Who would have thought that saving and managing your budget could be creative activities? And yet, we need more ideas to take a fresh look at our habits, better understand them in order to know how to question them and be relevant in the answers we can bring to this new constraint: saving.

Whether it's saving for a big project or simply consuming less and better, the small changes we can make in our daily lives should not be underestimated.They can, each in their own way – a well-thought-out shopping list, a menu established with enthusiasm, a sorting undertaken with a lot of courage or a few minutes spent each month face-to-face with our expenses… – constitute the first lever towards a deeper change.

So let's go for our list of simple and creative tips for saving money on a daily basis!

Tip #1: Save money by setting a budget at the beginning of each month

It's so obvious, but so few of us think about it! Simply take ten minutes, at the beginning of each month, to list all your money inflows (salary, allowances, reimbursements from your health insurance, etc.).Do the same with your fixed expenses (rent, loan, electricity, telephone, etc.) or planned during the month (birthday gifts, plane tickets to buy, etc.).Now divide the remaining sum between your essential expenses, your optional expenses and your expenses related to culture or your work.Your task for the rest of the month will be to stick to these projected sums! The following tips can help you do this...

💡 You can do this exercise directly from your Foglietto files.To do this, choose three sheets of different colors: note on the first your money inflows for the month, on the second your fixed expenses and on the last your planned expenses as well as the amount allocated to your basic necessities expenses, your expenses optional and your "cultural" expenses.All this will help you for your monthly review (tip n°5).

Tip n°2: save money by making a menu for the week

Planning a menu for the whole week in advance has many advantages: avoiding food waste, encouraging us to eat fresh and varied meals while saving money.And in addition to saving us money, it also saves us time: making a menu for the whole week encourages us to shop only once a week, knowing precisely what we need and allowing us to test "batch-cooking" (cooking several meals at once for the coming week).

You can also provide yourself with "lunch bags" for your lunches of the week, thus avoiding going out to restaurants or ready meals which are often less economical and less healthy.

💡 Organize your menu of the week thanks to Foglietto: from your recipe cards (see article) and in a collaborative way with all the members of your foyer ! Post the menu on the fridge to encourage everyone.and to participate in its development.

Tip #3: Save money by making a shopping list (and sticking to it)

From this menu, make your shopping list.Be thorough!

Once in the store, stick to it.This will save you from buying non-essential products.You can even plan for dishes that use common ingredients when designing your menu, so you buy even less.You will be able to decline coral lentils in Dahl and in vegan sauce for your pasta.A single packet of lentils will thus provide you with two meals.

Other tips: never take a shopping cart, only a small trolley and above all do not go shopping on an empty stomach.

Once you're done shopping, update your list by adding any additional items you bought and crossing out any you ended up going without.eKeep it, it will serve you at the end of the month.

💡 Make your list with Foglietto: post your empty list at the beginning of the week on the fridge and write down the essential products that are ending (sugar, oil, etc.).This will prevent you from forgetting anything, save you time when it comes time to complete your list and free you from some mental burden.

Tip #4: Save money by writing down all your expenses

As with everything, it is sometimes difficult to have an overall view of our expenses.So do the test for at least a month: write down each of your expenses, even the smallest.After a few weeks, you will have a better understanding of your needs and your consumption habits.This will help you identify savings opportunities!

💡 Go even further by noting directly on three different colored cards your three main types of expenses: essential expenses (food, health, etc.), optional expenses (leisure, shopping, restaurants, etc.) and expenses related to culture, studies and your work (books, exhibitions, shows, training, organizational tools, etc.).You will see at a glance what your main expenditure items are.

Tip n°5: save money by taking stock at the end of each month

This part is our favorite because it provides a great learning opportunity or a small victory to celebrate (and sometimes even both!).

Have your budget for the beginning of the month, your list of monthly expenses and your shopping lists.Check whether you have respected the budgets allocated to your essential purchases, optional expenses and your educational/cultural purchases.Have you exceeded them? Next month may be an opportunity to make some adjustments, whether it is to decide between the amounts allocated to each of these budgets or to identify expenses that you could do without.

