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In addition to making over $30,000 in extra income in 2020, I saved over $2,000 on expenses and purchases.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced many opportunities to save money and in some ways, actually forced people to save money. Many of us traveled and dined out much less than we would have otherwise, which are often two of our higher expenses.

While I did save quite a bit of money from the reduced travel and dining, I also saved quite a bit in other expenses and purchases.

Here’s exactly how much I saved, where I saved, and how I did it.

How much I saved in expenses & purchases

I saved $2,319.08 on my expenses and purchases in 2020. Now, I was able to save more than that in other ways that I did not track. But, these are some of the major things that I thought was worth mentioning and was easy to track.

Here’s a quick breakdown.

Source	Amount Saved
Cable & Internet	$75.50*
Car Insurance	$225.85
Credit Card Purchases	$476.57
Food Delivery Fees	$25.42
Gas	$134.36
Health Insurance	$685.09
Home Mortgage	$670.88*
*Savings split with my wife

Cable & internet savings

In 2020 my wife and I realized we weren’t watching a whole lot of television and most of the things we did watch were streamed online. We called our cable and internet company, RCN, and did the math on the savings.

We kept the same internet plan but removed cable TV, which saved us $21.57 a month. That was enough savings each month for us so we canceled cable TV in May, which allowed us to save $21.57 each month for seven months.

I split the bill evenly with my wife so we each saved $75.50 last year. So if I combined our savings, we saved a total of $150.99 in seven months.

Not too shabby!

Car insurance savings

When my auto insurance policy with Geico renewed last year, my annual premium increased from the previous year.

I honestly hate car insurance companies because they always seem to increase the amount every year even though I’ve been driving the same number of miles or less and my car is getting older every year. I mean, shouldn’t it stay the same or go down? They usually say it’s due to increasing costs on their end or some other lame excuse.

Anyway, if the cost is not much higher than the previous year, I usually just leave it. Otherwise, I call to ask them if they can lower it.

Since my car was six years old in 2020, I reevaluated my policy to see if I still needed the same coverage. I realized that I did not need the same coverage and was able to lower my monthly bill by $4.48. It wasn’t much but it was at least something. Why pay more for coverage that I did not need right?

Geico also offered a 15% discount for everyone because of the pandemic, which was great. They applied this discount to the last two months of my policy, which meant that I only saved $4.48 for 10 months.

My total savings was $44.80 from my changes to the policy and $181.05 from Geico’s generous 15% discount for a total savings of $225.85.

Credit card purchases savings

One of the perks of using credit cards, especially cards from American Express, is the savings that it can provide. Chase and Amex credit cards offer some of the best statement credits out there. These credit offers can also be stacked on top of other promotions, helping you save even more.

I was able to save a total of $476.57.

Here’s how much I saved from my purchases with each of my Chase and American Express credit cards.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: $6.58
Chase Freedom Unlimited: $38.69
Chase Freedom Flex: $0
Chase Freedom: $4.51
Chase Ink Business Cash: $0
Chase Amazon Prime Rewards: $0.76
American Express Gold: $120
American Express Everyday: $90
American Express Blue Business Plus: $216.03

My Chase cards usually have the fewest offers and not each card has the same number of offers either. Many of the offers are also usually the same among my Chase cards. American Express provides many more offers than my Chase cards, but many of them are also the same on each card. And you can only add the same offers to one card only.

Nonetheless, I was able to save quite a bit with these offers. These savings were from purchases I was already going to make regardless of the offers. None of those purchases were made just because I had a nice offer that provided a good discount. The offers only made my purchases even more affordable.

Food delivery fees savings

Since the pandemic caused restaurants to close at the beginning of the year, my wife and I began to order takeout to support restaurants. Even when restaurants opened up and dining was allowed at limited capacities, we still felt safer to order takeout.

In terms of food delivery services, we use mostly Grubhub because of the monthly $10 credit from my Amex Gold credit card. We also sometimes use DoorDash and Uber Eats depending on which service offered to deliver for the restaurants we wanted.

Delivery and service fees from food delivery services can add up quickly even if you only use them a few times a year. In 2020, I saved a total of $50.84 in delivery and service fees and we ordered takeout about 16 times the entire year. I was able to save money in delivery and service fees through my complimentary Grubhub+, DashPass, and Uber Eats Pass memberships provided by my credit cards.

