Planning Your Budget? 5 Monthly Costs You Can Alter to Lower Your Spending

Preparing a budget is a great way to start getting your finances in order. If you actually want to start saving money or improving your finances, you will need to start making changes in how you spend money. 

In some cases, you don’t need to make cuts, but you can certainly lower some of your costs for the same thing. Here are five ways to alter some of your monthly costs to lower your spending.

Food

Obviously you aren’t going to cut out food entirely, but it is important to look at how you spend money on food. If you spend $10 a day on lunch, that adds up to between $200—$250 a month just on lunch alone. 

If you spend $5 a day on coffee, that’s $100—$150 a month. You don’t have to cut out eating out entirely, but the point of a budget is to budget the money you spend on eating out.

Cut the Cable

The average cost of cable in the US is around $100. Conversely, you can pay for several premium subscription services each month for less than $10 each. Even better is you can start and stop them on demand. 



You might want to do Hulu, Netflix and HBO for a few months until you get caught up on your favorite shows, then switch to Amazon Prime and Showtime for a few months.

Car

If you drive an SUV, you might consider switching to a smaller, more fuel efficient car. You can also check to see if you qualify for refinancing at a lower rate on your current auto loan. Another great way to save some money is to walk more, bike to work or take public transportation a few times a month. You might be surprised at how much you can save.

Pay down (or Off) Your Credit Cards

When you add up all the interest you pay every month on your credit cards, you might be shocked by just how much it is. In some cases people can be spending $200- $300 a month in interest alone. While it may only be $10 or $20 per card, if you have a number of store cards or credit cards with high limits, the interest each month can really add up.

Insurance

While getting quotes on insurance can be a pain, it’s something you should do at least once a year. While getting online quotes may be easiest, you might get better rates calling an independent agent, such as Bear River Insurance. Much like accountants, agents can often help you find discounts you didn’t even know you were eligible for.

You don’t have to give up everything good in life to lower your spending. In fact, by getting rid of some of the things that don’t actually matter much to you, you may find you have even more money to spend on the things that really do.