If you need to trim the budget, here are a few ways to cut your expenses without feeling like you’re sacrificing:
1. Split the cost of a babysitter with friends or neighbors when you want to go out.
2. Buy items in bulk to cut costs. Consider joining a Costco or Sam’s Club. If you don’t need massive amounts of an item but you have friends who might – have them chip in to buy bulk meals, toiletries, batteries, etc., which allows you to divide up the cost while each getting the amount of the item that you actually need and not letting it go to waste.
3. If you like to go out to the neighborhood pub or nightclub, eat BEFORE you go out rather than splurging. Find out what nights your favorite hangouts have special deals.
4. Use your TV to make you fitter, not fatter, and cut expenses at the same time. Instead of the gym, work out at home using exercise tapes from the library or exercise shows on TV.
5. Use online coupon websites to save money.
6. Cheaper groceries: pasta, rice, ramen noodles, potatoes. Meat is expensive; starchier foods are filling and much cheaper.
7. Coffee is cheaper than lattes – about half the price! If you are addicted to coffeeshops, have a small coffee or tea and consider the latte an occasional luxury.
8. Buy used books rather than new.
9. Walk or bicycle everywhere you can to save money on gas.
10. Review your insurance, your phone bill, your cable TV bill, your internet bill, your cell phone bill, and any other bills that you have, to see where you could trim costs. It’s highly likely that you could save as much as a few hundred dollars a month.
11. Ask your credit card company to lower your interest rate if you’ve been paying on time.
12. Consider either quitting the gym or asking that they pause your membership for a few months to save some money. And consider doing the same with your cable bill. Cutting expenses for a few months may allow you to catch up, pay off late bills, set aside an emergency stash, and give you a little breathing room so you’re less stressed about your expenses.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 FinanciallySmartServices // Jul 26, 2009 at 2:02 pm
The different ways you have outlined to trim the budget are very essentials one. Your readers should consider doing them one step at a time. Thank you for those 12 steps.
2 Beth // Jul 28, 2009 at 7:59 am
Sorry, but gypping the babysitter is really classless. If the babysitter watches twice as many kids, she should be paid twice as much. The idea of 4 working able adults dumping twice as much work on a 12 year old kid, but paying her the single kid rate, so they can spend more on dinner out is very offensive to me. Saving money is great, but we can still DO RIGHT.
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