In recent years, people have become much more focused on convenience. Deciding what’s worth spending your money on is very important, and these days, situations like paying someone to do your grocery shopping or assemble a bookshelf are commonplace, even though you could easily do them yourself. We’ve gathered information from Angi, and these money-saving tips reveal situations in which Americans continue to pay someone else to do tasks they could easily handle on their own!
Cleaning The House
Cleaning a house can take several hours, but it is also a task that many homeowners find unpleasant. Tasks such as vacuuming and mopping floors, cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, and dusting one section of the house at a time are not things people enjoy doing. At the same time, cleaning is one of the easiest expenses to accumulate according to Angi, at an average cost of $118 to $238 per visit. That amounts to about $4.628 a year if a cleaner visits a home every two weeks, making this one of the most useful money-saving tips.
Mowing The Lawn
Mowing the lawn is a repetitive task, and if you do it under the blazing sun, it can be exhausting, and it’s very easy to put it off until the grass gets really tall. According to Angi, a professional lawn service will charge about $49 to $203 per visit. That can add up to a lot of money over the course of a year. One of the money-saving tips requires a significant initial investment in a basic push mower, that could allow you to mow the lawn every two weeks and save you a lot of money in the long run. This is one of many practical money-saving tips.
Shopping for Groceries
It’s not a bad idea to consider having someone else do your grocery shopping for you, since you’ll avoid the cost of gas from driving and time spent in checkout lines, but it’s also true that you could do it yourself. Food delivery services like Instacart provide this service, but you’ll pay for delivery fees, fees based on order size, among others. One of the simplest money-saving tips is to go shopping once a week, with a shopping list so you don’t forget what you need.
Assembling Flat-Pack Furniture
When you buy furniture for your home, it may come with assembly manuals that seem intimidating. From desks and tables to bed frames and shelves, they require more than just screwdrivers and tools, they require time and patience to put together. Some websites that connect people with service providers charge between $50 and $150, depending on the task at hand, with assembling a desk being somewhat easier than putting together an entire set of patio furniture. Consider assembling simpler pieces yourself, as another of the money-saving tips.
Washing and Folding Laundry
Another repetitive chore around the house is washing and folding clothes once they’re dry. You can take your dirty clothes to a laundry service to have them washed, dried, and folded, and they’ll charge you by weight for the entire service. Laundromat could cost around $2 per pound on average. The upside is that once you put all the laundry in the machine, you can spend your time on other tasks, you don’t have to stand there and watch it. Doing your laundry can be another useful money-saving tips.
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Making Basic Weeknight Dinners
Having to cook when you don’t really feel like it can be a problem, and you might end up ordering takeout. That convenience of ordering takeout can end up being very expensive, even with the option of having ingredients delivered to your home so you can prepare the meal yourself. A meal-delivery service like that can cost an average of $12. One way to handle the situation when you don’t feel like cooking and have food ready is to double the recipes when you cook, so you can freeze half of it.
Washing The Car
Many people choose to take their cars to the automatic car washes because that way they don’t waste much time and effort. It’s not a bad idea to take your car there once in a while, but if it becomes a routine, like a subscription, it could represent a money problem. It might take you about 20 to 30 minutes to wash your car with a hose and a bucket in your own driveway. That’s all you need, and it could be a fun activity to do with your child on the weekends. Washing your car yourself is one of the simple money-saving tips.
Cleaning First-Story Windows
Cleaning the windows in a house can be a tedious task, which is why people hire specialists to do it. The cost of hiring a professional window cleaner can range from $150 to $300 according to Angi, but you should figure out which windows you can’t clean yourself. One of the useful money-saving tips is to clean the windows you can safely reach yourself. All you need is spray cleaner, a microfiber cloth, and a bucket, and you’re almost done.
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Giving the Dog a Basic Bath and Brush
There may be a difference when it comes to giving your dog a bath. Breeds that require clipping, mat removal, and specialized coat care may need a professional groomer, while dogs with short hair may not. You can find prices ranging from $35 to $80 for a standard pet grooming session. You could do it yourself with some dog-safe shampoo, a brush, towels, and a bathtub that fits your dog’s size.
Doing a Basic Manicure
Many customers have made the basic manicure a regular part of their beauty routine, rather than an occasional visit as it was years ago. A basic manicure can cost around $35, while gel and other comprehensive services cost more. If you set aside some time during the week, you could paint your nails, apply a top coat, file them, clean your cuticles, and so on. Doing your own manicure is one of the easy money-saving tips.
Making Coffee Before Leaving Home
Buying a coffee on the way to work is a quick habit. It doesn’t cost much either, but when you add up all those purchases over the course of a month and a year, it does add up to a significant amount of money. A small coffee from one of the most well-known chains along with a sandwich, can cost $10. You could buy a drip coffee maker or a French press so you can make as much coffee as you want, and in the long run, it’ll be cheaper.
Filing a Very Simple Tax Return
Filing taxes can be an intimidating task for many people, because making a mistake can have serious legal consequences. However, if you don’t claim any unusual deductions and your tax return isn’t complex, it doesn’t have to be difficult. You can choose the IRS-supported filing option and follow the software’s step-by-step instructions carefully to get it right. One of the most useful money-saving tips is to check whether you qualify for IRS Free File. And always remember to keep a copy of the files you submit.
Wrapping Gifts
Places like department stores, malls, online retailers, and more offer gift-wrapping services for a fee. It’s a task that requires nothing more than paper, tape, scissors, and a few minutes of your time. One of these money-saving tips is to wrap gifts yourself, since the premium you pay for seems unnecessary since, in a matter of seconds that wrapping paper will be torn apart to reveal what’s inside.
Cutting Up Fruit and Vegetables
For several years now, grocery stores have offered the option to buy pre-cut fruits and vegetables. From pineapples and melons to peppers and carrot sticks, they’re placed in a bowl and cost more than their whole-produce. That extra cost covers the water used, the cutting process and the packaging. One of the simples money-saving tips is to buy the fruit or vegetables you want whole and put them in reusable containers to enjoy whenever you like.
Washing, Drying, and Portioning Salad Greens
By buying bagged salad kits, you can have a side dish for your meal with no effort at all. But if you buy them several times a week, you’ll be paying a significant premium for lettuce, cabbage, and carrots, which could be cheaper by weight if you buy them as whole produce. One of the money-saving tips that doesn’t require much effort is to simply wash the lettuce or other salad ingredients yourself, dry them, and dress them with your favorite seasonings.
Picking Up After the Dog in the Yard
One of the services that has been growing in recent years in the United States is professional pet waste removal. Companies make weekly visits to the yard of a homeowner who has hired them to clean up after the dog. It’s an unpleasant task, but you can do it outdoors using special bags and a scoop, or even while you’re working on another task in your own yard. Cleaning up after your own pet is another of the money-saving tips.
Conclusion
In many of these money-saving tips situations, what you’re really paying for isn’t the action itself, but the time that action takes. While these are expenses you might incur from time to time, they shouldn’t be automatic or routine, because that would mean spending a lot of money. It’s not about stopping being lazy and doing everything yourself, these money-saving tips are about knowing in which situations it’s actually worth spending your money.
