The saving is usually one phone call, one setting, or one question asked out loud.

Narrow it

• Shopping smarter 24

  • A deal you didn't need is not a saving
  • Ask to see the air filter in the car
  • Buy the ingredient, not the box
  • Buy the plain test and ask for free condoms
  • Buy the plunger before the couch
  • Decide your giving before the register asks
  • Find ten percent first
  • Forty prices for the same textbook — search the ISBN
  • Let the cart sit until it ships free
  • Look up your real data use before you pick a phone plan
  • Make the warehouse club prove itself
  • Only the boring panel is regulated
  • Order the pickup straight from the restaurant
  • Pay a shop you do not know by credit card, even if it shows a padlock
  • Put it in the cart and close the tab
  • Read the settlement notice before you file the claim
  • Read what the leather label leaves out
  • Take the empty tank somewhere that fills it
  • The box it came in was the present
  • The repeated complaint is the real review
  • The species is printed on the can
  • The student discount waits to be asked
  • Weigh what you're paying for
  • Your prescription is yours to take anywhere
• Free things (libraries and more) 19

  • Any library can borrow from every library
  • Anyone can eat at a gurdwara
  • Ask for free diapers or nappies instead of leaving each one on longer
  • Ask for the free version by name
  • Ask the librarian — rent help counts as a question
  • Ask the manager what the shop is throwing out
  • Ask who the senior lunch is for, then go
  • Borrow the audiobook for the drive
  • Help exists. Using it is what it’s for.
  • No internet at home? Borrow it from the library
  • Take the free lectures, skip the certificate
  • The bakery gives away buckets — you only have to ask
  • The energy audit is free — and it finds the leaks for you
  • The fourth grader gets the whole car in
  • The library is shelter you've already paid for
  • The library will lend you a sewing machine
  • The liquor store has your moving boxes
  • The zoo pass is at the library desk
  • Where the free notaries are
• Big purchases 18

  • A second opinion costs an exam fee
  • Ask what the cartridge costs before the printer
  • Bank the warranty money instead
  • Buy it once: the boots rule
  • Cost per use: one small formula for the store aisle
  • Find the date the no-interest deal ends
  • If the repair costs what the car is worth, it is not a repair
  • Price a year of running the car before you buy it
  • Spend where you touch the ground
  • Take the VIN to the dealer before the cash changes hands
  • The casket can come from anywhere
  • The line in the secondhand aisle
  • The repeated complaint is the real review
  • The ring rule was an advertisement
  • Try the cheap bidet attachment first
  • Two decisions set the price of the whole wedding
  • When you shop for a car, price the crash too
  • Work out what a chest freezer will save before you buy one
• Travel 18

  • Ask the waiter where they eat
  • Book tonight, sleep on it
  • Carry the bottle through empty
  • Choose the local currency when the machine asks
  • Double it and add thirty
  • Download the map while you still have signal
  • Getting off at the layover: the cheap trick with teeth
  • Let the search sites find it — let the airline sell it
  • One adapter, one plain strip
  • Price the airport one town over
  • Roll what forgives, fold what creases
  • Show your eyes the motion
  • The fee the counter skips
  • The fourth grader gets the whole car in
  • The route decides what you're owed
  • The same seat, priced by country
  • Wear a new scent on the trip
  • When should you book the flight? Two honest answers
• Bills 14

  • Call before the shutoff date
  • Catch the cold water while the shower warms up
  • Find the silent leak with food coloring
  • Fix the rate, then calendar its ending
  • Interview the apartment’s bills before you sign
  • Keep the gas oven for cooking and the vents open
  • Keep the heat out before it arrives
  • Look up your real data use before you pick a phone plan
  • Program the thermostat down — never off
  • The attic is the 50% lever
  • The energy audit is free — and it finds the leaks for you
  • The lint in the trap is your clothes
  • Warm the bed before you get into it
  • Wood heat is cheap only if you burn it right
• Saving 14

  • Add up what the habit costs in a month
  • Before you feel behind on savings, check where the number came from
  • Buy the plain test and ask for free condoms
  • Cut the simple haircut at home first
  • If you are paid every two weeks, budget on two paydays a month
  • Keep some cash, then let the interest rate decide
  • Move the money that’s just sitting there
  • One story: the first full tank
  • Set the Christmas number before the shops do
  • Stay in gear when you slow down to save fuel
  • Take the match first
  • Warm the bed before you get into it
  • Write down last year’s surprise bills
  • Write down what you spend, then read it back
• Debt 13

  • Add up the whole loan, not the monthly payment
  • Don't pay the first bill
  • Find the date the no-interest deal ends
  • Keep some cash, then let the interest rate decide
  • Only co-sign what you could pay yourself
  • Pay the card off and keep it open
  • Pay the missed card payment now, then ask for the late fee back
  • Put it in the cart and close the tab
  • Set the loss before you go, and ban yourself if it breaks
  • Tell the servicer where the extra money goes
  • The ring rule was an advertisement
  • Treat the loss as gone and block the next bet
  • Your card’s interest rate is worth one call
• Banks and fees 12

