What's up you guys, it's graham here so, as some of you might already know, i am slightly obsessed with saving money. Okay, fine, that was a lie, i'm very much infatuated with saving money and trying to find the most creative ways to cut back without ever actually feeling like i'm cutting back, like i'm sure, you've seen some of these people on extreme cheap skates who go and dumpster Dive for food or go and collect rain water just so they could save an extra 28 cents and sure that's cool to watch on youtube, but uh yeah, i'm not about that life. However, i am all about getting the same experience and the same quality. All for a fraction of the cost it would normally be, and that in turn allows me to save way more money without having to have my own tlc reality show so over the last decade.

I've applied this thinking towards just about everything from going and buying a house for nothing, a tesla for 78 and totally free vacations, pretty much anywhere in the world so from all of those weird little life hacks. These are the ones that i have found that make the biggest difference and allow you to save the most amount of money possible in the least amount of time as possible. So, let's not waste any time we'll get right into it and, as the title suggests, this is not going to cost you a single thing except one like on the video doing that really helps me out a lot and the more likes a video gets, the more Likely the algorithm is to push the video to a new audience who can also save more money, so make sure to do your part and smash the like button. So more people could save more money, and with that said, we'll begin right here over at my desk.

Now the first frugal life hack is to travel for free using credit card points and here's how that works. Credit cards are basically just money printing machines, so in order to incentivize people to sign up and then hopefully be irresponsible with their money so as to pay hordes of interest to evil credit card companies, credit cards will often offer a sign a bonus or points anytime. You meet a minimum requirement. Well guess what oftentimes? Those points can be used towards free travel, free hotel or sometimes a straight up.

Profit back in your bank account. Therefore, if you know how to use this properly, you might never have to pay for another plane, ticket hotel or vacation ever again in your entire life, no joke! It's been years since i paid for a plane ticket and you could do the exact same thing and essentially just get free vacations wherever you want to go as long as you do this properly and know how to use a credit card resources like nerd wallet. The points guy ask sebi and the credit shifu go over. The latest credit card rewards as soon as they come up and they teach you how to maximize the value of every point.

Now, if you want to do this correctly, you must be diligent in monitoring your credit report and score. You must only apply to credit cards with enough reward to actually be worth it. You must always only spend money you're going to be spending anyway and finally, you must always pay off your credit card in full by the time. It's due no exceptions, just because some of these cards have a four thousand dollar minimum spend, so you could get 750 dollars back in free travel is not an excuse for you to go and buy a whole bunch of stuff.

You don't need or go and buy a brand new tv and five pairs of shoes because hey you got ta meet the minimum spend. But if you were gon na spend four thousand dollars anyway, then you may as well put it on a brand new credit card. Get the points and then use those points towards free travel, whereas otherwise you would be getting nothing. The second life hack i use all the time is to reverse image, search everything you buy online.

Here's the thing most online retailers get their products from the exact same spot, but some will charge you way more money than others just because they have a big name or a fancy website behind them. So i've taken a two-step approach. Every time i buy something online and i would say about nine times out of ten, this is going to save me at least 10 to 50 percent. On anything i purchase and here's how easy it is when you find something you want to buy just right, click and search google for this image, all of a sudden every website containing that same image will pop up, and that will allow you to click through and Find the same item listed for cheaper somewhere else now, sometimes this doesn't work because retailers will end up taking their own pictures.

So it's different and doesn't come up for people like us trying to do this, so if you could find it and there's a manufacturer or sku number listed on the website, just go and search for that. Instead, just go to google and place that sku number in quotations to give you the exact search, then you will be directed to other websites who have that same sku number listed try this with anything you buy and i think you're going to be really impressed with The amount of money you'll be able to save the third life hack is just a common thing to remember, and that is don't buy something just because it's on sale. This is where impulse purchases are born and it's probably where most people fall into the trap of spending money unnecessarily. Usually you'll be walking through a store or browsing something online, and then it hits you in big red font, sale limited time only 50 off buy it.

Now three left remaining got ta act fast and even though you've never needed something like this in the past, it's just too good of a deal to pass up right. So, of course you buy it and you think you've made the best purchase of your entire life, because you've saved all of this money, except after a few weeks, you realize you never really use it that often - and it's just sitting in the corner, collecting dust doing Nothing all for something at the end of the day that you still paid for. Don't let that be you moral of the story here is that just because something is on sale is not a reason for you to buy it, and it doesn't mean you're saving money. Just because it's discounted like, if you buy a 500 tv for 300, that is you still spending 300.

most people end up focusing more on how much money they saved versus how much money they spent when, in reality, how much they spent really is the one that Matters the most the only exception to this is when you buy something that you actually need and we're gon na buy anyway, but you waited for it to go on sale, so you could save a little bit of money. Most people don't do this, though, so once you realize the fallacy that buying something at a discount is not money saved, it's money spent you'll be able to better recognize when you buy something you actually need versus buying something you don't need, but it's on a sale And it's discounted, so it just seems like a good deal in your mind. The fourth life hack, everyone should begin doing immediately, is to postpone all of your purchases by 72 hours. Here's the thing, sometimes the excitement of shopping or buying something can be really really addicting and it's easy to be tricked in the moment to buy it now, because of how exciting it is to get.

