In this document, you will learn how to drastically cut household expenses. This is really important these days when most people are struggling to make ends meet.https://make-money-with-sam.com/cut-expenses-drastically/
1. How To Drastically Cut Household
Expenses
April 2, 2020
samkadya
If you are living hand to mouth and resorting to loans to fund normal monthly expenses then
you really need to nd ways on how to drastically cut household expenses. This post will try to
suggest various ways you can do that.
Even for those not struggling nancially the suggested ways in this post will also help you to
improve your nancial situation even further.
I know from personal experience the stress that swimming in debt causes.
There have been days I know when I have had to miss loan repayments because my account is
beyond the overdraft limit.
I, therefore, want us to share experiences that I have learned as a quali ed Accountant as well
as in life on the ways to cut out unnecessary expenses in our budgets.
Taking the actions I have listed below will help you to live a happier life, stress-free and be able
to save or invest your excess cash.
I am assuming at this point that we all have family or personal budgets. For those that do not
know how to create a budget, I intend to post something about that soon.
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Understanding Money
A Personal nance blog
2. A budget is a tool that can help you to control and monitor your expenses. Most people that end
up in debt usually have no budget whatsoever.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule for the very rich among us. The very rich among us
can a ord not to have a household budget but they will de nitely have that in their businesses.
At this moment I should also mention that I understand that not all the things I suggest may
apply to everyone. You, therefore, need to pick what suits you best.
Below are some of the actions that you can take to drastically cut your household expenses.
1. Cancel your cable subscription
Canceling your cable bills can save your household at least $1,000 a year. That is a lot of money!
I personally only use my television to watch sports and news most of the time and that leaves at
least 50 channels I rarely use. The money used on cable is de nitely not worth the service I use.
I personally would be better o just going to a pub to watch sports and watch the news
channels for free as most news channels are free anyway.
If you cannot cancel completely then at least downgrade to basic cable. Try it and you won’t
regret it.
There is a lot you can do with a $1000 dollars. I just read somewhere that if you had invested a
$1000 in Amazon stock soon after its IPO they would now be worth over $1.3 million.
How I wish I had invested $1,000 in Amazon then but alas I didn’t.
2. Avoiding Eating Out.
Eating out is very expensive and if we monitored this expense we could discover that for a
medium-size family you could be spending hundreds of dollars a year.
Further eating at home is cheap. Only eat out on very special occasions and you will be
surprised at the amount of money that you will save.
It also means you cut down on time it takes to go out and therefore you have more time to
connect with your family members.
3. Healthy wise it is also better to eat at home as you control the ingredients and can, therefore,
make sure that your meals meet your health needs.
3. Cancel club memberships.
A few months ago I did an audit of my club membership and discovered that I had
subscriptions that I really did not need or rarely used. And yet the Direct debits were still going
through.
If for instance, you have a gym membership you can cancel it and opt for jogging in the morning
or night. Jogging is almost free and provides the same bene ts, to be honest.
You, therefore, need to review all the club memberships that you have and determine if they are
worth it. I would suggest you rst look at your bank statements’ direct debits or standing orders
rst to make sure you don’t miss any memberships.
4. Cancel unnecessary subscriptions.
During a personal nance review recently I discovered that I was spending a lot of money
monthly on subscriptions that I really did not need. They were subscriptions for things like
keyword research etc.
Adding up the unnecessary subscriptions I discovered that I was spending hundreds of dollars
a year for nothing.
I have seen people have magazine subscriptions for magazines they don’t even read.
We cannot a ord to spend money on things we don’t use or need.
4. 5. Buy second-hand stu .
Take some time to go to second-hand shops you will be surprised at the quality of things you
can buy on the cheap there and save a lot of money. You can get quality stu like shoes,
household utensils etc at give away prices.
By buying things from second-hand shops I have managed to buy some quality stu that I could
not have a orded if they were brand new. And the good thing is no one notices that I bought
them second hand.
The money you save by buying second-hand stu can then be used for other important things
like investing or saving for your house.
