So, you’ve decided to start a budget.  Yes! You’ve done the work to get it organized, you have all your numbers put in for each category and then you add up the total.  Somehow, the expenses are coming out to be more than the income.  Where did all the money go?

You have an awesome goal to ending the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, paying off debt, or saving for an emergency fund, a car/house/baby, etc.  How can you find money in a budget where there is no wiggle room?

This is the fun, challenging and rewarding part of budgeting.  Now that you have your budget set up, you get to look for ways to trim it back to free up some of your income to put toward your goals.  These are the choices that you get to make to decide what you can live without and what it’s worth to you.  How badly do you want to change?  

Over the past few years, my husband and I have trimmed our budget in different areas.  Some changes worked for us, and others didn’t. The good news is, none of these decisions were permanent so we could change things as needed.  These tips are definitely worth trying if you are wanting to squeeze every last drop from your budget.  We have easily saved $500-$1,000/month by implementing these changes.

1.   Stop Eating Out

Eating out is super expensive!  Whether you are swinging by the drive-thru at Wendy’s, eating out at Applebee’s or splurging on a night at Ruth’s Chris Steak House, you will ALWAYS spend more than you intend to.

A moderate dinner out for two will include two drinks, appetizer, entree, and tip.  This can easily total $60 by the time you leave. Even if you drink water and cut out the appetizer, you are still looking at $40.  If you do this 2-4 times a month, that is easy $200! In one year, that’s $2,400!!

Take a look at your spending and see how many times a month you are going out to eat (fast food included!).  The best thing you can do is cut this out completely, especially if you reach the end of the month and don’t know where your money went.  

If you think it would be impossible to cut this out completely, then maybe go the incentive route, and give yourself one eating out experience every other month.  This will allow you to enjoy eating out, but at a much lower frequency which will still save you money.

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2.  Make food substitutions that are cheaper

There are so many food items you could replace with cheaper options or cut out completely.  If you are buying pop (yes, we call it “pop” in the Midwest), you could be spending a fortune every month pending on how much you drink.  The same applies to bottled water. Why spend money for bottles over and over again when you can buy one nice reusable water bottle and keep it forever?

Start buying generic instead of name brand goods.  On an average shopping trip (if you typically buy brand products), you could save ~25% by choosing the cheapest item on the shelf.

Some things we substituted:

• wheat bread changed to white,
• “Raw” sugar changed to granulated sugar,
• coffee changed from a special order from Costa Rica to Dunkin’ Donuts blend.
• The entirety of our list (minus the coffee) are generic items.

Some items we got rid of:

• yogurt,
• pop,
• chips,
• cheese (this only lasted a month and we thought we were going to die),
• desserts,
• cereals (our son likes Fruit Loops so now we buy those to keep him quiet in church – worth it!).

Look at your typical grocery list and think about things you could replace with something cheaper, buy generic or cut out altogether.  Experiment with it and see how much money you can save per month doing this. We easily save $100/month by making substitutions.

Additional money-saving apps (cuz I hate couponing) are Ebates and iBotta – seriously minimal effort and cash back on stuff you were already intending to buy.

3.  Make coffee at home

Do you love coffee?  This can be a huge weakness for people who relish that first cup of coffee in the morning.  If you are spending money on specialty coffee or hitting Starbucks every day, you are wasting so much money!

I know this because I used to do it.  It is insane to me how much money can be spent at Starbucks if you order from there 1-2 times per week.  Save yourself the gas money driving there and the $3-$4 you will spend on coffee. Make your own coffee at home!  If you want to make it special, you can buy syrups or creamer flavors.

I used to order THE best coffee in the world from Costa Rica every month, costing $40-$50.  The coffee was amazing! It was really hard for me to let it go, but I have now adjusted to my lovely Dunkin’ Donuts blend and am no worse for wear.  Someday when I am out of debt, I will be on a plane to Costa Rica to have the coffee firsthand and it will be that much more enjoyable.

When you are no longer financially struggling, you can go to Starbucks 5 times a day if that’s what you want.  I support you! But for now, if you don’t have room for it in your budget, cut it out.

