When looking at your budget and trying to find areas to cut back, it can be tricky. You might be saving for a holiday, an unexpected bill or something bigger like redundancy, finding spare money within your budget can be hard.
But, there will be certain aspects of your budget you can cut out completely, plus other areas where you can make significant cut backs which will also have a big impact. These cutbacks don’t have to be a permanent thing if your finances improve, but chances are you won’t miss them anyway!
- Monthly memberships. Think gym memberships for one. Monthly memberships can be a fixed item on a budget that tend to be overlooked, but these are the easiest to get rid of. Using the gym membership as an example – there are lots of things you can do as exercise for free at home. Lots of outdoor stuff which is better for you 🙂
- Eating out. When you’re trying to make cutbacks on your budget, eating out has to definitely be cut back, if not cut out completely. Eating out at a restaurant can soon add up to quite a bit, so this in theory could save you a lot on your budget!
- TV packages. There are so many options when it comes to add ons for the basic tv package but these can add on quite a bit to your monthly bill. Ring up and cancel what you don’t need (chances are they’ll offer you a discount to stay anyway!) to make some savings.
- Clothes shopping. Reducing the amount you spend on clothes can be great in so many ways; you’re not bringing in lots of extra stuff to your house, plus you are helping the environment. Have a look through your wardrobe and see just how many items of clothing you already own. Still need to go shopping?
- Presents. Now, this is a sensitive topic of many. But if things are tight then the amount you spend on giving to others has to give. This will be different for everyone, depending on how many people you buy presents for. There are other alternatives to help with present purchasing – doing surveys online in exchange for various gift vouchers will help [see: Boost Your Income With Swagbucks]
- Magazines. This includes any subscriptions and impulse buying in the shop. Magazines can be so tempting and lure you in with their front covers, but as the average cost is about £5 so can soon add up! If you really like your magazine, maybe ask for it as a birthday/Christmas present 🙂
- Outsourced services. Things like having a gardener, cleaner or anything else you outsource. See if you can fit doing this yourself, even in the short term. I know that it can be tricky when timing is an issue but this could save a lot a month.
- Alcohol. Maybe deciding to have a drink just at the weekend rather than during the week as well will definitely help you cut back in this area. Alcohol can quickly add up, so it would help to only have a couple of nights where you indulge.
- Mobile phone plans. If you’ve got a monthly contract then it can be difficult to reduce. However, phoning your mobile phone provider to see if they would reduce your plan wouldn’t hurt. When I last upgraded my phone, I didn’t want to pay as much and threatened to leave, and they gave me a 30% discount on the monthly price plan!
- Unnecessary travel. When your budget needs cutting back on, then travel can be one. Now, you might use your car for work or travel via train, but any other travel could be limited in order to save some money. Walking somewhere rather than jumping in the car, especially if it’s a short journey. Little changes can soon add up!
When it feels like things are tight, it’s a good idea to look at your budget as a whole and see exactly where your hard earned money is going. If you’re saving for something important, or need to pay off debt or an unexpected expense, then cutting back in the short term can really have a big impact.
What else would you add? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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Nice post – thanks for the nudge at the start of my day! 🙂
Thanks 🙂
I find that meal planning always helps to cut back on expenses. When I slip out if the habit if doing it, I tend to spend more.
Great tip – yes! Meal planning can be a great help 🙂
Hi, I’ve stumbled across your lovely blog in the last couple of weeks. Your helpful, interesting ideas and suggestions have encouraged me to live a more frugal lifestyle. It is so easy to spend without thinking! So from the 1st September I shall be following many of your encouraging hints and tips, it’s not going to be easy to start a new journey, I’m not the most organised person, so fingers crossed.
Kind regards
Sue 🙎🏼
What a lovely comment – thank you 🙂 let me know how you get on with your journey; you’ve made a great decision 🙂
There are definitely some improvements that I could be making! I might add, avoid taking your purse/spare change out with you when you can avoid it. If the initial intention of the trip out doesn’t require any money, you don’t need the temptation sitting in your pocket waiting for you to spend it.
Great tip! You can’t spend it if you don’t have it 🙂
Another thing I try to do to save money is to do my hair myself and my husband cuts his hair. Just by doing that saves us at least $175 a month.
That’s a great saving!
I have done all of the above. I made a plan to write down every day what I spend. I reduced my budget by $214.00 last month. I write in the planner no spend days at the end of the day. I went shopping or spent money on 8 out of 30 days last month. Answer is 1. I make a list of what I need before leaving the house so I don’t over my budget. Next I figure out how much gas I was using just jumping in the car to get the forgotten whatever. I checked the utilities (water,sewer and elec. I started to unplug lamps that I really never use in a room. They were just decorating. Then I called my cell phone company and found out I was paying the higher rate as no one told me there was a in between rate. The big one for this month is my car insurance. I had an accident and while the car is laid up you can take off collision while in repar.$60.00
Reducing your budget by $214 is great!
hi! A few cutbacks that have worked for us:
Sharing newspapers with neighbours. Older people have a daily chat a long side the swap!
Not ordering food in. That goes along with proper foodplanning.
Detoxing inbox from incoming emails with adverts or newsletters inviting to spend money;
Filling the shopping cart of an online clothes store but not making the purchase, seems to excorsize (?)my desire to buy for real;
We live in an appartment building and have a large basket for books near our lift. People can add or take what they want. Recycle!
I use issu.com to read alot of magazines. Its free and has plenty of subjects.
Taking a certain amount of money out for foodshopping. Thats the budget and its fun to try and keep it. What is left over is saved up. Thats about it. Max
These are some great tips, thanks for sharing 🙂
All great ideas! We also cut down on entertainment expenses by using affordable DVDs and books from the library. 🙂 We even started making our own beer and wine to avoid buying it!
Just cancelled the daily newspaper….only one of us reads it….
Hard to cut back on some things I consider inessential and hubby says we need….
I meal plan which reduces waste and I shop at Aldi as it saves me lots of money.
I had smart meters fitted which gives a visible reminder.
I have recently cancelled Sky sports package as they were raising price by £10 a month(will see how my son copes without it 😊).
Good ideas for cutting back. I would also look at entertainment costs, like movies and books, which you can borrow from the library.
These are great money saving tips and I see a few that I can put into action pretty quickly. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! 🙂 Let me know which ones you implement.