Here are the cards that provided me those complimentary memberships.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: 12-month complimentary DashPass and Lyft Pink (free Grubhub+)
American Express Gold: 12-month complimentary Uber Eats Pass (must enroll by 12/31/21)

As you can see, I was able to get all three food delivery service memberships for free just by owning two credit cards. These complimentary memberships will expire towards the end of 2021 but I do not plan on paying to renew any of these subscriptions. While I typically do not use food delivery services, I will make use of them during this pandemic and enjoy reaping the benefits while I have them.

Gas savings

Here’s the thing – I like to fill my car up with gasoline from top tier gas brands like Shell and Mobil. Top tier gas companies are required to have a certain level of detergents in their gasoline that help keep the engine cleaner. In theory, this will keep your car running smoother and longer.

I saved $134.36 in top tier gas in 2020 through the Fuel Rewards program.

Prior to using Fuel Rewards, I filled my tank at Mobil because I was a member of their Rewards+ program. However, this program is not nearly as competitive as the Fuel Rewards program for me. Being a Gold member I automatically get 5¢ off per gallon. As a T-Mobile customer, T-Mobile Tuesdays gives me 10¢ off per gallon.

That’s an automatic 15¢ off per gallon every week! With Mobil’s Rewards+ program I was earning 3¢/gal and I average 7 gallons a week, giving me a total of 21¢ off my next fill-up. Compared to saving $1.05 on 7 gallons, switching to the Fuel Rewards program and Shell was a no brainer.

Not to mention that I also buy my groceries at Stop & Shop, which is a partner of the Fuel Rewards program. I usually redeem an average of 200 Stop & Shop Go Rewards points per week, which adds 20¢ off per gallon to the 15¢ for a total of 35¢ off per gallon or a savings of about $2.45 every week I fill up.

Not too shabby! It adds up quickly, especially if you drive a lot. I average 7 gallons a week and I fill up about 50 times a year so I can expect to save over $100 a year in gas.

Smart Living Tip: Only fill up at Shell and use the Fuel Rewards program if it makes sense. If you do not normally fill up at Shell but the price is similar to your default gas station, then switching to Shell and using the FR program could both save you more money and give your car top tier gasoline.

Health insurance savings

Working at a very small company, my health insurance plan is expensive and not the greatest. I was on my wife’s (girlfriend at the time) health insurance plan all of 2019. She switched jobs in January and I had to go back to my employer’s plan, which cost twice as much and it was not nearly as good.

My wife did not like her new job so she went back to her former company under a new position. She was able to put me back under her plan and in doing so I saved $685.09 in 2020.

Home mortgage savings

One day my loan advisor called me and suggested that I refinance our mortgage. Our interest rate was 4.5% when we took the mortgage in 2017. And because of the pandemic, mortgage interest rates dropped to 3.5% in July when we refinanced.

We did the math and determined refinancing was worth it so we went ahead and did it. It cost about $1,500 to refinance but we saved $268.35 a month. This meant it would take about 6 months to break even with the cost of the refinance, which we just did.

I guess I really didn’t save any money in 2020 but we rolled the refinance cost into the loan so together we technically did save $1,341.75 and I personally saved half of that which comes out to be $670.88.

Final thoughts

In 2020, I found new ways to save more money on my expenses and purchases. I dissected all my expenses and got rid of those that were no longer necessary and reduced the cost of those that were necessary. I also spent a little more time taking the extra steps to save money on purchases I was already going to make. This was not something I really ever did prior to 2020, well at least not to the same extent.

Doing so and figuring new and more ways I can save allowed me to save over $2,000. That’s $2,000 I could put towards something else such as my next vacation (when the pandemic is over) or my investment portfolio where I can use that money to make even more money.

Focusing on saving money is always great but there is a limit to how much we can save. We can only cut back so much before we cannot. However, there is no limit to how much we can earn.

While saving over $2,000 in 2020 was great, earning over $30K in extra income outside my job was even better. And finding ways to earn more money is something I will focus more on in 2021.

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How I Saved Over $2,000 On Expenses & Purchases In 2020