Today I’m going to bring you tips that you can implement without leaving home. It’s really easy to save money in bigger things like insurance, and see the savings immediately. However seeing small savings add up over time is a little bit harder to manage.

We all have a neighborhood bulk store in our community - start using it. If you go shopping and buy only the meat your family eats each month alone you’ll probably pay the membership fee off inside of two months or less in the sales taxes you’ll save by paying to be eligible for these savings. What would be even better is if your employer offers this option as some do, which may make the membership free for you, additionally if it’s a business membership instead of individual, evaluate the additional benefits to this membership.

I have a business membership to Sams’ Club through my employer who pays for it as well, with this membership I can even shop earlier than everyone else and I avoid extra purchases by avoiding the samples. :) And don’t go shopping hungry, but then, we’ve all been told that. As stated previously, shopping on a list is ideal, however couple shopping on a list with buying in bulk and you have the potential to save loads of money.

Another tip, unplug the electronics you’re not using when not at home, or even when you just aren’t using them, alternatively put them on a surge protector on a switch so you can shut down all that stuff when you leave the room with a simple switch. You can save up to $20 a month on your electric bill with this one step alone. Why? You ask, well think about it, how does the TV know to come on when you push a button on the remote? Yes, a part of said TV must stay on in order to receive the signals from the remote, the same is true of any remote driven device.

These savings, we’ll average them at $50 a month, for both combined, at a rate of return at 4% in a savings account (this rate is what you can expect unless you have $5000 to put up from the word “Go”) at 4%, and let’s say you kick the fund off with that $1000 year end PTO Payout that you get, after adding $50 a month for five years you have $4535.94. You’ve made $535.94 off interest alone! As the balance gets bigger and bigger the money you make increases many times over. For example, if you continue this trend of $50 a month for 20 years, you’ll have $20561.31. After 20 years, you’ve made $7000 off your initial plan. After 25, you’ve more than doubled your money.

We all know that as we get older our financial situation gets easier so you could of course add more money to that monthly amount, or after your savings reaches a certain point, you could convert it to a bond, or a mutual fund, or a college savings 529 and start your plan over. But you DO have to start somewhere.

For those two tips alone, you’ve got a healthy start to a fat little nest egg.