I’m sure everyone can think of a few areas in your life where you can cut back, as far as your finances are concerned. You’ve tried every tactic in the book to try and make extra money, but it’s been a real struggle. You’re not really good with kids, so babysitting is out. Your car is too old and wouldn’t pass an Uber or Lyft inspection. Plus, when you get off from your main job, you’re too tired to even think about leaving there to go to another one!
So now what do you do? Financially, you’re surviving, but just barely. You’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck, so something has got to change, but where do you start? Well, in order to answer that question, you have to think about where your money goes.
Once you’ve figured out where your money goes, you then have to determine if there are any areas where you can reduce your spending, or just completely remove a certain aspect of your lifestyle. To get you started, consider looking into these common areas where most people reduce their spending to save money.
Cook More, Eat Out Less
After a long day at work, it’s so much easier to stop at that Chinese restaurant to grab a to-go order of chicken fried rice, versus stopping at the grocery store. The common denominator that we all face in this area is convenience.
Eating out gives us the convenience of not having to cook, but with that convenience, you better believe that you’ll be paying a premium to enjoy your meal! In fact, the convenience is what costs the most! With the amount that you would spend to order a combo meal at McDonalds or Pizza Hut, you could have several groceries in your home to make several different meals.
Eating out adds up! I’m not saying that you need to cut it out completely, because everyone does have those days where you’re just too tired to cook, but just cut back from it. You’ll have food, have the potential to eat healthier foods, and you’ll soon see that you can make a hamburger way better than McDonald’s… and it won’t cost you nearly as much money!
Ditch Cable for Internet
A lot of people keep their cable because they’re afraid of not being able to see their favorite television shows anymore. What people don’t even realize is that they’re paying for the channels they want, but they’re also paying for channels they never watch as well.
If you got rid of cable for internet, you would not only be able to stream all your favorite shows, but it’s also a lot cheaper! There are applications that you can download to your Amazon Firestick, Fire TV, and Fire TV Cube that will allow you access to the shows you loved on cable, and you can watch them whenever you please.
The thought of it all can be a little daunting, but it’s just one of those things you have to do to be a responsible adult, and it’s better to establish these financial habits early on, but you’ve got to start somewhere!
Stay Home Sometimes
Sometimes you just have to tell your friends that you’re going to stay home a couple weekends out the month… and there’s nothing wrong with that! It can be a little frustrating at first because you’re one who likes to get out and be social, but you have to ask yourself, “Who’s paying your bills?” It’s definitely not your friends.
Staying home will give you the opportunity to get to know yourself better, read up on some recipes for when you start cooking more, explore your new found love of streaming, and most importantly, save your money!
