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When you are on a mission to save money, the first thing to do is to eliminate certain expenses.
But, you must be thinking – Where do I begin?
What can I stop buying to save money?
Without realising it, most of the time we end of buying things we don’t need or will never use. Having smart shopping rules are essential if you are keen to reach your financial goals.
Even if you are financially stable, following healthy shopping ways is a good habit to keep for life.
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Below is a compilation on how to stop buying things you don’t need and what to buy instead. We will take a look at healthy alternatives that do good for your budget.
Food
1. Precuts and bagged salad – Most stores price precuts and premade items double than if you were to buy it whole. This means if you buy a full pumpkin and cut it yourself, it is going to save you a few extra dollars. Same goes for meat.
If you can get yourself some good quality multi-purpose knives and cutting boards – this one-time investment will do the trick. You can then buy everything as a whole and cut them up yourself, saving you money.
2. Grated cheese – Try and grate a block of cheese instead!
3. Packaged meals – This is one that is not a healthy option too. Apart from it being heavily priced, packaged meals contain added preservatives that are not good for your body.
4. More than you need of anything on your list. Limit purchase on short-life products, because if you are not going to use it by the time it expires, you are going to bin it. Prevent food waste by buying only how much you need.
5. Bottled water – fill a reusable bottle of water when you travel. At home, you can choose to use a water filtration jug, that gives you the peace of mind packaged water does. You will need to change the filter according to the manufacturer’s instructions. It still works out cheaper than bottled water.
6. Napkins – use cloth napkins instead!
7. Plastic cups – Mason jars are a versatile product for a lot of different things. Whether it is for home decor, storage, or to fill in with your favourite drink.
8. Kitchen towels – It can be handy to buy a few of these, but make use of a cloth towel to dry your hands and micro-fibre cloth for cleaning kitchen counters.
9. Plastic film wraps are handy to seal food in bowls for refrigeration. But a reusable sealed glass bowl is a one time spending that works the same.
10. Sandwich bags – You can swap this for sandwich containers that you can wash and re-use. 
11. Fast food – when you are out and about, its good to carry with you some healthy snacks in your handbag. This helps with those cravings that might otherwise lead to a fast food meal.
12. Dining out – It is not a bad idea to dine out once in a while or if its a special day. But getting into a habit is going to eat up your wallet
13. Carry your own coffee when you are on the go. Avoid heading to a cafe unless you really need to.
14. DIY snacks – Here are some great ideas: popcorn, DIY trail mix, fruit kebabs, frozen yoghurt bites, apple slices, beetroot crisps or banana chips.
15. If you must buy juice from a store, opt for larger bottles rather than smaller ones. Buy small pet bottles to fill them up when you need to carry them out.
16. Stick to a shopping list and limit shopping to once a week. So important and very helpful in stopping unwanted spending.
Things you can DIY
17. Useful crafts that you can make at home.
20. Homemade fabric softener & dryer sheets
22. Moisturiser – Use raw shea butter instead!
23. Homemade body scrub – Coffee scrub works great – To make it, mix equal quantity of ground coffee, brown sugar and coconut oil. Add a drop of vanilla essence to add some natural perfume.
24. DIY Handwash – To make 1 litre of handwash – add 3/4 cup of water, with 1/4 cup of liquid castile soap. Add 15 drops of your favourite essential oil for natural fragrance. This a safe handwash as castile soap is a vegetable-based soap which is non-toxic and natural.
Bills
26. Cable – Opt for Amazon Prime or Netflix instead. These subscriptions are worth less than $15 a month.
27. Gym memberships – YouTube has a good number of homemade fitness videos that you will find useful. If you are a regular at the gym and find this a good way to rewind then you can keep at it. Otherwise, you will find a lot of online resources to help with this.
28. Cinema memberships – With a good movie subscription like Netflix you can have a great movie night at home.
Shopping
29. Clothes – Don’t make it a habit to buy clothes every week or every month. Buy only when you need to and try to bulk-buy, when there is a sale happening. Whether its end of season sale, Boxing day or Black Friday discounts, make your purchase around the time.
30. Use a washcloth instead of paper towels.
31. Opt for cloth diapers instead of disposable ones.
32. Avoid Plastics – Carry your own reusable shopping bags when you shop instead of the plastic bags.
33. Use cash so you don’t overspend with a debit/credit card
34. Make use of coupons or cashback sites like Swagbucks and Ibotta
35. Dollar store for impulsive home decor shopping. Check out Dollar Tree for this.
There it is!
Over 30 smart ways to swap for better alternatives.
Now that you know how to stop buying and save money, are you ready to begin?
Some pretty good suggestions ! Cutting your own salad and block cheese are definitely big savers !
So many great ways to save money. I definitely need to cut down on precut foods where I feel I am saving time and money but know I am actually squandering money instead.