6 Easy Ways to Save Money

Most of us could benefit from saving more money every month, but it can be difficult without making significant changes to our lives. Here are five ways that you can save money without skipping your daily lattes or turning your couch upside down looking for loose change.

1. Save your raises: Most people receive raises every year. If you need to figure out a way to save money, try to commit to saving your next raise (or at least half of it). Depending on your salary, even a modest raise could mean you'd be saving several thousands of dollars a year.

2. Overtime: Hopefully you're in a place where you are not relying on overtime to make ends meet. If that's the case, you can save a portion of the overtime you earn without impacting anything.

3. Third paychecks: If you work in an organization that has 26 pay periods per year, there are two months each year in which you will receive three paychecks. The majority of these checks will not need to be spent on bills, so it's almost like you're receiving a bonus twice a year. If you were to save the bulk of these third paychecks, you could be saving almost an entire month's salary without changing anything else you're doing.

4. Tax refunds: If you get a large tax refund every year, you have a golden opportunity to save a sizable amount of money. Even if you have a burning desire to spend a portion of your refund, you could still make it a priority to save most of it, which could add thousands of dollars to your savings account.

5. Credit card rewards: Many credit cards out there offer cash back rewards. Using your credit card to make everyday purchases can bump up your cash back, and as long as you pay your credit card bill in full each month, it's free money. Spending $2,000 a month with 2% cash back is $480 per year.

6. High yield savings accounts: If you are comfortable with online banks, you could be earning up to 10 times the amount of interest you receive from your traditional bank/credit union. As long as the bank is FDIC insured, your money is safe, even with an online bank. Just make sure to do the proper research to make sure the bank you choose has good customer service and no hidden fees.

These are just some of the ways that you can boost your savings every year. Following these five suggestions could add more than $10,000 per year to your savings plan. That's not bad considering you don't have to change your current standard of living!