Question

My partner and I are on a campaign to slash any unnecessary monthly expenditures from our budget. This has been a very iterative process for us with each month getting a little bit better than the last in one regard or another (e. g., groceries, monthly bills). What are some of your best-kept tips for wringing the towel dry in this regard to really trim the fat in eliminating or reducing monthly costs?  

Answer 1

If you haven't done it recently. review stuff like your car insurance for lower rates, cell phone plans (I go prepay and buy the phone outright), etc. Sometimes I've just let stuff go for years when a bit of research yielded a better deal. Also. it's not. pricey but I turned off Netflix 2 summers ago and didn't turn it back on for about a year and a half. I've got Hulu, but didn't really miss it. I've had it back a couple months and binge watches the stuff I wanted. probably just turn it off again. I believe you can also pause it.  

Answer 2

Cooking soup and freezing it has been a solid money saver in the grocery department, and other good freezable meals. My wife has committed to shopping for clothes only at the local thrift store - she actually finds nice stuff for unbelievably cheap. Not sure though, if you’re at the point of “wringing the towel dry” I’d think you’re doing pretty well! The overall mindset of questioning whether we really need something before buying it, taking a day to consider it, really helps. Budgeting apps really helped us reduce spending because they helped us see where we could cut down.  

Answer 3

These are all great! Thanks for sharing these (and keep them coming)!  

Answer 4

I go. on Slickdeals app and create alerts for needs and wants like the brand dog food I buy, or especially toilet paper, paper towels, or for example: cell phone or pretzels or Under Armour (I work outdoors. ) When I see a toilet paper deal etc that is ridiculous good, I'll stock. up depending how good the deal is. I'm a single so stuff lasts longer but I bought paper towels probably a year ago on some crazy deal and . just now down to my last couple rolls. I only stock up if the price is insane good deal. I also buy things out of season. like name brand hoodies and good wool socks in the summer on deep discount. And if you are buying anything online always check for coupon codes.  

Answer 5

I agree with reviewing your statements. You need to see what you spend the most on an cut it out. Eat at home, scale back your heating an cooling cost. Hang dry clothes.  

Comments

Great tips. Groceries remain by far the largest area we can improve in. However, so far, we’ve done a great job of tightening our meal planning while keeping it healthy and under budget. January was a huge win for us in this regard where we were reasonably able to reduce our bill without feeling deprived of healthy foods and a few occasional treats that serve as balance to a healthy lifestyle.  

Answer 6

If you drink alcohol, boxed wine is a tremendous deal. Also, I appreciate Ramit Sethi’s “guilt free spending” approach. It has helped us to set aside a small chunk of change each month that we can each use as we please. That way it’s not ALL about cutting down and depriving ourselves, in fact, I would say it helps cut down and keep costs down otherwise.  

Answer 7

Cut cable and buy an antenna! We still get like 25 channels and are only paying $35 for internet each month bateau of $108! for Direct TV and Internet!  

Answer 8

Very incrementally reducing the amount I budget for "wants" (going out, movies, coffee, etc) after getting a baseline for what I spend in that category and saving it instead. Reduced it by about $10/WK every month until it was down to where I wanted it. That was it wasn't a big shock to my spending habits/lifestyle like it would have been if I cut it all out at once. Now Im actually comfortable spending a lot less in that area.  

Answer 9

We tend to negotiate better internet, cable, car insurance, home insurance and breakdown cover by shopping around and threatening not to renew if your supplier doesn’t match the best price you can find. Be prepared to switch if they won’t budge

Comments

@fitted339— this has been one of the biggest arenas that we’ve been working in lately. We’ve had several small wins every few months and are happy knowing we’re getting the best deal we can now and that in 6-12 months we can renegotiate and try again. So far, so good!  

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@apperception1814 nice work  

Answer 10

Meal planning to make secondary meals out of primary left overs. Street tacos become chicken quesadillas. Pot roast becomes shepherds pie.