How to Save Money as a Teenager

Hey, what’s going on! I’m going to be showing you how to save money as a teenager, but more specifically, I’m going to be showing you 10 money saving tips to do in your teens that will have you saving more money than people twice your age, all without having to work a single hour more at your job. Enjoy these awesome teenager money management tips that can help save for a car.

And let me just say this right away.

Tip number 10 alone helped me save thousands of dollars. Quickly and consistently when I was younger, you definitely want to stay tuned for that.

So now just real quick, bear with me, just think for a moment what your life would be like if you just had a couple of extra thousand dollars…. that might be your down payment on your car, that could help with your college fund, or that could afford an awesome trip with you and your friends, which I think all of those would be pretty awesome.

Right? Yes, I would have to agree and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that. Let’s go ahead and jump right into it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Save Money Fast as a Teenager

If you’re in need of a car but lack a down payment use these 10 money management tips for teens to save money fast! They include everything from savings goals, wiser spending habits, ninja savings techniques and profound mental shifts all designed to save lots of money as a teenager.

All right. So let’s start with money save tip number one to do as a teenager.

1. Create a Bank Account

Creating a bank account starts off our list. If you already have one that is great news. You’re already on the right track. Now, if you don’t, it’s incredibly easy to set up.

When I first set mine up, it was joint with my parents, which made the set up process even easier than it already was.

I’d say it takes less than an hour of your time. That includes traveling to the bank and the conversations, and then leaving. The reason this is so important is you need somewhere relatively secure to start holding your money.

Underneath your mattress won’t cut it if you do plan on accumulating it.

And on top of this, it makes it a little harder to spend your money now that there’s a second step involved.

If a majority of your money is in the bank, you can’t just open your wallet whenever you’re about to impulse buy something.

It is a great first step that anyone who plans on saving a large amount of money needs to do, and then is setting up a bank account.

2. Set a Savings Goal

Tips number two which is just as important as number one is to set a savings goal. This has a bunch of amazing benefits to it. Believe it or not.

When you set a goal, not only will it help motivate you. But it will help create a realistic timeline and make sure you are staying on pace to achieve that goal and whatever set period of time you have.

Now, your set goal could be a couple of different things. It could just be a straight up wrong number.

Let’s say you want to have $5,000 saved by the time you turn 18, it could be however much a trip expense is going to be for you and your friends to go to Europe, for example, or it could be enough for the down payment on a dream car that you want.

All of these should act as motivation for you to save more money as a teenager. Than ever before.

And on top of that, let’s say you have two years to save up $5,000 and you only have a thousand dollars in your bank account.

Well, now you know that you have to save $2,000 a year. You said kind of a ruler for yourself, a way to measure your progress.

Had you not set a savings goal or had you not set a timeline for that savings goal, you would have no idea if you’re getting anywhere near your goal.

And I can tell you…. you wouldn’t have $5,000 saved. It just doesn’t work like that. Now let’s get into some tips that are going to help you be more efficient with your money and in turn, save you even more than ever before.

How to Spend Money Wisely as a Teenager

Tips 3 through 9 include some of the BEST ways to to be more efficient with your cash and spend your money wisely as a teenager. Take advantage of discount whenever you can. Whether that be apps like Honey, student discounts, or happy hour specials. NEVER and I mean never pay full price for something.

3. Smarter Online Shopping

And so, number three, I have being smarter with online, shopping more specifically. Using coupons.

There are so many massive businesses that exist out there that allow you to get better deals on things that you’re already paying for. And if you’re not using any of these, you’re essentially leaving money on the table.

You’d be amazed how much money you could save as a teenager. If you just slightly modified the product that you were about to purchase.

A boring example would be that you need to buy toilet paper. And instead of buying the brand that you just always grab off the shelf because the packaging looks good.

You find out that they’re incredible coupons for a different one, but very similar.

And you end up getting that same product for half price off yet. You’re still getting something that is hardly even noticeably different. On top of that for online shopping, you need to be using things like honey and the millions of other ways to save online.

They’re not too hard to do. And depending on how much you spend, you could be saving hundreds of dollars a year by spending just a couple extra seconds every time, right before checkout, definitely something to consider and begin implementing.

