We need to reduce our spending and I'm pretty sure you need to reduce your spending as well! Here what we are going to do to help us reduce our money spending and get a hold of our finance.
Spring is here, along with that beautiful weather. If you are like me and so happy to see spring arriving, you might tend to get too excited and overspend a bit. The warm weather screams going out or buying something new; somehow our budget tends to get a bit out of whack. The good news is that this problem is fixable. I will teach you how to reduce your spending so you can surely enjoy the upcoming summer season.
Reducing your spending can be tricky. Especially when you are coming out of hibernation mode. Gardening season is here and I tend to go overboard with ideas, this leads me to overspend. Reducing my spending during the spring time is important to me because I have summer coming up and my finances have to back on track if we want to enjoy the summer we planned for our family.
How to reduce your budget doesn’t have to be a hard emotional journey. We enjoy spending our money, reducing our spending doesn’t have be as emotional either. All it takes is consistency, planning, and execution to see results that will surely make you happy.
Life always throws us curves, we are all different, which means that our personal finances are different as well. For this reason, we should always remember that what works for me, might not work for you. So keep in mind that some of these tips on how to reduce your spending might not work for everyone, but will give you an idea on how to reduce your spending.
How To Reduce Your Spending
- Go over your budget – Too much spending will definitely affect your budget. Now is the time to sit down and take a look at what needs work and start readjusting it. Remember that without a budget, you won’t be able to understand your finances and where your money is going.
- Go on a spending freeze – Obviously this is not as easy as it may sound. That being said, we need to stop all spending as soon as possible in order to get our finances back on track. This spending freeze is not forever, but since we need to reduce our spending, it is necessary.
- Get back to reviewing your goals – Earlier in the year, we created a yearly goal as well as a monthly goal. To get back on track, evaluating and going over goals will help you get you motivated and help you reduce your spending.
- Use the cash system – When all else fails, simply use cash. You know yourself, and if you are like me, you tend to overspend when you have plastic in your hand. I can tell you that using cash will help you stay within your budget and help you save money.
- Avoid going out with your car – This is something that is important. If you go out to the mall with the intention of not shopping, chances are you are going to fail. You are also spending money just going anywhere if you think about it. The cost of gas to just simply window shop, it’s not worth it. Avoid going out. If you walk, chances are you will walk to the nearest park or around the block. These are simply a better alternative and good for you as well.
- Visit your local library – Instead of buying that book, why don’t you check it out at your local library for free. Want to rent a DVD? See the library selection and see what’s available. This will help you reduce your spending for sure since it will be free, unless you don’t return it on time.
- Sell your unwanted items – If you are sitting with items that you no longer care for, why not make a buck and sell it? Host a yard sale and make some extra money. This is always a great way to declutter and the money can be used to pay your debt or to save.
- Save money on your utilities – Find ways to help you reduce the cost of your utilities. I give examples on how to save money on your electric bills here. You might think this will not help you reduce your spending, but it will. Reducing the amount of money you spend on your utilities means more money for you to pay on other debt or to save.
- Save money on your groceries – You can reduce your spending by finding ways to save money on your groceries. This can be done by writing down a menu plan, using a shopping list, and matching coupons with store sales. These tips will help you reduce your spending on your groceries in no time.
- Look at your rewards – If you have credit cards that gives you rewards, why not cash them out? If you use programs like Swagbucks, My Points, etc, find out if you are able to cash out your reward and use them to help you reduce your spending.
- Pack your lunch – If you work outside of the home, packing your lunch will surely help you save money and reduce your spending.
- Avoid deal sites – When on a spending freeze, avoid deal sites, sale alerts, and deal emails. As much as this might hurt you, the best way to avoid temptation is to stay away from the influences. If you want to reduce your spending, avoiding these sites will help you stay focused.
- Avoid going out to eat – Preparing your meals at home will help you reduce your spending. Shop from your pantry if necessary to avoid spending more money.
- Evaluate your insurances – If you have the same insurance company for more than 2 years, maybe it’s time to shop around for a better deal. Lowering your insurance bill will help you save money and reduce your monthly spending as well.
- Switch banks – If your financial institution charges you fees, and you have more than one account, this could add up. Find bank institution that won’t change you bank fees like Captial One 360.
These 15 tips on how to reduce your spending are examples that work when reducing your spending. From shopping around for insurances company, to simply avoiding eating out will reduce your spending in no time.
These ways to reducing your spending are great and won’t make you miserable in the process. There are so many ways on how to reduce your spending, tell us which tip or tips helped you reduce your spending. Please share it with us.
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Good tips! We’ve been on a budget for a couple of months and were doing well until my son got sick. Thankfully we keep a little rollover for times like this. We’ll try again for May.
I don’t think I can prepare myself enough when one of us get sick. I hope your son is feeling better and I completely get what you are saying. The good thing is that you are picking right back up.
These are great tips, Joyce! We like to start planning for our home improvement and gardening projects in the Spring so we adjust our budget accordingly to accommodate that. And then if we do go over, we’ll put a spending freeze on.
Right now I’m on a list. I have went over what we need to purchase and see if we can find it on deal. For that reason alone we are on a freeze until later. We have a few things planned for the summer and we have to follow our budget in order to enjoy our summer.
Such great tips! I definitely agree with avoiding deal sites because they are often the pull to get you to spend a lot more than you planned. When I see a promo code it usually requires a minimum spend too…which I’m sure is all part of the plan, ha!
You just described me! HAHA! Deal sites are terrible and they normally get me around holidays. I’m like OK well If I spend this amount I’ll get the deal.
Other than the going out to eat, reading this made me feel pretty good about my springtime savings!
Good for you Leanne! We have so much little trips planned and we are so trying to be good during this spring.