LOOKING for inspiration when it comes to bagging yourself some extra savings? One woman has revealed her tips and tricks that have helped her bank $1million.
Caitie T, known as the Millennial Money Honey, on social media is 29 years old and has already revealed her plans to retire at 35.
After putting away a huge $1million (£727k), she's now sharing the tricks she swears by to pocket extra cash here and there, including getting cheaper haircuts and ditching her false lashes.
To start with, Caitie, who is based in Los Angeles, decided to track her spending after being left inspired by FIRE – the Financial Independence/Retire Early community, a movement devoted to extreme saving.
Realising just how much she was going and what her monthly outgoings were, Caitie decided to make changes and she has five areas of cost-cutting that have allowed her to rack up the dollar and secure herself early retirement.
1 – Cutback on unnecessary spending
Everyone loves getting their hair done regularly and splashing out on pamper treatments or a gym membership, but these were material things Caitie realised she could go without and pocket the cash instead.
According to Insider, Caitie was spendign $230 (£167) on a gym membership, $30 (£21) a pop on eyelash treatments and $600 (£436) twice a year on hair appointments.
Making little tweaks to her lifestyle, Caitie decided to ditch her luxury gym membership and stop having her eyelashes done – and she even took her hair back to its natural colour to prevent paying out to keep it bleach blonde.
When she does need her hair cut, she now opts for a budget salon that charge just $15 (£10), saving her hundreds of dollars already.
Caitie also put herself through a no-spend year, where she only paid out for her expenses and nothing else.
She revealed on TikTok: 'I didn't buy any new clothes or home goods… basically material stuff! Some people do a week, month or quarter to start!'
2 – Get your money's worth at work
If you're hoping to secure a pay rise at work, then maybe it's time to look for a similar role, using your same skill set, but in a more lucrative industry.
Caitie was previously working as a graphic designer at an ad agency, but decided to get creative and increase her income by looking for similar work elsewhere.
She landed a role as a graphic designer at a tech company – finding her feet in a much more higher-paying industry doing pretty much the same role.
3 – Invest where you can
Prior to throwing herself head first into excessive saving, Caitie had already racked up $30,000 (around £22k) in savings and decided to invest what she had into a robo-advisor – a digital investement service.
The money she makes now, she splits her savings between index funds, an individual retirement account and a health savings account.
4 – Cut down on rent where you can
For Caitie, moving back in with her parents was a no-brainer as it allows her to live rent-free.
Albeit spurred on by the pandemic, Caitie ended up back at her parents and it led to her being able to save much more of her income, as she had less outgoings as a result.
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5 – Celebrate your wins
Putting away savings doesn't mean that you can't enjoy life too and while Caitie chooses to cut back where she can to save 80 per cent of her monthly income, she doesn't budget her day-to-day spendings.
While she always makes sure she can cover her monthly expenses, she still lives her life and will go out and enjoy dinner and drinks with friends, or pay out for a holiday from time to time.
She's all for 'conscious spending over deprivation' and clearly it seems to be working for her.
Sharing her story on TikTok, Caitie – who is now thinking about taking a sabbatical for a year in 2022, despite it pushing back her early retirement by a year – revealed: 'Four years ago, I was 26 and had no money to my name even after working for many years.
'I had to work hard until I was 65 and then I could finally retire. Then I learned about financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), I realised that I could actually retire by the time I was 35. Through my investments, I've grown my net worth to almost $400,000.'
She explained: 'I'm on track to retire in five years. The first step to financial freedom is believing you can do it.'
For more money-saving tips, mum-of-two who struggled with money saves £1.5k on food shopping and shares her best tips so YOU can too.
Plus, Martin Lewis explains three ways to get FREE cash – how to get up to £1,845.
And a mum of four pays just £6 for £50 worth of shopping with money-saving tip – here’s how you can too.
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