Quick Tips on How to Reduce Your Monthly Budget
Creating a monthly budget is an important first step to gain control of your spending. After creating the budget, review it in order to reduce or eliminate unnecessary expenses. When trying to save money, consider the following strategies.
Make Substitutions
Cable is a nice thing to have, but it is not an absolutely necessity. In order to continue to watch your favorite programming without the high cable bill consider, watching the free local channels along with getting a subscription to Amazon Instant Video, which is $79 a year. You can also view the videos individually for low price using this service. Netflix is another alternative to cable. It offers both streaming video which can be instantly viewed on your computer or TV with a game device like a Wii, and DVDs mailed to your home for a monthly price of about $15.
Substitutions can also be done with food. Rather than going out to a restaurant every day to eat, consider taking your lunch to work. To satisfy your restaurant-food craving without the calories and higher prices, consider starting a dinner date with your friends. Each person can bring their own dish, so even if the meals others have brought are not very appetizing or are too unhealthy, you can always eat what you brought. Doing this once a week allows you to get a taste of something different without spending what you would at a restaurant. Substitutions can also be made for coffee. Rather than going out for a $4 cup of coffee each morning, buy coffee from your favorite coffee shop at the store. For instance, Starbuck's and Seattle's Best Coffee can both be purchased at grocery stores. Some grocery retailers like Whole Foods and World Cost's Plus carry coffee from various parts of the world including Peru, Hawaii and Kenya, allowing you to get a taste of an eclectic mix of coffees while reducing your budget.
Buy in Bulk
Try to reduce your monthly grocery bill by purchasing regularly used items in bulk. First, make note of items you buy on a regular basis and stock up on them when they go on sale. For instance, plain pasta, used for spaghetti, linguini lasagna, or casseroles, may be bought when the store lowers the price or carries 10 items for $10 deals. Other items which may not regularly go on sale may be bought in bulk online. For instance, canned foods like sweet peas as well as dried fruit, candy, butter and other grocery items may be purchased on-line from Amazon.com, bulkfoods.com or allbulkfoods.com.
Go green
Although it may be hard to greatly reduce the amount of money that you spend on heating and cooling your home, there are a few tips that are budget-friendly but are also eco-friendly. When you are not using appliances, like a toaster or blender, unplug them. Because some amount of energy is going to be entering the appliance when it is connected to an outlet, unplugging appliances not only prevents it from using energy needlessly but it also allows you to avoid spending money on energy you are not using.
Planning your outing is another way to reduce your monthly bill. Plan your routes and use mapquest or your GPS device for unfamiliar addresses to prevent getting lost and all the needless driving that creates. You may also want to avoid getting certain items if they can be delivered to your address. Also, when you drive, make note of gas stations which have low prices, so you can visit them when you are out of gas. Also, do not fill up your car until it is on empty. When it is empty, it makes the car lighter and faster, thus using less energy. If you have bike racks or a vinyl cap on your vehicle, consider removing it to reduce air drag on your car. Additionally, make certain that you maintain good tire pressure, as this can help with getting good gas mileage from you vehicle and further help you reduce your monthly budget.
References:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_17?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=canned+vegetables&sprefix=canned+vegetables
http://www.bulkfoods.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamCat=13&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&txtsearchParamTxt=1076
http://www.allbulkfoods.com/index.php/cPath/178
http://sustainablechoices.stanford.edu/actions/in_the_home/unplugappliances.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/66-gas-saving-tips.php?page=3
Published by Jenny Hollis
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