Money is easy to spend and hard to save,
but there are a few things that you
could do to make it a little bit easier
to save money. In this video, I'm going to
share 20 of my money-saving tips. These
are things that I've applied myself over
the last few years and they've saved me
roughly fourteen thousand dollars a year.
That's Canadian dollars not US dollars
but it's still significant. If you're
interested in learning from my
experience keep watching the video. Hi!
Welcome back to The Whole Happy Life. My
name is Ria. If you're a new subscriber
thank you for subscribing and if you're
just a new person watching this video,
welcome to the channel! So I wanted to
say a few things before we dive into the
tips, but if you want to go straight
through the tips, you can just fast
forward. But I do think it will be useful
to know the context. So the first thing
is -  all of the dollars in this video are
Canadian dollars not US dollars. The
second thing is - all of the tips here are
based on my personal experience. Things
that I've chosen to cut down on and I'm
not saying that you need to do that. It's
just me sharing my experience with you
guys and hopefully you can take
something away from it something that
resonates with you. The third thing I
wanted to mention, which is an important
thing is a lot of the changes that I've
made in terms of how I spend money is a
result of changing my lifestyle. When I
was living in downtown Toronto ( downtown
core) I had so many temptations! Places to
go eat, bars, shopping centers... It's
endless - the amount of temptation there
is and you're spending a little bit
every day and it really adds up. I don't
live that way anymore. I live in a very
simple and minimal way and as a result
of that I've been able to save all this
money. Number one: I no longer buy books
the way I used to. I used to buy at least
a book a month in the past and I don't
do that anymore. I get my books from the
library and that saves me a lot of money.
I'm not saying I never buy books - I
occasionally do buy books but only if I
truly love them and I want them
to be part of my collection. I don't buy
everything the way I used to. So I would
say that I save $20 a month by not
buying books. That amounts to two
hundred and forty dollars in the year.
Number two: I got rid of cable TV. So I
used to have both cable TV and Netflix
but I never watched cable TV. It was just
a waste so we got rid of it.
I'm saving roughly $60 a month by not
having cable so that amounts to 720
dollars in the year. Number three and
this is a big one. I don't eat dinner out
as often as I used to. When I was living
in downtown Toronto, I would be eating
dinner out at least four times a week.
Two times with my husband. Two times
with friends but I don't do that anymore. I
would say I eat dinners out maybe two
times a week now. So it's half of what I
used to and earlier I used to get
appetizers and dessert with every meal. I
don't do that anymore. I just get the main
and that's pretty much it. I'm happy with
that.
I would estimate that I save roughly $45
a week. $45 a week amounts to two thousand
three hundred and forty dollars a year.
Number four: I no longer buy bottled
water and bottled beverages the way I
used to. In the past, I never really
bought bottled water for a daily thing. I
had a filter but I would buy bottled
water on the go - when I was out and I
would buy things like ice tea and this
was a regular occurrence. I no longer do
that. I take a water bottle from home
with me all the time -  I put it in my tote
bag and I'm good to go. I don't buy
bottled beverages and that saves me
roughly fifteen dollars a month which is
one hundred and eighty dollars in the
year. Number five: I eat more plant-based
meals. So I wanted to mention that I'm
not a vegan but I do eat a lot of
plant-based meals. I used to eat a lot of
meat in the past and over the last three
years I've reduced that significantly. I
would estimate my savings to be roughly
twenty dollars a week because I'm not
buying red meat like lamb, I'm not buying
seafood as much. So that twenty dollars a
week amounts to one thousand and forty
dollars in the year. Number six: I have
unsubscribed from all of those emails
that tell me to buy things! So you know
you sign up
for emails from stores and then you get
those promotional emails... 40% off 50% off?
That is super tempting!
I was buying things I didn't really need +
that didn't serve a purpose.
