Cut Your Spending – And Enjoy It!

Nearly everybody can shave at least a small amount off their weekly budget. If you sit down for half an hour and make a list of all the little things you regularly spend money on, you’ll almost certainly be surprised. Most of us are aware of the big expenses – the mortgage or rent, travel costs, grocery and energy bills and so on – but take a moment to think about the extras. You may find that, with a little adjustment of your spending, you can save money, have fun, and even get a little healthier!

Habits

Be honest with yourself. Do you smoke? If you cut down or quit, your health is going to improve. All smokers know that, but not too many sit down and count the amount of money they spend on the habit per week. The good news is that, with the advent of electronic cigarettes, it’s really not that difficult any more – and the cost savings can be huge.

Cutting down on expenses like smoking, alcohol, candy and so on, doesn’t have to turn you into a complete puritan either; you could take a dollar or two of what you save and buy a lotto ticket. Some companies like Coral allow you to bet on, for example, the results of the Irish draw; with the next set of lottery results on Saturday could get quite a lot more exciting.

Work Costs

Now think about how much going to work actually costs you. Say you get a bus to the office, a coffee when you arrive in town, perhaps a newspaper, and a sandwich for lunch. That can add up to quite a lot over a week. Is it possible to walk to work? Medical advice suggests we should take around 30 minutes exercise a day. That’s roughly the same as a 1.5 mile walk. How far is your office?

Consider bringing your own lunch to work – even a couple of times a week – and suddenly you’re saving even more. And don’t forget that many daily newspapers can be read for free online these days. The savings begin to add up. Try and calculate what you’d save over a year just by cutting your at-work expenses. You might find there’s enough for a vacation!

Existing Debts

Finally, if you’re carrying credit card or other debt, use any savings you can make to clear it as soon as possible. Work out which debt you’re paying the most interest on and make it the priority. If you can stop spending $100 a month servicing a credit card, that’s $100 you can spend on something fun!

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(Image courtesy of healthista.com)