Previous Post: How Much Emergency Fund Is Too Much Emergency Fund?
Next Post: Pets and Money
Trimming The Fat: Forty Ways To Reduce Your Monthly Required Spending 80comments
One of the biggest challenges in personal finance is figuring out ways to reduce the regular bills that we all face each month. These continuous regular expenses simply fill up our budget, leaving us less money to invest for the future - and also less money to spend on things that we enjoy.
The best approach for trimming required spending is to simply walk through all of the required expenses and look for ways to lower that number. Here are forty techniques you can use to do just that, divided up into several sensible categories.
Automobile
Automobiles are money pits - they constantly go down in value, devour fuel by the gallon, and often require all manner of repairs and maintenance work. How can we reduce the cost of automobiles in our monthly budget?
Use public transportation If you have an option that enables you to ride to regular destinations (such as work, the store, or a shopping center) instead of using your automobile, you can save quite a bit of money on gas and maintenance by just dropping a few coins on the bus or the rail system and leaving the car at home (or parking it at a station). In fact, during my earlier days, I exclusively used public transportation and it was painful to add an automobile to my monthly finances.
Sell an automobile If an automobile is sitting in your driveway or garage and isn’t used, consider selling it. If nothing else, the insurance expense will go away, and if you can use the money from the sale to pay it off or, better yet, pocket some of the money, even better.
Carpool If you have an opportunity to share a ride to and from work with someone else, that not only significantly reduces wear and tear on your car and gas expenses, it enables you to use any carpooling lanes on the commute, which almost always save time when commuting and allows you to drive at a speed that .
Keep the tires on your automobiles inflated properly Once a month, stop by a local gas station that offers free air and check the air pressure in your car tires, then fill each one to the maximum recommended amount as stated in your manual. This improves gas mileage by one percent for every two PSI of air you are able to add to your tires.
Debt Reduction
Any opportunity you have to reduce your debt will obviously help in your monthly payments, but many people don’t have the cash available to eliminate debt. There are other options for reducing your monthly debt load, however…
Refinance your home and/or automobile Contact some lending institutions and inquire about rates. You might be able to get into a situation that reduces your monthly debt payments without significantly increasing your overall cost in the long term.
Consolidate your student loans Don’t hold out for a hope of better rates to consolidate your loans, especially if your current rates are quite high. Spend the time to find a good loan consolidation option and it will pay off every single month.
Get a small personal loan through your local credit union This is a great option if you’ve borrowed money to make a smaller purchase, such as furniture or a small home improvement project, and you’re finding the interest rates uncomfortable. The perfect place to look for a helping hand here is your local credit union, which will often offer small personal loans at a nice rate if your credit is solid.
Request a credit card rate reduction If you’ve got a decent amount on your credit card, call up your credit card company and request a rate reduction. If they won’t go for it, get a 0% balance transfer onto another card. The key here, though, is to stop buying on credit until your financial situation is healthy.
Sign up for automatic debt repayment plans Many installment plans, particularly those with student loans, offer an interest rate reduction if you sign up for an automatic plan. You should never pass these up - not only do they save money automatically each month, they’re also incredibly convenient. If you have any installment payments (particularly student loan debt), see if such an offer is available to you.
Sell unused items Dig through your closet and look for items that you no longer use that may have value, then use that cash directly to eliminate debts, thus reducing your monthly debt load. I did this myself with a number of items when my debt load became almost unmanageable.
Energy
We all face a continual onslaught of energy costs, especially as we use more and more electronic devices. Luckily, technology has brought us a few effective ways to reduce costs as well.
Install CFLs Compact fluorescent light bulbs are receiving a big push right now and their advantages are great: a longer lifespan and significantly less electrical usage. Stick with the name brands for now, even at a premium - my entire house switched to GE CFLs more than a year ago and I have yet to replace a single one. A tip: when comparing bulbs, use the lumens number to compare bulbs, not the equivalent wattages - the lumens indicate the actual amount of light emitted by the bulb. Remember also that under normal usage (4 hours a day) and normal electrical rates ($0.10 per kilowatt hour), replacing a 75 watt bulb with a 20 watt CFL saves $0.66 per month. Multiply that by all the bulbs in your house to see how much you’ll save every month.
Install a programmable thermostat A programmable thermostat allows you to automatically alter the heating and cooling of your home when you’re not at home, when you’re asleep, and so on, saving significantly on your heating and cooling bills.
Unplug all unused electrical devices Are there any electrical devices around the house that stay plugged in, but that you rarely use? Most electric devices use a small amount of electricity constantly, a phantom charge. To eliminate that usage, unplug the items.
Utilize timers and power strips Along those lines, consider utilizing power strips and power timers to turn electrical devices on and off. A power strip with a switch on it, when turned off, blocks the phantom charge on those devices; a timer can automatically turn off the charge going to a power strip (or anything plugged into it) at a certain time each night. This is a great way to eliminate phantom charge on your home electronic equipment at night.
Install a blanket for your hot water heater and reduce the temperature In many homes, the hot water heater is a major energy drain; the water is kept hotter than most people ever use, plus the heat is constantly lost to the environment, meaning you have to burn more energy than ever to keep the water so hot. Solve both problems by dropping the temperature down to 125-130 degrees Fahrenheit (around 60 degress Celsius) and also installing a blanket on your water heater to keep in the heat - a blanket can pay for itself in about a year.