But what's typically found is that after three days the excitement and allure of buying something is worn off, and you begin to realize that eh, you didn't really need it that much or really wanted that much to begin with after you've thought about it or slept on It for a night, this one is all about just cutting down on impulse purchases that you make without even realizing it, and this one begins to get really interesting. Once you start digging deeper. Many studies have shown that shopping actually releases dopamine in the brain and brings about a sensation of happiness and well-being, and further research has shown that you don't actually get this dopamine hit from the act of purchasing something. But instead it's from the anticipation of being able to buy something from this.

We conclude that buying something is not necessarily going to give you that fun excitement that you're looking for and instead, if you want that same level of enjoyment and excitement, you could do that. Just by window shopping and then not actually even buying anything, it's the same experience same enjoyment same dopamine hit, except now it costs you zero dollars. So here's all you need to do if there's something you want to buy, just wait: 72 hours to buy it. That's it after that, if you still want it and you found the cheapest place to buy, it then go for it go and get it, but i would venture to say that maybe 80 of the things that you think you want in the moment, you will not Even want the next day, or even less the day after that, and even less the day after that now the fifth life hack is not really a life hack.

I mean this is nothing revolutionary people have been doing this since the beginning of time. It's nothing crazy, but it's just this only drink water. I know this one sounds silly to mention, but seriously it's true. I go to the restaurant and they charge you four dollars for a glass of soda or six dollars for a cup of coffee or even worse, like 10 to 20 dollars for an alcoholic drink and also, let's be real, most of the stuff you drink other than Water is not really that good for you.

That means one of the best ways to cut back and save money is to only drink water. That's it. I've made the choice to cut out everything besides water and coffee and i'd save more money than i know to do with. Not only is doing this cheaper for you, but it's also healthier for you.

There have been so many studies conducted on the health risks of drinking sugary drinks and sodas and how they affect the body, not to mention how detrimental alcohol could be to your system, so just drink water, and i'm not talking about the fancy waters like fiji and Especially not the sauna that stuff is disgusting, just regular filter, tap water is good enough, and once you get used to drinking just water, you're gon na start to notice your bank account slowly getting bigger and bigger, and bigger and number six speaking of coffee always make Your own coffee, now here's what i find ridiculous. The average american spends eleven hundred dollars a year on coffee and more than forty five percent of 18 to 23 year olds have spent more money on coffee than they have on their retirement and 35 percent of 24. To 35 year olds have done the same, that is stupid and that needs to stop today. I know it's no surprise that i've always been a proponent of making your own coffee at home, and i even made a tutorial about how to make coffee for 20 cents yourself and how you could turn that iced coffee into a million dollar nest egg.

Just by investing those savings, i'm being for real, if you save six dollars a day by making coffee at home, if you invest those savings in the s p 500 that could turn into a 1.3 million dollar amount in 55 years at an 8 return, but seriously Making coffee at home is incredibly easy, and if you want to make it look, even more luxurious, just go and put it in one of these fancy cups instead and if you're interested in learning how to do this, i have a tutorial down below in the description That teaches you how to make the best iced coffee for only 20 cents. Next number, seven anytime, i go shopping. I always buy generic brand items, see typically anytime. You go to the store and you see a generic brand item.

Not only is it half the cost, but usually it's the exact same thing see here's what most people don't know. The big brands like walmart costco and kroger, don't all each own their own manufacturing facilities, most of them source their products from the exact same places that produce the more expensive name brand items. For example, kirkland's signature coffee is roasted at the starbucks coffee company kirkland's batteries are actually made by duracell, and even something like grey goose is pretty much the same thing as kirkland. That's just one example, and i'm sure if we did a deep analysis on generic brands versus the name brand items, we would see that most of them are produced in the exact same places and the only difference is in the packaging and the allure of being a Brand name now number eight one of the biggest money savers every single month is to negotiate your car insurance rates.

