When it comes to money, it’s hard to feel like there’s ever enough in your wallet or bank account. Money is used for so much of your life that it can feel like your checking balance is fleeting and fragile. However, there are ample opportunities in which to cut costs and save money, as long as you know what to look for. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your money.

Take Advantage Of Meal Prep

The modern diet is one rich in food options that are quick and convenient. This makes sense in a world where schedules are tight, but it’s ultimately a net loss for the consumer. Not only are processed foods nutritionally lacking, but they are also more expensive than simply cooking your own meals. Cooking meals with whole ingredients is much less expensive than prepared foods, because of the cost of the labor involved in production. In addition, you can save even more money by prepping meals in advance. Meal Prep is the best of both worlds, as you can benefit from the convenience of fast food by preparing meals en masse one day out of the week. The greatest benefit, however, is the money you’ll save by cooking fewer dishes in larger amounts. This greatly simplifies cooking, as counterintuitive as that may be, and that leads to less food waste, adding to the existing savings of preparing meals from scratch.

Embrace Green Energy

Electricity bills account perhaps the most essential living expense outside of food and water. This is even more true in the digital age, because of much of modern recreation and even many jobs are digital in nature. While electricity is essential and often costly, there is a more cost effective option. Green energy, as the name implies, is on the rise as a means of creating less pollution in a bid to mitigate further damage to the environment and to ideally begin to reverse climate change. Solar energy is the prevailing source of clean, renewable energy for a variety of reasons, one of which being cost. The average solar panel cost is only a few hundred dollars, meaning that it’s more affordable than it used to be and much more affordable than its contemporaries. The bulk of the cost of a self-sufficient setup is actually a battery to house extra energy for night time use, which on average is ten times the cost of a single panel. Even this cost is well worth it, because these larger upfront costs result in much lower electricity bills from month to month.

Reduce Recreational Spending

Recreational spending is a pitfall for many. It’s fine to have hobbies, because finding a way to take life less seriously and follow your dreams is important for your mental health. However, those auxiliary interests shouldn’t interfere with your ability to afford necessities and save money. One look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs makes it perfectly clear. Passion is important, but it’s importance is much lower than that of survival. Therefore, it’s important to engage in expensive hobbies and even minor recreational spending fairly conservatively so that you can reduce spending and increase savings. A great way to get the best of both worlds is to create a budget that accounts for all of your living expenses, deposits into your savings account, and then a smaller amount for recreational spending. This way, you can force yourself to spend money frivolously only in moderation, ensuring that the more important things are taken care of both in the moment and in the long term.

Money is ever important, such that it can be demoralizing not having as much as you need or as much as you would like. However, there’s no shortage of ways to save, and these tips will ensure that you’re taking advantage of all the tools available.