Areas To Cut Back For A Bigger Monthly Savings

Advisor January 10, 2018

There are two things most people find difficult to do: save money and lose weight. Saving money is a challenge because the world keeps on presenting us things that can trigger the consumerist in us. The fact that almost everything has to be paid makes it even harder to save money.

One of the major culprits is the bills that we receive on a monthly and annual basis. This includes phone bills, rents, mortgages, and credit card bills, among other things. Cutting these all off is not the ideal way- we might end up living on the streets just to desperately avoid paying rents. But despite the fact that these are commodities that we need (or so we think), there are still things that we can do to lessen the money we bring out compared to what we bring in.

Assess monetary activities

Assess first where the money goes every month before drafting a personal budget plan

Before making cutbacks, we must first assess the things that we are spending on for the past months. We have to account every penny that leaves our wallets so we can see a clearer picture of what we are doing wrong. Using mobile apps or spreadsheets can be very effective in accounting our expenses. After doing this, it’s time to make decisions on the items that we have to let go. Doing this process can be subjective, it totally depends on the person on which areas to choose. But here are some guides to help those who feel lost making these financial decisions.

Rethink those memberships

Since we just celebrated the New Year, some of us probably signed up again for a gym membership to lose the weight we have gained over the holidays. While keeping in shape is ideal, spending on a gym membership is probably not. There are many alternative ways to be fit without breaking the bank. So how to know when to cut this? When going to the gym is only a twice-a-week routine. It’s not worth paying those bucks for something we barely use.

Try using workout apps to cut the money we give to our corporate gyms

Other memberships we should also consider are magazine subscriptions, country clubs, and streaming apps like Spotify and Tidal.

Save water and electricity

Not only can this help lessen our bills but it can also help the environment. Water and electric bills are the things that we just can cut because let’s face it, that would be like living under the rock. But we can have changes in how we use these commodities. One way to save water is to change leaky pipes and faucets. We can also turn it off when we brush our teeth or shaving since we are not yet using it. On electricity, we have to be more aware of the kilowatt consumption of our gadgets. And we have to be mindful to always unplug chords because shutting the device or equipment down is not enough. Some of the devices still consume a little amount of electricity as long as they are plugged into an electric source.

Eat at home

Meal prepping once a week can help us save money and stay healthy

If we only give a portion of our days in cooking, we can save so much money. Dining out and taking food out is one of the reasons why we can never stick with our food allowance. Doing the groceries at home is the more practical and not to mention, healthier route. Some people use the “I don’t have time to cook” card when they are being confronted by this, but this is not enough reason. Other nutritionists and dietitians encourage people to meal prep once a week and just put it in the fridge. By meal prepping, we can save more time and we can monitor the food that we eat.

Using credit cards

It’s very tempting to shop especially when we have a rough week at work. As much as possible, we want to pamper ourselves since we kind of deserve it. But shopping or going to spas can only add up to the unnecessary things we are spending on. In the end, we work even more hours only to pay the money we owed to banks. Always remember that we should not work only to spoil ourselves but to be financially stable over time.