How to Save Money in 2024

As 2024 is beginning, I am excited to talk about how to save money in 2024 and how to be frugal in 2024. I know tightening our belt for 2024 may not sound exciting, but it really is, because we are going to reflect on our last year’s budget and make a solid plan going forward.

We all change throughout the year. We all learn new things, try new things, learn from each other, and is that not exciting?

Let’s begin by taking a look back at last year. I want you to really stop and think: what did you do last year that moved you in the direction that you wanted? Did you start weighing my fruit or counting the fruit in the bags? Just little tiny things like that all add up.

As we have gone through this process year to year, we have all added things to our bag of tricks to help us cut our expenses, which gives us extra wiggle room to have money for other things.

So let’s talk about these little frugal tips for 2024 that we can learn from one another.

I get cold faster than my husband, and up until this year we would always turn up the heat as soon as I got cold.

Last year, my son got me a heated throw for Christmas, so now whenever I get cold, I first put that on, and sometimes that is enough, then if I am still cold I plug it in, and only if my husband gets cold do we turn on the heat.

Just this natural progression of things helps us save so much propane, which is essentially saving money. It costs us several hundred dollars to put propane in the tank, and since October, we have only used 55% of the tank – usually we would have had to refill it already.

So look at those little changes and give yourself a pat on the back for those because they have added up this last year.

I am now reviewing my expenses from last year. I have a whole different plan going forward because I have just recently retired, so my income has changed, and so have my expenses.

I am going to need to tweak that budget: the places where things have gone up, like my property taxes, are going to be offset by where things have gone down, like my car gas. My car tags went up a tiny bit, and I have that budgeted $7.08 each month, which is what it costs for me to have my car in the state of Kansas.

I raised my Christmas budget to $277.43 a month, and since this is a slight increase, I have already started saving for Christmas next year, using cashback apps.

I have already made $10 on Swagbucks in December, $15 on InboxDollars and $20.80 on Ibotta. That adds up to almost $50, which is significant, especially when I am not working. I am going to try to build those accounts all year long and then cash them out as extra help to my budget.

I have left my vacation budget at $300 a month as a projected amount, but I do not think we are going to need that much with the plan that we have in place, since that one is relatively cheap.

This year, I have no car payment and no house payment. The only car expenses I have are upkeep like tires and oil changes, and I have that budgeted for $55 a month on average.

I have clothes budgeted at $11, but I do not think I will need anything this next year. I am still losing weight and I have a lot of clothes in the old sizes that I have separated out and marked, and I just plan on moving into that next size of clothes when I drop a little bit more.

I have reduced my snack budget to $50. I have not been spending that much and do not intend to, so there will be some wiggle room there.

I do have some turnpike costs averaged in at $22 a month, but I never spend that much on the turnpike. It does take a bit to visit my husband's parents, as well as whenever we go south, but I do have that averaged in, and it will probably have some wiggle room there as well. That turnpike budget also includes a Hulu subscription that my son and I share, so I can watch General Hospital every single day, since YouTube always misses parts of it.

There are also the phone and internet costs, both at home and in the south. The electric and propane bills come up to $170 a month. Right now we have been spending about $65 a month on electricity, but the rest of it is in case I need propane.

I have my car gas set at $50 a month, Amazon Prime at $12 a month, groceries still at $245, and cat food at $50, and I am not changing that. I still have us budgeted for $50 a month to eat out.

We do not always use that money, so there is some more wiggle room. I also have my haircuts budgeted at $3 a month in case I decide to get my hair cut a couple of times a year, but I do not always do that.

I have my medicine budgeted at $44 a month. That covers any refills, vitamins, anything over the counter like Tylenol, and I am hoping that that is going to go down with some of the new discounts that I found for my medicine.

All of that together comes down to under $21,550 a year, which is way below the poverty level, even with all the wiggle room in there, so I think this is a fabulous result.

How to save money in 2024

Look at the things that you have changed this past year. It may be hard to put a finger on them, but I bet you have changed a lot of things that you have not given yourself credit for. Focus on the expenses that you have influence over, such as electricity bills and groceries. And keep learning every day.

What are some of the ways you have found to save money in 2024? Let me know in the comments, and stay tuned for more strategies for frugal living in 2024.