I love to share tips and ideas that can help people save money, because regardless of your financial situation, who wouldn’t want a bit of extra cash in their pocket? And when you’re able to save money here and there, you can afford to spend a bit more on the things you really care about, like date nights, family activities or trips, etc.
And while today’s post is full of money-saving tips, they all center around a very specific goal: saving just $5. While it might not sound like a lot, that money can really add up over time—see the power of saving $5 for yourself below.
Why Should I Save $5?
If you saved $5 every day for one month, you would have $150. With that money, you could…
- Buy a new outfit or handbag.
- Get your hair and nails done.
- Buy an Instant Pot with all the bells and whistles.
If you saved $5 every day for six months, you would have $900. With that money, you could…
- Buy plane tickets for 2 to New York City.
- Plan a fun weekend vacation.
- Buy furniture for a bedroom makeover.
If you saved $5 every day for one year, you would have $1,825. With that money, you could…
- Put a down payment on a car.
- Fund an emergency account.
- Finally buy that plane ticket to Europe!
So while $5 may sound unimpressive at first, those dollars definitely add up over time into something substantial. So now that you know why you should start hanging onto those Lincolns, here’s a big ol’ list of ways to do it.
Related: 11 Practical Ways To Save Money When Times Are Tough
25 Easy Ways To Save $5 Every Day
1. Avoid An ATM Fee
Making a withdrawal from an ATM that isn’t managed by your bank can easily cost you a $3 fee from the ATM company and another $3 from your bank—that’s $6 down the drain! Instead, use the ATM at your bank’s nearest branch or get cash back at the checkout stand after grocery shopping – be sure to ask the cashier if the store charges for cash back, though!
2. Use Discounted Gift Cards
If you have places you shop at frequently and reliably, you can save money by buying discounted gift cards for that retailer and using them like cash. For example, if you shop at Walgreens frequently, you could buy a $50 Walgreens gift card for $45, transfer the extra $5 into your savings account, then just use the gift card like cash until it runs out.
Check out sites like Raise.com to find discounted gift cards, and there are often good deals on gift cards at warehouse stores like Costco.
3. Embrace Free And Low-Cost Entertainment
Pull out those board games, lawn games, puzzles, and other fun stuff out of your closets and enjoy them for free! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average family spends $2,482 on entertainment like admission prices, toys, and movies. That’s nearly $7 per day, and it’s $7 you could easily save on any given day.
4. Complete Store Surveys
If there’s a survey listed on the bottom of your store receipt, there’s probably also some sort of freebie or reward you can get for filling it out. It’s likely worth at least $5, and it’ll only take a few minutes of your time.
5. Skip Your Beverage Of Choice
If you normally grab a soda, bottled water, or coffee drink on your way to work, skip it once in a while. That’s an easy $5 saved, and if you replace it with some extra water that day, it’s probably good for your health too.
Related: Stop Throwing Your Money Away On These 20 Things
More Ideas You'll Love
6. Use Free Transportation
Being willing to walk, ride your bike, or take public transportation to your destination can save you some serious cash, depending on your driving habits and gas prices in your area.
7. Get Those Discounted Refills
If you’re a frequent movie-goer, the theater’s refillable drink cups and popcorn tubs may be worth the investment. The refills are usually less expensive, which could save you plenty of money if you love movie theater popcorn as much as I do!
8. Get Cash Back
You can use cash back shopping services like Rakuten to get a percentage of your purchase back on things you were already planning on buying. Need more informations? I wrote a whole post about how to use Rakuten to save money, so check it out.
9. Make Multiple Casseroles
The next time you’re making an easy casserole, make double, triple, or quadruple the amount you normally make. Freeze the others so you can use them the next time you need to get dinner on the table fast. Instead of spending money on fast food, you’ll have a homemade dinner on the table in no time.
10. Consolidate Your Errands
Consolidate your errands into one or two longer outings per week. You’ll spend less on gas, and probably less on food and snacks that you may have bought during shorter errand runs.
11. Use Savings Extensions
Install a money-saving extension like Honey on your internet browser. When you buy something online, Honey can automatically test known discount and coupon codes for you before you checkout, potentially getting you a discount or even free shipping. It’s great for shopping on Amazon too, because it will show you if the price listed is the best one on the site.
12. Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated
It pays to keep your car’s tires properly inflated. If your tires are just 2 PSI below the recommended amount, you can sacrifice 1% of the gas mileage you normally get. Most people’s tires are 5-10 PSI under the recommended level, so it’s very possible that just by inflating your tires properly, you could increase your gas mileage by 5% and keep more money in your pocket.
13. Take Advantage Of Weekly Discounts
Know what weekly discounts are offered by the businesses in your area and make sure to take advantage of them. A theater chain has Discount Tuesdays with $5 admission, and a lot of taco joints offer discounts on Tuesdays too (Taco Tuesdays, anyone?)
14. Use Digital Coupons
Before heading out to a store, check out their website or mobile app to see if there are any digital coupons you can use. This is especially applicable for crafts stores like Michaels and Joann, which almost always have digital coupons that can save you quite a bit.
15. Sign Up For Emails Or Download Apps
Look around at local restaurants to see if they offer any freebies for signing up for their email list or download their mobile app. You can often score free appetizers or desserts just for signing up, and sometimes you get a free meal for your birthday!
More Ideas You'll Love
16. Try Generics And Store Brands
Try the generic or store brand version of items you buy regularly. A lot of them are just as good as the name brand items, and making those little switches is a surefire money saver.
17. Look Through Your Junk Mail
Check your junk mail or Sunday paper for coupons and discounts you can use at local stores. Throwing away a coupon mailer can be like turning down free money! If I handed you a $5 bill, would you take it and crumple it up and throw it away?
18. Make Your Own Cleaning Solutions
I’m not exactly an unbiased source on this one, but the fact of the matter is that you can easily save $5 by making a cleaner instead of buying one at the store. Get the recipes for a number of my favorite homemade cleaning solutions here.
19. Plan Your Meals Around Sales
Consult your grocery store’s weekly ad while making your shopping list. Planning your meals around what’s on sale can save you a lot of money!
Related: 10 Ways to Make Grocery Shopping Less Terrible
20. Eat Less Meat
You can really save on your grocery bill when you start planning more vegetarian meals during the week. In almost every case, fruits, vegetables, and protein-backed staples like beans offer a better value for your money!
21. Buy Generic Prescriptions
Many common generic drugs cost just $4 for a 30-day supply at Costco, Kmart, Target, Walmart, and others. And some stores offer their own discount programs for generic and brand-name drugs.
22. Use Your Food Scraps
Saving the tops and ends of all your veggies, you can quickly build up enough material to make a delicious homemade vegetable broth! Read more about that below.
Related: How To Make Homemade Chicken (Or Veggie) Stock The Lazy Way
23. Use Smart Power Strips
Connect your entertainment center or home office equipment to a smart power strip, which will kill the power to all the connected devices when a specific device is turned off. (For instance, you could turn off your TV, and the power strip would also turn off your sound system, your gaming consoles, etc.) This simple step can cut down on energy costs quite a bit.
24. Obey The Speed Limit
Not only is speeding less efficient in terms of gasoline use, but it can also get you an expensive speeding ticket. So stick to the speed limit, get more mileage from the gas you buy, and keep that speeding ticket money in your pocket.
25. Save Money Automatically
Apps like Guac can help you save money automatically by analyzing your spending and transferring small amounts to a separate savings account regularly. Not only is it nice to not have to think about it, but it’s fun to watch the total in that account grow!
What are your favorite ways to save a few dollars?
Interesting topic. In our (US) culture we’ve been taught by marketers that spending less for sometime is saving, which it isn’t if we’re only buying that product because it’s on sale and not because we need it. So for instance, going to a restaurant on a discount night is more money out of my pocket if I would normally have made a meal at home.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee, I don’t think you mentioned a huge money waster. Credit card debt, wow, the interest rates are astronomical.
I also have a money return credit card, one I earn 4% on groceries, gas and restaurants. Another I earn 2% on every purchase. I then apply it to the balance on the credit card. It adds up pretty fast.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great addition, Ruth! Thanks for sharing this for others to read. :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Have a Keurig coffee machine? Stop using K cups and start using a permanent refillable k cup instead. That way you aren’t buying overpriced K cups at the store, you can use your favorite coffee to make a better cup of coffee, and you aren’t filling the landfills with the wasteful used K cups. If you drink a couple cups a day as I do, you’ll save way more than $5 every day this way.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.People here in Southern California drive 10-15 mile slower. And in the hand book you can get a ticket for driving slower then the speed limit.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Funny how the term “speed limit” really isn’t true in the US. It _should_ be the fastest we drive and slower _should_ be acceptable. In my experience, we use it as the minimum. My experience in England was it actually is the limit.
