Easy Ways to Save on 7 Everyday Buys

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There are some payments and purchases you make because you have to, like gas, insurance, and a mortgage — but there are others that you make because they make you feel good. By saving money on your favorite purchases, you'll likely purchase them more often and thus, have a happier and more fulfilling life.

Here's how you can save money on your favorite everyday things.

1. Restaurants

We all love dining out for a meal. But dinner at a nice restaurant can quickly eat up your budget, especially if you're going out two or three times a week. If you're a person who loves to go out for food, there are three things you should explore:

• Groupon: With restaurant discounts of up to 75%, you could essentially go out three times as often as you do now, for the same price.
• Restaurant.com: Get $25 certificates for as low as $4. Note that they have a new batch of certificates at the beginning of each month, and costs will keep going down as the month progresses, but it also might mean that the certificates for the restaurants you want will be sold out. No matter when you buy them, you'll still get a nice discount on your meal.
• Rewards Credit Cards for Dining Out: Use the best credit card that offers rewards at restaurants, or a general cash back credit card that gives you cash back on your purchases.

2. Travel

Once you become a Groupon member, you can get discounts on vacation packages, but once you're in the country, you should also look for local discount cards. Simply run a Google search with your planned destination and "discount card." It should be something like this: "Venice Discount Card."

The Venice discount card has excellent discounts on transport, sights, and cultural events. You can find similar discount cards in Bangkok, Cancun, Paris, London and pretty much every major tourist town.

You may be surprised how often there's a discount card on offer and these things can save you a lot of money! In Malta for example, the Malta Discount Card saves 50% off at dozens of restaurants, as well as discounts on tours, attractions, and water sports. You're likely to pay off the cost of the card within a day, so I recommend always searching for them before going anywhere.

3. Alcohol

Costco, Costco, Costco. You probably already have a number of Kirkland products in your house, but did you know that Kirkland alcohol was compared in a blind taste test and the tasters couldn't decide if the expensive brands were better than Kirkland?

They weren't drinking the liquor with mixers, either. Straight up, these people couldn't agree on the better booze. The Kirkland brand alcohol is as much as 75% cheaper, and if the experts can't tell the difference, you should probably get your buzz on for a bit less with the Costco brand. (See also: Get Cash Back on Your Costco Shopping)

4. Movies

Head to the library. You remember that stuffy, quiet place where you had to go to get information in the '80s? As libraries are becoming more and more obsolete, they've made some efforts to bring in new clientele. One of the ways they've done this is by adding DVDs to their inventory.

Go to the library, apply for a library card, and take out as many DVDs as you want. They even stock some TV series box sets, so you can save a few bucks of your cable bill as well.

5. Coffee

Stop going to Starbucks! That $3 Americano that you're buying could be made at home for much less.

Pick up a 2.2 pound bag of delicious Lavazza Espresso on Amazon for under $20, then buy yourself a Handpresso machine. This thing can make the perfect cup of espresso every time, plus it's compact, and you don't need electricity to use it so you can take it anywhere.

That 2.2 pound bag of coffee will make 120 cups of Americano coffee, meaning that each cup will cost you less than 17 cents, rather than $3. By the time you finish that bag, you'll have saved $340 on coffee, which pays off the cost of the Handpresso machine two times over!

6. Yoga

Your yoga instructor may not be happy that I'm telling you this, but you can get free Yoga classes on YouTube every day. There are some excellent channels like Free Yoga TV, that have professional yogis giving quality classes online for zero dollars.

The best part of YouTube yoga, is that you can play it from your smartphone and turn pretty much anywhere into your own personal yoga studio. No more having to head to the gym or yoga center. Lock the door in your office, lay down a mat, and stretch to your heart's content.

7. Groceries

If you're not a foodie who loves to cook at home, maybe groceries aren't one of your favorite purchases. But even so, they're a costly budget item that everyone has to purchase every week. With Grocery Pal, Coupon Sherpa, and the right credit cards, you can save a lot of money on your groceries.

Grocery Pal helps you find weekly sales at your local supermarkets, like Safeway, Whole Foods, Smart&Final, Walmart, Target, and more. Coupon Sherpa helps you find all the right coupons for the stuff in your cart, and credit cards that reward grocery purchases will put more money back into your wallet.