Are you constantly struggling to reduce your monthly expenses? Well, it’s time to try something different. Use these tips to cut expenses to save money.
The First Step Is Realizing There’s A Problem
Have you ever looked around your home gradually and then suddenly realized numerous items shouldn’t have been purchased?
Yeah, what a buzzkill! Then guilt and buyer’s remorse begin to emotionally drain you until you start making excuses for your purchases.
Common Excuse … Well, I Can Always Have A Garage Sale, No Biggie
Now, while having a garage sale is one way of recuperating lost income, there is no guarantee you will sell anything.
Furthermore, even if you are lucky enough to sell a few items, unfortunately, more than likely you will not recuperate the amount you originally paid.
Garage Sale? Nah! More Like Selling On eBay! Cha-ching!
Well, selling on the likes of eBay, Poshmark, Amazon, or Craigslist is another option, but again there is no guarantee you will sell a thing!
Plus, depending on how many items you have to sell, creating listings can quickly feel like a full-time job and for some people, it is a full-time job.
Therefore, the best solution for this financial problem is to avoid purchasing things you don’t need.
Here are some tips on how to cut expenses to save money instead.
How To Cut Expenses To Save Money
- Track all your purchases
- Return regretful purchases or crappy purchases immediately
- Eat out less
- Go out less
- Find affordable ways to pay for expenses
- Focus and be thankful
- Participate in Savings Challenges
1. Track All Your Purchases
If you are constantly struggling to reduce your monthly expenses, it’s time to try something different.
Thus, for now, forget the Excel spreadsheet or the fancy apps it’s time for a paper and pencil intervention.
So grab a notepad, a notebook or your budget binder, your pencil, ruler, and eraser then begin listing all your purchases made this month so far.
Plus, also remember to track all future expenses for the same month and repeat this process every month.
If you don’t have a notepad, a notebook, or haven’t started your own budget binder, download our expense tracker, budget tracker, and bill tracker from the store to get the ball rolling.
However, after this exercise, you may want to consider keeping your trackers in a binder to keep them neat and organized.
Now you don’t need a new binder. Therefore, if you have one already, use it instead.
Or perhaps maybe an old folder, then use the folder.
Don’t have any of these items? How about an empty drawer or box, especially an empty shoebox?
All in all, as long it keeps your trackers organized, it will do.
How Constantly Tracking Your Expenses Can Help Cut Expenses To Save Money
Overall, by constantly, listing your expenses you will be forced to:
- Really think before purchasing anything
- Be more accountable with your money
- Face the music, because seeing is believing
Moreover, there is nowhere to hide when you are looking at a sheet full of unnecessary purchases you made.
2. Return Regretful Purchases or Crappy Purchases Immediately
So you thought about your purchase and wrote it down, but when you finally received the order, you have buyer’s remorse.
That’s okay! In the beginning, improving your spending habits will be challenging.
On the other hand, it wasn’t an unnecessary purchase – the item was just crappy.
In both scenarios, return the order immediately don’t wait, because unless you have a system to track all your returns, you can easily forget to return the order, leaving you with more stuff you don’t want or need.
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- How To Make A Personal Spending Plan
3. Eat Out Less
It is nice to go out now and then. It is nicer to not worry about what you’re going to cook.
Unfortunately, when you eat out you’re usually paying not only for your food but also for the convenience of not having to make the food.
This will lead to a substantial amount of money leaving your wallet. The solution is to eat out less.
Instead, make a habit of grocery shopping on a budget and cooking your own meals.
Plus, consider using a grocery list to plan your grocery trips to avoid impulse purchases.
Now, for those special occasions, when you eat out, find ways to save money on your restaurant bill.
4. Go Out Less
Going out can be a fun experience, however, you can go out less and still have fun.
Thus, instead of going out every weekend, consider binge-watching your favorite shows, playing board games, inviting friends over, and the list goes on.
Related Post: Fun Friday Activities
5. Find Affordable Ways To Pay Expenses
One of the easiest ways to cut expenses is to find cheaper ways to do or pay for the things you need. For instance:
- DIY when it makes financial sense
- Make full use of coupons and cashback programs like Rakuten and TopCashback
- Get an affordable apartment or an affordable cellphone plan
- Bundle services for discounts whenever possible
- Buy in bulk when it makes financial sense
- Exchange services and goods with family and friends
- Rent instead of buying when it makes financial sense
- Buy used instead of buying new when it makes financial sense
6. Focus and Be Thankful
There is nothing wrong with splurging on yourself from time to time when you can afford it.
Otherwise, focus on reducing your expenses and being thankful for the things you already have.
Overall, the more appreciative you are of the things you already have, the less likely you will be tempted to randomly buy things you don’t need.
7. Participate in Savings Challenges
From time to time, we all have an extra push to help us achieve our goals. Thankfully, challenges do just that.
For instance, a savings challenge is designed to motivate the participant to focus on saving as much money as possible to achieve or surpass their savings goal.
If you want to challenge yourself to develop good saving habits or improve your saving habits, then consider participating in a few savings challenges.
Download: Savings Challenge Sheets
