I have never budgeted before, but I decided it was time to start paying more attention to my expenses. I have loans I would like to make a dent on, and I wanted to see if it was possible to half-lease a horse. I started by writing out all of my expenses for March and setting goals for paying off my student loans. Here are some of the things I have been able to do so far to save money in effort to reach my financial goals:
1. Canceled Subscriptions: I had been using HelloFresh for my meals for the last several weeks. I really enjoyed trying different meals, but I realized I was still having to grocery shop for snacks and breakfast foods on top of the amount I was spending on the meal subscription. I decided to cancel HelloFresh and start meal planning.
I also canceled Disney Plus. I have so many streaming services and decided to cancel that one that I was using the least.
2. Student Loans: I paid of my smaller student loan with the profit sharing check I received from work. I have one more student loan, that is quite a bit larger. I have made a plan to pay off the larger student loan once I receive the merit raise.
3. Canceled Hair Color Appointment: This was an easy one. I had gotten my hair colored on a whim, and it was so expensive. I have decided I am not going to keep up the color.
4. Less Eating Out: I have started packing snacks and lunch for work. I make sure I pack everything the night before. I also eat breakfast every day at home before work. This helps to eliminate me grabbing something on the way to work.
5. Listened to Friends Talk About Their Budgets: A lot of my friends are married so their budgeting looks a little different than mine, but a lot of the concepts still remain.
6. One Grocery Shop a Week: Previously I would stop at multiple places a week for my groceries. There were certain items I would pick up from Trader Joe’s and other items that Whole Foods or Sprouts only carried. I decided to limit my shopping to one stop a week. I now shop at Trader Joe’s one week, and the next I’ll shop at one of the other stores. I also have stopped buying a whole gallon of milk. This is a small change, but I was wasting milk so I figured it made more sense to start buying only a half gallon.
7. Entertainment Budget: I decided to be specific in my entertainment budget. I had been renting movies from Amazon Prime and going out to the movies multiple times a month. I am trying to limit how much money I spend on either renting or going to the theater. I know Mulan is coming out in March so now I have something to look forward to and will not be as tempted to rent other movies.
8. Take Advantage of Additional Income: My health insurance and the company I work for offer different ways to receive gift cards. The easiest way is survey. I can also submit my dental appointments and complete health missions to earn towards gift cards. My company also offers overtime. Last week I went in 2 hours early every day. I am planning on starting to pay an additional amount to my car payment each month, so working overtime is going to help me to be able to do this.
Happy Budgeting!