Air seal your home Air sealing your home can prevent drafts, which can often cause the loss of cool air in the summer and the loss of warm air in the winter, both of which can increase your housing costs. Here’s a great guide to this weekend project from the EERE.
Entertainment
Many people look at entertainment as the first thing to cut when trying to trim costs, but they often forget to look at the regular expenditures that slowly eat away at your financial foundation month in and month out. Here are some things to consider that you may have overlooked before.
Cancel club memberships Look at things like a health club, a country club, and so on. How often do you really use these services? If you’re using a gym membership less than once a week or a country club membership less than once a month, you’re likely throwing away money.
Reduce or eliminate your cable bill For many people, this advice is beyond the pale, but it’s worth looking at. Perhaps you could trim back on your premium channel selection and just go with basic cable, or perhaps you could even eliminate your cable bill entirely - it will also help with electricity costs because you won’t be watching television as much and you’ll suddenly find you have much more free time.
Look for inexpensive entertainment options Do you utilize the local library? Do you attend local community events like municipal band concerts and so on? Are you aware of local volunteer groups and organizations? Your community often offers many options for inexpensive or free entertainment of all kinds - you don’t have to have a big entertainment budget each month.
Strongly reduce or eliminate travel We live very far from our extended families, so we are aware of the costs of travel. We’ve found that by being selective about what we travel to - and also open to inviting people to visiting us - we signifcantly cut down on travel expenses.
Cancel newspaper and magazine subscriptions If you get a magazine or newspaper in the mail but simply don’t read it, cancel that subscription when it comes up for renewal, no matter how much you “like” the magazine. An unread subscription is nothing more than expensive clutter.
Look at and consider reducing/eliminating other regular paid services Look at services like Netflix - are you really getting $19.95 a month out of these services? If not, just drop the service and look for other options, like a local rental store. What about satellite radio? If you use that but find yourself not using it or just sticking with the same things you listen to on regular radio (like NPR or top forty), then cancel the service.
Food
My favorite room in the house is the kitchen, but for many people it just seems more convenient to eat out, even though it’s incredibly expensive and not as much of a time saver as you might think. Consider these options.
Cook (and pack) your own meals at home When you cook at home, make plenty so that you can freeze some of it for future meals and, even better, take some of it as leftovers to work, drastically reducing the cost of the typical workplace lunch. Some people may shy away from leftovers, but there are some secrets to making any leftovers as good as the original.
Reduce or eliminate eating out or getting take-out Take-out and dining out can be a huge timesaver for a busy family, but the expense can be tremendous - and it often doesn’t save much time, either. Instead, look at other options for dining at home: prepare lots of meals at once and freeze them for easy cooking later, focus on simple recipes, and choose recipes that utilize the fresh produce in season in your area.
Buy nonperishable items in bulk Many people never even bother to look at some of the larger packages of nonperishable items - they think it’s just too much. Try looking at the cost per unit of all of the sizes and choose the one that’s the best deal; often, it is the big bulky package, but that just means you won’t be buying it again for a long time. Spread out over months and over a lot of items (think of all of the nonperishables in your home - food is just the beginning), this can add up to a lot of trimmed fat.
Start a garden Vegetable gardening is a splendid hobby that can often turn a profit if done well. Focus on vegetables that are easy to grow and produce abundant fruit, like tomatoes, and learn how to store the excess through such processes as canning. Opening up a jar of tomatoes in the winter that were grown by you in the summer and canned in the fall is a wonderful experience - and it can really help with trimming the food bill.
Buy generic Many products (not just food) are available in a store-brand or generic form for significantly less money - quite often with the name brand, you’re paying for their advertising budget with the higher cost. Look carefully at the ingredients in generic and name-brand products and if they’re the same, go with the generic one on a regular basis, which will consistently trim money from your shopping bill.
Insurance
We all have insurance to protect against the unexpected, but when we overpay for insurance, we leave ourselves vulnerable in a different way by stretching our budget too thin. Look into these options for ways to reduce your insurance premiums.
Downgrade your health insurance Ask at work about the various options available to you that might reduce your insurance costs, and don’t neglect to look into family options if you have children - if you do, all working members of the household should look at family coverage.
Shop for homeowner and auto insurance If you haven’t shopped around for homeowner and auto insurance lately, now’s a good time to get a few quotes, especially if your credit is strong. If you can save a substantial amount and maintain your current coverage, it’s well worth switching to another provider, but give your current one a chance to match.
Switch to term life insurance If you’re paying for whole life insurance or universal life insurance, look strongly at a term package instead. The cost per year will be significantly cheaper and at the end of the term, your life insurance needs will likely be far less than they are right now.
Raise your deductibles If you’re paying a large premium in order to have a small deductible, you might want to consider switching that, particularly if your claims are infrequent. Raising your deductible can often significantly reduce your annual premiums, easing the monthly strain on your bills.
Other
There are many other areas of your budget that can also afford a bit of fat trimmed from them. Let’s look at a few more possibilities for lowering your regular expenses.
Reduce or eliminate your cell phone bill Ask yourself how much you really use your cell phone; if it’s not all that much, look at perhaps getting a prepaid phone with a small number of minutes on it for those emergency situations when you actually use it. If you do use it a lot, look at the features you’re paying for on your bill and see if you can trim any of those.
