You Need to Cut These Expenses Before It’s Too Late

Source: https://www.askaprepper.com/

It’s fun to enjoy small luxuries in life such as watching streaming services or eating out to restaurants we enjoy.

But each of these kinds of luxuries can be expensive, and rising economic uncertainty perpetrated by increasing inflation and basic cost of living has forced many people to significantly cut back on their expenses.

If you find yourself forced into a similar position where you need to cut back on some expenses but don’t know where to start, you’re reading the right article.

Here are the top expenses you should consider cutting before it’s too late:

Cable Bill

Try to cut back on your cable bills as much as possible. If possible, eliminate it entirely. Most cable bills will always tack on extra fees that make the overall cost of having cable greater than just the monthly price.

For example, if you watch the news or sports on cable, you might be able to view those same shows online for free.

Expensive Phone Plans

Phone plans are another necessary monthly expense that you can probably try to cut back on. For example, you could cut back to a family savings plan or a smaller individual data plan.

Not Using Sales and Coupons

Make it a habit to look for weekly sales and coupons for food and anything else you need to purchase.

You can look for coupons online, in the newspaper, or via email or SMS message when you subscribe to the stores and markets that you shop at the moment.

Gasoline

We all need to put gasoline in our cars to get from Point A to Point B, and unfortunately, gas doesn’t seem to be getting any cheaper. But you can still reduce your gas bill by carefully planning how and when you drive.

For example, instead of driving from home to run an errand, returning home, and then driving from home again to run another errand and so on, you can try to plan your day to accomplish as much as you need in one trip.

Sometimes unexpected events will pop up that won’t allow this to happen, but just try to strategically plan your driving as best you can.

Food Costs

Food is a necessary expense that you should be able to reduce beyond simply using coupons and keeping an eye on sales.

For example, consider buying food staples in bulk and try to plan your meals several months ahead of time.

Flour, rice, beans, canned goods, pasta, and grounded meat are all examples of foods that can be purchased in bulk for reasonable prices and incorporated into a very wide variety of meals.

Additionally, raising your own food and crops at home (if you have the land for it) is another excellent way to save on money while also becoming more self-sufficient, but you can probably reduce your costs even further here too.

Reevaluate How You Garden and Raise Crops

If you’re someone who lives out in the countryside, chances are good that you raise your own garden or crops. If so, you’ll want to seek more affordable  ways to properly manage your garden and crops.

This is important because in the event of an economic collapse or downturn, you don’t want to find yourself caught with not being able to afford growing your own food and crops!

The good news is there are many strategies you can use to lower the costs of running your own garden crops. For instance, instead of purchasing expensive soil bags, you can make your own compost instead with yard waste, food scraps, and other organics.

Related: 8 Foods You Can Cook From Scraps You Normally Throw Away

Another significant expense that is incurred with running a garden or crops is watering, especially during the summer months.

The best way to save money here is to use a drip irrigation system, which will deliver water directly to the roots of your plants. This means that the amount of water you’ll need to provide should be reduced.

Electricity Costs

While electricity is necessary for most daily uses, it’s also very expensive and can take up a significant portion of a household budget. That’s why you might want to look for ways you can reduce your electric bills.

For example, not running the dishwasher until you have a full load, not leaving your laptop plugged in once it’s been fully charged, turning down the thermostat a little bit, and running the wood stove (if you have one) instead of running heat from electricity are all ways you can keep your electric bills to a minimum.

Energy Costs

On that same note, look for ways to reduce energy consumption in your home as a whole.

For example, you can invest in draft stopping to improve the insulation of your home, consider replacing your appliances with energy-efficient alternatives, and investing in solar-powered lights.

Each of these steps will contribute to lower energy costs over the long term.

Costly Habits

Do you have any expensive habits that are costing you money, such as going out for drinks, buying nice clothes, buying an expensive coffee every morning, or going shopping casually online such as on Amazon?

If so, you’ll need to take a serious look at where your expenses are going each month to these kinds of habits that may be fun but are also not truly necessary.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to cut expensive habits out entirely. For example, instead of ordering an expensive mocha or latte each morning at your favorite coffee shop you could make your own coffee.

This is an example of where you’ll need to start making sacrifices in your life by cutting back on certain luxuries you enjoy, but it’s a necessary thing to do if you’re serious about saving money.

There should be many other expenses you can cut back on depending on your unique circumstances, but the above suggestions have hopefully given you some ideas on where you can start saving on money in the immediate short term.