Have you sat down and looked over your spending habits? You know that moment where you decide something has GOT TO STOP. You print out your bank account statement for the month or pull it up on your phone and compare it to your pay stubs.
It’s all adding up alright, but yet you’re left with a measly $20 at the end of it all.
You can’t possibly be working this hard for so little?!
What are your options?
If you can’t increase your income- i.e. get a second job, get a higher paying job.
You can decrease where you are spending your money and it may just feel like you got that raise you’ve been hoping for.
How to Increase Your Income
Switch to a pre paid cell phone service.
These are typically half the cost of the big names like Sprint and Verizon. Sure they will sell you an offer that makes you feel you will be spending less by gaining more but you are smarter then that. You want that extra money each month. Do you really need all the extra features that come with a higher bill? We have gone with Straight Talk for just about 4 years now. I have NEVER had a problem. The phones are the same. The service uses Verizon towers and I pay $45 a month for unlimited everything. You can also renew these payments all online so you do not have to go into the store every month. If you have a wireless modem always have your phone grab your internet when you are at home to use less of your data plan.
Get rid of cable.
Yep. Don’t try to let them convince you again that you can get a package deal. Who likes watching T.V. now with commercials?! I highly suggest Amazon Prime- it works out to $7.99/,month and you do not just get to watch T.V. shows and movies you also get 2 free day shipping and deals just for Prime Members! Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. I also LOVE Netflix and Hulu. They are the type of programs where you are streaming your shows for $7.99 a month. Hulu is great because you get to watch T.V. shows the day after they air on the networks. The only downside is they do break for very quick commercials. You can upgrade your HULU account for $10.99 commercial free. Netflix is rocking it right now with offering their Netflix exclusive shows like Fuller House that are released a whole season at a time! This is the way of the future as many of these networks have their own exclusive shows.
Downgrade your internet service
FOR REAL. It’s been two years now that we have had the $14.99 every day low price internet from Time Warner Cable. She told me that I would not be able to watch Netflix from it and that it’s mostly for surfing the web. But I am here to tell you my girls watch cartoons in the morning on Netflix, I blog, use my phone for social media interacting all off the same service. It works FINE! I did discover that a quality wireless router is what makes the difference. If your Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon account gives you that dreaded circle try restarting your router. Most of the time that does the trick not your internet connection. With tax we pay a whopping $21 a month! Be smart.
Cut your grocery bill in half.
Say what?! Yes seriously. Groceries are a category that everyone can decrease right away in their budget- if you feel the need is enough. We have endless options of food and you can get them for less. I highly recommend checking out my Feed Your family for less posts to see how you can get groceries for $40 or less a week and the meals you can make from that. The Weekly Store Coupon matchups are the BEST way to save and make your life easier. Couponing will save you cash. When you play the game right. If you are saying you do not have time to play the game you are fooling yourself that money will just appear. You are being given an option to truly save cash and still eat well. What are you waiting for? I know many of you are saying I don’t get couponing please take the time to read my 4 part Learning How to coupon and allow yourself to be open to learning. You will be sharing your hauls in our FB group in no time. I believe in you.
Stop Eating out.
Look at the amount of times you eat out during a week, a month, a year. Take your average restaurant bill and really look at the amount of food you bought and see how much that would have cost you at the grocery store. There is no way it is less- otherwise how would a restaurant make it. If finances are so tight you need to cut back eating out may mean you need to change your schedule or take a day to meal plan but with how we use the internet today and the excessive access we all have to it there really is no excuse. If you are saying you are living paycheck to paycheck and you hit up McDonald’s 3 times a week- you are being foolish. McDonald’s is not that cheap. A family of four eating there averages $30. Give your family healthier cheaper meals. Plan your menu. If you are strapped for time take advantage of cooking in a crock pot. Have sandwiches for a week. Our lives are seasons, they won’t always be this way and we need to be wise in each season we are in, so we are better equipped for the following season.
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Rachel @ Smart Mom Smart Ideas
Tasna, thank you for sharing these tips. We do many of these tip now. I am always trying to negotiate a better price with the cable and cell phone companies. We cut our cable over 2 years ago and never missed it (I especially don’t miss the monthly bill). Your suggestions are practical and doable for most people.
Tasia
Thanks Rachel! It’s crazy how you really don’t miss cable when you realize how much it actually costs you each month!
Julie @ Logger's Wife
We can’t do the cheap prepaid phone services because there isn’t coverage where we live or most of where we travel. But in October when our plan is up, we are switching to prepaid with our current cell phone company. It will save us about $20/month.
We actually can’t use the cheapest Time Warner plan as it barely works for us. I never thought about it being a wireless router issue.
Tasia
I would really check the quality router you have and the whole restarting it. We really have multiple devices streaming off this $14.99 service and we live out in the country!
Letticia Vickner
Wow! I found you on Mom-to-Mom mondays! I really love this post it was super helpful. My husband and i have been using Dave Ramseys baby steps to get out of debt. We recently called comcast to cancel cable and it was more expensive to have just internet. Thank you for sharing about Time Warner Cable. We will be transferring to them once our contract is up with them. I also loved that you shared about Straight talk. We have verizon and our bill is $145 a month. We both have iphones and only 2gb of data and don’t go over that data amount. We are paying a lot for barely anything. I love using my iPhone to take pictures. I’m sure we could just get whatever phones they have and still use our iphones for pictures and connect to wifi with those. Again, thank you because we’ve been stuck on these two things for awhile. We don’t mind not using cable and such it’s just hard to find the right deal!
Tasia
Straight Talk has Iphones you can even activate your old iphone with a straight talk plan! Dave Ramsey really changed our financial decisions we have always been frugal but really giving our money a purpose and plan changed everything! Thinking of you as you go through these beginning stages of getting out of debt. They are painful at times but so crucial. Glad you stopped by from Mom-to-Mom Mondays! It’s great over there!
Gina Badalaty
Great tips! We struggle with going out. We get so bored in our house!
Tasia
Thanks Gina!
Jana Pritchett
If you pay for a whole year at a time, Straight Talk is a bit less (like $40 a month).
Tasia
Thanks Jana, I didn’t realize that!
Marva | sunSPARKLEshine
These are some great tips that I wouldn’t have thought about. I remember spending a year without Cable and it was one of the best things. Now with Amazon Prime, this might be a good time to cut it out again. Thanks for sharing!
Tasia
Yes if you have subscription services you can totally get away with ditching cable.
Roy A Ackerman @Cerebrations.biz
Great advice. People really need to evaluate why they spend on what they spend.
Tasia
Thanks Roy! I know if we just took a minute to stop and think about why we are purchasing something or putting our money into something it would go a long way!