The truth is that most of us don’t want to stop spending money, we all like to have our toys, but we have to think before we go broke or head into bankruptcy. If you or any other family member or friend needs to stop spending money like it is water flowing from an open faucet, provide them these tips to help alleviate their problem.
Cut Down on Your Monthly Bills
While some bills are necessities and the cost is largely out of our hands, others are not. Monthly bills for things such as internet, phone and cable are flexible, and can usually be matched to your basic needs at a lower cost.
Cut Up Your Credit Cards
Many people are swimming in credit card debt. And if they are only making the minimum monthly payment, they are going to be killed in interest. They will never pay off their debt and instead will just keep adding to it. Do yourself a favor. If you can’t pay for something with cash, then don’t purchase it in the first place. Save one credit card and only use it for emergency purposes. Banks are making obscene amounts of money from people that use their credit cards for everyday purchases.
Eat In Rather Than Spending on Going Out
Going out to dinner can be expensive. If one meal is costing you about $40, think about how much money you can save in a month’s time if you just choose to eat in instead. It may make your date think you are a cheapskate, but they will think even less of you if you are flat broke.
Calculate Your Retirement Before Spending
Nothing will bring you down to earth quicker than figuring out how much money you will have saved up for retirement if you continue with this spending. There is a good chance you will never get to retire if you don’t stop your spending habits now.
Give Yourself an Allowance for Spending
If you have developed the bad habit of spending beyond your means, give yourself an allowance each week like back when you were a kid. Once you are out of your allowance, you are done spending for the week.
Do You Have Handy Friends?
Sometimes you can’t help but spend money when you are hit up with some crisis. If your car needs a bit of emergency fixing, instead of going to a mechanic and paying through the nose, bother a couple of your more handy friends. They might be able to repair your car at just a fraction of the cost.
Save Automatically
You can automatically set up your bank account so it removes a portion of your paycheck every two weeks and saves it away. When it is out of sight, it will be out of mind and you won’t be tempted to spend it.
50/30/20 Budget
This typical budget is an easy one to follow if you are good with sticking to a basic formula. You will spend 50 percent of your paycheck on your needs, 30 percent on your wants, and then 20 percent will go directly into savings.
Watch Movies at Home
A Netflix account or something similar will usually cost you about ten dollars a month. One trip to the movies will cost you more than that when you factor in the price of tickets and the costly concessions. If you need to cut back your spending even further, stop overpaying for cable and just watch your shows online or through a streaming service. You could easily save over a hundred dollars a month if you made this change.
Stick with Spending on Just the Necessities
If you need to save some serious money, stick to just spending on the necessities. This would include housing, utilities, and food. If you need to keep wearing the same pair of shoes even though they may be a bit old, do it and think about the money you are saving. Instead of purchasing the latest magazines and books, visit your local library and it won’t cost you anything at all. Maybe your car is a 2011 model, but as long as it is working fine, then there is no need to spend tens of thousands on the latest vehicle.
These are very simple ways to stop your spending and keep you on a budget so there won’t be a knock on your door someday evicting you from missing your house payments.
Lastly, if you’re looking for a sweet part time gig and you just so happen to love dogs, check out Rover. You can become a dog sitter and make some extra dough while getting to hangout with dogs, how cool is that!
