, if that's what you need for a cocktail party. So that's one thing to think about. Another thing that you can do is have a savings account at a separate bank from where you mainly have your checking, so that when you log into your checking account, you don't actually see that savings.

It also sometimes takes a couple of business days to clear, so it's harder for you to transfer that money over. Now, I'm not advocating your emergency savings fund be at a different bank. Because if you need that in a pinch, it needs to be easy to transfer.

We've actually advocated on the channel that if you're working to save your emergency fund, specifically, it can be helpful to have it at a separate bank. Because it really separates that money and makes you feel like you can never touch it. But once you have the emergency fund, bringing it back could be very helpful to access it quicker.

I agree. I do like putting them separately. It is nice to have a little bit at the same bank, in case you need it day-of--.

Yeah. --into your checking account, just because of two, three days lag in getting the money over there. Right. But if you're trying to get, let's say, $5,000, and you want to put it out of sight, out of mind, it's a really helpful way to be saving.

And one last thing that I've talked about a little bit on the channel before, but is so helpful if you are someone who is likely to online spend, is to make sure that none of your card information is cached in your browser. Because if you literally are-- you hit the number two, and it's all of your credit card information immediately available, you're going to be like, hell, yeah. I'm going to buy this skirt that I don't need.

Whereas, if you have to get up from what you're doing, go get your wallet, get it out, read the thing, read the expiration date, type it all in, it's shocking the amount of purchases that it will stop you from making. Another idea that's a small, little hack--. I can't guarantee you it's going to work every time-- is to put items into your cart when you're going to be online shopping, especially if you're logged in because you have an account there.

Click out, and see if they send you a coupon to encourage you to come back, and actually make that purchase. And one thing that I recently learned from buying something-- so I was looking for a new everyday bag because my old one was in literal tatters. And I was looking for a while, and I found one that I really, really liked that was on half off.

So I wanted to go see it in the store and buy it because I like to see that. And it was originally like a $400 purse. I got it for over half off.

But still, that's enough money that I'm like,. I'm going to see it. I'm going to hold it.

I'm going to hold it up next to my clothes. But on the website, they were doing this promotion that was like, you get an extra 15% off if you join our mailing list. And I was like, well, I want that 15%.

Turns out that if you go in-store, 99% of the time, they will totally honor the online thing. So you don't have to necessarily buy it online to get the code. Literally, you just walk in, show them the thing that's offered online, and they're like, sounds good to me-- 15%.

Again, this comes back to online shopping, which, if we're being honest with ourselves,. I think a lot of us do as our main way of shopping. Go to RetailMeNot or any similar coupon code site before you checkout.

I don't know how many of them have a great extension to put in your browser as a little reminder, and I forget to do this all the time. But RetailMeNot.com, you go, type in whatever store you're trying to shop in. And it could pop up that you get 10% off, 20% off-- whatever it is.

That little, extra something always helps. So one thing that I have definitely found, particularly as I have grown into my almost-- let's say, 30s. I'm still late 20s.

I'm going to be 29 soon, and therefore, have developed a lot of habits in terms of the things that I buy-- you know, very similar or the same moisturizers, cosmetic products, clothing store-- all of that kind of stuff, it tends to be a little bit more routine now. And one thing that I've found is that it's super helpful for whatever type of thing you're shopping for to really find and remain loyal to the stores and the brands that reward customer loyalty. For one example, I used to either buy my regular cosmetics online, or I would just kind of go to a Sephora, or drugstore, or whatever.

And I started going to, actually, the Estée Lauder counter at my local Macy's. It was a brand that I knew a lot of great things about. And as someone with very sensitive skin,.

I'm always on the lookout for products that don't irritate my skin. But one thing I found in shopping there was that they are not only extremely good about rewarding customer loyalty, but they also give you-- and I'm not exaggerating-- it's almost like for every dollar you buy there, you get, like, $10 worth of free products. Like, they just fill your bag with free stuff.

And also, the more you shop there, the more you get amazing coupons, gifts on your birthday. You really get a bang-for-your-buck factor. And it's the same for me at-- for example, I love shopping at Banana Republic.

And the more you shop there, they give you wonderful coupons. I wear blazers for work generally, and so I'll go back there. I would say I get a couple, like maybe one, two blazers there a year.

And now, I've started getting coupons that are like, $50 off a $100 purchase. I go in that store, and I buy, like, $101 worth of stuff, and I get it for literally half off. So for the things that you really find yourself buying frequently-- even if it's things like electronics, appliances, home goods-- start finding the stores that not only have good products, but also really treat you well and give you great deals the more loyalty you show to the brand.

So those are just a few of our lesser-known ways that we like to save money, whether it's by paying less for the things that we buy everyday or by literally manually manipulating how we save money to trick ourselves. And if you want some more advice as a broke millennial, feel free to go to BrokeMillennial.com, or follow me on Twitter for some more real-time tips. And when I find a good savings deal,.

I usually tweet about it-- @BrokeMillennial. Honestly, following Erin's Twitter is just-- like, everyday it makes me a better person. It really does.

Aw. You too. Yeah.

We also tweet about what we're thinking. No. Erin literally tweets all day about just really productive tips and useful advice.

And I literally just complain about coffee or talk about Bernie Sanders. Anyway--. Well, I talk about my dog a lot.

Oh, yeah. I highly recommend dog people follow me. If you dislike dogs-- well, sorry.

It's one place we align, on the dog front. So getting creative about how you save money is crucial to any budget. But it's also really important to get creative on how you earn more money.

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Premium membership gives you unlimited access to high quality classes from experts working in their field. So you can improve your skills, unlock new opportunities, and do the work you love. Skillshare is also more affordable than most learning platforms out there.

An annual subscription is less than $10 a month. And since Skillshare is sponsoring this video, the first 500 people to use the promo link in the description will get their first two months free to try it out risk-free. Try Skillshare today, and start getting better at what you love.

So as always, thank you guys for watching. And don't forget to hit the Subscribe button, and to come back every Tuesday for new and awesome videos. Bye! .