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8 Monthly Habits to Curb to Save Money

Are you looking to save some extra money each month? Aren’t we all? Sometimes the easiest way to save money is to stop spending it on things. Sounds simple, right? Well, the easiest way to leave a little more cash in your account is to curb some of our most common expenditures. Now I know this can be tough. It’s the little things in life that we love right? I’m not saying you have to eliminate these things, but curbing just a few every month, will leave you with extra cash. And extra cash is what we’re all after!

saving money, money save, debt, — 8 Monthly Habits to Curb to Save Money

Starbucks/Coffee– Now I’m not saying you should quit your coffee habit cold turkey. I don’t think you’re loved ones, or your boss would probably appreciate. But what about just curbing it a bit. Like for instance, if you buy coffee every day, maybe you curb it to 2-3 /per week? It won’t kill you, I promise. This will add up to a savings of over $75/month! And you don’t have to quit, just buy some nice coffee, creamer, syrups and make them at home. After a while, you may grow to love your homebrew more than spending the money on other coffee. Just try it!
Cigarettes– Now this is an expensive habit. While I’ve never smoked, I’ve lived with one for almost 12 years. And when you break down how much he spends (pack a day), over a month, or even a year, it’s astonishing. If the average price of a pack of cigarettes is $7, and that’s probably low, a monthly pack a day user spends $210/month, or over $2500/year! That’s crazy!! And don’t even get me started on the health problems associated with smoking, or the increase in health insurance costs between a smoker and non-smoker. I understand that this is probably one of the toughest things to quit, but it’s imperative. Not only for your health but your pocketbook. Try nicotine patches or the gum. Get a prescription for Chantix. Or just try to taper down. Every bit helps, both your health and your wallet.
Eating Out– Eating out is one of those things that we often pay no attention to, and it’s a real problem. Eating out for lunch every day will cost you an average of $50/week, over $2400/year. That’s a lot of money in In-N-Out burgers and shakes. I understand that it’s sometimes inevitable, we’re traveling for work, we’ve got a work lunch meeting. But planning ahead and bringing your lunch to work, even 2-3 days a week, will help substantially. To the tune of saving you $120-$130/month. It’s a no-brainer really.
Magazine/Subscriptions– Don’t get me wrong, I love a good rag magazine. Set me down with some potato chips, and the newest People magazine and I’m happy! But make no mistakes, it’s not worth paying for the subscription. EVER. With the advent of the internet, you can find almost all articles and info about whatever you’re interested in online for free. Oh and don’t forget about the library. You can go in there and sit to your heart’s content and read about every Kardashian there is.
Switch to Pay-As-You-Go-Phones– This use to be a huge thing as far as saving money, but honestly many regular phone companies offer such great deals on phone plans, such a T-mobile, it’s almost a thing of the past. There are companies like Tello, and even Mint mobile, where you can find good deals. But honestly, if you don’t wanna mess with changing companies, or numbers, you can always call your current provider, and opt for a cheaper plan, say without data, or ask for a break in your rate. Most will go out of their way to make you happy so you don’t cancel service.
Cut/Dye Hair at home– I know plenty of you are like, what?? Are you kidding me? Nope. Cuz I do this. I realize that a lot of men, let their wives cut their hair, or go somewhere cheap like Sportclips for a $8/haircut. But for most of us women, that’s not the feasible. I’ve always gone to salons. And it’s super expensive and time-consuming. See, while I’m relatively young, I have a lot of grey hair. Like my whole head. So I’d spend 3 hours in a salon, getting my hair dyed and highlighted just to cover these buggers. And guess what, they’ll be back in a month. I have a relatively easy layered bob haircut. Oh, and did I mention that it would cost me $250/with tip? I couldn’t take it. So I got brave, watched some Youtube videos and started doing it myself. And guess what, it’s not that hard. I bought higher end hair color, that kind that colored greys good, and went to town. Now I can color and trim my own hair in the privacy of my home, every month. It’s great and one of the best decisions I ever made. I get that this isn’t for everyone, but if you’re not too scared, just try it. I’m not against salons, I love the results, but I’m pretty frugal, and probably would only use them 1x or 2x a year at this point.
Cancel Cable– Before I canceled my last cable account with DirectTv, I was paying $120/month for a basic package, no extra channels. I’d been with them for over 12 years and they didn’t seem too interested in lowering my package. (until I left that is!) I did, and still do have Netflix and Hulu. So I made the decision to cancel Directv and went with SlingTV. It doesn’t come with live local channels, but everything I wanted to watch, like Modern Family, I can watch the day after on Hulu. I got all the same channels and HBO and my bill is now $45. ⅓ of the price of regular cable. We’ve had great service and very little problems. Highly recommend making the switch!
Cancel You Gym Membership– Now by all means if you go daily, keep it. It’s worth it for the stress relief, and health benefits. I had been a gym rat for years and years. Now. Not so much. Since getting my puppy, who is a crazy wildman, I’ve taken to walking him 3 miles every morning. It’s great exercise, he needs it, and it’s got me on a great routine. Trust me, he’s the best alarm clock I’ve ever had! I was scared and slightly let down to cancel my membership, but I wasn’t using it at this time. I’ve always loved the gym, but it simply doesn’t make sense to keep paying $50/month for something that I don’t use, and currently don’t have time for. And besides, the gym isn’t going anywhere, you can always sign back up!

