Are you among hundreds of thousands of Americans living paycheck to paycheck monthly?
The best way to fix this is to ultimately cut back on expenses you have to pay in the first place.
While other options include getting a part-time job, side hustle, or clocking in extra hours at work, you should always start by looking at where the money you are currently making is going.
Once you have all your expenses identified and plotted out, you can begin to look for opportunities to save big.
Moreover, these savings can, in turn, be applied directly to any debt you have and help you seek the financial health and freedom you desire.
Read on to discover how to reduce expenses in a short period with a bit of effort and a lot of commitment.
How to Reduce Expenses
Cutting down on what you pay month in and month out will stop you from spending money on things that do not matter to you in the first place or something you can live without.
It will take brutal honesty with yourself and anyone you share expenses with, but you will be more fiscally mindful and responsible at the end of the day.
Here are ten ways you can drastically cut your expenses.
Sell Your Car
While this may seem dramatic initially if you have cars to sell, go ahead and sell them. It is a legitimate option for almost any life situation.
If public transit is a feasible option in your town, begin to explore it. Try to get to work and other places you regularly go without a car for a week. If it is manageable, sell the vehicle.
You will save on gas and car insurance, registration fees, and vehicle maintenance.
Choose to Eat at Home
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to save money is spending hundreds each month eating out.
The average meal out will cost you $12.75 a pop, and the typical American spends $232 a month eating out.
If every meal at home costs a very reasonable amount of $4, you will save yourself $8.75 each and every time you choose to eat what you cook.
Moreover, you can even try to make meals cheaper than that, coupon, buy in bulk, and cook to save even more on food expenses.
Don’t forget to shop for the best grocery store based on what you prefer to eat, as this can also be a great way to cut expenses.
Find a Roommate
If your rent or mortgage is the most expensive bill, as it is for most, you might want to consider getting a roommate to cut that expense in half.
While it might not seem desirable initially, think about the hundreds you could save by renting out that extra room.
Buy Used Everything
While saving money and becoming more financially responsible, you should shift your mentality away from always buying new.
Choosing used items as much as possible will single-handedly change your life.
From furniture to clothes, thrift stores and peer-to-peer platforms make it easy to find the exact items you are looking for at a fraction of the price. Therefore, avoid buying new at all costs and save big time.
Sell Unused Items
Are there things just sitting around your home that go unused and neglected?
Why not sell them and earn some cash for items you don’t need? Make a day out of clearing your home of anything you don’t need, post it all online, and wait for the offers to come.
Cancel All Subscriptions
Like most people, you probably have more subscriptions than you’d like to admit.
Chances are, you don’t need all of them. So, make a list of anything that is an optional subscription, from music services to streaming, to gym memberships, and cancel everything you could live without or couldn’t find another way to get.
If it’s something a little more complicated, like a timeshare, and you’re not sure how to get out of it without incurring future fees, use the services of timeshare exit companies to exit safely.
Downsize Your Space
The place you live could be out of your means, whether the location, size, or features.
If this is the case, consider if you’d be better off downsizing to a more affordable option. For example, if you only need two bedrooms, there isn’t any reason you need to rent a three-bedroom place.
Even if you only shave off $200 a month, that saves you $2,400 a year. This could put a severe dent in almost any debt you have.
Consolidate Debt
Speaking of debt, one way to cut down on your expenses is to consolidate what you owe into one personal loan.
This way, you can pay one low-interest payment rather than having multiple credit accounts that you attempt to manage simultaneously. Consider borrowing options without a credit check if you find it difficult to get a personal loan.
You can also set it up to automatically deduct the payment from your bank account and build your credit score higher this way. Check out this page for more information about debt consolidation loans, even with bad credit.
Have Fun for Free
Entertainment can cost hundreds of dollars each month if you let this expense run amuck.
Therefore, make an effort to decrease the cost of having fun by choosing to invite friends instead of inviting them out and by implementing a “no-spend” weekend or day every so often.
This will force you to get creative with more affordable options and free events, in which there is plenty to enjoy in almost any city.
Learn to Do-It-Yourself
Are you guilty of outsourcing tasks to others to save yourself time? If you want to cut down on expenses, you will likely have to learn how to do things yourself.
Whether it be cleaning, crafting, or scratch cooking, doing as much as possible with your hands is single-handedly the best way to save money.
Decrease Expenses and Increase the Quality of Your Life
While you decide how to reduce expenses, the journey towards money mindfulness can be long and arduous, but it doesn’t have to be painful.
Try to begin by writing down any expenses you can think of, and force yourself to be as brutally honest about what you need as you can be.
Needing some consolidation and advice to get your family through tough times? Here is a blog post on dealing with these emotionally and physically draining moments of life.