Move to a less-expensive child care option We pay a significant amount for our child care, but there are other good options available to us. Look at other child care options in your area carefully and see if it might not be worth moving to a less expensive scenario. If you’re lucky enough to live near grandparents, they might be able to assist with part-time child care as an opportunity to bond with their grandchildren.
Reduce or eliminate organized child activities My own children aren’t old enough yet to be in organized activities with costs, but my nieces and nephews certainly are and the bills can really add up. Look for activities that your child is sincerely interested in (if you don’t know, ask them what they really like) and focus on those while cutting back on the rest.
Eliminate services (housecleaning, landscaping, etc.) If you hire out household services to others, consider trimming back or eliminating them. Instead, put aside some time each week to do them yourself - not only will you save money, but you’ll find that many activities can get the whole family involved (like housecleaning).
Reduce (temporarily) your giving at church/synagogue/etc. If your budget is bursting at the seams, consider cutting back on your giving at your religious service. If this spiritually troubles you, talk to the leader of your religious group about the issue - they’ll usually be very supportive of this if you need some time to get your own house in order.
Strongly reduce or eliminate clothes shopping I have a close friend who insists on having a significant monthly clothes budget. I challenged her to trim her spending in half and instead focus more on looking for bargains - and she’s never looked back. If you need to dress well for work, don’t let that slide, but putting in some effort to look for a bargain can often pay huge dividends. Even better - have a moratorium on shopping for new clothes until you really need something new.
Reduce grooming expenses Instead of having your hair cut and styled weekly, cut back to every other week. If you have your nails done twice a month, cut back to monthly, or have manicure parties where you do it at home with your friends instead. If you buy expensive shampoos, look at lower cost options. It doesn’t have to cost a truckload to keep up appearances.
Reduce or eliminate consumable habits (smoking, alcohol, etc.) Any consumable habit, whether it be smoking or excessive drinking, can be a constant drain on a budget without any real benefit. Give the habit a kick in the pants and your wallet will breathe a serious sigh of relief.
Move to a less expensive area Many people leave this option out when looking at trimming their budget, but if you can find work in another area, it may be worth considering. Look around at other areas of the country where you can find employment, see what your salary would be there, and look at the housing costs. Quite often, you’ll find yourself significantly ahead by looking at areas like Minneapolis rather than areas like San Francisco, even at a significantly lower salary.
Using even a few of these options can really open up some breathing room in a budget, enabling you to break free of debt and chase your dreams.
Comments
Leave a reply
With the insurance downgrades, don’t forget to adjust the emergency fund accordingly. If you drop your home to 1k deductible and your car to 500 then you should probably sock away a few more $$ into the emergency fund.
Getting rid of things is also a great place to start. Clearing clutter from our lives almost always improves the quality of the environment around us. Sell it, give it to charity, throw it out… doesn’t matter, just cut down on the clutter. It’s amazing.
Even if you are using both vehicles… do you NEED two cars? I asked myself that last year and ended up selling my car and walking to work.
In other words, become an Amish
The original version of this article had a mention of pet issues that nearly derailed this discussion and was resulting in some name-calling and other unnecessary things. I have removed the material about pets and will post about it separately in the near future.
Trent,
I don’t want to be difficult or discouraging. But in previous posts you’ve talked about how you’d like to become a full-time blogger. My question is this: are you really contributing that much unique material? This post, for example, reads like a compendium of something I’ve seen from almost every personal finance blogger out there. Just something to think about. I think the market may be saturated.
I agree, but what makes Trent’s writing different and unique is that he often uses his current situation (both in regards to life and finances) to justify each article.
Heather, some of my readers request compendiums of tips that they can print out for use offline, so I try to provide these on occasion. That’s exactly what this article is - they might not be the most creative and unique, but they do fill a need for some readers.
I like the idea of CFL bulbs, but almost all of the most-used fixtures in my house have the smaller candelabra base. Does anyone make CFL bulbs in this size?
Good list. And the cable doesn’t have to be all or nothing - we are basic only, but subscribe to certain extra channels only during baseball season, and some people get others only for e.g. The Sopranos, but thru inertia don’t cancel after it.
It’s also worth noting that some of these items have benefits beyond the financial - getting your arse out of your car brings you in contact with more people, allows you to see your city at street level and includes exercise and reading - two of my favourite things! Growing vegetables is a nice (and addictive) hobby which is one of the few things we may do which is by necessity slow paced - you can’t rush those tomatoes to grow.
I agree with Trent that automobiles are money pits. Having gone through at least 5 cars in 10 some years, I can wholeheartly attest to that.
One thing to ease the burden of car expenses is to buy a reliable, used car. Trent and I share the same belief that Consumer Reports provide great feedback. They have a particular section on buying used cars. This section is based on subscribers’ feedback. This helps you to know at least a million other auto owners have experienced a certain vehicle you are looking at.
You know, I really hate that most of the cities that have good public transportation are so expensive.It seems like six of one and a half dozen of the other.
The manufacturing guys over at Evolving Excellence also commented on home clutter this weekend.
http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2007/06/less-storage-sp.html
Ken
“Instead of having your hair cut and styled weekly, cut back to every other week.”
Was this just an example or are there really people you know that have their hair cut and styled every week? Even so, cutting back to every other still seems like a lot to me!
I wish we could sell one of our vehicles, but I work in town, and my husband works all the way in Nashville, perhaps it will work when we move to Nashville someday….BTW my netflix only costs me $17 a month, and I can get about 4 dvds a week, so about 16 dvds a month. Rental places normally charge about $4 a movie plus tax, so for the same money you can only get about 4 dvd at the rental store, versus 16 at netflix for the same price. Just something to think about.