Man, I’m getting so excited to share with you guys what number 10 is, but first we get a few more to go through.

4. Take advantage of Time Sensitive Deals

Number four, we’ve got deals like happy hour, calf off movies, et cetera. Oftentimes businesses will offer you incredible savings just for doing something at a specific time.

Now there’s a bunch of reasons why these exist, but if you’re not capitalizing on them, you are wasting so much money.

When I want to see a movie where I live, I don’t go on any day, but Tuesday nights, why what’s $5 movies. That means that I can bring a friend and both of us can see the movie for the price of $10, as opposed to, I think like $10 per person had.

I just gone on a Saturday night, same thing goes for appetizers.

We just want to grab a snack going. They’re going during happy hour, which can sometimes be an early afternoon or late at night.

You can save a bunch of money, half off appetizers. And a bunch of delicious food, just because you timed.

When you were going to that business, I feel bad for anyone who doesn’t take advantage of this because you get awesome food, awesome activities, all for usually half the price as the person right next to you who showed up an hour earlier.

5. Use ID for Student Discounts

Now, if you have an ID, which you most likely have a student ID from your school, there are plenty of establishments that allow great discounts.

As long as you show your student ID, these types of businesses, just from you showing your student ID can save. Five 10, maybe even 15% off your order.

And since I’m specifically talking to you guys, teenagers, if you’re not using your student ID, it’s simply a waste.

Always keep it in your wallet, regardless of how terrible the images. And pull it out whenever you have to purchase something, this might just save you a decent amount of money.

So be sure to use it whenever you can. Number six is a mental shift or activity that you can do right now that is going to drastically help you save more money.

6. Avoid Impulse Buying

And so for number six, we have always buy tomorrow. And the goal of this mental shift is that you don’t fall into the trap of crazy impulse buys.

Thanks to how advanced marketing is nowadays. And they understand shopping and buying experiences.

I think we can all agree that we’ve at least one point fall victim to some urgent sale that we felt like we needed to purchase at that exact moment, without really thinking about it and to avoid this and save a crap load of money.

Always put off your purchases until tomorrow, regardless of how amazing the idea is, unless you’ve done your research beforehand and really thought about it.

It’s just simply not a good idea to buy right then and there based off of what, 10 minutes of thinking about it. So if you just always have this mentality that, okay.

That’s awesome. Let me just think about it one night. You might find out that about 50 to 60% of the things that you would have bought at that time, you decide just aren’t worth it by tomorrow.

It’s really crazy. But a mental shift, nonetheless, that you definitely need to do. It has saved me a ton of money and it saved me a bunch of buyer regret because I no longer grab it off the shelf.

The second I see it, I instead think about it. And I know for a fact, if I want it after a couple of days, I really wanted it since we’re on the topic of mental shifts that save a punch of money, basically instantly I saved one for number seven as well.

7. Think About The Hours of Work Needed To Pay For Something

And that is to think about how many hours it would take you to pay for this thing.

That was a teenager. Very well known that you guys don’t make the most amount of money every single hour. So let’s just use the example of $10 an hour. If there is a $70 Jersey you guys want, or an $80 pair of shoes, think about just how many hours it would take for you to actually pay that off. Now you’ve been making $10 an hour.

You have to include all of the taxes that happen there, and then fully calculate the right amount of time necessary of billable time that you would have to work in order to afford this item. This really made me spend a lot less money because when I was younger and I was a teen, oftentimes worked at a fast food restaurant until I was eventually able to serve at a restaurant when I was older.

So I didn’t make a lot of money. And when I realized I would go to a clothing store and I wanted to purchase something and I realized it would take me almost one and a half days to pay for this other job that I really didn’t like in the first place. I immediately didn’t want to spend the money because I realized that is awful.

My misery at my terrible job was not worth that one article of clothing. It just simply wasn’t. So always think about that moving forward. And we’re getting really close to secret number 10. So if you found any of the previous tips helpful, don’t forget to smash the like button right now. But for number eight, this is kind of a secretive one, really a money leech.

In my opinion, something you don’t normally see with naked eye, but just kind of corrodes at your bank account.

8. Avoid bank Fees

And that is any sort of fees or overdraft fees that your bank is going to apply to you. Now, if you don’t have a credit card at this point, or know how to use it properly, try to pay cash with everything.

