In today's rising cost of living and inflation, many people earn a decent amount to sustain their living, but they still struggle to save money at the end of the month. Saving money is more about the systems and habits you build over time than depriving yourself of comfort. It has to do more with strategic thinking and planning rather than restricting yourself from travel and luxuries.

How to save money in 2026

Therefore, we created a complete guide on how to save money in 2026, and we hope to help you set your main priorities for the next year. Bear in mind that personal finance is hard at the beginning, as with any other activity or skill-building. It requires discipline and consistency to build over time. This can be rough at the start, but the reward can be super attractive at the end of the month.

What “Saving Money” Actually Means

Before we talk about methodology, we need to understand the mindset. When we start saving, we become more selective about spending, and we begin to differentiate what is essential and what isn't. Therefore, we cut non-essential enjoyment or spending for a long-term goal.

This doesn't necessarily mean we will cut all entertainment or fun, we are human beings after all. It goes without saying that we will reduce it to a point where it becomes sustainable for our personal finances. Remember, consistency beats intensity over and over again.

All right, with this out of the way, there are two types of saving money: saving short-term and saving long-term. When to use each one? Short-term is for emergencies only, while long-term could be a goal-oriented approach. For instance, saving to fix a leak on the roof (short-term), saving to invest $20.000 in a 401k over 2 years (long-term).

Track Your Spending First (Foundation Step)

To begin saving money, we need to track everything that we are spending monthly. If we cannot measure it, how will we know its impact on our pocket? At this stage, we need to be organized with our finances.

We normally categorise our spending. There are two types of expenses: fixed ones and variable expenses. The fixed expenses are subscriptions, loan payments, and anything that we can predict a fixed value (e.g. phone/internet bills, etc.). Variable expenses, on the other hand, are variable payment values that are harder to predict; we cannot measure with 100% certainty what they will be at the end of the month, for instance, electricity/gas bills.

With that in mind, the type of expense that we need to be the most careful about is the variable expenses. Common blind spots would be food deliveries over the week, small recurring purchases on Amazon, or even those trial subscriptions that you forget. This is a step where we start raising awareness about our savings, which leads us to create our instant savings.

To track our expenses, we often use the Moneywise App, which is a budget planner application that contains a vast amount of tools that make our lives easier, especially with AI baked in. But you can also use spreadsheets; they would be more manual and require a lot more discipline. However, it is a good starting point; also, you could use your bank statements to check spending habits and flag any overspending.

Regardless of which tool you use, the most important part is to understand your monthly spending, so you can plan how to save money.

Build a Simple Budget That Actually Works

Now that we have the mindset and the tools, it's time for the methodology (a.k.a framework). Treat budgeting as a guideline, not a restriction per se. There are a few very popular methods to start budgeting your money; the most common ones are the 50/30/20 rule and zero-based budgeting.

50/30/20 rule

This methodology is a percentage-based guideline for allocating after-tax income. In a nutshell, we follow the principle of 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings/debt. This offers us flexibility in allocating our budget.

50% needs: Essentials like rent, utilities, and minimum loan payments.

30% wants: Discretionary spending like dining out, streaming, hobbies.

20% saving/debt: building emergency funds, retirement, paying extra on debt.

The 50/30/20 rule works best for people wanting a simple, flexible framework to manage spending without having to track every cent. It's a great way for beginners looking to save money.

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

This framework is a detailed method where you track every dollar, you assign specific “jobs” for each cent, ensuring income minus expenses equals zero for total control. Let me explain with a short example:

Concept: your income - your expenses = $0 (every dollar is assigned to a purpose)

You allocate every dollar to a specific category (bills, savings, fun money) before the month starts.

Zero-based budgeting is very simple, honestly, it's perfect for people wanting maximum control over their money and avoiding “money leaks”. By the way, if you have a variable income, it would be perfect.

With these frameworks, we can adapt any income from low to irregular into an easy, trackable method. So, we don't lose pace with our savings. Remember, most budgets fail when they become too complex. Personal finance should be easy and simple, so we can save as much money as we can.

Cut Expenses Without Sacrificing Quality of Life

I want you to forget everything you know about cutting expenses. A lot of people out there, so-called “gurus”, coffee shame us on saving on tiny little expenses that are practically useless. I know, taking coffee every day at Starbucks when we planned for it is one thing, when we haven't thought about it in a monthly expense is another.

