It takes plenty of work, patience, and discipline when it comes to handling the household finances, so much in fact that it should never be a solo job. It’s always a good idea to consult a family, friend, or tax professional that you trust in order to ensure you are in the right direction for your financial future. Once we get through paying bills, contributing to savings/retirement account, and try and allocate remaining funds, there isn’t a lot leftover. In order to free up a little money each month, try to avoid overspending on a few items.
Cable TV
The TV is always on in my house, from after work until evening, so getting rid of cable TV was a huge change. For a $20 purchase of an HD antenna, you can get local channel for network broadcasting, but besides that, how often to do you watch the hundreds of shows that are available? How many networks, maybe a handful? It doesn’t warrant over $100 a month just in cable (internet fees are more and still a need), when you can have the HD antenna and streaming services such as HBO & Netflix for $10 a month to still get all of the good shows.
Credit Cards
When it comes to overspending on credit cards, there are two parts, what you are spending, and what you are paying in interest. With the amount of competition out there, seek out the best interest rates and rewards for a credit card. That way you can earn cash back on purchases you are making, and paying a low interest rate, although hopefully paying off the full balance by the time the statement is due so that you do not have to pay any interest to the creditors. You cost be costing yourself hundreds of dollars a year in rewards, not to mention saving on interest.
Groceries
Sitting down with the Sunday paper and clipping coupons may be almost totally extinct, but that doesn’t mean that saving money is as well. If you go to your grocer’s website you can load digital coupons on your shopper’s rewards card. The only trick is you may have to print the list of coupons so you remember what to get. While using your store card you can take advantage of in-store sales for using your card, as well as accumulating fuel points to take off money at the pump.
Wedding
Not that I’m advocating against marriage, but you can still have a great wedding without overspending. The first instinct would be to have a Saturday wedding in June, at which that is probably the highest price that you will find on just about everything wedding related. You can try off-season, which will save a fortune off of the cost, as the venues will be trying to fill nights at less than ideal times. The extra money you free up could boost up that premium bar or even get a live band to play all night instead of a DJ.