6. Take your own cooked food for lunch at
work.
If you did an accounting of the money that we spend for lunch when at work and compared it to
the cost of having our own packed lunch you will be shocked at the savings you make by using
packed lunch.
I have an article on this site that talks about the bene ts of bringing lunch to work.
7. Rent out one of your extra rooms.
Just as having an occupied warehouse is an unnecessary cost for a company so is an occupied
room in your house. If you can it is better to try to nd a roommate who will pay you for using
that room.
You will be surprised at the amount of extra money that you will make.
5. You, however, have to be strict on choosing the roommates and you need to set the ground
rules for the kitchen and toilet.
I have lived in a shared apartment before and I know that if you pick people with the same
interests you will not regret it. You will actually have a friend to enjoy life with.
8. Moving to a smaller house.
Sometimes if you have a house that is too big for your family the best option may be to move to
a smaller one. In that way, you will cut down on expenses. If you can’t move then point no. 7 can
apply to your household.
There is good reason to have extra rooms that are never used at all.
9. Keep your credit card at home.
My advice to all people is to avoid debt at all costs. It is easy to forget that credit card expenses
attract interest which in many cases is exorbitant.
Taking a credit card with you when going out can also lead you to buy things that you did not
plan to buy. We will all do well if we avoided impulse buying.
10. Try to save money on food.
In most households, food is one of the biggest monthly expenses. Therefore proper planning
can help in reducing this cost.
There are a few ways you can do this.
6. One of the ways is to plan your meals properly to avoid waste. A lot of food in the west is
wasted. This is an unnecessary expense that can be avoided by proper planning.
The best way to budget is to use your past experience. If you do that you can, for instance, be
able to come with the amount of rice that you really need monthly.
Another way to save on food expenses is to buy non-perishables in bulk especially if they are on
sale.
Here is another piece of advice. Don’t throw away leftovers if possible. Keep them for the next
meal.
You not only save money but the environment as well. Food waste is one of the biggest emitters
of methane, a strong greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) 104 times greater
than CO2 in a 20-year time frame according to Wikipedia
Another way to reduce food costs is to compare prices in various shops and go for the most
cost-e ective ones.
11. Pay o your debts with savings
If you have both savings and debts then you are wasting your money. You are better o paying
o your debt with your savings.
Interest on debts is usually higher than that of the interest earned on savings.
There is no good reason therefore to have savings when in debt as you will lose out over the
long term.
7. 12. Beware of paying minimum credit card
debt repayments
Just making minimum credit card repayment will keep you trapped in debt. Avoid it if you can. If
possible avoid using credit cards altogether. It is too expensive unless you pay o before they
charge you interest.
If you have cash then pay o any credit card debt and avoid the nance charges.
13. Try to buy cheap gas.
Find the cheapest gas stations in your area and buy gas from those stations only. You will be
surprised at the hundreds of dollars you might save a year.
As one supermarket chain in the United Kingdom says in its slogan, “Every little helps”.
14. Reduce your cell phone bill
Most people do not need the expensive cell phone contracts they are trapped in. There are
ways you can follow to reduce your cell phone bills.
One way is to keep your mobile phone longer. You do not need to upgrade your phone at the
end of your phone contract.
Don’t be fooled with all the adverts talking about the latest phones. I am still using a Samsung
S7 and I have nothing to complain about.
When your cell phone contract ends you are better o looking at your mobile phone usage over
that period and search for cheaper alternatives.
Most of us will do well with rolling monthly contracts that maybe even cheaper than these
contracts we are trapped in.
There are so many a ordable mobile phone plans if you care to look. An example is Republic
Wireless. Their plans start at $15.
Conclusion
As you can see from the list given above there are di erent ways you can use to reduce your
household expenses. And hopefully, you can reach a point where you have excess money to
spend on investments and other important things in life.
8. ← How to Buy Amazon Customer Returns 6 Best AdSense Alternatives Right Now →
I would like to learn from you on the best ways to drastically reduce your household bills so
please share your ideas in the comments section below.
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