Small changes to make life more affordable!

Author : teriann

I have no money.  How often do you hear that claim being made by family or friends? The truth is it is very easy to spend money and very hard to save it.  As a result money always seem to be on a circular journey. It almost seems like the more that you make, the more it goes.

Where does it all go?

Where does all the money go? Well that’s really the crux of the matter as if you don’t keep track of your spending then you really will never know how much money you actually are spending.

So when you write a budget, then you can see how much money you really spend and what items are the biggest drains on your pocket. I was really surprised when I sat down to do my budget for the first time and realized that the biggest drain on my pocket was on food. The biggest bills were my repeated visits to restaurants.

I never thought much about how much I actually spend on eating out.  Fast food options aside, eating out can be very costly. I like eating out but when I saw the chunk of my budget being taken for this I decided that I needed to cut back.

Just that small change allowed me to save up to almost $5000 extra every month. So if that is also your challenge I suggest more home cooked meals.  They are delicious and best of all much cheaper than buying food from upscale restaurants.

After checking your budget you might discover that you need to make other changes in order to be able to have a little extra in your pocket.

Changes

Other small changes can make your life more affordable. For example consider going grocery shopping and buy bulk products.

It might seem more expensive at first to buy so many items, however bulk buying means less shopping trips. There are also usually discounts attached to buying bulk items.

I also find less shopping trips equals less temptations and keeps more money in my pocket. When you do go shopping always I encourage consumers to make and take a shopping list.  That way you can avoid impulse shopping.

If consumers want to make life better then they have to take charge of their finances. Remember we are in control of how and when we spend our money.

If you tend to buy phone credit a lot you could invest in a post paid plan that way you can benefit from unlimited phone calls for the month without needing to continually ‘top up’. It certainly is not necessary to have the latest gadget either. Try limiting yourself to using what you have instead of living above your means.
It is imperative that consumers also take charge of their debt. If you have a credit card don’t just pay the minimum balance every month as that can keep you firmly rooted in debt. It is also a good idea to consider loan consolidation so that you pay one sum to one entity rather than several small sums to ‘everyone’ that you owe.

So what’s your take? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

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One Response to “Small changes to make life more affordable!”

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