Best Budgeting Tips for Your Vehicle Needs

Before saving money for your vehicle’s financial goals, it’s important to decide on a general amount that you’d like to set aside for a given amount of time. 

Are you interested in buying a new or used car in the near future? Or are you satisfied with the vehicle that you have and only want to proactively set aside money for its care? These are important questions to ask yourself, so you can designate an amount to what you’d like to budget. For a new car, you’ll be budgeting far more than perhaps a year’s worth of car maintenance.

Here are some of our favorite budgeting tips so you can start saving today: 

1. Switch to a High Yield Savings Account. To make your money work for you but still have it easily accessible, look for a savings account with a higher interest rate. This is great for an account that you aren’t planning to touch for a good amount of time, so interest can help build up the cash amount.

2. Take on Some Extra Work Hours. Whether you pick up an extra shift each week at work, accept a promotion that comes with more hours, or take on a side hustle, this is a great temporary (or even permanent) way to bring in an extra stream of income. If you can already live comfortably on the income you make before working these extra hours, you can put all this extra into your savings, allocating it to your car fund too. You’ll see your savings growing in no time!

3. Find Ways to Cut Back on Expenses. What areas of spending can you cut out? From lowering your unnecessary expenses, cutting out streaming services you just don’t use, buying less expensive food alternatives, eating at home rather than going out, and much more, you can start saving hundreds of dollars each month. These sacrifices will likely be fluid, so please be as strict with yourself as you see necessary.

4. Get Creative with Ways to Save. Do you have spare room for a roommate? Then, open your space for cohabitation to cut down on rent or a house mortgage. Find a place to live that may offer free or discounted housing by working for the complex. Start selling unwanted items online through Facebook Marketplace or another site.

We’re wishing you the best of luck in your financial goals this year and beyond. And when you’re ready to spend any of those funds on car servicing or tires, we’re here to help you out.