It was just buying for the sake of
buying. I would put my estimate at $80 a
month. Number 7: cancelled magazine
subscriptions. I used to have four
magazine subscriptions in the past and
now I have none. If I want to buy a
magazine, I'll buy it but it's a rare
occurrence. But I won't subscribe to
magazines the way I used to and I get
them from the library. I'm quite happy
using the library magazines so I would
estimate my savings to be $60 in the
year. Number 8: I don't drink
as often as I used to and I don't drink
out as often as I used to. So when
we get drinks at a restaurant,  especially
for an expensive city like Toronto...
you're getting a cocktail... sometimes it
can be upwards of $12 a cocktail and
that adds up. Now if I do drink which is
very limited because I don't enjoy it as
much as I used to,
I'll drink at home. I have a small amount
at home and it's not that expensive when
you're having it at home. Restaurants
have a huge markup. I estimate my savings
to be $50 a month which is $600 a year.
Number 9: Meal planning. I'm not talking
about meal prep but meal planning.
So meal planning is where you're
figuring out what you're going to make.. a
rough plan for the week and you go
grocery shopping
based on that list. I didn't do that
in the past. In the past, I just went to
the grocery store and got whatever I felt
like and by the end of the week there
were a few items that went bad and I had
to throw them out which was a waste of
money. And I was buying too much stuff. I was 
buying junk that I didn't need. But now
with a list I stick to it and I don't
buy all those extra things and there's
no food wastage. So I would estimate the
savings to be $35 a month which is 420
dollars a year. Number 10: I enjoy
staycations more often. So this one's a
big item for me, it may not be for you. 
I used to be a big vacation person in
the past. I would go on vacation twice a
year. I would
spend several thousand dollars. It was
something I valued at that time but now
that I've changed my lifestyle I don't
value big vacations as much. I'm okay
having one vacation and then having one
staycation instead of two big vacations
a year. This year my husband had to go
to India to attend a wedding and I
thought " You know what? I don't need to
attend this wedding - it's not necessary
for me. I can enjoy a staycation and save
some money and enjoy the time to
introspect and just be by myself." And
that's what I did and I truly enjoyed it.
And I saved roughly twenty-five hundred
dollars.
Number ten: I've built a more intentional
wardrobe and I no longer spend on
clothing, handbags, shoes that I don't
truly love. in the past, I used to do a
lot of impulse purchases and I don't do
that anymore. I really think about the
clothes and things that I buy to see if
I'm going to be wearing them long-term
and I have a video on this if you're
interested which I link in the
description box below. I would estimate
my savings from not buying those impulse
purchases... not buying extra handbags and
shoes.. that would be roughly $80 a month
which is nine hundred and sixty dollars
in the year. Number twelve: I watch more
movies at home now. When I was living
downtown, we were very close to the movie
theater. It was probably a 10 minute walk
from our place and I would go for movies
almost every weekend. Not quite every
weekend but almost every weekend. And
it's not just the movies, you end up
getting popcorn as well. It adds up. So I
don't do that anymore. I would estimate
my savings to be roughly four hundred
dollars a year. Number thirteen: I avoid
obligatory gift-giving. Underline the
word obligatory because I'm not saying I
don't give gifts. I don't give gifts that
I'm obligated to give that I feel that I
need to but I don't really want to.
That's what I mean by obligatory gifts.
Because what I find about obligatory
gifts is - it's a cycle. I give someone a
gift and they're obliged to give me a
gift and then I then I'm obliged to give them a gift and then that cycle keeps on
going on and I honestly do not want to
be part of that cycle. Because I think gifts
should be given because you truly want
to give them not because you're supposed
to give them. That's my view, you may not
agree but I save roughly thirty dollars
a month on that.
That is about 360 dollars a year. Number
14: I no longer buy extensive cleaning
products. So I used to buy a lot of
disposable cleaning products such as
disinfecting wipes, paper towels, mopping
pads, all that stuff and because it's
disposable you have to continually buy
it and it truly does add up. So I don't
do that anymore. There are other ways of
cleaning with reusable items and
cleaning very simple products and I
would estimate my savings to be about a
hundred dollars a year.
