Purchases I Made That Save Me Time Money

While some items will save you money, they may consume more time, like a clothesline. Other items may save you time, but they may cost you more money, like a dishwasher. Then you have these unicorn items that save you time and money. Your time has a monetary value just like your money, so it's important to spend and invest your time wisely, just like you should with your money. Let's take a look at 9 things I purchased that saved me time and money. Watch to the end for a bonus. Number one, a Bluetooth tracker. This is your AirTags, Tile, Ativos, or other Bluetooth devices for finding lost items. These little devices can be placed with commonly misplaced items like keys, wallet, headphones, or commonly stolen items like your luggage, backpack, purse, bike, or even your car. For around $20 to $40, a Bluetooth tracker can indirectly save you money by preventing the need to replace lost belongings. Getting keys cut and a fob replaced and programmed can cost you several hundred dollars at a dealership. You might need to get new locks for keys you lost. You might carry cash in your wallet or purse. You might carry valuable items in your luggage or might have an expensive taste for headphones. All you gotta do is attach one of these trackers to your item, and your phone will let you know if you lost your item, point you in the right direction to find it, and play a sound to pinpoint it. A Bluetooth tracker will also save you a lot of time and headache. Late for work and can't find your keys or wallet? Use a Bluetooth tracker to drastically cut down search time. Now imagine you did lose your wallet and keys and never had a tag. How long will it take you to replace your six credit cards, debit card, driver's license, health card, transit pass, and reward cards? How long will it take to replace your car keys, house key, and purchase new padlocks for the shed or a locker? These tags may not do anything for weeks or months, but the one time you need it, you'll be glad you have one. An Air Fryer The air fryer is a healthier alternative to deep fried foods. Requiring little to no oil? You can save money by not needing the oil required for a deep fryer. And not using oil is also more beneficial to your health, so less visits to the doctor. Also, the air fryer cooks more efficiently than the oven when only cooking for one or two people. Not requiring preheating and heating a smaller space with less time. On top of that, air fryers give off less heat, requiring your air conditioner to work less in the hot summer months. Air fryers also save money because they are a great alternative to eating out. Cooking with an air fryer is much cheaper than fast food or any restaurant. These fryers can also save you a lot of time, cutting down to cooking time and requiring less time than going out and getting takeout food. Other time and money saving cooking gadgets include an instapot and a slow cooker. A Home Gym Gym memberships can be quite expensive. As cheap as $60 a month at Good Life Fitness or $15 a month at Planet Fitness. On top of this, you also have taxes, startup fees, possibly annual fees. Then you'll need sensible workout clothing and shoes as well as the cost of transportation to and from the gym. But if you forego the gym membership, workout in your pajamas and create yourself a home gym, you could avoid all these expenses. The only cost is the initial startup cost of the equipment. Workout equipment can be expensive depending on your fitness goals, but if you do a bit of research, you can save yourself a lot of money. I built my home gym for less than $1000 and it provides me with a full powerlifting workout routine. Now I had to buy bulk package deals off Facebook Marketplace while reclaiming some of the cost by selling equipment I didn't use. Having a home gym may be more expensive at first, but over the long term you'll save thousands of dollars. If you're just trying to stay in shape, you can spend a lot less than I did. Think of pull up tower, resistance bands, and adjustable dumbbells. You can even create a squat bench combo rack out of some wood, buckets, and concrete. And then there's free stuff like jogging, sprinting, push ups, sit ups, squats, planks, and other bodyweight exercises. And the cost isn't even the best part of a home gym. It's the time saved. First your commute. With a home gym you virtually have no commute time. Then there's the waiting time at the gym, waiting to use the washroom, waiting to get water, and of course waiting to use gym equipment. You may also waste time socializing and being distracted and setting up weights and equipment. And although a gym partner might keep you accountable and motivate you, they may also slow you down. So having a home gym completely eliminates commute time and cuts your workout in half or even more. Number 5. A coffee maker. There's plenty of ways to make coffee at home. A coffee cone, french press, Keurig, drip coffee maker, percolators, espresso machines, cold brewers, or the fancy method I use, an electric kettle, and some instant coffee. The initial cost of a coffee maker can be either cheap or expensive. But either way, in the long term, it's much cheaper to brew your coffee at home. Additionally, when you do this, your coffee will always be consistent and just the way you like it. Plus you won't be tempted to purchase those impulse buys. Now before we get into the time saved by brewing your own coffee, let's calculate how much your time is worth. Simply get your net income of your last year's income and divide it by the hours you worked. So if you work 40 hours a week, that is 2,080 hours a year. So if you brought home $60,000 last year, your time is worth around $29 an hour. Divide that by 60 