Trying to save money but don’t know where to start? Â I’ll show you how I was able to save over $1000 this year and give you my free 52 Week Money Saving Printable.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nationwide. I purchased my own insurance at normal prices. All opinions are 100% mine.
Nationwide provided me with information regarding its SmartRide program.
We all know that we should be setting aside money each month in our savings, but how many of us do? Â Saving money can be tough – especially when you have monthly bills, unexpected expenses and basic living expenses.
One way you can easily save $1,000 is by socking away $20 each week. Â It’s a simple plan, really. Â Just take $20 each week and put it in your savings account, piggy bank, a sock in the freezer or under your mattress.
By saving $20 each week, you will end up with $1,040 at the end of the year. Â It’s an easy way to get ahead, set up an emergency fund or put away cash for something special.
I created this printable to help you track your saving over the course of the year. Â Simply stash the cash each week and check it off on the printable.
More Ways to Save Money
Last month, my husband and I tried to figure out how we could save even more than the $20 we were stashing for our savings plan. Â We looked at all of our expenses to identify ways we could cut back or reconfigure our spending patterns.
Some of the basics came up:
- Eating out less
- Cutting back on entertainment
- Using coupons
There are a number of ways you can save on your family budget.  I put together a FREE printable to show you some other ways you can save money.
But we also found some unexpected savings.  The biggest savings came from our car insurance. Let me start with a little backstory.  We have our vehicle insurance through Nationwide.  We’ve had our policy since we were married (over 16 years ago).
Nationwide has a program called SmartRide, which rewards safe driving behavior. When you enroll, you get a 10% discount for participating. Then, Nationwide sends a small device that you easily install in your car. This device measures your driving behavior based on variables such as mileage, time of day, fast accelerations, hard brakes and idle time.
And, depending on our recorded driving habits, we can qualify to save even more on our auto insurance.
I asked my agent if our rates could go up based on the data collected by the SmartRide device. Â He assured me that they would NOT go up based on this data. Â But, we could end up saving up to 40% on our insurance.
We received our SmartRide device a few days after enrolling.
It came with easy-to-follow installation instructions and the return mailing label.
The device was incredibly easy to install – it only took a few seconds to pop it in.
The device started monitoring our driving patterns immediately. Â I must admit, the last time my driving skills were judged is when I took my drivers license test as a teenager!
The cool thing about the program is that it allows you to add all your vehicles into the program , and you can see each vehicle’s driving details, in my case I added my husband’s car. He seemed more nervous than I was, I guess we’ll see who’s the better driver in the house!
By enrolling in SmartRide, we have access to an online portal where we are able monitor our progress in the program, and see how our discount is trending.  I can easily view the data that is collected by the device on my phone or on my desktop computer through the website. Since I am always on the go, it’s nice to have access on my phone.
Overall, this is a pretty interesting program. Ever since we installed the device my husband and I have been in a bit of a competition to see who is a better driver. Even my son yells from the back seat, “Hard braking!” Â or “Idling!” Â We’re all having fun with it.
I’m curious to watch our driving habits as we go through the program. Plus, we get weekly emails letting us know how we are doing.  I’ll be sure to report back what our final discount is at the end of the program.
Nationwide asked that I include this information about the product: Products underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliates. Columbus, Ohio. Availability varies. Discounts do not apply to all coverage elements; actual savings vary by state, coverage selections, rating factors and policy changes. Enrollment discount applies during data collection; final discount is calculated on driving behavior and could be zero. Final discount applies at the next policy renewal and remains until drivers or vehicles on the policy change.
