The WIRED Gear Team’s Tips on Ways to Save Money

The Iran war has spiked gas prices. The RAM crisis has spiked prices on electronics. A wide swath of imported goods costs more than before due to Trump's tariffs. Right now, your wallet is likely feeling the squeeze.

It's a tumultuous time, and the constant media barrage of doom and gloom doesn't help ease anxieties. It's also hard to figure out when things will get better, so you're stuck in a rut of worrying about finances. It's OK. Take a breath. The first thing to remember, according to “The Budgetnista” Tiffany Aliche, is that the economy is cyclical.

“I've lived long enough to see many ‘worst times,’” Aliche says. She's a financial educator and author of The New York Times Best Seller Get Good with Money. "Well, if it is the worst time, what the hell can I do about it? Sometimes you have to take the apps off your phone. I took Instagram off my phone, and I allow myself to check it on my laptop, which is far less addictive.”

Constrict your doomscrolling so you won't feel the constant anxieties from the day's news. Now, how can you actually find ways to conserve and save money? First, look at tightening your spending as much as possible. Aliche says you should analyze your credit card statements and see exactly where your money is going. Is there any wiggle room? Can you cut a few subscriptions to save a few bucks every month? She calls it the ramen noodle budget.

Once you make those adjustments, it's worth thinking about bigger changes. It might be that those plans never have to come to fruition—like moving in with parents or getting a roommate to save money on housing. “Make the doomsday plan,” she says. “You don't have to act on it now, but what is that plan if things really get rough, and start having those conversations.”

Sean Pyles, producer and host of NerdWallet's Smart Money podcast (also a certified financial planner), echoed Aliche's sentiment of starting with your most recent spending to see where your money is going, and see if it aligns with your values and goals. Do you really need to Uber everywhere? He's also a fan of keeping a level head and avoiding rash decisions, especially when there's a lot of volatility in the stock market. Focus on your time horizon instead, and ignore the swings in the market.

“The wiser step is to ignore it as noise and realize that this is someone else's problem, not mine right now,” he says. “Focus on what you can control. Maybe you have a financial goal to save for a vacation or a wedding, or it is your retirement you're investing for now—do what you can to make sure you're on track to meet those goals.”

It's prudent to build up an emergency fund. Aliche recommends saving up ideally six months of your noodle budget, which you'd typically spend on necessities like rent, mortgage, and utilities. Both Aliche and Pyles suggested automating your finances as much as you can. Set it up so that you have some cash—maybe $100—going into your emergency fund every paycheck. Aliche says you can even ask your employer to split your salary so that it goes into specific accounts, like half of it going into a checking account and the other half going to a high-yield savings account.

Expert Tips on Saving Money

With those budgeting tips in mind, I also asked the writers and editors on WIRED's Gear and Reviews teams—along with Aliche and Pyles—for ways they save money, whether that's through specific gear they own or services they use. Hopefully, some of these suggestions can help you save some cash not just now but whenever you're in a pinch.

“I have been really relying on my credit card points and doing what I can to maximize the points I've been earning on everyday purchases. If you have a solid credit card that's getting a good reward rate for things like going out to eat or taking ride shares, that can actually offset the cost of summer travel, because we've seen jet fuel prices go up a lot recently. This might be a great time to cash in the points you have just sitting in your credit card account not being used.” —Sean Pyles

“I have the Google [Nest] Thermostat—I travel a lot, so I have the thermostat on my phone. So if I'm not going to be at home, then I'm like, who's heating the house? I'm not home, I don't care. To a certain degree, obviously, you don't want to freeze your pipes. Lean into your thermostat … use smart technology so that you're not using energy in a way that's inefficient.” —Tiffany Aliche

My wife and I are both practiced deal hunters, so much so that she was actually excited when I told her I landed her engagement ring from an upscale consignment store. (I got it at half price!) She’s always been the pro to my amateur, but with the addition of our first child, she transitioned to fully operational Deals Terminator, where she zeroed in on a variety of resources to help us land most of our baby stuff for 10 cents on the dollar (or less).

We started by hitting up friends and family, but whatever we couldn’t procure from hand-me-downs has come from a mixture of local consignment stores, sites like Facebook Marketplace and Buy Nothing, Poshmark, and even good old-fashioned eBay. Swap programs like Just Between Friends are another great way to keep your baby clothed, and we’ve kept our library fresh by hitting up used bookstores as well as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which grants you one free book a month. Virtually everything you buy in these early stages will be gone in a year or two at most. That makes going cheap on essentials a must for keeping costs down. —Ryan Waniata

Back in 2022, I wrote about how Filson’s Dryden Duffle Pack was hands down my favorite gear item ever. Then Filson killed it. The folly of discontinuing what was at the time the best bag in the world wasn’t lost on Huckberry, mind you, who, realizing Filson’s error, collaborated with the brand to bring a version back for its store. Now, finally seeing the error of its ways, Filson has resurrected the peerless Duffle Pack itself.

Why do I tell you this? Well, the money-saving genius of this bag lies in its ability to morph between a hand-carry, standard shoulder duffel, and a rucksack, thanks to two backpack straps cleverly hidden in the base. When I fly, I shun cabin cases in favor of the Duffle Pack, because low-cost, money-grabbing budget airlines increasingly like to charge extra for taking overhead carry-on cases onto a flight. Backpacks are usually free. You can easily fit a week’s worth of clothes, toiletries, tech (yes, there's even a dedicated 16-inch laptop pocket), adapters, cables, and more into the Duffle Pack’s cavernous 46 liters of space. All you then need to do is waltz onto your flight with the trusty Filson in backpack mode, and you won't have paid one cent extra. —Jeremy White

I’ve gobbled up so many delicious snacks, like artisanal conchas, and hefty dinners, like Mission-style burritos, at a discounted rate by using the Too Good to Go app (Android, iOS). Restaurants and bakers list their unsold food at the end of the day for people to buy through TGTG. While sometimes the portions can be on the smaller end, and you don’t get to pick what you get, the app is a reliable option for cheap, late-night munchies. —Reece Rogers

A great deal of furniture in my home was acquired through Facebook Marketplace. Much depends on the area you live in, but you'll be surprised at just how much stuff people list on there at reasonable prices, and you can usually haggle to get the price a little lower. Be very careful of scams, and always make sure you meet people in public spaces when making purchases. But Facebook Marketplace isn't the only option for used gear; for big appliances or electronics, I usually check retail stores like Amazon or Best Buy for open-box or used listings, and if nothing comes up, usually I can find the item I want on eBay. I've bought several excellent lenses for my Nikon camera, saving hundreds of dollars had I bought new. —Julian Chokkattu