Posted by Maneesh Sethi :: May 6, 2009 @ 5:57 am

Step out of Your Routine and Save Big Bucks

Think about your daily routine. You wake up, you get ready, you get in your car, you fill up your gas tank, get to work, get lunch at a restaurant, go back to work, get a drink at Starbucks, drive home, watch cable for a few hours, and then go out to dinner with your family, right? Seems like a normal day for most of us. However, inside this day are lots of ways to save money, small amounts that can quickly add up to big rewards.

I'm sure you see what I'm saying - that you should get rid of your daily Starbucks coffee, pack lunch for work, etc. But what about an even bigger change? Imagine not driving at all! J.D. at GetRichSlowly just wrote an article about taking the bus for the first time, something that many of us would laugh at...but why not? Why is taking the bus so different? It's because we have become accustomed to the car, and to the lifestyle a car gives us.

I made a similar point in my recent post here on the Lending Club blog, entitled "Why Today Might Be A Good Day To Travel.” Making changes such as switching from a car to public transportation, or traveling cheaply, can seem extremely hard to do at first. However, small changes to your routine quickly create a new routine, and while it might seem ridiculous to get up and move to another country for a few months, once you have done it the act will feel natural. The same holds true with switching from driving to riding the bus---the act of doing it quickly becomes second nature.

What changes can you make to your routine? How can you save money?