Five Items That Will Save You Money

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Many times when we think about getting out of debt, we neglect the small things. We are aware of the benefits that stopping to overspend can have and we know that we may need to cut out luxuries. But sometimes, there are small things that do not affect our quality of life in the long run that can help us save. We tend to overlook these items in all our price-comparisons, as they mostly do have a larger investment. Knowing your long-term costs is the key to enabling these items to save you items.

These five items have helped me personally save money on my regular expenses. They also happen to be good for the environment. Relevancy will depend of course, on your usage of these categories. This is not sponsored content – it’s 100% self-curated. Links are affiliate links and help me continue blogging without costing you extra.

Initial investment: $8.95

Who it’s best for: People who own a single serve coffee brewer. 
What you’re saving: K-cups run on average 50 cents a piece when they are on sale. Alternatively, you can purchase coffee grounds and re-use these cups. 
How long it takes to cover the cost with savings: If you drink coffee once a day, you will save approximately $10 a month (after the cost of the coffee itself). That means that you’ve already saved on it in your first month.
I own this set set and it’s great for my keurig mini. 

2. Sodastream Soda Maker


Initial investment: $69.00 – $20 mail-in rebate. This is a very good promotion going on – one of the best prices I’ve seen on it. Final cost is $49.

Who it’s best for: Seltzer drinkers. I don’t recommend it to replace sodas, as their flavors are definitely not a match for the leading soda companies. We do drink seltzer heavily and this has saved us loads.
What you’re saving: Seltzer goes on sale in my local grocery store for about 50-60 cents for a liter. In addition we need to pay a 5 cents deposit per bottle. 
How long it takes to cover the cost with savings: With this promotion, you need to roughly 95 bottles of seltzer to cover the cost. If you drink a bottle a day (as we do) it’ll take just over three months. If you drink two a week, it’ll take you just under a year. The original carbonator makes 60 liters and costs $15 to re-fill. Which means maintenance cost is about 25 cents a bottle. That means that the total time it takes, roughly, to pay it up, is about 4-5 months. 

Initial investment: Depends on how many lights you have in your house. Approx $4.00 a bulb.

Who it’s best for: Anyone who pays his own electric bill.  If it’s covered by your landlord, let’s hope he already knows this fact. 
What you’re saving: Over its 10,000 hour lifespan, a compact flourescent light bulb costs about $28 in electricity to run. A regular lightbulb costs about $120 to run for this long, plus you’ll need to replace it more often, which covers at least part of the price gap.  On average, each bulb will save you about $92 dollars in electricity over its lifespan. This, of course, can vary and this number is a broad estimate. It does, however, give you a glimpse into just how worth it it is.

How long it takes to cover the cost with savings: I’m leaving out this calculation because I feel the “what you’re saving” section gave a pretty broad picture, and because the time will vary greatly. You will save approximately $96 total, per light bulb, per 10,000 hours used (approx 417 full days), including the cost of replacing incandescent more frequently.


4. Rechargable Batteries + Charger

Initial investment: Between $14.00 – $35.00

Who it’s best for: Anyone who uses products that work with rechargeable batteries. The most popular usage is in digital cameras, as they use lots of batteries and work with rechargeable. 
What you’re saving: Batteries cost about 40 cents a piece on average for AA.

How long it takes to cover the cost with savings: They require very little electricity to recharge, so I’m going to completely leave that out of the equation. They do not, however last forever, and this is important to remember. You should be able to recharge it hundreds of times. You should make sure it’s fully de-charged before recharging to get the most out of it. With this in mind, it’ll take you about as long as it takes to use 35 batteries to cover the cost (remember, most items use more than one battery at once.)

5. Magic Jack Phone Service


Initial investment: $63.00

Who it’s best for: If you don’t want to completely give up your home phone, and anyway have internet access in your home, this is for you.
What you’re saving: The average monthly phone bill is $22

How long it takes to cover the cost with savings: A little under 3 months. This includes a year of service so within the first year you save approximately $200. After that, you pay approximately $30 a YEAR!! That means that the average yearly savings will be $230. They do usually have discounts, which you will see when it’s time to renew.

I personally have been using this for years now and I’m very satisfied with it. I started using it when I lived abroad to be able to speak to my family without limit. Now I continue to use it in place of a regular land line phone.

You can see that there are no major savings on each thing, but how it all adds up. These are just five ways to save. If you follow my blog, you will see that I post other ways to save. When you add it all up, you will find that it’s much more do-able than you thought. Every little thing helps. Choosing the things that will not affect your quality of life will enable you to afford the other things that will enhance it.

Are there any products that have saved you money? Comment below!

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8 Comments

  1. I do use the reusable K-Cups and soda stream, but I haven’t really looked into the Magic Jack — I think I should definitely look into that and the rechargable batteries…we are ALWAYS going through batteries! Thanks for the tips!

  2. I use rechargeable batteries and my coffee maker is one that has a reusable filter for k-cups or for regular coffee. These are all great ideas. Every penny counts.

  3. What an excellent list, well done. I didn’t even know they made a soda maker machine, I’ll definitely be looking into that. We have used rechargable batteries for many years, they are a MASSIVE money-saver, especially in a house full of gamers. I have been slowly replacing the bulbs in the house, but they are quite expensive to purchase initially, so it’s a work in progress. I’ve avoided buying the Keurig coffee maker like the plague because the k-cups are outrageously priced and for someone like me who drinks a pot of coffee a day, one box (at 15 bucks) will get me through 4 days max, lol not gonna happen…but love that there is a reusable kit, very neat. Thanks for sharing!

  4. Great information! I do use rechargeable batteries and florescent light bulbs. I am hoping to buy a soda stream very soon!

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