Personal Finance Resources: Financial Education & Literacy

3 Ways Automation Can Save You Money

Written by PSECU | Jul 31, 2023 12:00:00 PM

Everyone is always looking for ways to save money, and these days it's easier than ever. With new kinds of automation processes, it's now possible to take care of your chores and tasks automatically while also saving money and giving you back your valuable time. If you're interested in trying out different kinds of automation, you’re in luck: here’s our list of the top three ways you can automate different tasks to make your life easier.

Bill Payer

PSECU's bill payer allows you to pay for your utilities, mortgage, gym memberships, and more automatically. Once you set up this service through your PSECU account, bill payer's secure interface takes the money you need to pay your bills from your checking and sends it to your service providers. There's nothing else you need to do - just be sure you have enough funds in your account to process the payments. As long as they're electronic, bill payer delivers most payments within three business days.

Using bill payer is not only convenient - it’s also a money saver. The service itself is free for PSECU members. Your bills get paid on time (no late fees!) and you don’t have to worry about buying stamps, checks, or envelopes. By using bill payer instead of a credit card, you’ll avoid potential service fees charged by the utility or company for using your card. Best of all, bill payer is secure. Instead of logging into different accounts to make payments, you can make all payments at once using your PSECU account - as long as you have the funds available. This decreases your exposure to potential fraud in case any of the companies you’re dealing with experience a compromise.

Grocery Shopping

Whether you love grocery shopping or hate it, one thing is always true: it’s hard to resist adding extra groceries to your cart when you’re whizzing up and down every aisle. But those impulse buys can inflate your grocery spending and blow your budget.

Your solution may be to automate your grocery shopping by utilizing grocery pickup or delivery through a local store or an app. There are often few to no fees associated with these services, and because someone else is doing the actual shopping for you, you won’t be tempted to add items that aren’t on your grocery list. Plus, you’re saving money on gas by not having to drive to and from different stores. So now instead of grocery shopping, you can spend time working on a household project or enjoying quality time with your family.

Refills on Household Essentials

How many times do you go to do a load of laundry and realize you’re out of detergent? Or do you take out the trash only to discover that that was your last trash bag? Frequently used household essentials are the perfect candidates for subscription refills. These days if you buy an item online, many retailers will give you the option to set up recurring shipments of items, meaning that the retailer will automatically buy and ship items to you however many times a month you want them to. You’ll never have to run out of trash bags again! Also, retailers will likely offer a discount for opting into such a subscription.

You can customize the frequency of shipments of your various items, and they'll show up at your door right when you need them. Besides giving you an initial discount, retailers may also offer further discounts for bundling subscriptions together. Need paper towels, toilet paper, trash bags, and diapers all at the same time? Bundle them all together and it could save you money.

Make Your Money Work Smarter, Not Harder

PSECU is here to help our members achieve more. Whether that means offering the best in digital banking, low rates on loans, banking options for a lifetime, or providing tips & tools for money management in our Resource Center, we are here to help you get the most out of every dollar.