and your time is worth around 50 cents a minute. Now let's make your way to your commute to work. Before you get to work, you turn off and look for a Tim Hortons. You have to drive off the route, the waiting in the drive-thru, the ordering, more waiting, receiving your coffee, and the drive back to your route. God forbid they messed it up and you got to go back through the drive-thru. If this process only took about 15 minutes, it will cost you $7.50 of your time plus the cost of the coffee. Or if you just brew your coffee at home while you're waiting, make yourself some breakfast. Number six, YouTube Premium. Now how the heck does YouTube Premium save you time and money? Well firstly, it saves you money like the free version would, by information. YouTube is filled with informational and educational videos that include DIY, frugal living, financial literacy, lessons, guides, courses, troubleshooting, cooking, reviews, and entertainment. And some way or another, these videos directly or indirectly save you money. YouTube Premium also comes with YouTube Music, which in my opinion is better than Spotify. So you can cancel your Spotify and just use YouTube Music. Bonus tip, don't pay for YouTube Premium through Apple. Purchasing Premium through Apple will cost you $16.99 per month. But if you purchase directly from YouTube on a web browser, it's only $12.99 a month. And if you pay annually, it's only $10.83 a month, which is actually cheaper than Spotify. And if you don't know how YouTube Premium saves you time, let me show you. Now for those who already have YouTube Premium, an ad just played. Number seven, hair clippers, trimmers, and scissors. This is basically all you need to cut hair at home. Whether you do it yourself or get someone else in your household to do it. The cost of haircuts will run from $20 to over $100, depending on the place you go, the length of time needed, and if you opt for the wash and style. Women tend to pay more for haircuts, but men tend to get their haircut more often, so they end up spending more. Then you have refreshments, a tip, and the cost of commuting. As for time, you have your commute there, waiting for the haircut, the barbershop talk. The payment process, and your commute back home. A professional haircut may have better quality, but it will cost you time and money. If your haircut is difficult to do yourself, next time you see your barber or hairstylist, see if they will let your significant other record it. This way they can learn the technique and try cutting it for you. This may not be perfect at first, but with some practice, you can end up saving yourself a lot of money and time. I know it's easy enough for me to say, because I've been buzz cutting my own hair since I was 16. Owning a sewing machine can be a practical investment that saves both time and money. You can purchase a decent sewing machine for around $150. Instead of purchasing new clothes or paying for alterations and repairs, you can tailor garments to fit your body perfectly, or mend minor damages yourself. This is especially useful if you're a construction worker, oil rig worker, mechanic, arborist, miner, or any other rough on the clothing job. Not only can you repair clothes, but also bags, bedding, upholstery, and many other things. Now that's all great, but how does this save you time? This not only saves you money on buying new items, but also extends the lifespan of your wardrobe, reducing the need for frequent replacements. And if you didn't have a sewing machine, you could still sew manually, but with more limitations and more time needed. Now with a sewing machine, there's a bit of a learning curve, but it's a skill worth taking the time to learn. And if you have a knack for it, you can also consider making your own clothing, curtains, pillow covers, tablecloths, and many other sewing projects. Number nine, a vacuum sealer. Hands down the most legendary purchase on this list. Every household should have a vacuum sealer and take advantage of it. You can purchase a decent vacuum sealer like the FoodSaver for as low as $100. And you can find cheap vacuum sealer bags on Amazon. This small investment will save you thousands and thousands of dollars. And as you already know, a vacuum sealer saves you money by reducing food waste and preserving food for longer. But it can also save you money because you're more able to buy food items in bulk and receive the bulk deal and even save you money at the post office by reducing the size of a package. As for the best way it saves you money, it could prevent you from getting takeout, which is typically a 200 to 400% markup. Now, how does a vacuum sealer save you time? By preparing and portioning meals in advance. You can seal individual servings or entire meals, making it easy to grab and go during busy weekdays. This reduces the time spent on cooking and cleaning up after meals, especially on those hectic days. Bonus purchases, wool dryer balls can reduce dry time, which can consume less electricity, leading to lower energy costs over time. A snowblower, which can save you money by not needing to hire someone to plow your driveway and can save you a lot of time versus just using a shovel to do your own driveway. And smart home devices like lights and plugs. This way you can automate indoor and outdoor lights to turn on and off on a schedule. This is especially useful for Christmas lights. Using smart home devices will help you cut energy costs and reduce time spent going around turning on and off lights. Now think about how much time you invested to watch this video and think about what you learned and your plans for implication. Hopefully I saved you some time and money. If I did, next watch one of these videos on the right of the screen.