How to save money: 30 practical tips that work
Updated October 7, 2026 · By the Souski team
Saving money doesn't mean living on pasta and tap water. Most lasting savings come from a few decisions made once: a cancelled subscription, an automatic transfer, a renegotiated contract. Here are 30 practical tips, grouped by type of spending, and the method to keep what you save.
Before you start: saving is about deciding
People often think saving means going without. In reality, it means choosing where your money goes before it leaves on its own. Three principles make every tip below more effective:
- Start with invisible spending: a forgotten subscription costs you every month and gives you nothing. Cancelling it changes nothing in your daily life.
- Favour one-off decisions: renegotiating a contract once pays off every month, with no willpower needed.
- Give the money you save a destination: if it stays in your current account, it will get spent. Move it aside the same day.
1. Your budget: the 5 basics
- Track your spending for one month. It's the starting point for everything: you can only cut what you can see. Our guide on how to track your spending gives you a routine that takes seconds a day.
- Set a budget for each category. Deciding in advance how much you want to spend on groceries or going out stops things drifting. It's all explained in how to make a monthly budget.
- Use envelope budgeting for the categories that slip the most: when the envelope is empty, you wait until next month. See envelope budgeting.
- Work out your disposable income, meaning what's left once your fixed bills are paid. That's your real spending budget: the disposable income calculator gives it to you in a minute.
- Apply the 48-hour rule to any unplanned purchase above a set amount (€50, say): wait two days. Half of those urges pass on their own.
2. Subscriptions, phone and bank
- List every direct debit from three months of statements: streaming, gym, apps, news, broadband, insurance. Cancel anything you didn't use last month: our guide on how to cut your subscriptions walks you through it.
- Keep one streaming service at a time and rotate: most can be cancelled in a few clicks and restarted when a new series tempts you.
- Compare your mobile plan with current offers: SIM-only plans with plenty of data are often much cheaper than handset contracts. You can usually keep your number for free.
- Review your insurance once a year (home, car, health): get two or three quotes and use them to renegotiate. Also check you're not paying twice for the same cover, such as phone insurance already included with your bank card.
- Check your bank fees: card fees, account fees, overdraft charges. If they add up to more than a few dozen euros a year, an online bank can do much better.
3. Groceries and food
- Plan your meals for the week and write a shopping list to match. You buy fewer duplicates and throw less away. More ideas in how to save on groceries.
- Don't shop hungry, and cut down on trips to the shop: every visit adds unplanned purchases.
- Try own-brand products for your basics: the difference in taste is often small, the difference in price isn't.
- Compare the price per kilo, not the pack price: it's shown on the shelf label and exposes fake bargains.
- Batch-cook and take lunch to work. A home-made meal usually costs a few euros, far less than eating out or ordering in.
4. Home and energy
- Turn the heating down one degree: according to the French energy agency ADEME, each degree lower cuts heating use by about 7%. Around 19 °C in living areas, cooler in bedrooms.
- Hunt down standby power: a switchable power strip for the TV, router and console turns everything off with one click at night.
- Wash at 30 °C with a full load: most of a wash cycle's energy goes into heating the water.
- Compare energy suppliers where your market allows it: switching is usually free, online, and doesn't cut your supply.
- Check which benefits you're entitled to (housing support, energy help, in-work benefits) using official calculators: many eligible people never claim.
5. Transport
- Swap short car trips for walking, cycling or public transport: with a cold engine, they're the most expensive per kilometre.
- Compare fuel prices before filling up: the gap between two nearby stations can be significant.
- Book train tickets in advance and look at railcards or discount cards if you travel often: they pay for themselves quickly.
6. Shopping and fun
- Unsubscribe from brand newsletters and remove saved cards from shopping sites: fewer temptations, fewer one-click purchases.
- Buy second-hand where it makes sense: furniture, books, children's clothes, refurbished appliances and electronics. And sell what's gathering dust.
- Make the most of free fun: libraries (books, films, games), museums with free days, local events.
- Set a guilt-free "fun money" budget: cutting out everything leads to splurges. A dedicated envelope lets you treat yourself without guilt or overspending.
7. Saving without thinking about it
- Set up an automatic transfer on payday to a savings account. What you don't see in your current account, you don't spend. The 50/30/20 rule suggests aiming for 20% of your income.
- Start a savings challenge to make it fun: the 52-week savings challenge gets you €1,378 in a year, starting with €1.
- Give your savings a goal: first an emergency fund, then your plans (holidays, a car, a deposit). The savings goal calculator gives you the monthly amount for each one.
Example: what a few changes can add up to
Emma doesn't change her lifestyle. She spends one evening sorting things out, then adjusts two habits:
| Change | Saving per month |
|---|---|
| Cancel an unused gym membership | €25 |
| Switch to a cheaper mobile plan | €12 |
| One streaming service instead of two | €10 |
| Two fewer food deliveries a month | €40 |
| Home-made lunch two days a week | €45 |
| Total | €132, or €1,584 a year |
Amounts are examples: your savings depend on your contracts and habits.
The most important part comes next: Emma sets up a €130 automatic transfer on payday. Without it, those savings would have melted into the month's spending.
Saving money with Souski
Souski helps you put these tips into practice without a spreadsheet to maintain:
- you log an expense in 5 seconds and see straight away where your money goes;
- each category has its budget, and you know what you can still spend before payday;
- your savings goals show how much to put aside each month to get there on time;
- the dashboard compares this month with last month, so you can check your savings are real.
Your budget ready in 3 minutes, your spending logged in 5 seconds. Free, no bank connection.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I save each month?
A common benchmark is 10 to 20% of your income. If that's too much for now, start with an amount you know you can keep up, even €20 or €30, and raise it with every pay rise. Consistency matters more than the starting amount.
How can I save money on a low income?
Start with costs that change nothing in your daily life: unused subscriptions, your phone plan, insurance, bank fees. That's often a few dozen euros a month recovered in one evening. Then aim for a small automatic saving, however modest, to absorb surprises.
Which tip should I start with?
Listing last month's spending. Until you know where your money goes, you risk cutting back where it makes no difference. One month of tracking is usually enough to spot two or three easy wins.
Where should I keep the money I save?
First in an easy-access savings account, to build an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of spending. Once that cushion is in place, you can think about longer-term options for your plans.
This guide gives general pointers and isn't personalised financial advice.