8 Expenses to Cut and How
Are you looking to simplify your life? Do you have financial issues? Are you still paying off debts with no end in sight? Hey, me too! Part of my methodology includes plugging expense holes, and shunting that money towards my debts. Here are eight expenses to cut and how:
- Make Your Own Morning Coffee- I have a tiny little one-cup machine with a steel filter. Why? Because it’s silly easy to operate and clean. I buy really good coffee by the pound, and so a pound of coffee costs $6.50 or so US. Buying coffee at the coffee shop is $2.50 or so for a large. That means, I save after only 3 uses, and it doesn’t really slow down my getting out the door, especially if you think about how much time it takes to wait in a drive-up line.
- Use Your Public Library- Libraries have changed. Most libraries are now connected into a big sharing consortium, expanding the collection of what you can take out and what they’ll have that you might want. Further, most now have an online catalog that you can use to browse and request from home. Libraries now frequently stock DVDs (mine favors Hollywood movies, and the one in the next town features mostly highbrow independent stuff). Heck, my library just launched a big commercial digital audiobook download deal, so I can get books on my computer from my desk.
How often do you reference a book after reading it once? Make that your point. Are you going to open it many times over the years, or is this a read once, use often kind of information dump?
- Get Netflix- Going to the movies isn’t a great plan if you’re trying to save money, but renting movies is a hassle too, right? At least in the States, this is a much better option to going to brick and mortar stores for movies. They deliver the movies to your mailbox. You can’t get a late fee. Oh, and you can choose from getting just one disc at a time, two, three, or even larger numbers, for those of you who get to watch tons of flicks at once. BONUS: using one of your Netflix slots for a kids movie lets you save money, too. Kids will watch a movie 200 times, and then never need to see it again. Right?
- Bring Meals From Home or Find a Cheap, Repeatable Meal- We tend to bleed cash on feeding ourselves, and rarely do we really savor or notice the food anyhow. It’s just a meal that we consume in between doing other things. If you can bring meals from home, that’s the least expensive, and it’s also the bet way to ensure that you know what you’re getting. I’m currently taking frozen dinners that cost only $2.00 a meal, and that’s cheaper than any sandwich I can buy. If you have to eat out, trying finding the healthiest, best value meal you can find, and stick to it or slight variations. The more adventurous your meal seeking gets, the more it will likely cost you.
- Drink at a Friend’s House, Not a Pub- The cost of a dozen bottles of beer shared between a few friends will always be less expensive than a single drink out at a pub. Surely, one of you has a place to go for the casual entertainment experience, right? Okay, you might not be able to meet attractive members of the opposite sex there, but even if you spent a few days at one of your homes, that’d save some cash, true?
- Reconsider Your Driving Habits- Are you a leadfoot? Are you the kind who goes on an hour or more jaunt just for something to do? With gas/petrol costs being so high thanks to some interesting world stage situations, considering how often and how fast you travel will help you cut a few bucks in the short term. BONUS: Get out your bike and kill two birds with one stone. Work that spare tire back off the ole belly.
- Sum up all Your Entertainment Expenses- When you look at each one separately, it probably doesn’t seem weird to pay $15 a month for Netflix, $10 a month for XBOX Live, $60 or so a month for Cable TV, $100 or more a year on various magazines, not to mention all the ways you spend money when you go out, including clubs, pubs, bars, concerts, shows, events, and dinners. These are all entertainment. If you’re working on your debt, tally up all those expenses and look at them in a big sum per month. How much does your entertainment budget really cost, and does that relate to how much money you’re putting towards your debts and other expenses? Maybe it’s time to reconsider.
- Go on a Clothing Fast- There are a hundred reasons why you need that new shirt, or that clever belt. You might need those shoes because they’re quite a bargain. But take a good long look at your closet, at what you already have. Do you need more right now? How often are you buying clothes for fashion’s sake versus need? Are there ways you can stretch your budget by coordinating differently? We buy clothes on impulse more often than just about anything. Pay close attention to this, and consider a clothing fast. Promise not to buy clothes for one month at a time. Say, “I’ll go all of August without buying a single article of clothing.” At the end of August, assess. Do you really need anything? See if you can go September, too.
Sure, you’re deserving of a good life. This isn’t as much about deprivation as it is examining the life you’re leading. If you’re working on your finances, and you’re serious about putting them in order, there are even more holes than those I’ve listed above that could use plugging. With a little bit of tweaking, you’ll recover money at a fairly decent clip. This adds up. If you tally up your savings from all eight tips above, it could quite easily be $200 or more back in your finances a month. $2400 a year? That’s a nice tidy raise, eh? Congratulations.
–Chris Brogan is working hard on his expenses over at [chrisbrogan.com]. Well, not really. He’s writing about self-improvement and creativity.
Tags: 
Loading ...
Comments
Christopher Penn, Financial Aid Podcast says on July 30th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Don’t forget audiobooks. If you are likely to listen to a book during a commute every other week or so, or buy the text and read it just once, the audiobook may be worth the purchase.
One other thing is to do some serious math when it comes to an item’s total cost. Example: I went to get some bug killer recently. The bag at Home Depot was $9. The bag at the True Value was $11. Which is the better value?
Now, the Home Depot is nearly two towns over. Takes about 20 minutes to get there. Burns about 1 gallon of gas round trip. Gas is $3.07/gallon here. The True Value is a block away from the house. You can walk there and back and not break a sweat on a nice day.
