Keep Your Wallet Nice and Full With These Money-Saving Swaps

If you ever looked for ways to save money online, you’ll know there are thousands of ideas floating around – from simple product swaps to massive budgeting challenges and plans. The variety is baffling – however, some of the ideas turn out to be ineffective, others are impossible to maintain, and some simply don’t match your lifestyle. Can saving money be quick, simple… and actually WORK?

Turns out it can! The Honeygain team has summed up its favorite money-saving swaps that require little effort but save you a lot of money in the long run – and in some cases, help you be more environmentally friendly, too!

These days, the absolute majority of popular newspapers and magazines can be purchased in digital format – and it’s usually a lot cheaper than the paper issue. Here’s a simple comparison: the People magazine comes out once a week and costs $5.99 at the newsstand, but for just $9.99, you can get a monthly subscription (4–5 issues!) of the digital version on your Kindle. Needless to say, the digital version is also more convenient: you can read it anywhere without carrying the magazine around (you can use the Kindle app on your smartphone), and you’re also not generating paper waste!

This is one of the product swaps a lot of people don’t realize could save them a lot of money. Depending on the brand, a pound of a whole bird can be as much as twice cheaper than a pound of boneless and skinless breasts! People from small households don’t buy whole chickens or turkeys because they simply don’t plan on eating it at once – but they forget they don’t have to! A bird can be easily broken down and used for several meals, and even if you decide to roast it whole, you can easily shed the leftovers and use them for things like salads, quesadillas, soups, etc.

According to statistics, the majority of people only frequent libraries for their studies and visit a lot less once they graduate. That’s a massive mistake: a library is basically a free Netflix for books! While there’s nothing wrong with buying books per se, most people rarely ever reread them – so why spend money on something if you’re only going to enjoy it for a week or so? Libraries in bigger cities often even accept requests for new book orders, and you can often reserve books online in advance – talk about convenience!

Heading to a nearby cafe to have lunch with your colleagues could be a nice way to bond within a team – however, if you get used to doing it every day, you’ll notice your wallet is a bit emptier than usual at the end of the month. If your workplace has a place for you to warm and enjoy homemade lunch, it’s one of the most effective money-saving swaps you can make. It’s also better for your health, as you know exactly what you’re eating! Think twice before ordering take-out, too: not only is it often loaded with salt and fat, but you’re also paying extra for packaging and delivery!

You might have seen this on various lists of zero waste swaps – but did you know that it can also help you save money? These days, soap is not the only product you can get in both liquid and solid forms: you can now buy bars of shampoos, conditioners, and even dish-washing products. Their production is noticeably cheaper due to lower plastic and water consumption – which means the end product is not just more environmentally friendly but also more affordable, as you don’t need to pay for fancy packaging. A bar takes up a lot less space in your bathroom and is easier to carry when you travel, too!

Every time you go grocery shopping, you need a bag or two to fit your produce. Obviously, a plastic bag costs less than a reusable one, so people usually opt for it – however, they are a LOT less durable… which makes using them the more expensive option. Have you ever seen a fabric bag tear when you load it with heavy stuff? We haven’t – it seems they last forever and then some. But plastic ones? Countless times! In addition to this, reusable bags can be stylishly decorated and match your style way better than a piece of cheap plastic.

This is one of the easiest money-saving swaps: you can spend less than an hour doing it once for the entire house and then forget all about it for years to come. LED lights last up to 50 times more than your regular bulbs and save up to 80% of the energy you use to light up the space. And they’re not even more expensive – they used to be, but as the costs of production go down and the demand grows, the market does its thing and pushes the prices down! The amount of money you’ll save depends on the size of your place, but a single-family house could easily save a few hundred dollars a year.

Planning a date with your new boo or meeting up with an old acquaintance? If your timetable allows, schedule it for lunch instead of dinner! The majority of places – fancy restaurants included – offer great lunch deals that are just as impressive but more affordable. Aside from typically being more expensive, dinners are also noisier most of the time (more people at the restaurant plus louder music!), which can be a bother when you’re trying to have a real conversation!

When it comes to groceries, most of us have brands we prefer – but are they always better than the generic ones you can find in most supermarkets? They might be… But you can’t be sure until you’ve tried! Try different products from the generic line and see which ones can become staples in your kitchen. In our experience, some things (like our favorite cookies!) can’t be easily replaced in our shopping basket – but with things like milk, canned beans, or rolled oats, there’s often very little difference in quality and taste but a massive one in price. In some cases, they might even be made by the same production company but packaged differently and cheaper due to having no marketing costs!

We’re not saying you should stock your entire garage with tons of products like some people on the TV show Extreme Couponing do – but buying things in a bit larger quantities is one of the best money-saving swaps around. Compare the price for a pound, liter, or another unit of measurement and not the price for the package. You’ll notice that virtually everything is cheaper when you buy a bigger box or bottle – remember this when you buy non-perishables like cleaning products or canned goods! Be careful with stuff that has a short shelf life, though: you won’t save much if you throw half of it away in a week!

These days, you can get nearly everything packaged and ready to eat. Salads? Washed, cut, and packaged. Mangoes? Washed, cut, peeled, and sliced. We have even seen peeled oranges in Whole Foods! These products are great for people with disabilities and issues with fine motor skills – however, some buy them for no better reason than being a little lazy. Comparing the prices for a pound might cause you to think twice! Come on. It’s really not that hard to wash your own produce – and you’ll be throwing away way less plastic packaging, too.

Obviously, the easiest way to save money is to earn more. While it might not always be easy to get your wage to grow in a full-time job, having multiple sources of income might be a great solution – especially if you take up passive income streams that don’t require investing a ton of money, time, or effort. For example, using Honeygain is effortless: you leave the app running in the background of your device, where it generates free money for you. Once you reach $20, you can request a payment into your PayPal account. If you wish to skip the threshold and get paid in crypto - go for the JumpTask mode instead!

If you’ve never tried Honeygain before, we’ve got great news for you – by clicking the button below, you can not only create your account and join our proxyware network in seconds but also receive a free starting gift of $2. Kickstart your passive income journey now!