I wanted to outline some easy ways to save money and spend-less on your everyday life! I'll cover things like debt, living expenses, entertainment, and food.
The most important thing you can do to help yourself is to stay out of bad debt! Bad debt would include anything that you are paying consistent interest. Credit cards, car loan, even school loans! (Just to give you an example, if you buy a $1,000 bedroom set at Target using their credit card. If you only pay the $25/month minimum, your bedroom set would cost you over $3,300 (minus $20 from your 5% red card benefit) and take over 15 years to pay off!) So long story short, don't buy things you don't need or can't afford.
The second way to save money is through your everyday expenses. We waste money all day every day, but sometimes we just don't realize it. Look through all of your monthly bills and evaluate everything:
Gas Bill: Can you turn your water heater down? Can you do your laundry with cold water? You can use your oven more efficiently and cook two meals at once. (A lot of gas is wasted preheating and then potentially electricity wasted to cool down your kitchen).
Electric Bill: Is it cool enough to turn the A/C off? Would your home benefit from a Whole House Fan (balance the initial expense vs energy savings)? Use major appliances at night when energy rates are lower. I know this sounds silly, but unplug devices you don't normally use, they are drawing power too. Do you really need that second refrigerator/freezer? Are all of your Appliances/ Light Bulbs/ TVs/ Window Treatments/etc. energy efficient?
Water Bill: Turn the water off when you aren't using it (i.e. washing dishes, brushing teeth). Run the sprinklers fewer days but for longer. Not only will you reduce your water usage but it will help your grass develop deeper roots. Also, you should check your sprinklers often to ensure you aren't watering the sidewalk. Try to take shorter showers or even turn the water off while lathering.
Car: A great way to save money on your car (other than not paying high interest rates) is to plan your outings. If you run your errands efficiently you might save yourself a trip to the store during the week. Do that for a year and you probably save yourself 250 miles on your car and almost a tank of gas. Another way to save on your car...don't use it! Use free delivery to bring you what you need! Amazon Fresh will bring you almost anything you would buy from your local grocery store (free over $35). Subscribe & Save is another Amazon program that could essentially eliminate your need for Costco (no hot dogs though).
From an entertainment perspective spending-less is pretty easy right now...nothing is open. I'll touch on this subject briefly but right now we are just taking hikes and going swimming. Really though, be smart when you are trying to find entertainment. A night out to the movies for a family of 4 could cost over $200 with dinner, movie, and treats. Hanging out with some friends could cost $50 for Pizza or BBQ and a Movie, Nerf Guns, Video Games, etc.
Lastly I want to touch on food. Food is obviously a necessity, but what we eat, the amounts that we eat, and the price we pay are all subjective. We (me included) eat out way too much. I probably spend over $200/month eating out. Even if I cut that in half that's over $1,000/year! Groceries are cheap in comparison and there are so many amazing one pot type meals out there that can satisfy anybody's taste, their time...and their budget!
Just as an example: Shrimp Scampi (this will feed 6 and there will be extras of everything)
Garlic
Parsley - $0.99
Fettuccini - $1.28
Chili Flakes - $1.99
Butter - $3.74
Shrimp - $8.85
Garlic Bread - $2.34
Total - $19.69/6 = $3.28/person for a beautiful dinner!
This was fairly brief, but hopefully it gives you some insight into changes that you could make to help you save money by spending-less.
Thank you for reading,
Jonathan
PS - Comment at the bottom of the page if you have any questions or suggestions of your own!
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