Over the past couple years in my quest for better financial health, I've stumbled across some practical tricks that have helped me cut back on monthly expenses. Some of these tips may be obvious, but they have all legitimately saved me quite a bit of money which is why I'm even making a post about it.
Search for new car insurance often.
Every few months, I like to go online and search for new car insurance to see if I can shave a few dollars off my monthly bill. It may not work all the time, but I've switched around a couple times with pretty good success. I had particularly high success with this about two years ago where I switched insurance carriers and saved about 35% in the process (I know, I sound like a commercial). Not a bad discount! I will say that the companies don't seem to like when you switch often for obvious reasons; I couldn't even get quotes from some companies if I hadn't kept a policy for a certain period of time. So, I try to hang onto a policy for at least six months before looking into a switch.
Forgo upgrades to new things.
It's surprising how many people I've known that complain about their financial situation but always seem to have the latest and greatest of everything. I've been there done that, and it's just not necessary. One of the best tidbits I've picked up about this is that it's best to look at an upgrade in terms of the amount of value that it will add to your life. For example, if you have a flip phone and want to upgrade to a smart phone, that could potentially bring you a significant amount of value. However, if you've got an iPhone 12 and want the iPhone 13, how much value does that really add to your life? The camera might be better and the processor might be slightly faster, but you probably won't notice the difference.
Having said all of this, it is worth mentioning that sometimes upgrading can actually save you money. I just recently got a new phone and the promo they were running made the new phone free which actually cut my bill down by about 30%. In a case like that, it's totally worth it.
Avoid having a car payment.
One of the biggest ways to reduce your monthly bill is to save up some money for a used car instead of financing one. I've always bought vehicles outright, and I always buy used. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to also have a car payment when I was making pennies as a brand new flight instructor trying to pay off my loans. It's also tempting to go out and buy a new car when you get a new job that pays more because "that's what everyone does" and "everyone has a car payment," but why take out a huge loan on a new car when you can save up for a little while and then buy a perfectly good used car? New cars are expensive as hell these days and they lose half their value the second you drive off the lot. I recently bought a 2005 Camry for about $4200 and it gets the job done beautifully.
Call up your phone service provider and make sure you're not paying for things you don't need.
For awhile, I was paying about $125 a month for my phone, thinking that it was about right for what I was getting. Then one day, I decided to give my carrier a call and ask if there were any ways to reduce the monthly cost. Turns out there were several reoccurring charges for features I didn't actually need (which made me a little angry). Fast forward about 15 minutes and we had knocked roughly $35 off the bill every month. It's definitely worth a try! Especially because they ultimately want to keep you as a customer.
Make sure free trials haven't turned into subscriptions.
These days there are so many subscription services out there that it can get difficult to keep track of everything. The lame part is, companies almost always make you put in payment details for a free trial because they're hoping you forget about it and let it turn into a full on subscription. Either that or they just make it difficult to cancel. Or both. More than once I've noticed a charge on my account that I eventually find out is because I opted into a free trial that turned into a paid subscription because I forgot to cancel it. Two things have really helped me put this to a stop: I set up my bank accounts to text me every time there's a charge on my account, and I put a notification in my calendar to make sure I cancel whatever it is that I'm trying out right before I get billed.
Avoid impulse buys whenever possible.
I totally used to be an impulse buyer, and admittedly I do still do it occasionally. However, one small change allowed me to cut the vast majority of those impulse buys out. Every time I see or hear about something that I want, I force myself to wait. I try to think about whether or not the item will bring me joy or add value to my life. The higher the item's cost, the longer I wait. For example, I'd been considering an activity tracker of some sort for the last couple months to track sleep and fitness. The cost of these devices ranges from cheap to quite expensive, and because it was looking like the more expensive devices would serve my needs better (of course), I waited and researched for a longer period of time before I spent the money.
In any case, more often than not I find that I don't end up wanting whatever it was nearly as much. In fact, the thought of buying the item gave me more of a dopamine rush than the actual buying of the item. That's something I learned about in James Clear's book Atomic Habits.
Conclusion
I hope these tricks help you save a few bucks! My goal here is not to tell you to do things like stop getting Starbucks or to stop going out to eat. These are obvious ways to save money, but I honestly find that - within reason - occasionally allowing myself these little pleasures adds some joy to the daily grind. After everything I've learned, I have to say I'm not a huge proponent of robbing oneself of these little pleasures completely simply for that reason even though a lot of financial gurus might suggest otherwise. Take this with a grain of salt though; I'm not a financial advisor by any means and not everything in this post will work for everyone. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to decide what works best for their financial fitness.
Notes
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