My husband and I were able to ride this wild ride of inflation for nearly a year. However, we’re starting to feel the strain on our budget. Rising grocery prices coupled with teenage appetites seem to be our downfall. Rising utilities are also affecting the budget. Recently, we’ve implemented the following ways to curb spending.
5 Ways to Curb Spending
Remember that no cut is too small when looking for more money to pay for necessities. For example, if you cut one item from the budget that costs $5 and another that costs $15, you’re “only” saving $20 a month, but over a year, that’s an extra $240 you didn’t previously have available to you. Every amount helps; remember, several minor cuts can add up to a large amount of money over time.
Subscription Services
The first area we cut was our subscription services because those were the least painful to let go of.
Rotate Streaming Services
We subscribed to several streaming services, but we cut them down to Netflix and Paramount+. Those two streaming services cost us $22 a month. We cut four others, saving us $32 a month or $384 a year. When we get tired of the streaming services we’re currently using, we’ll stop those and pick up one or two of the four we cut this time.
Audible Subscription
I like listening to audiobooks when I walk daily. My subscription to Audible is $14.99 a month, but over the last few years, I’ve collected a lot of credits, so I can’t listen to all I have available. So, I put my Audible subscription on pause. (You can do this for three months once a year.) I will save $45 a year and finally get through all the audiobooks I have but haven’t listened to yet.
Groceries
As I mentioned, groceries are one of our most significant expenses after our house payment. We never go out to eat, so groceries are the only place to tackle our food expenses.
Switch Food Choices
We like to have a salad with our dinners, but the price of lettuce has jumped. . .a lot! So, we now have vegetable soup instead of salad with our dinners. I can make a big pot of vegetable soup that lasts us for three meals for less than making salads for each of those meals.
One of the best ways to save on groceries is to be flexible and consider foods you don’t usually eat but are cheaper. For example, we like to eat cod, but that’s more expensive now, too. So, I found much cheaper cod pieces; I turn them into fish patties, and we eat those instead.
Shop the Pantry
Since the pandemic, we’ve maintained a good size pantry. Now, I try to shop my pantry first and buy the necessary groceries to round out the meals I can make based on pantry supplies. Then, when items essential to our pantry are on sale, I stock up on those.
Shop Every Two Weeks
Another option that I’m experimenting with that my family is less thrilled with is shopping every two weeks. When I shop this way, we use up ALL of our produce. During the first week, we eat highly perishable items like bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. In the second week, we turn to the produce I bought with a longer shelf life, such as butternut squash or pineapple. If we eat all that and it has not been two weeks, we turn to frozen veggies until it’s time to shop again.
Spend to Save
While this next tip might sound contrary, it works for us. Sometimes, we spend money to save money.
Flexible Spending Account
This year, we took the maximum flexible spending amount available. The amount is deducted from my husband’s paycheck, which gives us a smaller take-home amount. However, it saves us money in two ways:
First, using a flexible spending account reduces our gross income, so, at tax time, we owe fewer taxes.
Second, I usually put aside money monthly for our medical bills. However, now that we’re using a flexible spending account, the money for our medical/dental/optical expenses comes from the FSA, so I don’t need to set aside money from our take-home pay to pay those expenses.
Investing in Outdoor Equipment
We’ve also spent money to give ourselves years of free entertainment to come. For instance, we bought sleds so that when it snows, we can go sledding for free. We also invested in hiking boots for the family so we can hike year-round, which is also free.
Find Free Sites
We’re spending more time outdoors hiking for free entertainment, but we’ve found other ways to get out of the house and save, too. For instance, our kids wanted to look at the Rochester Institute of Technology, so we took a one-hour drive over there. After we walked around the campus, we went to a local cemetery and found the graves of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. We brought our lunches from home, so the entire outing was free except for the gas we paid to get there. More and more, we look for free entertainment like this.
Wait to Buy a Car
Our car is 18 years old. We planned to buy a replacement vehicle in 2020, but the pandemic hit. Because the cost of new and used cars is inflated right now, we continue to nurse along our old car until the car market stabilizes. Would I like a replacement vehicle now? Absolutely. However, we don’t want to overpay, especially when the old car still runs.
Final Thoughts
Nothing lasts forever, and eventually, this high inflation rate will end. But, meanwhile, we’re utilizing these ways to curb spending to help us maintain our budget.
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Read More
Breaking: You Can Thank Inflation for Your 2022 Tax Break,
How to Stop Inflation-Induced Overspending,
Inflation to Cause Utility Bills to Rise in 2022,
10 Ways to Stay Frugal During Inflation
Image and article originally from www.savingadvice.com. Read the original article here.