If you’re working two and three jobs or constantly busy, saving money isn’t always easy. Sometimes you need to spend time to reduce your expenses. If you have to choose, focus your time on the biggest gains for your time.


As Time Magazine points out in its finance column, most efforts to save money require time. It takes time to cook at home instead of eating fast food. It takes time to research car repairs you can do yourself. It takes time to call your utility companies to lower your bills. If you’re running short on time, pick the efforts to reduce your expenses that will give you the most benefit in the least amount of time.

I spent an hour researching a car part for my Volvo. If I bought this part refurbished locally, it would have cost me $765. I found a brand-new, aftermarket version for $45 online that had stellar reviews. I saved $720 by spending one hour of my life exploring my options. I would not spend this amount of my time researching the shovel I just bought at my local hardware store for $70. I bought the shovel based entirely on the fact that there was just one model to choose from. Part of saving money is stripping away the marketing message that you need to buy the best of everything or suffer dire consequences.


Sometimes, spending more money might actually be worth it if you can devote the time you save to something else. Rather than stressing yourself out because you’re spending more on any specific thing, focus on the places where you’re overpaying by a lot that won’t take as much time to reduce.

How to Live Frugally When You Have No Time | Time via Rockstar Finance