I started with easy cuts. I did a financial audit of our spending and found stuff I didn’t know I was paying for or didn’t need. Then I looked into ways to trim or cut othr things. Two years ago we cut satellite and TV stuff. We spent only $30 on an antenna, got a gifted Roku stick, and everything else is free. We shopped around and lowered our phone plan costs. Seeing your day to day spending was an eye opener. The audit alone was enough to scale back on all the swiping and make a better plan for spending. To curb spending but not cut things like eating out, we did it when it really mattered. We got more disciplined about eating at home. If we did go out, we looked at lower costs, ordered water instead of soda, found “kids eat free,” or used coupons/rewards. Decluttering was huge for improving things at home. We found stuff to sell, found loose change and random gift cards and used them up, and taking inventory of personal items and the pantry was significant. We started using less a bit less toothpaste, a bit less shampoo, and not tugging the TP so much. Micro habits started adding up to bigger savings. We’re trying a no or low spend year. Shade in days you don’t spend at all beyond fixed expenses, or if you stay within your budget for variable spending. Over time, you realize this was much needed earlier and you could be piling up savings for harder times, but I hope these ideas spark some ideas for ya!