First, we need to look at our overall expenses at the end of the month, look at our credit card statement, and print it out. Second, with a spreadsheet or utilizing Moneywise Budget Planner, split the expenses into a few categories:

Housing (rent, utilities, roommates)

Transportation (car vs public transportation)

Food (groceries vs eating out)

Subscriptions and services

Insurance and recurring bills

Third, focus on the large expenses at first and determine if they are essential. You should do the same for the cheaper ones. You can note the non-essential expenses down on a piece of paper. Later, we can compare them with the overall budget.

This way, you will notice what would be sustainable and what isn't at the moment. Focusing on the big wins rather than coffee shaming ourselves is the best way to begin a healthy financial plan.

How to Save Money Fast

Saving money quickly is easier than most people think; most people don't even consider that we could negotiate bills, sell unused items, or even get a drastic temporary lifestyle reset in order to speed up the process. Saving money fast is an art that, when done correctly, can boost savings for emergencies.

We always recommend people pay close attention to their credit cards. Most people don't even realize the unused subscriptions they signed up for. These can be a quick way to turn a red month into a cash flow green. Also, consider pausing non-essential spending for over 30 days or more if required. These can be a healthy way to gain more time before even committing back.

With these insights, we can save money fast and avoid the hurdle of being overwhelmed with bills at the end of the month.

Automate Your Savings

When we begin applying frameworks in our personal finance, we need to shift from endless effort to following a standard system. What does that mean? Well, it means we need to follow a few simple rules to make everything sustainable long-term.

First, we always pay ourselves first; we will always be the priority, and later the bills. Second, we should automate everything that we can, from automatic transfers to utility bills. Automation will make your life easier, especially if you want to build a healthy credit score along the way. Third, separate saving accounts each time you create a goal. This will help you become more organized and efficient when it comes to saving money. Last but not least, you should have an emergency fund. The basic amount to hold onto it is around 3-6 months of your spending. Personally, I like having at least 12 months of funding.

With these simple rules, we remove decision fatigue when it comes to paying bills, making transfers, and preparing for the future. I would emphasize using automation as much as possible, so you start saving for the future.

Increase Income (Often Overlooked)

It goes without saying that when we put in an effort to shrink expenses and maximize savings, we often hit a ceiling. There is only so much we can save on every expense. So, we have to look for ways to increase our income rather than save money.

We often find a crossroads when it comes to increasing our personal income; we can either pursue a side income (side hustle) or invest in our career optimization. Personally, I am a strong believer that we need to build multiple income sources to have healthy finances. You could either teach people a new skill, open a digital business, or generate skill-based income with services (e.g. Uber, deliveries, construction, gardening ). While this can bring in a few thousand dollars every month, you could also focus on your career.

When you start focusing on your career, you could potentially start making extra hours, network with key individuals, and potentially ask for a raise. However, be aware that every career has a salary ceiling.

The most important part is to avoid lifestyle inflation, from increasing expenses to leaving your savings to be eaten by inflation. So, you'd better start investing and creating those extra income streams.

Common Money-Saving Mistakes

We discussed ways to save money, frameworks, automation, and how to increase your income. But we can't forget the most common money-saving mistakes. The first thing we need to address is that we see a lot of people doing it too well; I mean, extreme frugality. As with any extreme behaviours, they are not sustainable; they will eventually come crashing down and not work long-term.

Another rather common mistake is not planning irregular expenses or using credit cards without tracking the statement. These mistakes can be very costly at the end of the month and turn the boat around. Also, we see a lot of people ignoring inflation. If you have a savings account, start investing, so you protect your savings from inflation.

Last but not least, saving money without a goal is like putting gas in your car without knowing where you want to go. If you don't have a very clear and concise plan, it may automatically make you question your spending habits.

Build Long-Term Money Habits

So, how do we build a long-term mentality for saving money? It all starts with changing your core habits; certain identity-based habits will need to be changed for you to start thinking about your goals before pleasure. One key habit to build is to do weekly and monthly financial check-ins on your budgeting app (e.g. Moneywise) or your spreadsheet. Another key habit to build is to be always aware of your goals, building a clear reason why you are saving money. Don't worry about making everything pitch perfect; it's all about progress over perfection.

Conclusion: Saving Money Is a Skill

Anyone can learn how to save money in 2026. All we need to do is start small and stay consistent over a long period of time. Remember, systems beat motivation; it's all about one change today that will compound over time. Maintaining a good mindset and sticking to one framework is already a great start.

Homework: start tracking your progress and add one automated saving rule to your routine. You will start noticing a positive impact on your personal finances at the end of the month.

How To Save Money In 2026