4.  Cut cable

You knew this was coming, didn’t you?  We now live in this awesome time when there are other options available besides expensive cable contracts.  You will survive without cable, I promise!

How much are you currently spending on cable?  If it is more than $15/month; you are paying too much.  Your cable can easily be replaced by an antenna (they are amazing these days and pick up tons of channels!), Netflix, Amazon Prime (membership allows you access to most of the same things you can find on Netflix) or Hulu.  There is the Amazon Fire Stick, Roku or a gaming system (PlayStation, Xbox) to stream from these subscriptions.

We haven’t had cable in 5 years, and we have never missed it.  We have Netflix and an antenna (we use our PS4 and a Roku). If there is ever a sporting event on that we can’t get with our antenna, we will either go out to a sports bar or a friend’s house with cable to catch the game.  You can always find a solution if you want to see something on TV badly enough.

5.  Downgrade Internet

Check with your internet provider on the package options based on internet speed.  You may be able to save $20-$30/month just by downgrading your service to a slower option.  Unless you are running a business out of your home, you really shouldn’t have a need for super fast internet.  

Even with streaming things, a slower speed won’t cause too many issues (we have yet to run into any problems).  The company will try to talk you into getting a faster speed, but it isn’t always necessary.  Downgrading our service ended up saving us $240/year.

6.  Change Cell Phone Providers

Do you know the breakdown of your cell phone plan?  Do you know how much data you are actually using per month?  Look at your plan and find these things out. There are different options available now outside of Sprint, Verizon, T Mobile, that don’t require contracts and don’t make you upgrade your phone every two years to get you into another phone payment plan.

It really is amazing how cell phone companies can lock you into a two-year payment plan on a $700 phone, then when your plan is “up,” they advise you to upgrade because the phone you just paid off won’t be supported anymore.  If you are wanting to stick with a major company, make sure you aren’t paying for things you aren’t using.

Two companies I keep hearing good things about are Republic Wireless and Mint Mobile.  We are actually in the process of getting out of our current plan with Verizon and changing to Mint Mobile.  We can get an entire year of service with Mint Mobile ($180) for what one month with Verizon is currently costing us.  That’s insane!  (update:  we made the switch and we are saving TONS OF MONEY!  Sign up here to try their service, only $15/month!!)

Think about what you could do with an extra $180/month.

7.  Put all vacations on hold

If you are living paycheck-to-paycheck or are trying to pay off debt, you do not need to be going on vacation.  When I say vacation, I mean taking a trip somewhere that will cost at least $500-$1,000. If you want to go camping at a park 2 hours away, over a 3-day weekend, by all means, enjoy yourself.  If you are struggling to have enough to cover your bills by the end of the month, then you need to not take that trip to Florida this year.

Remember that this change is temporary until you get yourself in a better situation.  Instead of scrambling to find the funds to go on a vacation because you feel like you “deserve” it, focus on becoming financially “well.”  Besides, who wants their vacation ruined by being stressed out about how they are going to pay for it?

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8.  Cancel Gym Memberships

Gym memberships are not a must-have in life.  You can spend anywhere between $10-$50/month on a gym membership.  Instead of paying for that convenience, workout in your own home or outside and free up that money.

There are tons of workouts available on YouTube, you can run outside or do exercises in your home.  Again, this isn’t permanent, so you can find a temporary solution to canceling your gym membership. When you aren’t struggling anymore, the gym will still be there.

9.  Stretch the time between haircuts

Going to the salon can be very pricey pending on what you are doing with your hair.  Instead of going every 6-8 weeks, stretch that out to every 12-16 weeks.  Over the course of a year, this could save you a significant amount of money.  If you currently get your hair colored, have your stylist get you back to as close to natural as possible and then stop coloring your hair.  It is not necessary, and is costing you money you don’t have!

Another thing you can do for your husband is learning how to cut hair on YouTube.  Guy’s hair isn’t that difficult (especially if he can live with a clipped haircut) to cut which could save you $10-$20 per haircut.  If you have a relative or family friend skilled at cutting hair you could ask them to do this for you and you feed them dinner in return.  Get creative!