Re: considering where you live - very true. However even if you do live in a crazy expensive area, look at exactly where you live.
I moved to the Bay Area a year ago, and chose to live in the East Bay rather than in the city proper. My rent is literally at least half what it would be for the same apartment with parking in the city. Also, my commute is just over 3 miles.
I moved from a far-less-expensive area, pay a bit more in rent, but drive less in a week than I did in a day.
Here’s a really outside the box suggestion for car expenses: I have a friend in Toronto who has a car, and she’s worked out a car-share situation with a trusted coworker who rents the car from her on a scheduled basis.
She’s cleared it with her insurance company, and they have a written agreement that covers gas, damages, etc. He pays her a couple hundred dollars per month, which greatly offsets her auto expenses.
Obviously this would only work in a few select cases, but it’s a pretty interesting idea. I’ve considered doing it myself with a trusted coworker, but I’m not quite ready to bring it up. (I guess I’d rather trim money in other ways.)
There are also companies that facilitate carshare, if you only use one once in a while.
I do most of my clothes shopping at thrift/consigment stores, and yard sales….you can find name brand designer items in great condition at a fraction of the cost! I can’t recall the last time I bought something at the mall.
My daughter just started her first pro job out of college and she has to drive 50 miles back and forth to work. She’s living in the small to medium size Kansas towns. The gas it will take to get her there and back, ouch!!
I”m not with you on the public transportation issue. It would cost $9.60 for me to take my two children downtown if we used our city’s public transportation. We would also take at least 2 1/2 times as long to get there and back, and be walking to bus stops in some intense heat.
Improving public transportation throughout the country would save everyone money and resources, and do a world of good for our environment.
What about rent or mortgages. These absurd social conventions are utterly inhumane. Why the heck should people have to pay a monthly fee to live on the surface of the earth? The only justification seems to be that some people are born with less money than others and so they are thus born with the right to lord over the underclasses. What kind of a society justifies such a savage practice?
And why be such a pussy. Why not advotate P2P for entertainment? It’s not stealing to freely share data. There is no reasonable basis for copyright law as it exists now. It’s another form of tyranny. Simply because the idea made sense two hundred years ago is not a moral justification for maintaining an information underclass in an age where reproduction costs have fallen to nearly zero. Take a stand for your rights instead of begging from crumbs.
I like your general thoughts here, and Lord knows I could save alot by preparing a few more meals at home… however, I’ve started to look at this in a bit more detail lately and in many cases its not as much of cost-saver as one might think. Certainly, it depends on WHERE you would go out for food and WHAT you would prepare at home. You can’t compare eating out at McDonald’s to cooking top-notch steaks at home. Of course the latter would be more expensive.
That all said, in some cases I’ll take the convenience of spending 5-10 minutes to pick up dinner from Panera Bread for $15 (my wife and myself) rather than spending $10 to make those same sandwhiches at home (when you price out deli meat, produce, bread, chips, etc.). I’m not arguing over pennies here - but just saying that as grocery store prices have increased and as at least in my area there are alot of places that are friendly for a quick bit or carry out (like a Qdoba, Noodles & Company, Panera Bread, etc… i.e. better than fast food but cheaper than a true restaurant), well the difference isn’t real big. Plus who wants to wash dishes??? Gotta factor in that cost too :)
Is there some problem with the comments? I’ve tried to leave a comment on this post on 3 different occasions yesterday and for some reason it’s not showing up. It worked a couple of others, so I don’t think it’s the site in general…
Okay, now it’s working. :) Anyway, I was curious as to why you have not mentioned food coops. They are a great way of conveniently getting low-cost healthy food at a fraction of the cost. They’re even cheaper than farmer’s markets and are one of the best ways of ensuring you’re eating food grown locally. There are lots of food coops out there - if you’re not sure if your community has one, you can check at http://www.coopdirectory.org.
@Joy: I agree - the only ones I know who had their hair cut and styled weekly were the little old ladies in their 80’s who headed for the beautician on a weekly basis. And even most of those have more contemporary haircuts now. Most women with short hair tend to go about every 5-6 weeks and women with longer hair even longer. I don’t even know of any guys who would go once a week.
For Joy and Mardee~ Guys who get their hair cut weekly or bi-weekly? Military. Regulations state they have to have certain hair lengths/cuts/etc… some of which DO require bi-weekly, if not weekly, touch ups. In my area, @ about $10 a cut, that really adds up for my husband. What we did was invest in a $25 pair of hair clippers and I am learning how to give a ‘high and tight’. Anytime I mess up, I just shave his head bald. So far I estimate we have saved about $75 on haircuts.
David, Phillips has come out with CFL bulbs that have the smaller candelabra base, but also have an adapter to the normal base. The ones I saw were small round shaped. (I saw them at Lowes, but you should be able to find them at other places too.)
Many larger cities have a car-share co-operative program. I’ve joined the one in my city. It costs $10 per month plus you pay an hourly (about $2) and per km (about 30 cents) fee. This helps me ensure I use it as infrequently as possible. Plus insurance and gas is included in the monthly fee and rates so there’s no need to pay extra for those.
The car-share program I’ve joined, at least, also lets you chose from a selection of cars. I’ve rented a pickup truck for half a day to help a friend move. I would have never chosen to buy such a large vehicle for myself, but it’s nice to have access to one occasionally.