Number fifteen: I cut my own hair. I have
not gone for a professional haircut in
two and a half.. three years now. It's been
a long time. I'm not the best at cutting
my hair but I'm getting better! So I
think it's something to practice and to
be honest I never wear my hair fully
straight so we can't really tell the
mistakes. So I used to spend roughly
sixty dollars every four months to get
my hair cut, sometimes it was more but I
don't do that anymore. I would
estimate the savings to be roughly one
hundred and eighty dollars in the year.
Number sixteen: I don't use a dryer as
often and as a result I'm saving on my
electricity bills. So the savings are
roughly sixty dollars a year. Now that's
not a lot compared to all the other
things I've talked about but the fact
that I'm using the dryer less means that
my clothes last me longer so that's
actually a big savings which I haven't
counted in the full savings of fourteen
thousand dollars I've talked about
earlier. But it is a savings in a way
because your clothes last long, they look
good for longer and you're not going to
buy as many clothes, so there's that as
well. Number 17: I use the instant pot
more often. So the Instant Pot or if you
have a slow cooker.. the slow cooker tends
to use a lot less electricity compared
to an electric stove or an oven. I think
it's roughly 70% less so because of that
my electricity bill is lower. I would
estimate my savings to be about fifty
dollars in the year which is not a lot
but I find that with the instant pot I
can cook in batches and because of that
I'm not eating up as often so there's
that aspect of the savings too. So I
definitely think having and instant pot or
slow cooker is a good way to get meals
on the table without having to do too
much work. I don't buy coffee and tea at
a cafe every day like I used to.
So when I was living downtown and
working downtown I would go for coffee
with my friends and I would go get a
nice caramel latte or something like
that and then I would get some sort of a
dessert. It was just a thing I enjoyed it
so much but I don't do that anymore. I
make my own tea at home and I enjoy that
and I don't feel the need to buy
something at a cafe on a daily basis. I'm
not saying I never do.. it's not on a
daily basis. So I would estimate the
savings to be roughly $50 a month which
is 600 dollars a year. Number 19: I pack
lunches and snacks. When I was downtown I
would go to the food court at least two
lunches out of the week and then I would
go for snacks as well and I don't do
that anymore.
I also pack my husband's lunches so I
would estimate my savings to be roughly
$35 a week which is really not that much
if you think about it. $35 a week it
adds up. So $35 a week is one eight two
zero dollars in the year. One thing I
wanted to say is all of the big-ticket
items in this video have been pretty much
food items. Food when you eat out tends
to cost a lot especially if you live in
an expensive city and I've cut that out
significantly. And not only has it helped
my budget, it's also helped my health and
I think that's a huge reason why I feel
so much healthier than I used to because
I'm actually in control of what I eat. So
I just wanted to mention that. Number 20
I no longer go for weekly yoga classes.
When I was downtown I used to go for
weekly yoga classes and I think it was a
good thing that I did. I'm not saying I
shouldn't have spent that money - it was
money well-spent
but I don't feel the need to go for
classes all the time now. If I really
want to go for a class, I will go, but I
can also workout at home. I have an app
on my phone that I use and I love using
YouTube channels as well for yoga. I'll
put a few in the description box below. I
would estimate my savings to be $45 a
month which is five hundred and forty
dollars in the year. So what is the sum
of all these things? It's fourteen
thousand one hundred and thirty Canadian
dollars. I just wanted to say that this
has been a result of
of changing my lifestyle... changing my
priorities and going from a somewhat
more materialistic lifestyle to a
simpler and more minimalistic lifestyle
and a healthier lifestyle. I think
cutting out the eating out, cutting out
all those expensive meals, the alcohol
and eating at home, eating whole foods
has also helped a lot.
I still enjoy my life but I don't enjoy
it in the same ways as I used to. I enjoy
it in different ways and my priorities
have changed and that's ok.
So I hope you enjoyed this video and you
learned something new from it and maybe
you can relate to some of my experiences.
If you liked it give it a thumbs up and
don't forget to subscribe because I
create videos like this every week. I
will see you in the next video. Bye!
