How To Save Up For Your Tattoo

Do you have a tattoo that you really want, but just don't have the funds at the moment? You're not alone. Don't stress though, we'll share some money saving tips for you that will add up surprisingly very quickly! Of course you can apply this to other aspects of your life, but hey, that new tattoo is a priority, so let's take care of that first!

There are a bunch of ways to save up small amounts of money nearly every day for most people. Here are some tips and tricks!

• Instead of getting a large coffee at Starbucks, get a large coffee at your local convenience store. That will save you on average $2-3 each day. Better yet, brew it at home.
• Instead of buying a bottle of water, fill up a refillable bottle at pretty much any soda fountain for free. That, depending on water brand, can be $1-3. 
• If you use a food delivery service app frequently, or even daily, cut it back one day or more per week. Depending on what you get delivered and how much you averagely tip, that could amount to $20+ per day you cut out. If you insist on take out, go pick it up yourself and save yourself the fees and tip. 
• If you really want to save fast, go back to the college trick and live off Top Ramen and PBJ sandwiches for a couple of weeks. That could amount to hundreds, depending on how you spend now. Your diet will be temporarily bland (and loaded with sodium), but you will be much closer to having the money for your tattoo. You can always resume your original diet afterwards. 
• Buy generic brands. For example, the name brand is nearly always twice as much as the generic or house brand of nearly the exact same thing. This can go for most things that offer an alternate to a big name brand. Get creative!
• If you go out a lot, to bars, clubs, shows or whatever, trim it back a little. A good night out at a club can easily cost $60+. Another way to help in this way is to go at "happy hour".
• Cut back on both drinking and smoking, not only for your wallet, but your health. We're not here to preach, you do what makes you happy, but cutting back even by 25% a week can add up financially quite a bit depending on your personal habits. 
• If you have basic cable, buy a Roku box for $40 and shut off your cable. Roku offers hundreds of channels that you don't pay anything for after you buy the box. There's even a 24/7 Bob Ross channel!
• Look for stuff at thrift stores. If you go to thrift stores near more so-called "upperclass" neighborhoods, you can often find high quality stuff for really cheap. It's actually quite surprising on some of the things you can find. For example, nearly brand new authentic Ray Ban sunglasses for $3. Still brand new tagged Levi jeans for $8. And so on.
• De-clutter your home and sell off stuff of value that you never use. There are many online market places and also probably local options of ways to sell off old stuff, such as a yard sale. Depending on what you have, you may unknowingly have some valuable treasure lying around. One of the best sources of this are older, no longer available video games. Some of these games go for several hundreds of dollars, if unopened, you could be looking at thousands.
• If you have old gold jewelry that you don't care about, that's a very quick way to make some cash. If you want to just scrap it, go to an actual local refinery and NOT a "cash for gold" place. You will get significantly more money. If it's quality jewelry that is not to be scrapped, do NOT take it to a pawn shop. You will get pennies on the dollar and you won't get much. Sell that stuff on a market place. Watch out for con artists that want to "wire" you the money and have you send the item. If you find a buyer, for safety reasons, insist that you make the transaction somewhere very public, or ideally a police station. Most police stations are ok with this being done outside their building, but you still may want to check in with them. If the buyer won't meet you with this criteria, it's likely a scam or someone looking to just take it from you.
• Commit to putting 5-10% of your paycheck in a savings account, if you are able. 
• Avoid impulse buys. Nearly any retail establishment has their "impulse items" located right at the checkout because they know at least some of the customers will buy the stuff. Ignore those items and only buy what you intended to purchase. Printed magazines are the biggest culprit. If you have a cell phone, pretty much anything in those magazines are already available to you.
• Staycations can save tons of money and can actually be less stressful than a trip somewhere. Of course, exploring the world is wonderful and should be done, but if you don't need to go, you can probably enjoy outdoor activities locally, such as hiking or bike riding or whatever. Sometimes a week or two being home can be just what you need to relax and recharge.
• Try not to buy too much stuff at convenience stores. A pint of Ben & Jerry's at the grocery store for $5 is $8-10 at the convenience store. 

This is just a short example of ways for you to quickly save up money for that tattoo you really want and to overall build up a healthy savings account for future tattoos!