Adam Kossoff
If you buy through our links, we may earn money from affiliate partners. Learn more.
- I set a goal for myself to save 21% of my income in 2021, and TikTok is helping me get there.
- On the app, I’ve learned new budgeting techniques, and tips for scoring deals on travel and more.
- I’ve also tried some creative savings challenges and cut my monthly fixed expenses.
- Lower your monthly bills and stay on top of your financial life with TrueBill »
I’m not ashamed to admit that I spend a lot of quality time on TikTok. I say that with pride because I usually walk away with at least two or three interesting facts, tips, or ticks after spending 30 minutes on the social media platform.
Some of the most valuable things I’ve learned on the platform have had to do with finances. That advice has pushed me to switch up my investment strategy (like finally saying hello to cryptocurrency), encouraged me to organize things earlier this year for my taxes, and taught me some interesting ways to save big in 2021.
I have a hefty savings goal of putting away at least 21% of my income this year, and to help do that, I tried out some of the tips I learned on TikTok. So far, as of May 2021, they’ve helped me save $1,000.
1. How to create a budget template
I knew that, in order to meet my savings goal this year, I’d have to seriously stick to a budget. This is something I’ve never consistently been able to do before. I’ve written out budgets on paper and ended up ignoring them over the month.
I stumbled upon a few budget templates on TikTok, including this one, that seemed practical, easy to understand, and simple to update on a weekly basis. I began using a template from TikTok in January and have stuck with it since then.
I’ve been consistent with tracking my spending against the budget I set for each spending category. Doing this weekly has kept me meeting my savings goal and helped me save an extra $50 over the past five months.
2. How to lower monthly bills
When I wrote down my recurring monthly expenses, there were some bills that I really wished were lower (phone, cable, internet, etc.). I wasn’t sure the right way to go about getting a lower price on some of my most important and used services and wanted to make sure I was prepared with a strategy.
Before calling up my phone provider, I searched on TikTok for tip videos on how to get bills lowered, like this video. I wrote down what I’d say, what I’d ask for, and how I’d negotiate. This helped me lower my phone bill by $25 a month and my cable and internet bill by $10 a month.
3. Fun and unusual savings challenges
I knew it would be a challenge to save more this year than I ever have in the past. I turned to TikTok to find unique and unusual challenges to help me be mindful with saving every month.
One challenge I saw a handful of times was this one, where you write different amounts on envelopes and then, over a certain time period, you put that amount of cash in the envelope.
I did a version of this during the month of April and was able to save $300. Every day, I’d pick up an envelope and put that amount of cash in while also canceling something of that amount I was going to spend that day (for the $5 day I skipped a morning coffee and on a $30 day I skipped takeout for dinner). It was a fun and easy way of saving a couple hundred dollars in a short amount of time in a very mindful and visual way.
4. The 50/30/20 rule
The 50/30/20 rule is a strategy that’s been around for a while; a few of my friends use it to help them break down their spending and savings. This is something I’ve heard about in passing, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon a TikTok video explaining it in detail that I understood what it was and gave it a try in my own life.
I first took my monthly income and broke it down like this: 50% would be used for necessities (rent, food, etc.), 30% would be used for things I wanted (shopping, travel, etc.) and 20% would be for saving or investing.
Because my savings goals were quite ambitious, I put my own spin on this and did 40% necessities, 40% saving or investing, and 20% for things I wanted. Using this strategy was a great way to set a budget and figure out how to break down my money.
5. How to score impressive deals and offers
During the month of March, I decided to start planning some future trips and vacations to take in 2021. I noticed that some of these trips would rock my budget and put some of my savings goals on pause. That’s when I started researching travel savings tips and found videos like this one.
What did I take from these videos? A long list of new websites to use to hunt for cheap flights (that I didn’t know of before), ways to score discounts and deals on hotel stays, and how to snag a rental car for 50% off (by filtering my search results). In the end, it helped me save close to $400 on three different trips I planned for later this year.
Powered by WPeMatico
