It is not always easy to cut costs when times are tough especially if you have gotten yourself into routines. Cutting costs by doing a little extra can take a long time to get used to. However, in the long run, spending the additional time can save you a lot of money. If you have the ability to be flexible, you should definitely check out some of these ideas on how to save on everyday costs.
Eliminate Unwanted/Unused Features on Your Cell Phone Bill
Often people pay for features that they never use. You can eliminate these costs by checking in with your cell phone company to see whether you are able to remove them. Doing this can save you a lot of money each year. I was paying $5.00 per month for the ability to make long distance calls to England to keep in touch with my family. But once I discovered Skype I realized this was a huge waste of money. Eliminating things off your cell phone bill may be one of the easiest ways to reduce your costs, you just have to take a little time to make the call or stop in at your carrier’s store.
Another way to reduce costs that are related with your cell phone bill is to check and see if your company has a deal with your carrier. Some big companies offer their employees discounts if they let their cell phone carrier know that they work there. This deal can usually save you somewhere between 10 – 20% on your bill each month.
Buy Only What You Need at the Grocery Store
This option is not for everyone but it definitely does work. If you are only shopping for yourself (and possibly one other person) it is best to only buy a few things from the grocery store every time you go. I found that if I made big purchases at the store each time I was throwing away a lot of food that was no longer good to eat. This isn’t necessarily the case with frozen foods, but if you are buying fresh vegetables and fruits you always want it to be as fresh as can be. It is just a waste of money to continually throw food away and may be much cheaper for you to venture to the grocery store more often.
Use Coupons!
A lot of people don’t like the hassle of using coupons, but the truth is it can save you a lot of money every time you shop. There are clothing stores such as Express that I will only shop at when I have a coupon. I love their clothes, but I find that I receive coupons so often that purchasing clothes there without a coupon is a huge waste of money. Also, with grocery stores and places such as CVS, not owning one of their store cards is also costing you money. There are no fees with these cards, you don’t have to pay for them, and they offer great coupons! CVS especially is great at giving you money back to spend on whatever items you may need. Check out some other great Cost Cutting Secrets from Coupon Mom at MainStreet.com.
Make Your Own Coffee
Buying a coffee at work or Dunkin’ Donuts may only cost you about $2 (or more) per day but you need to think of this on more of a long term basis. To me, $2 per day seems really cheap when purchasing my coffee, however it really does add up more quickly than you think. $2 per day = $10 per week = $520 per year. That’s a huge amount of money! If you factor in the point that many people buy more than one cup of coffee a day…plus sometimes lunch…you are looking into huge amounts of money that could have easily been saved and spent on something else. I know that it isn’t always easy to make your own coffee when you are running out of the house in the mornings, but invest in a cheap coffee maker that has a timer that you can set each night before you go to bed and when you go downstairs in the morning your coffee is all ready to go.
Photo: Jane M. Sawyer