I know this is one of the worst unfun things imaginable to go shopping for car insurance, get blasted with spam emails and a whole bunch of phone calls just following up to see how your experience went. But if you could put up with just a few hours of that, it's gon na potentially save you a lot of money. I've personally saved over a hundred dollars a month by smashing a like button for the youtube algorithm. If you have not done that already.

No, but seriously i've saved a lot of money. Moving from aaa to geico to then mercury to now tesla, auto insurance. I even took it a step further and audited. How many miles i actually drive - and i realized i was insured for way more miles than i would actually need.

So, of course, i made the adjustment within the system to save even more money, and i know it's a hassle to go around calling different companies but guaranteed. You should be able to save a decent amount of money just by going online reading some reviews spending about an hour going through their automated systems and then calling one of the representatives to negotiate something out. Even if you're able to save twenty dollars a month for an hour of your time, that is worth 240 over the rest of the year, and i would say that would be time well spent and now number nine. This is a fun one.

If you're going to be going out to a restaurant, you have to spend money, go to a place during their happy hour. Here's what i realized food at restaurants is all the same. You're getting the same food at 8pm as you are at 4pm, as you are at 6pm, except there's a catch the earlier it is the less busy restaurants are so most restaurants will want to fill this empty space by offering a happy hour with discounted food. This gets people in it makes it look busier, it makes it look more popular and it sets the stage for later on in the night when more people show up and they charge regular prices.

Now. This is a great way for you to capitalize on this. Just by finding places with good happy hours and showing up to eat just a little bit earlier to save the money, my trick has always been to show up about 30 minutes before the happy hour ends i'll order. All of my food ahead of time, and then by the time the food actually comes it's regular hours anyway, except now i saved a whole bunch of money now.

Another way you could do this is that if all of your friends are going out for a big meal, but you don't feel like dropping 40 on a whole dinner, just order an appetizer instead, usually these are just as filling they're about half the price of everything Else and you still get to enjoy a meal with all of your friends, except now you can do that for a fraction of the cost, as everybody else number 10 before you spend any money on anything, just think to yourself. What is this money's future value? For example, instead of spending a hundred dollars on a pair of shoes today, that could be worth one thousand four hundred and seventy eight dollars in 35 years. If it's invested at an eight percent return or spending three hundred dollars a month on a lease payment, every single year could actually be worth seven hundred and twenty three thousand dollars in future money. If you just invested it during that exact same time frame.

Another way to look at it is like this. Imagine if i told you one hundred percent, you would have three million dollars 35 years in the future, but there would be a bit of a catch. Every one dollar you spent a day is going to reduce that amount by 15 and that's pretty much what you're doing to your nest: egg, every single time you spend money unnecessarily. I guarantee if we begin phrasing things in this way.

People would be way more careful about where they spend their money. This is my biggest money saving tip from everything, and if you could just get this one concept down, i guarantee it's going to spill over to every other aspect of your life as well, and it's going to end up saving you a lot of money. Finally, i just want to give two quick honorable mentions, because i didn't want to make this video that long one look into doing your laundry or electrical use during off-peak electrical hours, see typically utility companies will charge you significantly less for using electricity during off-peak times. This is usually either really late at night or really early in the morning.

So if you can hold off from charging your car doing laundry running the air conditioner or anything else like this until after 9, 00 pm or before 5 am so that way, you save the extra money and second, this concept will take me way too long to Explain, but if you want to live for free, look into a term called house hacking, i have several videos on this. If you just search for graham stefan house hacking, if you have the income and the credit to purchase a property - and you don't mind having tenants in being a landlord, you could find a property that will not only cash flow but also allow you to live in. It for free, thereby totally obliterating your overhead housing expenses to zero dollars. So those are my top 10 life hacks to save money and, as you can tell i do all of these myself and for me it's always fun to strategize about new ways to save money and try to get the most value for everything that i do buy.

But now here's where you come in, if you have your own life hacks for saving money that i have not mentioned yet in this video just comment them down below and also to all the people who just immediately scroll to the comments as soon as they click On a video just go ahead and like the comments you enjoy the most so that way those comments get boosted up to the top. So with that said, you guys thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it as always make sure to destroy the like button. Subscribe button and notification bell also feel free to add me on instagram, i posted pretty much daily.

So if you want to be a part of it, there feel free to add me there, as in the second channel. The gram stefan show i post there every single day - i'm not posting here. So if you want to see a brand new video for me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that. And lastly, if you guys want a free stock use, the link down below in the description and weeble is gon na, be giving you a free stock worth at minimum eight dollars and all the way up to one thousand six hundred dollars.

When you deposit a hundred dollars on the platform, so if you're interested in that free stock use the link down below, let me know which one you get. Thank you so much for watching and until next time.