Sounds like SoCal requires people drive at the exact limit – no slower and no faster. Bizarre
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Good ideas! Unfortunately for #1, Kroger now charges $.75 for every cash back on your purchase (as of January, 2024). I just found this out a few days ago, when I needed $20, so that extra cost me $20.75.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No reason for me to shop there very often.
I’ve used Honey for a couple of years and love it! It doesn’t work on every site, but it does work on the ones I frequent. If they can’t find a coupon code, most times you’ll earn cash back. Once your cash back has reached a certain point, you can cash out via Paypal or get a gift card.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Capital One Shopping works the same
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I found out just yesterday that Dollar Tree accept coupons! (Check their site for guidelines)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Another way we like to save is to use our AARP card at Denney’s and get a 15% discount. Make it even better by taking the grandkids on Tuesday and Thursday they eat for free. 2 children per adult. Yes you can use both at the same time.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My absolute favorite money saving tip is to check GoodRX.com before going to your pharmacy. It is free and the pharmacist CAN over ride your insurance for the lower price. I have literally saved hundreds.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Join the discussion…I love GOOD RX. Did you know you can also save on Rxs for your pets there as well?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.These are great tips, I will for sure be putting all of these to use!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I learned some good things here, today, but was surprised that you didn’t include embracing your senior discounts. Here in Utah, Savers has Senior Tuesdays, Taco Bell will give you either a senior discount or a senior drink, and Golden Corral gives a discount after 1:00pm. I ask everyone if they offer a senior discount, and it really does add up!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Here in SC, Golden Corral gives you that discount if you’re a senior as soon as they open, until closing. Great way to save a dollar (which is their discount) if you go there, but unfortunately it’s offset by their prices now being almost $10 per person. We usually get water, instead of paying $1.79 per soda or tea.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love GoodRX.com for saving money on prescriptions. It is free, works with my insurance and I saved over $1,000.00 a year on one prescription. I usually think those things are just a scam but you just go to the website, put in your prescription information, drug name, dosage,etc and it will show you the cheapest place to fill it with a coupon they can scan at the store. I did not even give CVS the coupon and they pulled it up and gave me the price!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How cool, thanks for the tip Beverly! :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Good Rx is a decent way to save some money, especially on expensive drugs, however my local Walgreens always tells me that they can’t use it or that it’s not working. (Hmmm…wonder if they just don’t want to bother helping those who are on expensive medicines!).
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We have done these things for a long time. We also compost, save dryer lint in toilet rolls to use as fire starters, and use vinegar for a lot of disinfecting and as a rinse in our washer. We have very few cleaning supplies. They are really not needed. As retirees, this has just become a way of life.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Amen to that! Due to being allergic to cleaning chemicals, I have learned to use vinegar, Isopropyl Alcohol (“rubbing alcohol”), soap nuts boiled in water (recipe can be found on the Web or You Tube) and other things that will not cause me to have a reaction.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.No one should breathe those fumes coming from those “innocent” cleaning products. They are dangerous to your health and of your family, including pets.
I have taken it a step further and made my own soaps, laundry detergents, lotions, toothpaste and toothpaste powder, etc., not only to save money but again–for not ingesting or using things that are chemically loaded.
