Please help me live on less! I need to reduce my monthly expenses.. any one have some tips?

Question

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You should budget you paychecks before you get them, that way when you do get paid you know exactly what you should be spending your money on. Make sure that the most important things of course come first like your monthly payments (car note, mortgage..etc) and maybe that can be some help to you. Also you might want to ask a friend or someone you're close to and you can trust to help. For example my boyfriend and I both love to spend money and shop, so we are basically each others financial advisers. He makes sure I don't over-spend and vice versa.

hope that was some help to you! :)

Answer 2

Look at your monthly bills, all of them, and see which ones are just "fun" ones.  A few examples are a cable bill, or Netflix or the Blockbuster dvds, eating out, internet, etc.  After you've decided which bills you really can't cut out, cut out the "fun" ones.

Answer 3

Perhaps if you listed your expenses out we could help you out.

Answer 4

you can cut expenses by eating out less--watching what you buy for groceries---try store brand products--they aren't bad..look at your monthly budget & see what your spending that you really don't have too...you can start putting that money into savings and once you have it built up you can start splurging every now and then again..

Answer 5

hello - I think its great you are thinking of this.  

here are some tips and ideas -

List out how much money you have coming in each month (paycheck, alimony, side jobs, etc.).

List out what your fixed costs are (rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone, cable, student loans, commute costs etc.) If you have credit card debt look at how much per card and which has the highest interest rates.

Track it by category -

retirement (401K, etc.)

home

car (payment, insurance, etc.)

gas

cable/electric/water

groceries

eating out

clothing

movies/plays (include the popcorn)

books

newspaper (if you already paid your news paper or magazine subscription, figure out the monthly cost and include that)

hanging out with friends (bar, pool etc)

non meal related drinks/snacks (Starbucks, diet coke, snacks)

other

other

(other could be alimony, whatever, things I did not list out but you have to pay)

and you will see quickly where your money is going to go. Then you can see if it is all the right places, or if you want to make a change and not buy so many clothes, see so many movies (or pass on the popcorn) etc. Do you need to have the car you have or is there a way to get a vehicle without a car payment? Do you need HBO?

Consider what is really important to you and what is not and spend accordingly.

Be sure to put all left over money into retirement savings somewhere and not just spend it on something else (or put it towards paying down credit card debt). And keep tracking what you spend for at least 6 months. that will help you get into habits and patterns that are good ones.

Retirement savings are very important, so if you have a 401K or the equivalent, dont stop contributing to that. I see so many questions here about stopping contributing or taking the money already saved out, dont do that. The value of the compound interest is huge.

feel free to email me for more info if you like

good luck

Answer 6

How To Repair Credit

Cut-up the credit cards,

for now. Concentrate on

repairing your credit. With

the credit cards in pieces,

the habit, need, to use them

disappears.

Budget everything. This includes

the amount of water you use,

electricity, etc. Try not to

spend more than is allotted.

The complete post is on

my blog.

Answer 7

1. Learn how to use coupons for groceries and other household items. My weekly budget for our groceries (for a family of 6) is around $70-$80.

2. Plan weekly menus, around what is on sale at the grocery store.  That way you have what you need at home and won't have to make stops at the store every other day spending more than you need too. Also helps to cut down on eating out.

3. Plan your errands so that you can combine them, and try to figure out a route that makes a circle so that you aren't "zig-zagging" around town and wasting gas.

4. Start changing out your light bulbs to the CFL type, they use less electricity than the regular ones and help cut down your electricity bill.

5. Take your lunches and breakfast to work instead of going out to eat.

6. Make your own coffee instead of buying it from Starbucks or other coffee places.

7. Check out your local library, you can often check out movies from there for free instead of renting from video stores.

8. Use www.gasbuddy.com to find the lowest price on gas in your area.

9. Check out the Tightwad Gazette from your local library for some great saving ideas.

10. Reduce your cable/satellite package to a basic one.