If you want to save money quickly, one of the best ways to do it is by cutting down on your monthly expenses. There are plenty of ways you can start lowering the amount of cash you drop every month. Just keep reading to find out what a few of them are!
Examine Your Extra Expenses
Take a look at all of the things you need to spend money on every month. Rent, utilities, insurance, loans – the things you really need to pay off every month and absolutely can’t afford to slack on. Now take a look at everything else your money is going to. How much are you spending a month on coffee? On eating out? What about online shopping? Chances are you’re probably spending way more on these extra expenses than you actually think. The first step to cutting them down is knowing how many exist in the first place. From there, you can easily separate the wants you’d like to prioritize from the superfluous wants that you can do without.
Save Your Change
A few pennies here or there may not seem like a big deal, but your spare change can add up to quite a pretty sum if given the time to grow. Start a change jar and dump your spare change into it whenever you bring any home. You can do the same thing with spare dollar bills as well, which can grow your “leftover savings” even more quickly.
Set A Tab For Savings
It’s a financial mind game, in a way. You likely always make your bill payments on time, whether they’re for credit cards, loans, or anything else. Why not treat your savings in the same manner? Set up a “bill” for yourself every month, and pay that bill off by depositing the bill amount into your savings account. You can even set reminders on your phone and treat it in the way you’d treat a real bill from any other company.
Check Your Monthly Bills
Do you know if you’re getting the best deal possible on all of your monthly bills? For example, checking out different options for Seattle auto insurance can reveal that you could be saving money by switching from whatever insurance company you’re currently with. The same can also apply to cell phone or internet services, health insurance, and loans. Make sure you’re getting the best deal on the market and not just settling for what you have because it’s what you already know. Shop around and see what your other options might be.
Keep An Eye On Food Waste
The average person wastes over $500 in food every year. Not a pretty number, right? Fortunately, you can save those dollars easily by planning out your meals in advance. You don’t need to stick to it to the letter, but just having an outline of what you’ll be eating every week will help you drastically reduce the amount of food you waste every month.
Related to this, try to limit the number of times you eat out during the month, too. Buying groceries and preparing meals in advance will help you save time and money later in the week and keep you from making unhealthy decisions, like stocking up on the pizza in the break room or making meals out of the vending machines in your office hall.
In the end, the only changes you need to make in order to start saving money and cutting back on expenses are small ones. Give a few of these a try and if they work out, try incorporating more. Before you know it, you’ll be saving more money than you ever thought you would by doing such tiny things.