I’d like to make a plug for moving closer to your workplace if you can afford to do so — or, alternatively, move to a workplace closer to home. It not only saves money on gas and car maintenance, but if you’re driving, it reduces your carbon footprint. It also means you may be able to bike to work, weather permitting. I turned into a bicycle commuter when I moved to my current town, and I love it.
I think it’s important, too, when buying food that you know what you’re getting, and that you don’t just buy the cheapest stuff. To me, food is not the place to cut corners. I try to buy local and organic when possible. I find great deals at the farmer’s market year-round, and since I live in such a rich agricultural wonderland, I can get a lot of foods locally. (Having lived in Iowa, I know that isn’t easy where you live.)
I just canceled my cable entirely and got a subscription to Blockbuster online instead. I don’t really follow tv shows, but I do want something to watch on occasion. The Blockbuster costs me $10 a month for unlimited movies, while the cable was $50. I also downgraded to a slower internet connection, so I’ll be saving a total of $70 per month. Plus I don’t go to the store to rent movies because it’s never convenient, and this way I can catch up on all the good movies I missed over the past year!
A while ago I also downgraded my cell phone plan to save about $50 per month.
We did the cell phone reduction in reverse: we kept the phones and dropped the landline. We need our cells and it was cheaper to add another phone for my daughter and ditch the copper cable.
Try it out for a month. Let your answering machine answer any incoming calls. Return them on your cell. Don’t make ANY calls on your landline. If you get through a month without problems, drop the land line.
For the last 10 years, I had absolutely refused to get a cell phone. I felt that the price was not worth the product. That all changed last year when I bumped into Sprint’s SERO plan (sprint.com/sero). If you want to do a little digging, and be extra careful to make sure you know what you are doing, you can even hook up certain phones to your laptop and get unlimited net usage! Hands down, the best (and only real) cell phone deal I have come across.
PLEASE do NOT use fluorescent bulbs! They have very toxic mercury in them. As an environmental engineer, I assure you that once in landfills, it is next to impossible to keep mercury from entering water supplies and eventually, through the food chain, ending up in people. Maybe your children won’t be poisoned, but your grandchildren may be.
Please, if you insist on using CFL bulbs, get educated and find a safe way to dispose of them. If you read the CLF bulb packaging, you will see the warning right there in black & white. Of course, the manufacturers don’t tell you HOW to safely dispose of them, they just tell you not to dispose of them via the garbage truck.
Remember, mercury is incredibly toxic - to both people and animals. Please consider other ways of saving money and energy. Don’t use these highly toxic bulbs!
Great ideas. But don’t be afraid to take it a bit further if serious about cutting back as much as possible, it’s an adventure. And who are we all trying to impress, anyway??:
1. Learn to cut your own and/or your loved ones’ hair if you’re blowing a lot at the hairdresser’s. Switch to a simpler style, quit the color and perming for a change. It ain’t all that hard to master basic trims. Check out the library for great picture books and study them. Buy the books on amazon if you really like them, they’re cheap.
2. Cut the cable completely. You truly probably won’t miss it all that much. I did it years ago and don’t miss it at all. PBS and the local channels are plenty good enough. I reserve movies at the library. Free is wonderful. They may not be first run, but hey, any movie I haven’t seen is new to me. Besides, most of the newer I watch make me glad I am seeing them for free. The internet is far more interesting to me these days than TV.
3. Wean yourself from eating out, seriously. Again, it ain’t all that hard or time consuming to learn to cook a decent meal. It is possible to cut out the fast food also and not miss it.
I need the cell to meet up with friends on the fly; it was cheaper to drop the landline and get a cell plan with 100 free minutes, and free calls after 6pm and weekends. I’m at work 9 to 5 anyway and I let the calls go to VM and either return the call from work or later from home. It’s a corporate plan that the salesperson helped me get (since I work for an eligible company).
I notice no one ever mentions that instead of paying for a cable package, just get dsl internet or some other broadband internet and you can download tv shows and movies. itunes has a large selection and it only costs 1 dollar to download a tv show and then you only pay for what you watch. The other option is to just buy the dvd sets when they come out. In the long run it’s still cheaper than paying for those cable packages.
My husband and I pay about 40 dollars a month for our dsl and it’s also our cable tv because we download our tv shows and movies. We don’t even own a tv, instead we got a projector because we wanted a 67 inch screen but didn’t want to pay 2k for it. Also we don’t leave the projector on just for background noise so it cuts our energy costs.
Turning off computers during the day while you’re at work also helps cut expenses.
I don’t doubt your authenticity about this and I really agreed with many of your money saving tips but your reduce religious giving tip really put a kink in my hose.
I agree about the religous giving, I think a lot of people tend to give above the tithe. Some of the guilt giving just because someone says there is a need isn’t always needed. YOu don’t have to give everytime or as much EVERY time the plate is passed.
Excellent suggestions overall, but is it sensible to advocate giving up your health club membership? You regularly advocate other health practices that result in money saving, such as getting enough sleep, eating good homecooked food, and staying clean, and I would argue that a gym (doesn’t have to be high priced or fancy!) or YMCA membership should be considered a necessary expense, especially considering the widespread obesity epidemic our country faces. I have scaled my budget back considerably by making other small life changes, but I’m not willing to trade my toned abs, strong heart, and fit way of life for the opportunity to save the money from my gym membership. I do pay a little more to have access to a gym around the block from me, but the knowledge that the gym is TOO close to talk myself out of going too, and that I am spending a fair chunk of my budget on it every month, keeps me disciplined. Also, while I love to run outside, unfortunately in NYC (as with many American cities), the amount of days available to work out outside comfortably are limited by weather and climate. Additionally, doing away with your gym makes it harder to reap the benefits of cross training and weight lifting. keep in mind that many gyms have student/senior/family/corporate discounts as well.
