Anybody can save money on anything at any time. But it's still work.

I see an article every week on some blog or another about "how you can save THIS MUCH money if you cut out THIS from your life!" As if the author just discovered fire.<br><br>The thing is, everything is just time and money. Time has a monetary value, money has a time value. If you want to save money on something, you can do it, but it'll cost you time.<br><br>Want to eat Ramen for a dollar a meal? Well you're going to be eating Ramen. Want to eat healthy? You're going to be spending an hour a day shopping and cooking. You can go to a restaurant and have good food quick, but it's going to be expensive. Or you can pay $10 a meal for a meal delivery service where healthy food is dropped off at your door, saving you some time but still being expensive. It's all on a spectrum.<br><br>Want to save money on your cell phone bill? Well you can figure out how to get onto a discount MVNO plan and call in every six months to threaten to cancel your service if they don't give you the best deal. Or you can pay full price through Verizon/AT\&T/T-Mobile and not have to think about it.<br><br>Want to save money on your commute? You can live on top of where you work, and pay $4,000 a month for your apartment. Or you can live a mile away and walk it for $3,000 a month. Or you can live an hour and a half away in a suburb for a large house for $1,200 a month. Or you can live 3 hours away but never pay rent. I know someone who does this; they work in NYC and live in Baltimore. They have a huge house and their rent is $0.<br><br>There is no magic "It'll take literally 5 minutes a month to save $1,500 a year" that's just common sense. There is a lot of common sence. But it's work.<br><br>If you're middle class, you have a small amount of money and a fairly large amount of time. You need to spend your time to save money, and you need to spend your money to save time. It's all on a spectrum. There is no magic formula that's right for everyone, and it's all just common sense. But it's work.