  • A credit union is a bank you own a piece of
  • Ask the bank to take the fee off
  • Choose the local currency when the machine asks
  • Make the balance you see the money you can spend
  • Move the money that’s just sitting there
  • Pay a shop you do not know by credit card, even if it shows a padlock
  • Pay the card off and keep it open
  • Pay the missed card payment now, then ask for the late fee back
  • Turn on every alert
  • Turn on payment alerts: a tug on the card reader can miss a skimmer
  • Whose money is missing while the fraud is sorted out?
  • Your card’s interest rate is worth one call
• School and college costs 12

  • Any library can borrow from every library
  • Ask the aid office before you drop out
  • Ask the four-year school before you take the class
  • Forty prices for the same textbook — search the ISBN
  • Is it too late for my GED?
  • One email to the professor: will last year’s edition do?
  • Pick the job, then look up its route
  • Plan for the age you will be anyway
  • Tell the servicer where the extra money goes
  • The person who wrote the paper will send it to you
  • The student discount waits to be asked
  • Wait on the textbooks — the professor may not use them
• Gifts 11

  • A brown bag, a marker, and their name on it
  • An old map turns the wrapping into part of the present
  • Ask if there is a cat before you send lilies
  • Bring the long charger
  • Buy the six-month size
  • Give the fire extinguisher
  • Set the Christmas number before the shops do
  • Sew once, wrap forever
  • The comics you save all year become the wrapping kids read first
  • The gift bag that comes back every year
  • Wrap the gift inside a second gift
• Subscriptions 10

  • Cancel the trial the day you start it
  • Creep arrives as a monthly payment
  • Go through a parent's bills line by line
  • Let the cart sit until it ships free
  • Make the warehouse club prove itself
  • One subscription at a time
  • Say you want to cancel, and then say nothing
  • Shaving without the subscription
  • Try the antenna before you cancel
  • Turn on every alert
• Second-hand 10

  • Buy the rusty skillet
  • Check the pockets. And the Bibles.
  • Price thrift electronics as if they’re broken
  • Secondhand clothes: the bed-bug protocol
  • Start the new job with five pieces that mix
  • The edge tells you faster than the date
  • The line in the secondhand aisle
  • The location is the test
  • Thrift where the rich people donate
  • Wear what you own and add one clear sign
• Can’t pay a bill 9

  • Ask the aid office before you drop out
  • Ask the librarian — rent help counts as a question
  • Call before the shutoff date
  • Go to the eviction hearing
  • Help exists. Using it is what it’s for.
  • Know what plasma pays after the first month
  • Some advice assumes the rent is already paid
  • Tell the landlord before the rent is late
  • Your card’s interest rate is worth one call
• Insurance and warranties 9

  • Bank the warranty money instead
  • Before you cut your car insurance, get quotes for the same policy elsewhere
  • Find the water valve and replace the old hoses
  • Find the yearly cap before you buy dental insurance
  • Lock your bike to something fixed, even for a minute
  • Put car problems in writing before the warranty ends
  • Read the denial, then appeal it
  • Read the ticket before you pay it
  • Slow down for the deer you haven’t seen yet
• Medical and dental bills 9

  • Don't pay the first bill
  • Find out what rehab will cost before you book it
  • Find the date the no-interest deal ends
  • Find the yearly cap before you buy dental insurance
  • Get the guard before the crown
  • Plan the aftercare before you book dental work abroad
  • Read the denial, then appeal it
  • The student clinic costs less and takes longer
  • Your prescription is yours to take anywhere
• Spending less on yourself 9

  • Ask someone to do the back
  • Cut the simple haircut at home first
  • Every hobby has a cheap door
  • Make the coffee, keep the café for company
  • One subscription at a time
  • Shaving without the subscription
  • The zoo pass is at the library desk
  • Try the cloth pads before the cup
  • Wear what you own and add one clear sign
• Taxes 8

  • A tax bracket cannot make a raise cut your take-home pay
  • Ask about a special needs trust before the money lands
  • Ask for the free version by name
  • Before you quit work over childcare costs, look up the help that exists
  • Decide whether you want a big tax refund
  • Hang up, then call the IRS yourself
  • Know what plasma pays after the first month
  • When your taxes deserve a professional
• When to buy quality 7

  • Ask the internet for people, not pages
  • Buy it once: the boots rule
  • Cost per use: one small formula for the store aisle
  • Read what the leather label leaves out
  • Spend where you touch the ground
  • Start the new job with five pieces that mix
  • When you shop for a car, price the crash too
• Cheap that costs more 6

  • Buy it once: the boots rule
  • Lock your bike to something fixed, even for a minute
  • Order the pickup straight from the restaurant
  • Plan the aftercare before you book dental work abroad
  • Stay in gear when you slow down to save fuel
  • The cheap fix that costs more
• Phone and internet 6

  • Go through a parent's bills line by line
  • Look up your real data use before you pick a phone plan
  • Say “agent” plainly before you try anything else
  • Say you want to cancel, and then say nothing
  • Test your internet by cable before you blame the provider
  • Try the antenna before you cancel
• Furnishing cheaply 5

  • Buy the plunger before the couch
  • Raise the desk before you buy one
  • The bakery gives away buckets — you only have to ask
  • The cheapest change is a coat of paint
  • The restaurant supply store is a thrift store that sells new