I think when people suggest giving up the gym membership they are speaking to people like me who go sporadically or not at all and still pay every month just in case..
Ive been following a lot of suggestions from simple dollar and other debt reduction sights and there has been an amazing revelation: when I don’t spend money, I have some! And I’m beginning, however haltingly, to put it on my debt. thanks for this great sight
haha, move to Minneapolis, rather than San Francisco! Never!
I used to shop around religiously for lower insurance premiums, but in the past two years, where I live, we’ve found that that can come back to bite ya in the fanny. Our homeowners’ insurance rate rose from $600 or so three years ago to nearly $2,000 at our May renewal because of the 2005 hurricanes. I looked into raising my deductible for non-wind/water (hurricane deductible already went from 2% to 3-5% of the insured value). When I asked my current car insuranc company how much to insure my house with them (valued at about $150K), thinking bundled might be cheaper, they told me that IF they were writing new policies in LA, which they aren’t, it would be the staggering sum of $5,666 a year. HUH??!! At the same time, insurers were calling policyholders to encourage them to make changes to their policies, then cancelling them at the next renewal. It seems that when there’s ANY change to a policy, they consider it an entire new policy, so even if you’ve had insurance with the company for 10 years, no claims, it’s considered an all new one, and they can cancel any policy held by them for less than three years. And if they didin’t cancel outright, they dropped people’s wind/hail coverage. New policies don’t even include it. A total racket, yes, but apperntly it’s just this side of legal. I won’t even go into the shafting I took on my measly payout for hurricane damage. Two years later, I’m still trying to finish fixing my house, and it didn’t have a huge amount of damage, less than $10K total, and most of that was roof. And the roof was ALL that got paid for, and not completely. So check your policies closely, and don’t be in too much of a rush to change them! The state insurance of last resort is far more expensive.
explain how to get out of check cashing and try not to go back when they will not work with you is there any way out?
before you lower the deductible on your car insurance, make sure it is worth the savings. i changed my deductible from 500 to 1000 since i just got a brand new fuel efficient car. one month later i pulled out of a parking space, that had those little cement pillars, next to the space, you can not see because they are lower than your windows and did $1250 worth of damage to my car. The BIG savings was $12 a year and now I do not have the money to fix the car.
Is there anyone out there that can give us a training lesson on how to use coupons and hardly pay anything at the cash register?
Good points and tips, no where did I see in your article stating that anyone that posted a message needed to follow these to the tee. These are just tips on ways some people may cut their monthly costs. A guidleine per say. If you want to keep you netflix - keep it! your gym membership - keep it! Find other creative ways in your life to cut costs, or maybe you don’t NEED to cut costs at all, but these are just tips for people who are struggling to meet their bills every month. Not for those of you who can afford to keep these luxuries, as they are NOT necessities. Bottom line is if you are having trouble paying for your monthly bills food and ect. but you NEED to have that gym membership or netflix subscription - then you really need to evaluate your situation a little better. Great tips Trent.
yolanda - try the “Get a small personal loan through your local credit union” idea of using your Credit Union to get you out of the check cashing pit - AND NEVER GO BACK! Check the site http://www.joinacu.com to find one that you would be eligible to join. Good Luck!
I have incorporated many of these suggestions successfully in the past few years and they are all very effective. However, I have to disagree with one: purchasing clothing only when you need it usually means buying clothes “in season” and paying full price. My husband got me in the habit of going to Ross and browsing ONLY CLEARANCE ITEMS for about 20-30 minutes at least biweekly, with no agenda in mind. If I see a fantastic deal ($2-$20) on anything of decent quality, that looks good and fits really well, (in season or not,) I purchase it. I end up buying most items at the end of their respective seasons, but I usually can wear it a few times and then have the items for next year. I find this method saved me more money and hassle than trying to find things I needed right WHEN I needed them. It’s also a lot more enjoyable for people who do not like clothes shopping (me) and do not want to feel pressured to find some long pants or jeans because its suddenly getting cold outside! Using this method, your wardrobe is ever-changing and you spread out your spending throughout the year. I currently spend about $20/month on clothes, shoes and accessories…and I have a lot of each! I’m never in that bind of “nothing to wear”….my last shirt cost me $2.80 and it’s a knock-out! I now look forwrd to the “hunts”, instead of dreading clothes shopping.
Raising your deductables and lowering your insurance coverage could hurt you in the end placing you in an unrecoverable financial position.
how to get money for medical school when your credit is bad
One thing that wasn’t mentioned is going to schools or having students do the work. I get my hair styled at a beauty school which costs me $12 - $28 less than what I would normally pay. If you can communicate effectively with the student and the instructor what you want done, there shouldn’t be any disasters or problems that can’t be fixed. Also, I’ve gotten massages, facials and pedicure for a 3rd of the normal price. I’ve known people who have gotten apprentices (under direct supervision) to do work on their house for a fraction of the cost per hour plus the supplies. They can paint, drywall, put in tiling, carpet and new counters. Or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, take some classes and learn how to do it yourself. The one thing I can’t bring myself to do is getting my car worked on by a student. But, I often do bartering/exchanges for smaller things like oil changes and tune-ups. Single guys appreciate having their laundry done for 2 weeks, baby-sitting or even a home cooked meal.