Which is the better value? The higher priced item. It’s a better value for time and money when you factor in fuel.
Christopher S. Penn
Daily financial aid internet radio on demand, no iPod required
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com
Got iTunes? http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/
Patrick says on July 30th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Those are great suggestions. We frequent check out DVDs from the library in addition to books.
I am however going to have to buy some new clothes pretty soon, especially pants because I have been losing that spare tire and even my belt is starting to not help much! let’s just say I was almost embarresed when leaving the gym the other day but heck that is one case where one would be happy to be embarressed! Still I try to stay away from department stores. I live within walk distance to an “outlet store” that sells name brand jeans and Dockers for a lot less.
Steve says on July 31st, 2006 at 6:14 am
The driving/cycling tip has to be my favourite there. I personally don’t spend much on the other areas (though in the past the pub/own booze tip would have saved me money). Given the exorbitant costs of petrol here in Europe at the moment, using the bike, walking or even taking public transport for journeys has to be a major money saver. I don’t drive much, but tend to drive to work as I carry a heavy laptop between home and the office. It costs me around 110 dollars per month. So every day I cycle saves me probably in the region of 5 dollars – and helps me keep fit in the process.
In fact I’ve been thinking about outting together a web application that would allow you to enter journies you take by car, your car model and the cost of petrol when you last filled up and whih would work out how much money one saves by using a bike/walking instead.
The one I can’t bring myself to follow is to borrow books from the library. I love my book collection and buying a book or two per month is one of my main luxuries.
Steve-O says on July 31st, 2006 at 9:26 am
Netflix is only a good option for people that generally rent more than 3 or 4 movies a month. I suspect many people actually spend more money on Netflix than they would have without it. You’re paying monthly whether you’re watching the movies or not.
Other than that, great list.
Ditto on the comment about the local hardware store vs. Home Depot. My experience is that those big box stores really only save you money if you are buying many things at once. And of course, that gives rise to the temptation to buy more than you need – because it’s just such a “great value”!
Greg says on July 31st, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Uhhh, $200/month != $12/year?
randy says on August 5th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
We use the library for much of entertainment needs, too.
One thing we did when we have done to cut expenses to pay off debt.
No cable TV. But we still get to watch TV. We had an antenna installed in our house. We live in a rural area couldn’t receive anything without it. Basic cable in our area cost $40/mo. The antenna with installation cost $440. So, it paid for itself in less than a year.
If you live in a big city, you can probably get by with rabbit ear antennas.
I love not having to pay “the man” for cable.
daedal says on November 30th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
I think it’s relevant for me to blog spam in here, seeing as I just went through this. I just started saving and cutting back on my expenses and from my calculations, am saving over 400.00$ a month. Here’s how I did it:
http://www.onusart.org/how-i-s.....-expenses/
Kane says on December 30th, 2006 at 1:48 am
I guess the real point here is to use your common sense, if you think about it you can see where you can save money.
Chuck says on December 31st, 2006 at 9:09 am
I’m not a shareholder, but I personally have found Blockbuster.com to be far superior to Netflix now that they offer 2 free in-store videogame rentals per month as part of their plan. With next-gen games at $60 each, this is a way to save money too. Also, their new policy of getting additional free movie rentals when you return in-store rather than mailing back means more movies for the same money.
billf says on February 5th, 2007 at 9:50 am
And cut cable & satellite service.
If you have a decent internet connection, most everything of worth can be viewed via the net.
After that, once you get a TV with a built-in digital tuner, you’ll find that the digital broadcast signals are enough to pick from.
James says on February 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I’ve come to the conclusion that TiVo actually saves me money. Rather than get NetFlix ($17/mo), I use my TiVo ($14/mo) to harvest TONS of great movies from my ANALOG cable instead of paying the increased amount (~$10/mo+) for DIGITAL cable! Admittedly, I’m not a new-release addict and enjoy the classics but there is so much good programming to be had with a little TiVo effort that I hardly even have time to watch DVD’s anymore!
Sangrail says on November 6th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Italic tag needs to be closed in this post.
This comment can be deleted. ;)
Rich says on January 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Here’s another way to save money on ink and toner and to help save the environment. If we print we then need to purchase ink so why not do it in a way that will benefit the environment, and it is easy.
First the idea of common sense is false because it is based on a person’s life experiences, education etc. Now recently I came accross information through a business customer and looked further into it. Here is what I found, ”
Over 700 million cartridges were thrown away world-wide in 2003 – and since more and more people use inkjet cartridges this amount will continue to grow year after year.
Empty cartridges contain residual toner powder, ink, a plastic casing, aluminum and other parts. These parts are all non-biodegradable and they will take more than 1000 years to decompose in landfill sites.
The remanufacturing of cartridges as an alternative to producing new ones currently reduces world demand of oil by 300,000 barrels and saves 17,000 tons of aluminum as well as 10,000,000 tons of timber. Besides helping to reduce carbon emissions, a major cause of global warming, it conserves resources and reduces waste.
1.5 pints of crude oil are needed to produce one cartridge. In the last 6 months alone inkjet cartridge recycling has saved more than 50 million liters of oil, more than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989.”
Wow, so my whole point is this client twotonellc.com remanufacturers ink and toner cartridges and considering the above information it only makes common sense to buy remanufactured ink and toner cartridges. You save money, get a higher yield (more prints) and save the environment.
Mike says on March 11th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
For even cheaper movie rentals, try Redbox. http://www.redbox.com
$1/day, no late fees. You can’t beat it!