4 Little-Known Ways to Save Money This November

Finding money to add to your savings account is generally not an easy thing to do. But during November, it can seem like a downright impossible feat given that it's the start of the holiday season. But if you employ these tactics, you might manage to boost your personal cash reserves before November comes to an end.

1. Buy your Thanksgiving desserts at Costco

If you're someone who normally limits your Costco purchases to items like groceries and paper towels, you may want to expand your horizons this month -- especially if you plan to host Thanksgiving. If you buy your desserts at Costco, you might save a nice bundle of money compared to what you'll spend at a local bakery. Costco's famous pumpkin pie, for example, is only $5.99 for nearly four pounds of deliciousness. At that price point, you might save money compared to the cost of buying pumpkin pie ingredients and baking your own version at home.

2. Use a price-tracking app for your holiday shopping

November is a big shopping month for a lot of people. Not only do loads of deals tend to drop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the weeks leading up to those two events also tend to be filled with bargains. If you want to save money on your holiday shopping, then it pays to use a price-tracking app like ShopSavvy so you can feel confident you're getting a good deal on the items you're buying. You can also employ a lower-tech but equally effective system of filling digital shopping carts with the items you want and tracking their prices there.

3. Be savvy with your travel plans

Flying home for Thanksgiving? If your job is remote and you have the flexibility to work from anywhere coupled with free lodging, then it pays to play around with different flight combinations to potentially shave money off of your cost. You might, for example, pay a lot less to travel if you're willing to fly out the Tuesday morning before Thanksgiving and return the Tuesday after. You can also use an app like Skyscanner or Hopper to find cheap(er) flights.

4. Don't shop at all unless you have a specific purchase in mind

November is a dangerous month to do something like innocently open your Amazon app to see what the daily deals look like. As mentioned, retailers tend to offer up a lot of deals in November, and it can be tempting to buy things on a whim once you see how discounted they are. But if you're eager to save money this month, don't shop for fun or out of boredom. Only shop when there's an actual item you're looking for.

If you're able to save any amount of money in November, it'll give you that much more leeway to spend with less stress in December. Or, you might set yourself up with a larger emergency fund in time for the new year. These tips could put some extra cash in your pocket this month, so they're worth employing at a time when socking funds away is far from simple.