Every day the average consumer spends a ridiculous amount of money on products and goods necessary for life. For example, car insurance, groceries, and clothes drain our bank accounts. You may wonder if there are ways to reduce spending habits and be alerted when overpaying. Well, there is! I have read about four tips online to help you save some money.

The first is the Capital One Shopping service. All you have to do is install a free browser on your computer or phone to see if there are cheaper options for the same product. There are coupons, price-drop alerts, and even the item’s price history. This service has saved users $160 million in the past year. Capital One Shopping can have a significant impact on this littlest of items. Even if you find something $5 cheaper on another site, that money will start to add up, and you will realize how much you are saving yourself.

Secondly, if your car insurance company is overcharging you, usually up to $610 a year, there is a way to cancel your car insurance and find a better insurance company. Multiple companies can help lower your car insurance, but the one that stood out the most was EverQuote. “EverQuote [is] the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US that shows you all of your car insurance options at once” (“The 4 Dumbest…,” para. 12). The website has about 175 insurance companies to choose from, so you can pick what works best for your income and lifestyle.

Thirdly, brands want to hear your opinion about their products and services. On a free site called Branded Surveys, you can take a bunch of simple surveys with times ranging from 5-15 minutes. The benefit is that you can get paid up to $5 for every survey you take. If you do the math on that, you can make up to $140 a month just by taking surveys for brands that you know and love. Branded Surveys are a great way to get extra pocket money or save for the year to make an easy $1,680!

Lastly, Fiona is a service that will connect you with financial assistance from top providers, connecting you with loans, savings accounts, credit cards, and life insurance. This way, you will only have one bill to pay each month. This is a great way to keep track of the money you are spending, and you will not get lost in the chaos or anxiety of your monthly bills. All you have to do is fill out a simple form, and the Fiona employees will take that information and connect you with the best offers for your income and lifestyle. Plus, the interest rate is much lower, so you will get out of debt much more quickly! This does not affect your credit score, and it is free of charge!

I also want to add one of my suggestions for saving money. REDUCE THE NUMBER OF STARBUCKS YOU INTAKE!!! I gave Starbucks up for Lent, and my bank account has never looked better!! I used to be at Starbucks three times a week; my drink was $6 every time. $6 x 3 = $18/week. That is approximately $72 a month. As a high school student, I should not be paying that much; I should be saving for college spending money! The problem I deal with the most is subscriptions, I get all of these points, so I feel like I  have to spend my money on these items that I am “getting a deal on.” Especially with the Starbucks app, you get stars for every dollar you spend. You can get a free drink or merchandise item if you reach a certain amount of leads. I could already buy 3 of those merchandise items with the money I spent to get those stars. I advise you to regularly check your subscriptions to see if you are paying for everything you have and not being overcharged. I have many personal experiences with this, and other people have saved hundreds!