I love having low expenses and I hope to keep them low as long as I can. I don’t earn a ton of money, but I also don’t spend a lot of money either so it’s nice to feel more flexible about my finances as I work toward big goals like paying off my debt, saving for retirement, and saving for big ticket items.
It wasn’t always this way though. I used to live above my means and struggled a lot to keep up with the Joneses (whoever they were). Here are 5 ways I cut my expenses over the past two years and saved almost $7,000 annually. Try these strategies to lower your expenses as well!
1. Ditched My Cable Subscription
Cable is becoming more and more obsolete given all the affordable and user-friendly television streaming websites and apps like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, oh and YouTube which is free. I used to pay about $80per month for cable and internet and sometimes I couldn’t even find anything I wanted to watch on T.V. which was horrible.
I kept internet but cut cable which saved me an average of $45 per month or $540 per year.
2. Lowered My Grocery Bill
Back in college, I actually used to spend more on groceries. My family of three spent about $350 per month or more. We hardly ever dined out so that’s why I often justified our grocery budget which wasn’t that bad compared to other people’s spending I’m sure.
On the other hand, I noticed how we were not getting the chance to eat all of the food we purchased before it went bad. That was a big sign that we could get by on less so I decided to attempt to cut our grocery bill by shopping for seasonal produce that’s on sale, avoid pricey processed foods, and spend less time in the store to avoid impulse purchases.
I was able to slash my grocery bill by $50 per month or $600 per year and now we only go shopping twice a month.
3. Found a Cheaper Phone Service
I was never one of those people to have an expensive phone bill nor an iPhone. I always had prepaid phones, but in recent years, those were getting pretty expensive too. I used to spend around $60 on my phone bill, but when I found out about Republic Wireless, I switched to their $10 per month phone bill which comes out to be $12 per month with taxes. I now enjoy a lower bill while still getting to keep my smartphone and use wifi to run all my apps. Switching my phone service saved me $48 per month of $576 per year.
4. Lowering My Insurance Premium
The younger you are, the higher your car insurance premiums are. My vehicle costs me a ton of money last year because I was paying off my car loan, putting gas in my car, taking care of repairs and maintenance, and paying for full coverage insurance.
As soon as I paid my car loan off, I dropped my insurance coverage down to liability to lower my premiums. I don’t recommend this option for everyone, but I consider myself a pretty safe driver and I was willing to take the slight risk. Lowering my insurance premium save me about $400 per year.
5. I Moved to a Cheaper Apartment
This is something everyone can’t do, but if you are paying too much rent, you should look into your options in other neighborhoods or even in your own. When my rent was going up tremendously in my trendy open-concept apartment with soft close cabinets in the kitchen and hardwood floors, I decided to move to a less lavish but still equally spacious 2-bedroom apartment just a few blocks away.
My son was still in daycare at the time so I didn’t have to worry about him changing schools. The apartment was very basic and didn’t have all the bells and whistles like my last one, but I made it home and enjoyed the $400 per month or $4,800 (annually) in savings the last minute move helped me generate.
Adopting a Frugal Lifestyle Was Key
I saved a total of $6,916 a year – almost $7,000 – by making these 5 simple changes and committing to a frugal lifestyle. I intentionally looked for ways to save money on expenses that I didn’t enjoy paying for and I became content with having less.
Have you taken a look at your expenses lately. If there is anything you think you can cut out or reduce? Let me know in the comments!