Stop Paying for What You Do Not Need

Perhaps at an early age we learned the difference between want and need. Yet as adults, we still draw a fine line between the two being that we live in a society where you are encouraged to want more then what you have. The end result of this want frenzy is buying and paying for things that you do not need. Imagine how much cash you could have every year if you didn’t make purchases you really could have done without. We are known for our garage and yard sales, and those are materials that we find not useful or we simply don’t want anymore. Perhaps if we never bought them in the first place we could have had cash in our pockets for expenses we truly needed.

 

It can be very hard to behave and not over spend, but this quick list might help you overcome this trend:

 

FOOD – Food is a big part of our everyday lives and managing our options can save us big every month. If you work at an office, there are options you can have in order to bring lunches as well as eat out. Be a savvy customer. You could for example eat out on days that certain restaurants or delis are running specials. Subway has a daily special for $2.50 for lunch. At this rate, you could actually be saving more than bringing lunch from home.

 

Best solution: Make a monthly budget for your lunches and have a set amount for every week. This way you can plan out what days to eat out and what days to bring lunch from home.  

 

POPULAR GYMS – The reason why it’s “popular gyms” and not just gyms is because there are some great rates for small local gyms that can offer the same machinery as the big brand gyms. The difference will be that the place is smaller and the price is much less a month.  

 

Best solution: Find the local small gyms available or even opt-out of paying gym fees if your neighborhood offers a clubhouse with a gym. This way you’ll be saving gas and gym fees.  

 

THE LITTLE EXTRAS - We live in an economy of upgrades. You can upgrade your meal to large, you can upgrade your car rental to a higher class, and you can upgrade your hotel view on that vacation. All these extras can mean a lot of money at the end of the year.  

 

Best solution: Don’t get caught up on the upgrades. Stores and companies will tell you that you’re getting a better deal with the upgrade. Just stop to think about it. If you add up all the upgrades you do a year between meals, rentals, store purchases, you could be saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Make your purchases without upgrades. Your pocket will be less empty at the end of the day. 

 

In all, we just need to get smart about our purchases, plan ahead whenever we can and know that if we find ourselves in a tight situation, a cash advance can be a quick solution to our problems.