So, with winter almost here, I'm looking for ways to save even more money. Things can get a little hectic around here if it gets really cold for long stretches (high heating bills) or if we get a lot of snow or ice, which closes everything down. If things close down for long, people miss a lot of work, and therefore miss out on making money. So, what's the first thing you cut back on when you are trying to save more money?
I take a healthy chunk of my grocery budget out. Saving on groceries is surprisingly easy for me because I don't have to have meat. I crave it and I enjoy it and I want it but when money is tight I can find cheaper foods to prepare. If you even just cut down on meat you can safe a lot. I have a hundred pasta dishes that can be prepared on the cheap and no one even knows that I've cut back or used canned tomatoes in place of fresh. I also cut out almost 100% of the prepared or frozen foods. And if money is real tight I don't eat out at all. That one is hard for me because I do like other people's food sometimes.
The grocery spend is always the first thing to be cut when times are lean. It's easy enough to have 3-4 meatless days per week and we'll go without things like biscuits, crisps and beer. My heating bill gets astronomical too so I get a bit regimental about saving electricity around the house to offset it slightly.
For us, it would be eating out. That can be hard to do!!! Also try to keep the temp reasonable. Even cutting out small trips to run errands can save on gas and it really adds up. Another thing is name brand items. Generic products are (usually) good quality as well.
I cut back on dining out and coffees from Tim Horton's. I save over a $300 a month by making supper at home for our family and bringing coffee to work in a thermos rather than go out for a coffee. I also turn down the thermostat to save money and buy my meat when it's on sale and freeze it so I have it when I need it. I buy gas when the prices are low, when I see that gas has dropped I will fill up my tank whether I need a full tank or not. I find that you can save several dollars a week doing this.
I try to cut down on food expenses because I think that is one of the areas that is most adaptive. I usually just eat out anyway so if I'm trying to save up I'll just eat somewhere cheaper. If I'm cooking at home I'll find some cheap recipes that can still be healthy and I'd say it's even a good time to learn how not to depend too much on processed foods and learn new recipes you can do from scratch since it's usually cheaper that way. When I go through phases like this I always try and take advantage of it and learn a few things that I otherwise would have ignored if I had the money to spend.
This gets me thinking because I remember the olden days when my usual scapegoat is the electricity. Our stove was electric so you can imagine that cooking would be limited and even if it was cold, heating of water is not allowed. Even the lights cannot be used during the daytime. The number 2 scapegoat is water. Although not really expensive, water is easier to save than electricity.
I try to buy generic brands when I cut down on things. I buy cheaper toilet roll and also I don't buy fruit juices, but cordial instead. Instead of branded pasta I get store brands, and I only buy what I need (unless it is on offer) so I don't buy things unnecessarily. I cut back on beauty treatments and things, and use up products I have and then do treatments at home instead. Unless I see a Groupon or similar offer I won't go now, because it's too expensive.
When money gets tight, the first thing we cut out is anything that is extra, beyond what we need. For example, we will give up eating out, going shopping as a hobby, etc. It can be tough eating at home every day and staying out of the stores, but ultimately it helps us save money. The second area of expense to be cut is groceries. If money gets tight, we will only purchase the bare necessities for groceries and try to use up what we have before buying more.
I spend quite a bit of money on entertainment. When I have to save a little more money, say to buy something which I need but don't have enough money to buy it immediately, I'll save the entertainment money because I can find other ways to get entertainment that don't cost a penny. But that would change after I buy whatever it is was saving the money for.
When things are tight the first things that goes are non-essential items. Things like specialty cereals, maybe even new clothes that aren’t absolutely necessary at the moment. Brand name foods and items make way for store brands. Also, this when I am most likely to buy regularly used items in bulk as well as use coupons. This helps to cut cost a lot.
Foregoing entertainment costs, at least temporarily, makes good sense. I don't spend a lot on entertainment to begin with, but I can see it being the first thing to get cut. I can stay home and read a book, surf the net, or watch some Netflix. Netflix is cheap enough to keep, at least for now. It's a really good value, in my opinion. I feel like I get a lot for my money, especially since my whole family can use it on different devices and all watch something different, if we so choose. If it came down to it though, I'd cut that out too.