Does installing a programmable thermostat really save you money if there’s someone at home all the time? For instance, my wife is a stay-at-home mom (or, she will be next month), so we don’t change the temperature during the day. Even if you do set the temperature differently between day and night, don’t you get the same benefit by manually setting the temperature when you wake-up or go to bed? You’d save an additional one-time $50 (for the thermostat) if you can remember to do that. Are there other benefits to a programmable thermostat that I’m just not seeing?
I agree with most of the suggestions, but cut back on travel? Are you kidding me?! Travel is a beautiful thing. Me and my kids travel to the most wonderful, beautiful, culturally rich places. I would never give that up.
I liked this article. I learned a lot. Except, I disagree with cutting back on tithing. We are to tithe 10% of our income. And any pastor who knows anything about the bible knows that. If my pastor said it was ok to stop tithing I would find a new church. God will reward us when we tithe. Try it! Give Him your first fruits and watch Him bless you in ways you never knew were possible: money from relatives, money from companies you weren’t expecting. You’ll get overtime at work, a fantastic pay raise. You will be blessed. Trust me.
You mention cutting back on giving to your church as a way to cut expenses, but seems to me that that would be missing the point of why you give. We are asked to give 10% of our gross income to our church. While Im sure the church would survive without my little bit, I know I need the blessings from being obedient as well as the lessons in sacrifice more than God needs my money. Sometimes our financial priorities are based on higher convictions.
Seniors, residents of subsidized housing, the disabled, the young, single parent families; we are a special ‘group’ with possible different budgets than the ‘average’ person. Possibly our wants are more spontaneous and of shorter term value because of our immediate needs for fulfillment.
I urge readers here to investigate funding from local, state/provincial and federal governments for the funding of sel-sufficiency projects such as urban gardens, affordable housing projects, promoting additional hiring of part-time workers, Smart Growth agendas and innovative public transit.
Cable tv, you are not my babysitter anymore now that I’ve found Google.
Our environment will drastically change in the next five years, don’t let the above group down, support them and they will support you are overflowing with gladness.
cloudyszoo, I’m a serious couponer, so I can give you some of the basics on how to get things very cheaply or free with coupons. Get a Sunday newspaper - several copies, if possible (recycling centers might have them for free later in the week.) Clip the coupons for all the items you use, or that you would use if they were very cheap. Then read all the store sale ads, looking for items on sale that you have coupons for. Contact stores, if needed, to find out if they “double” or “triple” coupons. Then, when you shop, stock up on the items that are deeply discounted. This does require some organization, and changing the way you shop, but it’s definitely worth the time and effort.
Another note along the couponing line: use drug store rebate systems regularly. I know some people thing doing rebates is a hassle, but Rite Aid and Walgreens have rebates you can submit online - no need to mail anything. Read the details about the rebate programs on their websites, and be sure to buy the exact item that’s eligible. (Sometimes it’s only one variety of Crest toothpaste eligible for the rebate, for example.) You can use a coupon to buy the product, so I sometimes make a profit after collecting the rebate. The “free after rebate” items sell out quickly, so it’s best to shop for these on the day the sale begins.
Organized activities for one’s child should be the last place for any one to cut back. Children don’t care if their generic pb and j sandwich was crafted by a mom in generic clothes with flat hair and natural nails.
I think the suggestions are very good in this article, and it’s always good to keep in mind that we all have different prioties in life so some suggestions work better for some of us than for others. No one will use all the suggestions above, but I am always happy if I find one new idea that I might use.
Eliminate travel? I would never deny my kids the experience to see the world to save a buck.
Something I haven’t seen mentioned yet is, keep a close eye on your bank balance. If you get overdrawn even for a few days, that can really take a huge chunk out of your fininces. If you consistently run close to the edge of your bank balance, check your statement at the end of the month and see how much you are paying in bank fees. I can almost guarantee you will be appalled.
Another tip that has been helpful for me - just ASK for discounts. Many vendors will lower your bill/interest rate if you just ask. I was able to get my cable/internet bill lowered by $15/month - for a 1 year period just because I called and said the bill was too high. I’ve gotten a lower interest rate on my credit card bills too. Let them know that if they want to keep your business they need to earn it!
It is always wise to review your personal accounts to see where money can be saved. HOWEVER
exploiting grandparents and compromising on childcare ranks right up there with pure greed.
I would love to ditch the landline, but we live in a place that’s “in the shadows” and we can’t use our cell until we drive 1/2 mile down to the main road. We did side-step the phone companys outrageous charges for long distance by purchasing a phone card from Costco. We’ve had it for years, we can re-charge it over the phone and we haven’t paid long distance for years, just a basic hook-up fee. It costs us 3 cents a minute, anytime. Our phone comapny called us to graciously offer “a real deal” of 12 cents a minute! When we told them our phone card only costs 3 cents a minute, the salesperson actually (I’m not making this up) said “Yes, but do you use it ALL the time?” DUH.
