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The prices of everyday items often seem to be rising faster than any income increase, leaving many households struggling to make ends meet. If that sounds familiar, try these five tips to help stretch your dollars each month.
1. Cut Your Utility Bills
It can feel like the first thing you do after your paycheck hits your bank account is pay bills, and then there isn’t much left over. If that sounds all too familiar, looking at a few ways to cut those bills down makes sense. Some simple strategies include turning the lights off when you leave a room, adjusting your thermostat a few degrees up or down, and considering water where possible. However, those often don’t add up to considerable differences in monthly bills.
Luckily, there are plenty of other ways to make a significant dent in your monthly obligations. For example, many people do not realize that there are programs, such as the Affordable Connectivity Program, to help improve cellular access for households struggling to pay for it. Applying is simple and can eliminate an entire bill from your monthly obligations.
2. Look for Cheaper Food Sources
Another approach is to rethink your grocery shopping routine. Food prices have skyrocketed, leaving many families struggling to put balanced meals on the table. With some creativity, you can significantly cut monthly grocery bills and boost the nutritional value of the food you buy. Consider these tips before you head to the grocery store:
- Shop online for curbside pickup to reduce impulse buys.
- Never shop on an empty stomach.
- Visit discount and no-frills food stores for lower prices
- Consider asking for help from a food pantry.
3. Carpool to Work
If car expenses are eating up a big chunk of your checks, it could be time to look at options such as carpooling to keep them in check. Many towns have carpool programs to connect individuals with others looking to share a ride. However, if that isn’t available where you live, you might have to do a little searching to find a driving partner.
Consider asking around at your job to see if anyone else is considering carpooling. A group email or posting on your workplace’s internal messaging system (or a board in the workroom if you’re a little more old-school) could potentially turn up several others who are also looking to cut commuting costs.
4. Cancel Automatic Subscriptions
You sign up for a subscription to get a special promotion and then forget about it. That is, you forget until next year when the charge appears on your credit card statement. Everyone does this sometimes, but it is a widespread mistake that can cost you a lot of money.
Go through your bank and card statements and highlight all recurring charges. Then, look carefully at each one and decide if you use the service. Cancel the ones you don’t need or want any longer and watch the savings add up.
5. Leave Items in Your Online Cart
Cutting your budget doesn’t always mean you can’t spend any money on extras. More often, it just means you need to be more careful about what you buy. Shopping online is an excellent way to cut back on wasteful impulse spending. Here’s how it works.
Shop on your favorite sites for the item you want. Then, add the things you select to your cart. Now comes the hardest part: walk away. That’s right, just leave those things in your online cart. There’s a good chance one of two things will happen. You’ll either decide you don’t need the items and delete them from your cart, or you’ll get a coupon code by email and go ahead with the purchase at a discount. Either way, you’ll save some money.
If your bank account regularly runs down before your next paycheck hits, it’s time to take steps to cut back. Strategies such as lowering utility usage, shopping at discount food stores, and canceling recurring subscriptions can help cut monthly bills and give you a little breathing room.