I know reading over these, you think, “gosh, but I like all those things”. Well I do, or did too. But guess what, making a sacrifice sometimes is great for our psyche! It lets us know that we’re disciplined to curb or stop the unnecessary things in our lives for a greater good. And think of all the extra money in your account! Take a chance and just cut out 1 or 2 things this month. Take that money and put it into a savings account, or better yet, put it toward your debt! I can almost guarantee you won’t miss these things, and your bank account will thank you!

Financial Health and Women

So, I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot ladies. What are we doing? Do I mean literally this second, well kinda, but more figuratively. See I’m a 42-year-old, videographer, turned Realtor. I’ve started again, and it’s scary. Not terrifying, but scary.

I’m poor. I’m like really poor. I’m working non-stop trying to get my Real estate career off the ground. But I’m poor. Sure I do some video work here and there, to stay afloat, but times are tight. I keep in mind the bigger picture though. Where I’m trying to get to and how I’m gonna do it.

My question to most women is, what are we doing to better our lives? See, there’s this little unspoken thing that happens to lots and lots of women that nobody seems to want to talk about.

We give up our power. Now I’m not trying to get totally feminist and over the top, like, “screw men, we don’t need ‘em” I don’t mean that at all.

But what I do notice, is there’s plenty of women that accept a secondary role in their family. They’re cared for, they’re taken care of. It’s not that these women who choose to stay home and raise kids are less, they’re working their butts off. But many have inequality in their relationship when it comes to finances. Maybe they don’t handle the money? Maybe they don’t want to? But why?

My question to you is, where do you want for your life? Because you’re responsible to get yourself there ultimately.

Now I know there’s plenty of people reading this, who say, “whoa, whoa, whoa, are you saying that stay at home mom’s don’t have value, that we’re not equal?” Rest assured, that’s not what I’m saying at all.

What I do want most women to think about is, when we take a back seat to our financial lives, and let our husbands or spouses just take care of it, we lose power. When we’re un or undereducated about our own finances, we’re vulnerable. Very vulnerable.

Hear me out. You can have the greatest marriage and spouse around, but have you ever thought about what would happen if he/she wasn’t there? If he god forbid passed away from illness, or something even like he cheated and you got divorced? We often don’t want to think about these horrible instances but trust me, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors by sticking our heads in the sand.

I know great couples where the wife is a stay-at-home mom, and she has zero clue about their finances. She doesn’t know what they own, how much the electric bill is, how much money is in the bank. In my very humble opinion, that’s just financial suicide. You have to be involved. You have to work together, you have to be part of your financial life. It’s imperative and critical.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

I know a very well educated woman, nurse, that married a doctor. They don’t have children. She slowly started getting more stressed and depressed with work. Her husband, a seemingly decent guy, encouraged her to slow down and even stop working. He made enough to support them both. She slowly declined into a gripping depression and even a substance abuse situation. She was literally dying and didn’t seem to have any confidence in her role in the world. Time passes and it’s revealed that her husband is a serial cheater, along with some much worse character traits. She gets into rehab and proceeds with a divorce. Now she’s left starting over. Trying to get back into a workforce she hasn’t partaken in for the last 4 years. Honestly, it’s the best situation that could have happened to her, her situation was toxic. But she is starting over. Luckily she’s got a great family and is educated, but it’s still starting over. Had she kept her job in the first place, chances are she’d be starting off much stronger on her new journey and probably would have had the guts to leave much quicker. But she lost her power along the way.

Here’s another. Picture this. A mid 50’s women. No college education, never has worked. Married to a very wealthy, and wonderful man for years that took care of her. He paid the bills, he handled all finances. As the years go by, they’ve drifted apart. They divorce amicably after over 30 years together. He’s very generous in his settlement and they go the separate ways. Here she is at 53 years old, and she has no idea how to care for herself. No idea how to balance her checkbook, or even pay the bills. She’s lost.

Now I know these are some unfortunate situations and many feel that they could never be in that spot. But trust me it could happen to anyone.

A few years ago, I found myself in this spot. I was working part-time in my own video business, traveling for work. I was also spending half my time running my boyfriends business. His business made much more money and we were a great team. Then we ran into significant problems. His long-standing sobriety left and he struggled with his demons. After being sober for years, he suffered some debilitating family losses and fell off the wagon. Over a period of 2.5 years, he virtually destroyed his business. Lost his best customer and we almost separated.

All of a sudden, it occurred to me that we were stuck. We weren’t making enough money and my part-time salary wasn’t going to cut. Now I’ve always been a hard worker, but this was a stark realization. I was reliant on a partner for my well being, and if we split, I wasn’t making enough to support myself. It was terrifying. And a wake-up call.

We as women need to be self-reliant. Actually, everyone should be self-reliant. I know that it’s increasingly difficult to make a living if you’re at home taking care of kids, but it’s important to bring in and have skills to bring in as much money as possible.

What’s that saying, “hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.”

There are plenty of work at home jobs, part-time work, online work, blogging, becoming a VA for most women to bring in some extra cash. We need to become self-reliant because life you can throw many curve balls at us, whether we’re ready or not.

So I urge you, tonight sit down with your spouse or loved one, and have an honest talk about your finances. Even if you’re scared or just wanna stick your head in the sand, you need to know every part of them. Go over your investments, debt, and even a budget. Become an advocate for your family and their financial health, you never know when you’re going to need it.