You might want to be careful about the blanketing your hot water tanks. Over the last couple of years increases in efficency in tanks has made it so that blanketing a tank will actually void the warranty. Not such a good idea to save a dollar or two only to cost yourself hundreds if you wreck your tank. You can have your plumber install a heat trap on the hot line next time they change your tank though - that would save some money. Also dial down the hot water tank to a lower setting.
I have to disagree about changing your gift to your religious organization. As a Pastor I know first hand that there are bills that have to be paid for a church to run. Just like your home there are utilities, maintenance and employees. And that does not include supporting missions or the larger church body that in many organizations provides assistance to churches in need, Volunteering is a great alternative to giving, however if everyone cut thier pledges it will be cold a dark come Christmas eve.
I agree with Trent on the tithing subject. I have studied this for a while myself. I grew up in a church where you gave from your heart, not a percentage! After I heard a preacher talking about the 10%, I went to my bible to find the truth. What I found was that this was just one of the examples in the bible of giving. There was also a mention of giving 5%, et cetera. I think that they just took the highest number and told people that that was the magic number. I agree that you should give your “first fruits,” but I do not believe in a certain percentage, and I do not believe that God would want you to make it hard for your family to survive!
An electric clothes dryer pulls about 27 amps,more than my 2 ton a/c.We use a clothes line.Also in the summer,the dryer heats up your house and your a/c works harder.Do not hang your delicates.Sheets,towels,uniforms,jeans,ect.,works great……..
Solar screen on the windows helps in the summer.
Make sure your attic insulation is at least 6-8 inches,up to about 18 inches is good and most of these energy improvements are tax ded.
I disagree with your comment about cutting back on giving to your church. You are reallt crowding God out when you do this. If my pastor told me I could get by without tithing I would question his ability to lead a church. God will bless the 90% that’s left. give it a try, you can’t outgive God
You mention quitting smoking (among other consumable habits) I ran into a website whyquit.org which has great advice for quitting cold turkey.
It’s been over 4 months for me now and I feel great and I’ve saved over $500.00.
Interestingly, in Islam, you have something called “zakat” or giving to charity. It’s something like tithing, only it goes to the poor. You are expected to give 2.5 percent of your assets once a year, and you are exempt if your assets fall below a certain level. As far as I know, there is no requirement to tithe to the mosque you attend. But overall it seems like a very budget-friendly policy and it helps the needy, too.
@bridget: It isn’t necessarily “exploiting” grandparents to ask them to babysit. If they want to do it, it benefits them to have something to do with their days besides sit around watching soaps (my mom does this, so I do not speak flippantly!). It certainly benefits the kids, if your parents are not the abusive or neglectful type. Children need to interact with people from many different age groups, and your parents are a connection to the larger family and to your past and will have lots of great stories to tell the grandkids. Try getting that at a daycare.
Tithing is very important. However, the only “law” regarding how much % to give, is a MAN made law, simply put. It will always be between you and the Lord, with the biggest scriptural requirement being that you are to be a “Cheerful giver”. If you begrudgingly put a $20 in the collection plate, and have to mumble about it-you should’ve kept it in your pocket. It’s better to have put only the $10 you could afford that Sunday. I go to a decent size church with people from all walks of life.
There are those I know who give say $100 a week, and those I know who feel blessed enough to get a ride to church and put one dollar out of the last five they have in the basket. They are truly richer as they gave what little they had from the heart. You don’t see hundreds of churches closing every week due to changes in tithing. The amount one donates ebbs for all, and it seems to balance out from year to year. You give what you can, and when you can’t, may the church have mercy on you if ever you should need to tap into their Love and Needy fund. That is what a church is for. Yes they are a business too, but it is the cornestone of any true church to serve the needs of His people, not to amass fortunes and chastise those who can no longer give generously.
Lets all think before we spend??
Reducing (even temporarily) your church giving is not a good idea. What’s gonna happen is you’re going to notice how much you could be saving and then justify not giving altogether. I’m talking to regular church members, specifically, as opposed to the general public. Instead you should see it as a fixed expense not even worth debating and budget everywhere else (lest we forget from Whom all blessings flow). Even after paying off mortgage, or car payments, for example, there’s always going to be energy, or gas payments as long as you have a house or a car, unless you eliminate the house or the car altogether. So as long this world is in existence, you’re going to need a church, and giving money regularly is one way to keep it going.
Just to add, (see comment #76) giving to a church is about more than just money, it shows your commitment to spiritual things. The real permanent stuff. Life Eternal.
I’m all for supporting your church… but you do know that God doesn’t actually need money, right? I know that most religions would put God’s interest in your heart, not your wallet.
RE: the land line…
I would not recommend getting rid of the land line completely because in a power failure, a corded phone will still work and if you needed to make an emergency phone call and your cell phone battery was drained or you’re in an area with poor reception, you’re out of luck.
“It is always wise to review your personal accounts to see where money can be saved. HOWEVER
exploiting grandparents and compromising on childcare ranks right up there with pure greed.”
Seriously, that’s not what I would call exploiting my parents - nor would I be compromising my children by having my parents watch them! What in the world are you talking about exploiting???
Leave a reply
This last year I switched back to the BCBS HMO plan and save about $90 a month. I haven’t noticed any difference. I did check first that the doctors I use are in the plan. Also, for your cell phone, check if you are eligible for a discount. I qualified as a state employee and verizon gave me a 15% discount on my base plan. I don’t actually work for the state, I work for the school system, but that qualifies me.
Lisa @ 10:06 am June 24th, 2007 (comment #1)