If you've been following any of my previous posts for the past few weeks you would have know that I'm trying to become debt free. Really, who isn't nowadays? I've become pretty obsessed with any and everything about budgets for the past few weeks and thought I'd share my two cents on the matter and share what seems to be working for me.
Sell Your Items
Now I'm not saying sell you bed and sleep on the floor or anything crazy, I just know WE ALL have a ton of stuff we don't use. You'd be amazed by how much money you are literally sitting on. I've been decluttering at the same time as trying to save money which has helped me a ton. In the last two weeks I have made over $1000 selling my personal items which I put directly into a savings account to complete baby step 1!
Cash Envelopes
I know, I know, you're probably tired of hearing about it by now, but I'm obsessed. In the short time I've been using this system I have questioned every dollar I spend. Do I really want my envelopes to be empty until next payday? Heck no! This is making me much more conscious of my spending habits and really making me decide if it's a need or a want.
Eat at Home
I am so guilty of being "too tired" to eat at home. Now I'm going to be honest, I don't cook, like at all, my husband does all of the cooking, but I do clean up! Some nights neither of us want to even mess with cooking and cleaning and it's easier to just go grab something. You don't think it's much at the time $10 here or $12 there but it adds up. By eating at home at least 5 nights a week you can save A TON of money.
Stop Subscriptions
As I was looking through my expenses it became clear how many monthly subscriptions I was paying for. This included Netflix, Amazon Prime, Ipsy, Sephora Play, and Hubble. Once you really start looking into these charges do you really use them? Now Netflix, duh, we all need it so that was staying, but for me, my Prime isn't used enough for me to keep it. I order from Amazon maybe once every two months and it just wasn't worth it for me to pay $11.99 a month when I can pay shipping once every two months. Now I know for others they use Prime for everything, and in that case, keep it, it's worth it to you just now for me personally. And for my make subscriptions, I literally open the boxes and then they go into a drawer and are never touched. Goodbye foil packets! Lastly I do have a contact subscription which sends me a months worth of daily contacts for $30, really not a bad deal, however I don't wear contacts every day. I looked through what I had left and realized I could skip a month or two to save $60 but still have contacts. Maybe you don't need to cancel all of your subscriptions, but maybe put them on hold for a few months to save a little dough.
Stop Keeping Up with the Joneses
And lastly, maybe the most important, don't worry about what everyone else is doing! If your neighbor gets a new car, you don't need a new car. If you're coworkers are going out for steaks, you packed your lunch. If you're friends are planning a trip to the Bahamas and you can't afford it, that's ok, they will understand, there is always time to plan a huge trip once you're debt free. Don't be afraid to say no!
And that's all guys, those are my tips for saving some money. Now we will all have temptations and this process is not easy. You can slip up every now and again, I forgive you!
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