With many people still struggling financially as a result of the recession, they may be looking for ways to cut back on certain expenses. There may be some areas that they are overspending. Cutting back in these areas could help them reduce their monthly expenses and have more money to contribute toward their emergency funds.
Reduce Your Food Bill
Although it may seem difficult, your food bill is the area that has the most potential for reduction, Daily Finance notes. One of the biggest ways you can spend too much money on food is by eating out for lunch every day during the week. While you may like the sandwich shop near work, you could save money by making your lunch at home. The best way to do this is to come up with a couple easy lunches that you can make at home and rotate them during the week.
You can also take advantage of leftovers from dinner to make your lunch. You may also want to consider limiting the amount of times you go to restaurant for dinner.
Take Advantage Of Free Entertainment
Between cable, internet, movie subscriptions, concerts and sporting events, you probably spend a lot on entertainment each months. Although the internet is likely essential, you can probably cut back some of these expense. If you have a movie subscription and premium cable channels, you may want to consider cutting one of them. Both of these services tend to offer the same thing, so it doesn’t make sense having both.
Instead of paying for all of these services, take advantage of free entertainment. Many communities offer free public concerts in summer. There are also usually plenty of free events around town as well that can keep you entertained. If that’s not your cup of tea, you could even just stay at home and host a board game night for you and your neighbors.
Cancel Your Home Phone
With the emergence of cellphones, you probably don’t use your home phone service much anymore. Canceling this service is a quick way that you can cut down on your monthly expenses, according to U.S. News & World Report. A cellphone can do everything a home phone can do, so there is no need to have both.
You may also want to look into your cellphone bill to see if you can reduce your plan and still have enough minutes each month. Other areas to look into are your data plan and texting, as you may be overspending in both.
Increase Your Insurance Deductibles
Increasing something usually doesn’t save money, but by bumping up your insurance deductibles you are lowering your monthly premiums. This could help you reduce your monthly expenses by a significant amount. However, this means that you will have to pay a higher upfront cost if you ever need to make an insurance claim. It is important to decide if that trade off is enough of an incentive to save the extra money each month.