While you could look to an opinion outpost to give you all of the answers, the truth it it’s up to you to make your own financial decisions and in order to free up extra money each month so that you can build an emergency fund to give you a cushion in case of unexpected expenses, not to mention fund your retirement account so you are prepared when you do finally decide to walk away from work, you need to reduce monthly expenses right now.
Get Rid of Cable
This may be a tough one to swallow, but think about how much TV you actually watch, or better yet, how many channels you actually sit down for, not including flipping around for what is most likely “nothing on” anyways, or a string of commercials. If you can spring for a streaming service for around $10 a month you can still watch quality shows, even getting an HD antenna so you can still get local channels, it’s probably closer to a reality that you can cut the cable cord and go ahead and save yourself at least a hundred dollars a month.
Reduce Going Out to Eat
This may be more difficult than getting rid of cable, is having someone serve, prepare, and clean up after you when you go out to eat. The problem is that the costs add up pretty quickly and feeding yourself, let alone an entire family can just be a waste compared to what it would cost if you just went to the grocery store and prepared your meals at home. Even stopping for coffee can add up over a course of a month so you can even time for your coffee to be brewed by the time you are ready to walk out the door for work in the morning.
Limit Impulse Purchases
Think of when you are at the grocery store without a list, walking up and down each aisle, loading any item into your cart that looks good, especially if you go on an empty stomach, everything looks great, and pretty soon you’re paying through the roof compared to what you had planned, and by the time you get home you wonder why you bought all of these items that now not only hurts your wallet, but also your waistline with all of the junk food purchases that you made.
Boost Your Credit Score
You may not think that credit score has a lot to do with monthly expenses, but think about the bills that are due each month when it comes to the mortgage, any outstanding loans, or interest that you’re paying on a credit card balance that you carry over each month. By improving your credit score, you can take advantage of the best interest rates on the market and lower your monthly payments if you refinance, take out a new loan to pay off the existing, or get a better credit card and cut up the old one, especially if that new card has rewards that you can earn cashback.
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