Saving trends, strategies and other ideas as we sail into 2026

In this resolution-focused time of a new year, saving more is tops on the list for many of us.

But how do we eke out savings from our already-tight, post-holiday budgets? Save with SPP decided to take a look around to see how people are planning their saving strategies for 2026, focusing on new trends and ideas.

At MoneySense, there’s agreement that saving is difficult “with budgets tight and inflation driving the cost of groceries and everyday necessities higher.”

But the article suggests that making “small monthly changes can add up over the year.”

Certified financial planner Kelly Ho tells the publication that few people have a good handle on how much they make, and how much they spend. “It’s just a matter of really understanding how much money is coming in and how much is going out,” she tells MoneySense.

Once you have that nailed down, you can increase what’s left after the bills are paid through mini-cuts to your budget. Have a good look, Ho suggests, at what you are paying out in subscriptions for TV shows, music, and other services.

These invisible little costs — $10 here, $15 there – can add up to a hefty burden on the credit card, the article explains. If you cut a service – even just $10 a month – the savings can add up. “You multiply that by 12 months, multiply that over several years, plus, you know, potential investment growth. That’s a lot of money on the table,” Ho tells the magazine.

Another good idea in the article is being “intentional” about what you spend when you are on vacation. “Every single individual I’ve spoken to has underestimated the cost of travel,” she tells MoneySense. “I don’t know if many people actually keep track of what they’re spending when they’re there at their destination.” So, don’t stop budgeting just because you’re on vacation – establish a budget and stay within it.

From This Is Money in the U.K. come three more ideas.

There’s the 100-envelope challenge. You get 100 envelopes, the article explains, and number them from one to 100.

“Each week, savers pick out two envelopes at random and put the amount shown on the front into them. In 50 weeks, they would have saved £5,050 (or in Canada, that much in dollars),” the article explains – an amount that could “turbocharge” your savings.

Other 2026 trends include “no spend” and “no buy” challenges, the article continues.

“As part of the no-spend challenge, people will go through strict periods of not purchasing anything beyond absolute necessities or use up all the products or food they already own before replacing them as a way to save money,” the article tells us.

“There is a ‘no buy’ thread on social media platform Reddit where revenge savers share the savings they have made from limiting their spending,” the article continues.

“Revenge saving?” Let’s read on.

“It involves carefully tracking how much you are saving, as with normal budgeting activities,” the article notes. “But revenge saving goes a step further by deliberately not spending and taking part in savings challenges to build up a pot of savings.”

So, a savings plan enhanced by conscious non-spending challenges. Wow.

The Dallas Express, via Yahoo! Life, offers up some more strategic saving thoughts.

There’s the classic, sound idea of “automating savings transfers,” the “setting up… of automatic moves from chequing to savings right after payday – even as little as $10 or $20 per paycheque – helps `pay yourself first’ without relying on willpower.”

What about cutting back on food delivery?

Chicago certified financial planner Valerie Rivera tells the Express “after housing and childcare, the third-largest expense I often see is food delivery… Think about what would happen if you redirected $50 every month that was going to takeout and put it in a savings account.”

Final ideas from the Express including shopping more often at thrift stores, reducing electrical costs by such measures as switching to LED bulbs, and building an emergency fund.

We can add two more that worked for us. We had a variable mortgage. When interest rates went down for our second five-year term, we kept paying what we had paid before at the higher interest rate. We didn’t feel any pain but were paying the mortgage off more quickly.

Another tip, which we picked up from doing this blog, was the idea of simply taking a set percentage of your take-home pay off the top of every paycheque and putting it into savings. We started small, at three per cent, and increased the amount when we could. Then you live on the 97 per cent. It has worked.

If you are saving for retirement via the Saskatchewan Pension Plan, the idea of paying your future self first can easily be arranged. SPP permits pre-authorized contributions from bank accounts or even credit cards.

That way, you are directing savings dollars in a “set it and forget it” way to SPP, who will then grow those savings by investing them in our low-cost, professionally managed pooled fund. At retirement, you can collect a lifetime monthly income via an SPP annuity, or opt for the more flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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If there’s one word that sums up the soon to be departed 2020, it’s “pandemic,” which according to a CityNews, is not unsurprisingly the “word of the year” from the folks at Merriam-Webster, the dictionary people.

Save with SPP decided to find out what other trappings and trimmings of the pandemic may live on in 2021, and the years following it.

Let’s start with masks – hard to find in February and March, everywhere today. Will we still wear masks when the pandemic is over? Quoted in a Yahoo! Life article, Dr. Amesh Adalja of John Hopkins university in the U.S. thinks it is quite possible.

“A COVID-19 vaccine is likely not going to provide sterilizing immunity the way the measles vaccine does,” he tells Yahoo! Life. “We’re going to still need to take protective measures for some time period, potentially until a second-generation vaccine is developed.”

Research shows that mask wearing in winter helps prevent flu, the article says – so maybe we’ll think about masking up even after the pandemic is completely over.

Next, what about working from home – could it be here to stay?

Writing in Canadian Facility Management & Design magazine Annie Bergeron suggests that “as a result of COVID-19, the workplace will be forever changed.”

She predicts a “hybrid” future, where people will be able to spend “extended time working from home.” She cites a recent Gensler survey in the U.S. which found that while many workers want to return to the office, they “also want a future in which they have more choice and agency that they did before the pandemic.”

Bergeron doesn’t think everyone will work from home forever, though. “There are many indicators that work-from-home arrangements are not sustainable for culture, innovation and talent development,” she writes.

HRMorning says productivity isn’t as good in a work-from-home environment. “Just half of employees who’ve worked from home since the pandemic started are as least 80 per cent as efficient as they were on site,” the article notes, citing research from Stanford.

Another feature of the pandemic has been online videoconference via Zoom, GoToMeeting, Teams, and other applications. Will in-person meetings go the way of the dodo bird?

Perhaps not. Zoom’s share price has fallen exponentially as vaccine progress rises, reports CNBC. Other “stay at home” stocks like Netflix and Amazon are also declining, suggesting the need for these services may dwindle once people start going back to the office again.

There are plenty of other changes on the way. Office towers will eventually bustle with people, benefitting the many struggling businesses that serve them. We’ll pack hockey rinks and football stadiums once again. There will be concerts, parades, and big family gatherings. Let’s hope, as 2021 starts, that this better future is not too far away.

While online meetings and tapping away for work from your kitchen may soon be memories, there’s still important work you can do for your future from the comfort of home. Saskatchewan Pension Plan members should check out MySPP. This online resource isn’t about work, but your life AFTER work. You can keep track of your account, watching it grow, and can get your various tax slips and statements. You can even use SPP’s website to contribute to your pension. Check it out – and if you’re not a member, take a look and consider joining today!

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