It's also time to take stock of your monthly shopping lists: have you generally respected them? Have you purchased products that ultimately turned out to be useless? Could you have further optimized your food expenses, for example by favoring fresh seasonal vegetables over a frozen dish, even if it means spending a little more time in the kitchen? Write down all of these findings and use them when planning your budget for the coming month.

💡 This step will be greatly facilitated if you have taken all your notes and made your different monthly lists on foglietti instead of a notebook.You can then simply spread all these out in front of you and get an overview of your financial situation for the month, without having to turn and turn pages or chase after loose sheets or receipts.

Tip #6: Save by setting savings goals

If you can afford it, or if it's one of the main reasons you want to have more control over your finances, now is also the time to identify the expenses on which you could save money and to quantify them.

So, last month you spent €150 on new clothes and around €200 on restaurants or take-out meals (mainly at lunchtime, on weekdays)? By reducing this initial sum, for example by turning to second-hand goods or by limiting your purchases to the essentials for a while, and by replacing the expenses related to meals out by preparing your lunches in advance, you you could save up to €350 per month.Over 6 months, that represents €2,100, more than enough to give you the new computer of your dreams!

Once you have identified specific savings items, include them in the form of savings goals in your monthly budgets.And if you reach them, give yourself a little reward so you don't lose motivation! You can also calculate, each weekend, the budget you have left for the month, to better guide your choices.

💡 A good way to stay motivated on a daily basis and not to lose sight of your goals, and thus not to be discouraged by the small additional organizational efforts that these may involve, is to display, clearly, a little foglietto reminding you of your goal for the month as well as the action plan that will allow you to achieve it.When you spend 30 minutes cooking a savory pie ahead of time for your next lunch, you'll know that those 30 minutes have saved you the equivalent of two meals out, or around €20!

Tip 7: save money by asking the right questions

Some simple tricks, which were initially made popular for their eco-friendliness, are also proving to be great ways to save money.But adopting them sometimes requires getting out of our consumption habits, and therefore asking ourselves some questions.

For example: do we really need a different product to clean our kitchen worktop and our bathroom sink? Do we really need three conditioners? And beware, this one hurts: are all these wraps free?

Making your own cleaning products and reconnecting with a simpler cosmetic routine, in addition to the beneficial effects on our health and our environment, also represents substantial savings over the year.Indeed, one.and French.I spend an average of €18.33 per month on household cleaning products and €6.98 per day on cosmetics.I'll let you do the math...!

Tip #8: Save money by decluttering

At this stage, sorting desires are likely to have taken hold of you! Good for you: sorting is a great way to put some money aside.However, be methodical: list each area of ​​your life in which a sorting can be done.See beyond the obvious: in addition to cupboards, also get rid of subscriptions to services or products that no longer satisfy you, habits that you want to change, etc.

Then carry out your action plan: sell clothes, objects and furniture that you no longer use in second-hand shops, unsubscribe from streaming services, downgrade your mobile phone plan, raise your "not -to-do" list with all the habits you want to get rid of... And get started!

💡 The most motivated.eThose of you can refer to our article "How to turn your good resolutions into an action plan".

Tip 9: save money by growing a few fruits and vegetables in your garden or on your balcony

Ultimate level of the economy.This is certainly the point that will require the highest dose of organization, patience and therefore motivation, but which will also give you the greatest satisfaction in the medium and long term.

A recent study by AgroParisTech, for the National Horticultural Society of France (SNHF) reveals that each euro invested in the garden brings in an average of fifteen, and that the average gain made by individuals thanks to their vegetable garden is amounts to €1,500 per year.

Many solutions exist for complete beginners or urban gardeners, such as the seed boxes of La Box à Planter.A good idea to start getting your hands dirty!

💡 Here too, Foglietto can help you.Because a large part of the success of a vegetable garden is played out during its planning: sow too early or too late, and your harvest risks being compromised! Foglietto can therefore be an excellent tool for planning, month by month, the activities to be carried out in the vegetable garden, while keeping track of your harvests.And what satisfaction, at the end of the month, to realize that a small bag of seeds for a few tens of euro cents will have enabled you to harvest tens of kilos of vegetables!

Tip #10: Save money by being creative

If you had to choose just two tips from this long list, it would be to "ask the right questions" and "be creative".

From there, you can adapt each of these tips to your own situation and define a real action plan according to your objectives.