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In this video, I talk about 10 methods that helped me save money FAST towards financial independence retire early with 70% or more of my income going into savings or investing each month. Stay until the end to find out what method helped me the most on my own journey.
Hi, I’m Jessica and I love talking about financial freedom after experiencing burnout early in my pharmacist career. We talk passive income and simplifying on this channel to combat stress and burnout. If you haven’t seen my burnout story or our debt-free journey while in residency/fellowship, please click those video links below.
If you would like to know how I arrived at a 70% or higher savings rate, please watch my video on my Journey to FIRE linked below.
Save Money Fast: 3 BIG Kakeibo Categories
- Get intentional with your BIG 3 Kakeibo Survival Categories – Housing, Transportation and Food
Save Money Fast: Clarify Goals
- This is different than a traditional checking account or savings account that is attached to your traditional checking Clarify your Long-Term goal towards FIRE and what it will mean for your ideal lifestyle and family. This is the first step in my Burnout Doctor Method and truly important. When we feel like giving up or facing set-backs and challenges, our WHY will keep us going.
Save Money Fast: People and Buy Nothing Groups
- Surround yourself with people who share eco-friendly values such as a Buy Nothing Group where you give away items or borrow items (helps prevent consumerism and items going into landfills)
Save Money Fast: 24-Hour Rule
- Use the 24-hour rule when purchasing new items – keep items in your cart for at least 24 hours to reduce shopaholic behavior and increase mindful shopping – this helps us focus on intentional shopping instead of our instant gratification culture
Save Money Fast: Reduce temptations to buy
- Reduce the urge by unsubscribing from marketing emails and declutter your email inbox and social media apps from messages or people who influence you to spend
Save Money Fast: Look for the FREE Options
Look for free options– for experiences this could be your public library or your local museums. For financials, this could be your free credit report each year.
Save Money Fast: Learning and Growth Mindset
Adopt a learning mindset and educate yourself – read books, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos
Save Money Fast: Pay Yourself First
Pay yourself first – you can set up automatic transfers after a paycheck deposits into your investment or high yield savings accounts
Save Money Fast: Negotiate Yearly Expenses and Subscriptions
Be intentional with yearly expenses and subscriptions – you can evaluate one each month such as the coverage on your car insurance policy, your cell phone plan or your subscriptions for technology/fitness/health
Save Money Fast: Track your Financial Health
Track your financial health – know where your hard-earned money is going. Remember when my husband didn’t know how big his student loan bill was? We faced the facts and tracked our financial health using the Kakeibo Method. This was also eye-opening to see how much we spent on dessert and local ice cream shops back 6 years ago.
What method helped me the MOST on my journey to FIRE?
This is SO difficult to answer because I feel each method has helped me significantly in different stages of my journey. I think the one the helped the MOST in the early part was getting intentional with the BIG 3 Kakeibo Survival categories. Yes, it can be so tempting to upgrade our home to a larger apartment or buy a new car but getting intentional early on in our debt pay-off journey was KEY. Later on in my journey, I think paying myself first was key in setting up those automatic transfers was KEY in taking out the psychological component of things.
Are you using any of these passive income ideas in your own life? Comment below please!