I downloaded your printable grocery list and have loved using it the last few weeks. I don’t forget items and I can shop faster.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know Paula :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Most grocery store receipts tell you how much you have saved on that transaction, from sales and coupons. That amount could go straight into savings, too.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Our stores receipts show savings and fuel points if you’ve earned any. When my.folks earn a certain amount of points they take both cars and get gas. One of the cars gas tank only holds 13 gallons, the points are good on 20 gallons. So we really save money on gas if you wait until you earn .25-.50! in fuel reward points.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Use your public library for print books and dvds and download electronic books, movies, and audiobooks by using your library card. Some also check out museum passes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Your Michael’s coupons were both expired!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Those were an example. Go to http://www.michaels.com to get real coupons.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Sorry for the confusion, Ben! Just showing an example for the tip below the image :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My favorite ways to save money. Well I need to do it all the time since I’m on a disability income, not easy to manage when you are single! I forget buying magazines and look up the information on-line, if there is something a little more expensive I use like I collect silver jewelry from Novica around the world, I tell them something I am interested in and they notify me when it’s going on sale! I buy my favorite coffee in bulk through Amazon and use Prime. I don’t have a Costco card but go with my family and we do one outing for all of us and devide up the money at the end. I only buy beauty products on sale and use reward cards like Walgreens to get even more money off. I take my change out of my purse every day and put into a jar for splurges if I should want one. I buy cards only at the dollar store where they are 2 for $1 and load up on lots of different holidays ahead of time and birthdays too when I do have the money. Expensive items like good cuts of meat I get only on sale and freeze them. I keep a stash of gifts that I bought inexpensively that everyone loves for birthdays and congrats. It’s easier on the wallet to deep discount buy when you come across something great! I build rather than buy like a 1×10″ piece of lumber is great for making shelving, just paint and add decorative shelf holders at places like Menards. I “buy” money that limits my spending, I go to the bank and buy $1 coins instead of using $1 bills (being sure to remind the shopkeeper they are $1) and put in my purse only a limited number of those coins, when they are gone they are gone and no more spending and my purse gets lighter with each purchase! I put my clothes into consignment for the first time so we will see how that goes, I have given plasma – a great way to get money as well as help someone in need. I buy from places like Poshmark and Wish and get great discounts on wonderful items. And lastly as my mother still reminds me – I try my hardest to “Turn the light out!”
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great tips, thanks EliMarie! :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.At the top of this post, I saw a picture of the Instant Pot (which I’m a new mother of) sitting on a shelf with sides. Is that possibly one of the Ikea storage carts you spoke about in another post? Does it hold all the accessories you suggested buying? Because I just unloaded 3 boxes from Amazon with all of them in it, and my kitchen table is full?!?!?!?!?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yes! Check it out: https://jillee.co/2HyY9h6 :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My Mom is a Girl Scout leader, and they sell “scrip”. It’s a program that non profit organizations use as a fundraiser, selling gift cards (they get a percentage of sales, but it doesn’t cost you more to buy them). See if a scout troop, school, or church group near you sells scrip, and you can not only buy gift cards, but also help an organization with their fundraising!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We bought an Intermatic timer for $57.00 that my hubby installed on our hot water tank (it actually hangs on the wall above the tank). You can program it to the times of day your hot water heater (ours is electric) runs. I think it paid for itself in about 2 months time. We have ours programmed to only run the hot water heater in the morning hours and evening hours. It keeps the hot water heater off all night and during the mid day. A true money saver!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.How interesting, thanks for the tip! :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve heard from my family and friends who have served foreign missions in South America – this how their water heaters work. You get up and set the heater and wait for it to get hot. Leave it set for a certain amount of time to allows for showers, laundry etc.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Same here. We’ve been doing that for years. When we moved to SC, we had no idea that most of the area is electric only–for hot water heaters, stoves, house heat, etc. So we once again installed a timer. When we go away my husband automatically turns OFF the hot water heater; when we come back, he turns it on again–it only takes about an hour or less to heat up, while we are unpacking our clean and dirty laundry. By then, the hot water heater is hot, so the next thing we do is have our showers.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.In these types of things it’s only a savings if the energy needed to reheat the water is less than the energy to keep it hot. The best solution is a tankless water heater, which only heats the moment you need it
I always us RetailMeNot.com before buying on line to check for coupons in store and on line.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Do they make that device honey for cell phones? Thanks for all your great advice
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yes!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I bring my own lunch to work. I work for a grocery store, but buying stuff for lunch especially from the Deli can cost $ 4, 5,, or if you buy something at work..I keep,a supply of the cheap: frozen entrees at home for work. I do frequently use leftover from dinner from the previous night.. I also used to spend $4 monthly on the Downy Wrinkle releaser spray. I ve been using Jillees version since it was posted. That’s another great way to save money.. Great ideas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The store I work for also has. a program when you purchase certain items in the weekly ad you earn rewards points. They also have it set up so when you spend $50.00 or more you can earn rewards points for a voucher for $ off food or earn earn points for saving money on a gas at our areas big name gas station.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I recently signed up with Ibotta and Checkout 51 which give you cash back for grocery items. In less than 3 months I’ve earned over $100. With Ibotta you can link your store savings card and with Checkout 51 use your phone’s camera to snap a picture of your receipt and generally within the hour your account has been credited.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.