5 Super Simple Ways to Cut Your Spending!

Jenny/ January 11, 2020/ Thrifty Homeschool Mama Tips & Tricks

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So, if you’ve been following along in my new series Debt Free on a Dime you saw last week how I showed you how we keep our household expenses LOW! This week I’m going to show you “5 Super Simple Ways to Cut Your Spending”!

Cut Your Spending, Way #1

When you first start thinking about getting out of debt or back on financial track your first thought is often that you need to make more money. And while its certainly true that more money doesn’t hurt, its also equally true that more money doesn’t necessarily help. See, most likely you got into your current financial mess because of bad choices.

Yep, I know all about those bad choices because….I’ve been there, done that and paid the interest rate for it!

So, while more money is ALWAYS nice, what you first need to do is sit down and look your finances square in the face! How do you do that? Well its not pretty but you have to look at what you’re paying out..gasp… I know, no one, including myself likes to do that.

Because if you don’t know where you’re at, then you can’t make a workable plan to where you want to go!

So, first things first, write down what you’re currently spending each month on all your bills. Then look at what you’re paying for. Are you paying for unlimited internet and routinely use 20GB a month? See if there’s a cheaper rate! Are you paying full coverage car insurance for a 10 year vehicle? Probably not worth it if its paid for.

#2: Simple Ways to Cut Your Spending

Reduce what you use. Remember the old saying “Waste not, want not”? Well it still applies today. Wasting anything is simply that..a waste.. You are throwing money, time and effort right down the drain.

Some big examples of waste are:

1. Not using leftovers. I hear people say all the time. I don’t like leftovers or my family won’t eat leftovers. Really? While I freely admit I don’t like eating chili for 6 meals in a row I absolutely LOVE leftovers! I mean as the chief cook they are fantastic. All you have to do is reheat or combine into a new dish. Its wonderful and so cost and time effective.

2. Leaving appliances on constantly. I have to admit it drives me nuts to be in a home where the tv is always on. Not only is is noisy but I keep thinking “what a waste”.

3. Being unnecessarily hard on things so that you shorten their life expectancy. This can apply to not maintaining vehicles or machinery or not cleaning kitchen appliances well. Remember when you can make stuff last you ultimately save money. And every penny you don’t have to spend is essentially time you get to not spend at a 9-5 job!

Reduce Your Use of Consumables

Nope I am not suggesting you give up toilet paper😂😂 but I DO recommend getting the best price on it possible (& its not the cheapest junk either). Remember quality lasts longer as a general rule and that even applies to toilet paper! For example the super thin stuff requires you to use 3 times as much as the good stuff.

But you can reduce your use of things like paper towels, trash bags, soap, detergents ECT… How you may ask?

Super simple! Get counter cloths to do the jobs you might normally use throwaway paper towels for. I use the ones from Norwex but you can use rags or another microfiber product. The ones from Norwex dry extremely quickly and self-sanitize because if the baclock technology in them. That means you have to wash them less too!

You can also buy or make a highly concentrated laundry detergent. I use Norwex but I also have a great recipe for a diy laundry detergent that works really well if you don’t have hard water (which I do!).

Use essential oils and dryer balls in place of dryer sheets. Not only will you save money but you will eliminate all those nasty chemicals that were absorbing through your clothes into your skin!

Saving Tip #4

Shop wholesale or in bulk if possible. This can save you absolutely tons of time and money and as you know, time is money! How do you do this practically? I’m glad you asked because there are several ways that work great.

1. Shop at a wholesale or bulk foods store. We have a couple in our area that I really like. They sell my wheat berries in 50 pound bags, yeast in 1 pound packages, ECT. I also regularly shop online and in-store at Sam’s Club. When we first started shopping at Sam’s Club we were kinda freaked out by the HUGE sizes of everything but now I’ve learned what’s a great deal for us and what isn’t. For example the cheese in 5 pound bags is awesome for us but the popcorn in 50 pound bags would not be!

See how I save over $1,000 a year by buying in bulk from Sam’s Club!

We love buying toilet paper, paper towels and soap in bulk too. I also buy bulk diapers, wipes and cleaning supplies like oxi-clean and baking soda.

Simple Ways to Cut Your Spending #5

Comparison Shop! This is a fantastic way to cut your spending and still get great products. One super easy way to do this is online.

When I want to buy something (especially big ticket items) I first go online and look at reviews then I check out multiple options for buying it. I look at shipping costs, warranties, and shipping speeds and of course the PRICE TAG!

Some of my favorite places to comparison shop are Amazon, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and EBay. I have saved SO much money by taking 10 minutes to do this.

Why would you want to do this?

You know its kinda just our culture now to BRAG about how much we spent on something. Like I hear people saying “I spent $800 on my phone and I’m still paying on it.” I may be weird here, but borrowing for a cell phone just seems foolish and somehow wrong. I mean, really, when did it become perfectly acceptable to borrow for luxuries? I don’t even want to borrow for a necessity🐒

There again I guess it comes down to your personal beliefs and things you hold dear. I hold freedom dear and freedom from debt is HUGE to me. Honestly that’s why I bother with cutting costs. I LOVE being able to be free to stay home with my kids. I LOVE being able to start my own business just because I want to! But if I was saddled with thousands of dollars in debt I’d most likely be singing the same mantra as so many others, “I owe, I owe, its off to work I go”.

But freedom is possible and attainable. You will have to make sacrifices though. You may have to sacrifice a new car, an expensive house or designer clothes and coffees. Instead you may choose to buy used, build smaller and shop discounts and sales only.

Is it worth it?

Oh my gosh, YES! I can’t even begin to describe how glad I am that I get to tell about how we cut costs in our budget! I’m glad I can say that we give up some things to live a life of freedom.

Guess what? You can have that too! Decide why you’re wanting to reduce your spending and then take my Super Simple Ways to Cut Spending and implement them! Yep, you have to DO the work but you’ll be so glad you did! Get out and get started, then drop me a line on what your working on! I’ll be so glad to hear from you😀