GoKawiilThe Iran war has spiked gas prices. The RAM crisis has spiked prices on electronics. A wide swath of imported goods costs more than before due to Trump's tariffs. Right now, your wallet is likely feeling the squeeze.
It's a tumultuous time, and the constant media barrage of doom and gloom doesn't help ease anxieties. It's also hard to figure out when things will get better, so you're stuck in a rut of worrying about finances. It's OK. Take a breath. The first thing to remember, according to “The Budgetnista” Tiffany Aliche, is that the economy is cyclical.
“I've lived long enough to see many ‘worst times,’” Aliche says. She's a financial educator and author of The New York Times Best Seller Get Good with Money. "Well, if it is the worst time, what the hell can I do about it? Sometimes you have to take the apps off your phone. I took Instagram off my phone, and I allow myself to check it on my laptop, which is far less addictive.”
Constrict your doomscrolling so you won't feel the constant anxieties from the day's news. Now, how can you actually find ways to conserve and save money? First, look at tightening your spending as much as possible. Aliche says you should analyze your credit card statements and see exactly where your money is going. Is there any wiggle room? Can you cut a few subscriptions to save a few bucks every month? She calls it the ramen noodle budget.
Once you make those adjustments, it's worth thinking about bigger changes. It might be that those plans never have to come to fruition—like moving in with parents or getting a roommate to save money on housing. “Make the doomsday plan,” she says. “You don't have to act on it now, but what is that plan if things really get rough, and start having those conversations.”
Sean Pyles, producer and host of NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast (also a certified financial planner), echoed Aliche's sentiment of starting with your most recent spending to see where your money is going, and see if it aligns with your values and goals. Do you really need to Uber everywhere? He's also a fan of keeping a level head and avoiding rash decisions, especially when there's a lot of volatility in the stock market. Focus on your time horizon instead, and ignore the swings in the market.
“The wiser step is to ignore it as noise and realize that this is someone else's problem, not mine right now,” he says. “Focus on what you can control. Maybe you have a financial goal to save for a vacation or a wedding, or it is your retirement you're investing for now—do what you can to make sure you're on track to meet those goals.”
It's prudent to build up an emergency fund. Aliche recommends saving up ideally six months of your noodle budget, which you'd typically spend on necessities like rent, mortgage, and utilities. Both Aliche and Pyles suggested automating your finances as much as you can. Set it up so that you have some cash—maybe $100—going into your emergency fund every paycheck. Aliche says you can even ask your employer to split your salary so that it goes into specific accounts, like half of it going into a checking account and the other half going to a high-yield savings account.
Expert Tips on Saving Money
With those budgeting tips in mind, I also asked the writers and editors on WIRED's Gear and Reviews teams—along with Aliche and Pyles—for ways they save money, whether that's through specific gear they own or services they use. Hopefully, some of these suggestions can help you save some cash not just now but whenever you're in a pinch.
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