As the king of your castle, no one will interfere with your choice of TV-show. What you’d like to eat for dinner. Where you throw your dirty clothes. Or what time you turn off your bedside lamp. Yeah, there are plenty of pros to living alone.

But there are also cons. First of all, living alone is pricey since there is no one to share the bills with. But does that mean you need to start swiping on Tinder to find that special someone that can move in with you? Or that you have to pack your things and move back to your mom and dad’s place?

Not at all. Because we got your back! We’ve collected seven money-saving hacks that will help you finance living alone.

Add your name to the gift card

Buying gifts for your loved ones is a tiny bit more enjoyable if you have someone to split the costs with. The quick fix? Sneakily adding your name to the gift card. All jokes aside – having someone to split the gift costs with is a great way to save money, but it’s a good idea to make sure you’ve agreed on sharing the gift before adding your name on it 😉

Meal plan, meal plan, aaaaand meal plan

You’ve probably heard the speech about how great meal planning is over and over again, but let’s have it once again for the seats in the back.

By planning your meals a week ahead, you’ll be able to save tons of money on your food budget. It’s all about finding products that are cheap and that you can use for several meals. Not only will you stay organized, save money and time. You’ll also save the dreadful trips to the supermarket, where end up with a mediocre frozen pizza because you can’t seem to figure out what you want to cook and eat.

Food clubbing with friends

The best of both worlds. Great food and great friends. What more could one ask for? Cooking for yourself isn’t always the most exciting thing to do. If you’re not up for putting on the apron to cook alone every single night, starting a food club with a group of friends is a genius idea. It will also be cheap if everybody chips in for meals.

Start the club and take turns on hosting and cooking for each other once a week. Your friends will likely love this idea too! Saving money, eating good food and spending quality time with friends - win-win-win!

Go second-hand treasure hunting

You know what they say – one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. In this world of heavy consumption, there are tons of great things to be found in your local second-hand stores. You can also search for second-hand gold at flea markets or online through apps and websites where people sell the stuff they no longer use.

But just a heads-up. Searching for second-hand treasures is addictive. Once you start finding amazing second-hand stuff at a low price, you’ll realize just how much money you can save. And at the same time, you’re saving our planet as well. What’s not to like?

Find a roommate

It’s no secret that living alone costs more than sharing a home with someone. If your bills pile up and you get headaches trying to pay them, there is a solution to your problem if you have enough space to share with another person. Find a roommate that you can share some of the housing costs with.

Another great benefit of having a roommate? Someone to share the cleaning chores with. Yay!

Become a landlord

If you’re not exactly ecstatic with the thought of sharing your space with a roommate, there are other solutions that can help you.

Think about renting out your place once in a while on Airbnb, while you crash at your family’s or friends’ for a few days. If you’re going out of town or travelling, renting out your apartment on Airbnb is a great idea as well.

Befriend your habits

Do you like the idea of prioritizing your money so you’ll be able to happily live alone? You totally can. It’s all about learning about your money habits.

So, where does your money go? It’s likely that you don’t spend all of it paying bills. Do you tend to add something sweet to your basket when you’re grocery shopping? Are you subscribing to a long list of streaming services? Do you like treating yourself to new clothes?

By digging into your spending habits you’ll quickly learn where your money actually goes. And that makes it easier for you to see if it’s time to change the way you spent your money.

Want to discover your spending habits? Give the Spiir app a go. It automatically helps you to see your finances and spending in a fun and simple way. And best of all? You don’t have to do the boring budget work. The app categorizes your spending into different categories and shows you how you’re spending money.

There you go. Seven hacks on how to save money and cut back on your expenses while living alone. We hope they’ll inspire you to look into your spending habits so you’ll be able to live your best life with the money you have available. Good luck!