It’s the equivalent of using a debit card. It’s a bit inconvenient. I understand, but that’s going to help you save in its own thing. But by paying with cash, you can’t ever overdraft because if you don’t have the money in your wallet, you can’t buy the thing that you want. I did the math when I was around 17 years old.

Before, I really knew how to save any kind of money. And I would just love to blow every dollar that I had. I lost thousands to overdraft fees and just a couple of years at my bank, it was ridiculous. When I finally did the math, I had never looked at it. You know, I knew I overdraft here or there. And it was, you know, I think $25 to $30, which really sucked because that acquainted to a couple of hours at work.

Just because I tried buying something that I didn’t necessarily have money for at the time in my checking account. Save yourself, the hassle, save yourself the money and do not fall victim to these fees. They are terrible. So if you don’t have a credit card and instead you’d be using a debit card, whenever you can just try to use cash, it’ll help eliminate those fees that you might otherwise kind of let slide.

9. Cut unnecessary spending

Number nine is to evaluate every dollar you spend in cut out, unnecessary spending with the amount of subscription services that exist. And just unnecessary things we like to accumulate. It seems as though within a blink of an eye, we’re already maxing out our expenses with everything that we earn. But if you ever go back and you look at the charges, you’re getting every single month, you’ll be surprised just how many of them are unnecessary.

You don’t want any more or you just completely forgot. So by going back, you’re gonna be able to cut out any of that unnecessary spending and be able to make more wiggle room.

And allow more money to be going into your savings accounts. Every single time you get paid. I try to do this almost every couple months, but it’s gonna depend on how many different things you’d like to spend your money on all the time.

It is a stupid thing to end up paying every single month for something you don’t even use. But instead of subscription services, this could also mean that your trips to Starbucks, you could limit them from for a week down to two week, or when it comes to going to the movies or fun activities. Maybe you don’t go every single week.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you guys to live a boring life. That’s not the point of this video, but if there is something that you’re spending money on that you think you could just slightly limit, that would make too drastic of a change to your life. Definitely. Do it, it will save a bunch of money as a teenager. And now finally, number 10, this tip comes from the book, the richest man in Babylon.

A great read if you haven’t checked it out already.

10. Pay Yourself First

And that is to pay yourself first. Now, if you don’t know what that means, let me explain real quickly to you. Let’s say every single month, you end up with $1,500 from your job and you have a set savings goal that you’d like to meet in a certain period of time.

After doing all of your calculations, you find out that you need to save $300 every single month. That means whenever you get your $1,500 immediately, and there are ways to automate this, this is a trick that a lot of wealthy individuals use, and that is to immediately take out that $300 from your $1,500 paycheck and put it into your savings account.

From there, you then live off of your $1,200 remaining. Most people haven’t reversed, and this is why they’re never able to save money as a teenager at the end of the month because they get their $1,500 and like, okay, I’ll cover all of my expenses. I’ll spend it on what I want and whatever’s left over. I’ll just throw that into my savings.

But every single time in every single month that last day comes and they realize that they have. $0 leftover. Maybe if they’re lucky they got $50 leftover, you’re never going to achieve your savings goals. If you don’t learn how to pay yourself first, this is not only consistent because you’re going to have to think about it.

So you’ll be sure to hit your savings goal because the money will be taking out immediately and be put right into your savings account. But it also works insanely quick because depending on how much you’re able to put aside and live off of those expenses, you’re going to be getting that amount saved every single month.

This is a sure fire way to never go broke. Once you have your emergency fund saved up and you have this pain yourself process automated, you never again have to think about saving money because you’re already so used to living off of whatever income is left over after you’ve already saved. So hopefully this video helps you guys.

And you’re able to hit your savings goal. All, all, having a fun and exciting life and not have to be penny pinching. And that is how to save money as teenager.

Still finding it hard to save? Try these money saving challenges to make things more interesting.

52 week money saving chart

In this challenge you start by saving $1 in the first week and every sequential week you save one more dollar. Example: Week two you save $2, week 3 you save $3 and so on.

By the end of week 52 you’ll have saved roughly $1,378! Pretty impressive.