Reevaluate Your Expenses to Save Money
To reevaluate your expenses can be the top way of saving money – everyone loves saving money – even rich people. But sometimes it appears that the goal to increase how much cash is left over every month is almost as hard as keeping a New Year’s resolution for more than just a couple of weeks.
Therein lies the catch when it comes to consistently saving money as it comes to having a plan. With that in mind, here are three ways that are sure to save you money -if feasible.
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I Got Bills to Pay
While there are few things in life that are reliable, one thing (or things) that always seems to come on time are bills. Heck, you could set your clock to when certain bills come. In addition, it seems like there are more ways for bills to find you these days. Sure, there is first-class mail, but you can also get bills by email and even by notification on your cell phone.
No doubt these bills can lead to a fair amount of fatigue but the reality is that one of the best ways to save money is to take the time to look at your bills. Let’s face it, we live in a world where almost everything is on a subscription basis and what this means is dozens of revolving charges.
Think about it, you’ve got your cell phone, Netflix, your health club, Microsoft 365, cable, and many others. The list goes on and on and there seems to be no end to companies trying to get you by their widget for just $4.99 per month.
While it seems like these charges are small, they tend to add up over time and the next thing you know you are spending hundreds every month on subscriptions. This is pure madness as few of us use the things we are paying subscriptions for.
As such, the first thing you want to do when saving money is to go through your bill and cancel those subscriptions you no longer need.
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Freedom or an Anchor?
Think about your car and how you use it. Does it spend days on end sitting in your driveway, or do you really need a car to make a living? The reality is that most people use their cars less than 5 percent of the time they own it. This means that they are making car payments, insurance payments, and every property tax payments on something they rarely use.
To add insult to injury, cars aren’t really assets. Sure, they sit on the asset side of a balance sheet but the reality for most people is that the banks own the cars they drive and all they do is move from car payment to car payment.
This opens several opportunities to save money when it comes to transportation. For those who need their cars for work, then look at ways to pay off your car loan faster and to keep your car a bit longer. The result will be that you have more time without a car payment and this can help you to bank these payments instead of handing over your money to the banks.
In addition, take a good look at your car insurance to see if you really need to pay as much as you are. One good way to do this is to check out what other customers say about their car insurance companies by checking out Mercury insurance reviews among others. This will give you the inside scoop on how people are saving real money on car insurance.
Now, if you barely use your car, then you should ask yourself why keep it? For small trips, you can ride a bike or get an Uber. While for longer trips like weekend getaways, you could just rent a car when you need it. Not only would this eliminate your car-related payments but riding a bike to get around will help you to get fitter.
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Home Sweet Home
While having a home of your own used to be the American dream, more people are waking up to the fact that it can be nothing more than a financial albatross. Not only are there people who are figuratively underwater – i.e. they own the banks more than their home is worth – but there are people whose homes are literally underwater.
Either way, one great way to save money every time is to rethink your living situation. Maybe it is time to downsize or maybe you can rent out that back bedroom. Beyond this, the housing market is finally getting back to pr-recession highs and this might mean that it is time to sell your home and then bank the cash for a rainy day. Don’t worry as it’s only a matter of time before the housing market takes a step backward and this will be a good time to find a bargain.
When you reevaluate your expenses to save money – it’s a win-win. We renegotiate our cable yearly and auto insurance at least every 3 yrs. It may be a bit time consuming, but time is money.