With inflation close to 9% and a recession looming (or here?!), saving money is on top of everyone's mind. At the same time, we're more stressed and spread thin than ever. Who's got time to think about saving when we're balancing politics, COVID, monkeypox, our jobs, and families? Even travel is becoming stressful.

For me and many others I talk to, the biggest hurdle in starting to get your finances in order is often confronting yourself with the reality of your situation. It seems daunting to go through lines and lines of purchases, especially ones we'd rather forget (hello 2AM Dominos). But when you ignore your purchases and bank account figures, you rack up debt in turn. Being in debt is so expensive.

I get that it is actually time consuming and scary to start using a program like Mint (although if you can, I highly recommend this practice). Lucky for you, saving money doesn't have to be as time consuming as you think. In fact, I can think of 4 things you can do right this minute to start saving and earning money.

Here are 4 easy ways you can start saving and earning right now:

1. Save: use a spreadsheet to stop impulse purchases
2. Earn: if you are going to shop online, shop with Rakuten
3. Save: physically write down what you spend in an agenda or diary
4. Earn: sign up for Ally bank for a high interest savings account

Save: use a spreadsheet to stop impulse purchases

Here I am recommending another spreadsheet (at this point I need an article on how I keep track of all of these, eh?). This has been a huge money saver for me over the last two years, though.

How many times have you scrolled through your Instagram feed and immediately purchased something? Or seen a discount online and felt pressure to buy something immediately? I can't speak for everyone, but this number was really high for me.

Inspired by the Japanese concept of Kakeibo, I started trying to figure out how to stop myself from impulse shopping. I know that I stick to new habits better when I write things down. So I put together an easy spreadsheet that forces me to stop, write down the potential purchase, and think about it before I buy.

The spreadsheet is extremely simple with only 2 tabs: To Buy and Purchased.

On the To Buy tab, there are several columns:

• Name: the name of the item with a link to it
• Date: the date I put said item on the spreadsheet
• Impact: for me as an environmentally conscious consumer, this relates to impact on the Earth. You could skip this column if this is not important to you, but it helped me move away from fast fashion
• Value alignment: how does this align with the yearly and monthly goals I set for myself
• Cost: the cost of the item
• Alt options: this forces you to think about other means of acquiring said item (i.e. could you look on Craigslist? does this item often go on sale during Black Friday?)

The Purchased tab has the same columns, as once I buy something I simply cut the row from tab 1 and paste it into tab 2. Purchased does have one more column though:

• Purchased: where I mark the date in which I purchased the item. I like to add notes to myself if I managed to get it on sale or get an epic deal on it 😜

Earn: if you are going to shop online, shop with Rakuten

Everyone talks about Honey, but have you used Rakuten? The branding isn't the best, but the rewards are. (My link to Rakuten is an affiliate link. If you spend $30 within the first $90, we both get $30.)

I've received over $1,400 cash back since 2017. That's an extra $280/year easy (not even accounting for the weird COVID year where all I bought were groceries). To use it, sign up (for free) and install the Chrome Extension. It'll pop up when you're shopping and let you know how much cash back you can expect. It'll also flag if the same item is cheaper elsewhere and has more opportunity for cash back.

Outside of the obvious benefit of getting money back in your pocket, using Rakuten helps me meter my purchases further because I know a better deal is coming. They often have 10%+ bonus days. If I don't need something urgently, I'll wait for one of those. I often combine using Rakuten with my spreadsheet above for maximum savings and earnings potential.

You really get the most bang for your buck when you combine this with holiday sales. On Black Friday/Cyber Monday, I often stock up on goods that won't go bad (i.e. lotion, feminine products, shampoo, hand soap) when Walgreens has their huge sale + 12% cash back. A little bit of planning goes a long way!

Save: physically write down what you spend in an agenda or diary

This is a tip I picked up from my nail artist of all places. I've already detailed out how helpful it is to physically write your to do list down, and this tip is very similar.

Given how daunting it feels to look at your finances as a whole, why not start by just writing down your purchases as you make them? This doesn't have to be laborious or time consuming. I take less than 5 seconds to jot down each figure in my agenda as I purchase something. Then at the end of the week, I review my purchases and see where my money went. For bonus points, track all of this in Mint and recategorize weekly.

You'll be surprised to see what little things add up when you start writing this down. I'm not telling you to stop eating avocado toast or having that perfect almond milk latte. I purchased both of these just last weekend. But maybe those random Instagram clothing purchases, Zara or Shein hauls, and Amazon one-click buys could go. Pro tip: reducing your time spent on social media really helps reduce impulse purchasing.

Earn: sign up for Ally bank for a high interest savings account

Saved (pun intended) the best for last. Get yourself a savings account with a high interest rate.

Have you ever looked at the interest rate on your savings account? I would be willing to bet you $1 that it's pretty bad. Mine's at .003% on main my Wells Fargo account. That means I haven't even earned a quarter (as in $0.25) YTD on that account (which has had over $1k in it all year). That's unbelievably sad, especially considering inflation is at almost 9%. If you've ever heard the phrase "you're losing money if it's sitting in bank," that's how.

Instead, all my liquid savings money (aka not in investments) sits in Ally bank. When I first heard about Ally, it literally seemed too good to be true. I think the interest was over 2% back then. COVID brought it down as low as .5%, but it's back up to 1.6%. That means on your $1k, you're now making $16/year extra versus your measly $.03.

I can't stress this enough — this is basically free money. There's your extra avocado toast and latte right there. You literally do not have to do a single thing outside of transferring your money there right now. It's not like it's hard to get money out if you need it either, just make sure you buffer 2 days for it to transfer back to your checking. I can't think of a downside (if you do, comment below 👇).

Finances can be complicated and time-consuming, but they don't have to be. I hope these 4 tips to save and earn money can help you get your finances in order today.