I think my readers love to hear voices from other bloggers. So often I let them present their content on my blog. Today it was jack’s turn. jack is another personal finance blogger who writes informative stories. In this post he talks about small changes that can cut down your expenses every month. Notice, they are all very doable and effective at the same time. Enjoy the post!
Believe me, it’s not difficult to stop going on a shopping spree once in a blue moon but that’s not enough to trim your expenses or cut loose with unnecessary spending. You know it well that recurring expenses drag us into debts. Majority of us have a tendency to ignore monthly expenses because we have been trained to overlook all those same lines month in and month out. But truly speaking, it is that particular area where you need to look into. Here is where you can eliminate some expenses and thereby saving a tidy sum much to your surprise. Follow the rest of the write-up to know how to do it right.
Cut down expenses on important monthly bills
Cell Phone – Most of the people are comfortable with prepaid ideas. Though cost per minute will be high but if you never care about your pocket while talking over phone, it is good to go with prepaid idea. (Read Also – Ways to lower cell phone cost)
Home Phone – Do away with your home phone, it just adds to your monthly expenses.
TV – Do you unnecessarily pay for what you never see? Have you ever thought that you are paying too much for watching your favorite shows? There are several legal ways to watch TV online.
Electricity – It’s important to change habits if you are really serious about parting your ways with heavy expenses. Put off lights when you are going out of home and when it is not needed. Keep your windows open instead of turning on air conditioner.
Gym Membership – Do you go to gym regularly? Most people want to stay fit and healthy instead of becoming a muscle man. Those, who want to stay fit, jog daily. They go to park, run on the road and take rest on the bench. That means you can keep yourself in good shape even without being regular at a gym, thus avoiding a tidy fortune for your fitness.
Clubs, Subscriptions and Newsletters – If you are not getting real value from these, there is no use of paying for them.
Cars – Fuel refilling and regular upkeep are not what you can do on your own but you can surely wash your car without anybody’s help. Having tires properly inflated will save money at the pump and also cause slower tire decay.
Insurance – If I’m not wrong, you have several insurances to your name and that eats up a considerable amount of your earning. Keep in touch with your insurance agent to learn if there is any better deal on offer.
Pills – You will not be worse off by switching your prescriptions to common brands and it will save your expenses.
Cut by changing a few habits
Never bring credit card out for a month – It will restrict your spending habit. At first, you will have some problems but then you will be able to figure out where your money is going to. We always try to limit our expenses when we pay in cash. It’s psychological. Parting with physical cash is painful than paying with virtual currency (credit cards).
Pay your bills by check – Just wait and see what happens after you stop all kinds of automation for 3 months at a stretch. When the time will come to clear all expenses, you will decide to do away with those which are not absolutely necessary.
About the Author: Jack is the founder of Finance Updates Today. Jack received his Ph.D. and Masters in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. He has extensive experience as provider of financial and investment services.
Readers, there are some bad financial habits, I wrote before. While it’s required to develop good habits, it’s more crucial that you get over the bad money habits. Learn from the riches, and be better at managing and ultimately saving your hard-earned money!
We went through a lot of these steps when we truly started saving. The home phone one was a given for us but we worked on getting our cell phone bills down and canceled all but basic cable. Now we watch Netflix etc. but in truth spend more time together chatting or reading then watching TV which is a nice change. Great list!
A lot of innovations are coming to the market. you’ll probably be able to view your favorite channels right on your computer at a much lower cost. It’ll save your money and time.
This all seems quite basic… would really appreciate some more advanced/unheard ideas.
what about ideas I wrote about in this post ? https://onecentatatime.com/live-in-early-19th-century-to-be-debt-free/
These are so helpful! I love the idea of putting away the credit card for a month. So many people get so dependent on being able to swipe that card for any little thing, but not having it would force you to think about what you’re spending your money on, and to decide that you can live without that coffee, or you don’t have to eat-out this week.
Many don’t know how to effectively handle a credit card. they think their credit line as bank balance. The number one debt factor in US is the credit card related debt. If you have problem using credit card, you’d be better off without it.
For money saving, having started is a big achievement. Than you can go on to create a money saving habit over months and years.