No booze and cigarettes, if you happen to partake in either. That's kind of a no brainer though. I would also immediately cut out cable, and just rely on my internet. With a little looking around, you can find nearly all of your favorite shows online, as long as you don't mind watching them a day later. Sites like Mopvideo.com have tons of shows to watch, which often get posted within a few hours of them airing. If money was really tight, I would even cut out my landline cable and rely soley on my cell phone's internet connection. T-Mobile now allows for free streaming from many popular video sites, so you would just need to be careful with your regular browsing, but you could easily use your phone as a mobile hotspot, to get online with your regular computers. Portable electric heaters are also a better option than running your regular centrail air/heat, to cut down on your gas bills. A decent compact toaster oven is also gonna save energy over running your full size stove regularly. Switching to brewing your own tea/iced tea will save a lot vs. buying soda, coffee and other expensive bottled drinks. I actually don't mind "eating out" (fast food value menus) from time to time. A dollar menu burger and fry is still going to be cheaper than most budget friendly home cooked recipes. Two or three times a week won't kill you. When Burger King was selling their Whopper Jr's for $1, I would go get one for lunch each day, and bring along my own bottled water - $5 a week for lunch at work wasn't bad at all. Plus they have fresh lettuce and tomato on them, I would just skip the cheese and mayo. Go through your shopping list, and look for any items that you can instead get at the $1 stores instead of buying brand name stuff - you would be amazed at how much in total you can save on your shopping by doing this. There are many items you may be paying $2-$4 or more elsewhere that you can be getting for only $1 - with just 10 items replaced, you can be saving like $30 or more off your shopping list.
Right now I live in a house that has aircon, but I don't really use it so that the electric bill will be reduced. After all, it's not summer so it's not that hot over here. I also cut back on buying soda even if I want to buy it everyday so that I can save money as well.
Though we don't have snow here at Hawaii we do have other things that is a roadblock for expenses like no COLA for social security next year so we are tightening up by not buying goodies that we don't really need like chips, pastries and coconut flakes that I put in my oatmeal. Little things like this adds up, so we save and make do with our budget. Buying on sale and stocking up is helpful. Our grocers has weekly sales so it's so helpful. Now that Walmart has opened up we really save a lot of money shopping at Walmart too.
We recently cut back drastically on our expenses to try to pay of our bills. Several of the things we did: -Meatless meals a majority of the time. This is pretty easy to do and protein is easy to replace if you research what foods have it. -Meal planning and not eating out. This cuts back on food waste, impulse buying for groceries, and makes life generally easier. -Cut out cable, which is mostly commercials anyway. We have Netflix instead, which is fine because their selection has grown substantially. -Reverted from smartphones to a single basic phone that we share. Instead of paying $180 a month we now pay $60, and the phone itself was cheap as well. Realistically we could get an even cheaper phone for less, but we want to keep our number. -Going shopping to cure boredom is a horrible idea if you're broke. Go to a park, or a free museum in the area. I promise if you look up local tourist spots you can find something relatively close. -The library has hundreds of books (and movies!) you can borrow for free! This is excellent entertainment instead of paying for cable, movies or whatever else you would've ended up spending money on!
To me dining out and entertainment are the first thing to cut down, as none of these are absolutely necessary; there are thousand of free entertainment online, and at least a dozen of this out there in local venues or public parks. Dining at home is really what saves more money than anything else, and having a variety of recipes can make of a dinner as unique as one at whatever restaurant. Another way to save money is indeed , buying generic brands of products when doing your shopping list, as already noted above.
The first thing I cut back on is electricity/gas. I use hot water bottles and blankets to keep warm rather than putting the heating on and keep the curtains closed and doors shut in rooms I'm not using. I tend to eat cold meals so that I don't have to use the oven for anything, or I make something that I can have leftovers from later so that I only have to cook once. If I do have the oven on I'll leave the door open afterwards so that the residual heat can warm the room a little. I generally prefer cold drinks anyway, so this saves boiling the kettle excessively too, although I will use it to heat water for a hot water bottle sometimes. I also walk to the grocery store instead of taking the car or using public transport.
We don't dine out and I try to cook frugal meals and avoid convenience foods. I also try to avoid using the air conditioner and just open all the windows and turn on the fan. Since I live in a major metropolitan area, I save money just by walking everywhere and not having a car. One year, I tried to save money by buying a $10 coffee maker. It broke and that year I ended up going through three cheap coffee machines. So in 2009 I just spent more money to buy a good quality coffee machine and it has lasted me over 6 years. So, things that you're going to use every day shouldn't be the first area you cut back in, because if you buy the cheapest of everything without checking the consumer reviews, it'll cost you more to keep replacing things. I bought a $30 clothes iron instead of the $10 one because it had good consumer reviews, and it has lasted me 12 years so far. The most expensive item isn't the best, nor is the cheapest. Checks reviews of products and try to find the point where good quality and a fair price intersect and choose that item.
The vices like drinking out or smoking. Cutting them from your system will definitely save you a lot of cash and a healthier body that's for sure. Another thing that you can cut down on is your travel expenses. I believe that there will always be a cheaper way to travel. It's either you can ride a bike, or walk for a station or two. That also enables you to save more money. Finally, you could cut down on food costs either by reducing the time you go out, or by cooking healthier and less expensive ingredients.