10.  Stop going to the movies

The movie theater experience is super fun, but also super pricey.  Even if you sneak in your own snacks, the tickets can be $10-$20 each regardless if it is a matinee or not.  Save your money and skip the movie.  An alternative to this would be a RedBox pick instead for $1-$2. If going to the movies is something you really love doing, ask family and friends for movie gift certificates for holidays and birthdays.

11.  Stop buying new clothes

This can really be a challenging one if you are used to buying clothing on a regular basis.  Before you do this one think about all the clothing you currently have. Could you get by without buying clothes for a year?  6 months? 3 months? Whatever that number, commit to it and do not buy clothing. We took the year challenge and I swear it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be and I even had to find maternity clothing during that time!

If you absolutely need something new to wear, find friends you could borrow from or shop in second-hand stores.  These places take a bit more effort to dig to find the gems you are looking for, but you will only have to pay a fraction of the cost.

12.  Cut up your credit cards

You do not need a credit card to live.  I repeat you do not need a credit card to live.  Credit cards give you a free pass to spend money you don’t have.  You may have good intentions of paying it off in time, but there is always a risk that you won’t, and then you will get slammed with an insane interest rate.

Getting rid of credit cards will reduce your spending because you will be making sure you actually have the money before it is spent from your checking account.  Additionally, if your card has an annual payment required, you will save that money every year by not having it anymore!

13.  Stop all 401K contributions

This may be a bit controversial for some people, but if you are focused on debt payoff or barely getting by each month, you do not need to be concerned with retirement right now.  Let’s get your budget under control, find some wiggle room to put you in a better financial spot. Once you are finding that extra money every month to begin meeting some of your goals, then you can focus on planning for your long-term future.

14.  Use less product at home

Try decreasing the amount of household products you use by 25% to stretch out your use.  Some of the more expensive items you use on a daily basis include laundry detergent, shampoo, conditioner, styling products, hand soaps, lotions, perfumes, floor cleaner, counter-top spray.  Instead of dumping the laundry detergent into the cup until it is half full, try decreasing it to ¼ cup. You will likely find your clothes are just as clean, but you are using half as much laundry detergent.  Most of the products you have can be just as effective using half of your normal amount.

This same principle applies to hands soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc.  You can really extend the life of your everyday products if you start paying attention to how much you are using.  This can make it so you now don’t have to buy shampoo and conditioner monthly, you can stretch it to every other month.  That alone can save you $10/month!

15.  Reconsider adding pets to your life

I typically get a lot of pushback on this advice, but I believe it to be extremely worthwhile.  If you barely have room in your budget to take care of your family, DO NOT ADD A PET TO YOUR HOUSEHOLD.  On average, owning a dog or cat (just one) for one year will cost you ~$1,000-$1,200. That’s $50-$100/month – IF there are no other issues (ear infections, skin infections, seizures, etc.).

Pets are definitely a privilege, and they require a certain amount of maintenance care, as well as their daily living expenses (food, shelter, bedding, pet sitter if you ever travel).  Imagine you are barely making ends meet and Fluffy decides to eat a chunk of carpeting. Suddenly, your “low maintenance” companion needs emergency surgery for $1,000-$2,000. What will you do then?

If you already have a pet and realize your budget can’t support them, you can always try to re-home them.  If this is not an option, I completely understand.  My dogs are family and I wouldn’t give them up for anything.  We made sacrifices in other areas of our budget to be able to provide for their basic care.  You just have to make sure you are doing what’s best for your family and for your pet.

Look at your budget today and start implementing these super easy changes.  With minimal effort, you can see BIG savings every month. Some of these changes may seem extreme pending on what you’re used to (eating out, gym membership, buying clothing), but keep in mind, these changes are not forever.

If you are motivated to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck, get out of debt or save $1,000 fast then start this challenge!  Try to cut back as much as you can, really, until it feels uncomfortable. Get out of that comfort zone. You will be shocked at how little these changes impact your quality of life, and you will be reaping the rewards every month!

Start now and let me know how much you are saving every month!