Ah, the new year. Time to start fresh!
And since you’ve already cut 2021 from your life (albeit, not by choice — but because, you know, time), you might as well keep going. Keep cutting those toxic people, traits and choices from your proverbial life diet and start 2022 feeling good.
Where to start? Well, this is The Penny Hoarder, after all. Start by getting rid of those greedy companies handling your money, charging you too much and taking advantage of their market share.
Here are the biggest things you should be cutting out of your life this year — and how to replace them with better money choices.
1. Cut Your Greedy Bank Out of Your Life For Good
Sure, a dollar here and a dollar there in fees and charges didn’t seem so bad when you checked your banking account at the end of the year.
But those dollars really added up throughout all of 2021. The average person loses $150 every year to monthly maintenance fees, overdraft charges, wire transfer fees and more.
So in 2022, say “no more!” to those seemingly innocent charges your big bank is silently siphoning out of your account — and switch to a free Aspiration Spend and Save Account.
Yep, with a free Aspiration banking account there are no monthly fees and no overdraft charges — plus, free access to 55,000 ATMs.
Plus, you’ll get 5% back when you swipe at certain stores, and they give you up to 83 times the normal national interest rate on your savings balance.
Not too shabby!
Enter your email address here to get a free Aspiration Spend and Save account. After you confirm your email, securely link your bank account so they can start helping you save on fees and get extra cash. Your money is FDIC insured and they use a military-grade encryption which is nerd talk for “this is totally safe.”
2. Cut Your Car Insurance In Half (or More)
OK, you probably can’t cut your car insurance out of your life entirely if you have a car. But in 2022, you can take advantage of lower rates and pay significantly less on your car insurance each month with a new policy.
And chances are you’re overpaying for your current policy right now. So cut. It. Out
If it’s been more than six months since your last car insurance quote, you should look again.
And if you look through a digital marketplace called SmartFinancial, you could be getting rates as low as $22 a month — and saving yourself more than $700 a year.
It takes one minute to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all the best rates side-by-side. Yep — in just one minute you could save yourself $715 this year. That’s some major cash back in your pocket.
So if you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a while, see how much you can cut with a new policy.
3. Cut Your Credit Card Debt Faster
If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you’re never going to escape…
And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates — some up to 36%. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 2.49% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
You don’t need a perfect credit score to get a loan — and comparing your options won’t affect your score at all. Plus, AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
It takes less than a minute and just 10 questions to see what loans you qualify for — you don’t even need to enter your Social Security number. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but don’t worry — they won’t spam you with phone calls.
4. Cut Your Expensive Homeowners Insurance
If you’re a homeowner, you probably have home insurance, but you hardly ever think about it. That’s good — it means you haven’t needed to use it. But it also means you don’t know if you’re being overcharged for it. 2022 is your time to cut that expense down.
It’s easy to find out, though. To see if you’re overpaying for your policy, check out a website called SmartFinancial. It’s a digital marketplace where you can get quotes and compare rates to make sure you’re getting the best price.
Homeowners can save hundreds of dollars when they switch home insurance companies this way. It takes just two minutes to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all your options side-by-side. Get started here.
5. Cut Your Grocery Budget Down — But Keep Buying Your Favorites
Groceries account for a good chunk of your budget. Everybody’s got to eat. You may as well earn a little money back while your groceries are being bagged up and cut down your budget for 2022.
A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying essentials like toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.
Here’s how it works: After you’ve downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, you’ll earn rewards to redeem for gift cards to your favorite retailers and shops, including the places you buy your groceries like Amazon, Target and Walmart.
You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards.
Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something.
Kari Faber is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
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