Sometimes it can be daunting to change habits, especially when it comes to spending habits so my frugal experience and advice is to change just one thing at a time.
Studies show that revamping habits can be difficult if you go all out. Like people who start going to the gym seven days a week at the start of a new year and end up quitting before Valentine’s Day. So start with small, meaningful changes, one by one, to revamp your spending habits.
An easy one is to review and drop most of your streaming services and subscriptions. Dio you honestly need 27 subscriptions via that big ole delivery service? Probably not. After a hard review, I went from a dozen to just four that still arrive with regularity. I keep reminders active (they cost nothing) so I know to check if I need something but honestly, I have not run out of anything since cutting the subscriptions down to the bare minimum.
Streaming service review did mean I was not going to be watching a couple of shows, but I gladly gave them up for the money I was going to save on an annual basis. I was frankly on the fence about one of them but decided to give it a few months to see if I truly missed that particular show enough to spend the money.
Again, I made one small change.
The same can go for food which can take up a huge chunk of your monthly budget. If you go out to eat three times a week, try cutting back to two times. If you buy a lot of meat, try going meatless one dinner a week.
Small changes can add up to significant savings in the long run.
I apparently have a condiment addiction, at least according to my daughter and friends so when I cleaned out the fridge recently, I bit the bullet and cleared out all condiments that were past their prime. More importantly, I have not replaced any of them. And guess what? My grocery bill has gone down as a result. I honestly do not need four kinds of BBQ sauce, three kinds of soy sauce and multiple varieties of mustard. I’m perfectly fine with less, much less as it turns out. My cooking hasn’t suffered and nobody is the wiser. Plus, I can actually see what’s in the fridge these days, a definite bonus.
I have long adhered to the rule of buy a one, donate one when it comes to clothes shopping and encourage those of you who indulge in retail therapy to do the same. Mindless shopping lands differently when you know you have to go home and find something in your closet to send to the local charity shop.
So, change one small spending habit and see if it does not encourage more frugal and mindful spending in the long run.
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the house behind 