Challenge Yourself to Lower Your Monthly Expenses

Cutting down your monthly expenses can be as helpful to your budget as increasing your income. By lowering your expenses, you will be increasing the amount of money you have left over each month. Money that you can save for the future. 
By decreasing the amount of money you need to live each month you won't need to earn as much money to live on, so long as you don't start taking up additional expenses again. From then on out, you can continue to live on this lowered amount each month. 
The best way to do this is to make a list of all monthly expenses. The best way to do that is to write down anytime you spend money. Use a piece of paper, notebook, journal, or anything that is convenient for you. 
Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Complete Tightwad Gazette says in this video that people who do this (write down every penny they spend) don't need to buy her book because they will know where they are losing money. 

  Writing it down really does make a difference in how you spend money. It's like the old saying, what gets measured, get improved. 
At the end of the month you can write down all of those expenses into categories, and look at what you spent in each one. 
Once you figure out where your money is going it's time to see if you can cut some of those expenses. January and July are the months when I pay for my auto insurance. 
Ask for discounts on your insurance premiums. I currently get discounts for safe driving, number of years with my auto insurance company, and a multiple driver discount. Some companies even offer discounts if you take safe driving courses. 
At least twice each year I check with other companies to see if I can reduce my auto insurance costs. So far, my insurance company has been the most affordable to me for over twenty-five years, but I still check every year. 
We, like so many other people, had our land line removed a few years ago. With cell phones there was no need for a land line in our home. We also save money on our cell phones by splitting the cost between three people. 
There are multiple places to lower your monthly expenses, but no one can do this for you. You have to make a list of all your expenses and start calling people and asking for a discount. It doesn't hurt to ask  and you may be able to trim your monthly expenses by hundreds of dollars and that is money in the bank. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~