The global health and financial crisis that’s going on right now have left a lot of us strapped for cash. Here are a few ways to cut down on your expenses.
5 Surefire Ways to Cut Down on Your Monthlies During Lockdown Season
1. Minimize your energy and water consumption.
The simplest way of cutting back on your recurring costs is simply just conserving water and energy. This is not to say that you shouldn’t use your electricity or water supply at all.
It just means that you need to turn off the lights in unoccupied rooms. Avoid keeping the water running as you brush your teeth. Unplugging appliances and turning off devices that are not in us.
If you want to go a step further, you may even have services for solar panel installation from trusted professionals in Salt Lake City, Denver, or wherever there are available services across the U.S.
2. Cut back on bundle phone and internet services.
Check how much you’re spending on your phone and internet services. Ask yourself if you need that much bandwidth. Evaluate your internet use at home and perhaps you and your family can make certain sacrifices and adjustments to help lower your bills.
Call your service provider and see how you can downgrade your services at home.
3. Control your diet.
A lot of us have dedicated all this time at home to the kitchen and the dining table. Americans have taken to their kitchens and started a cook-a-thon.
Whether you’re eating out of hunger or boredom, you need to evaluate your diet and make the necessary adjustments not just for a lower grocery bill but for a healthier body, too.
Gather your family and list down which types of food you deem are necessary and which ones you can do without. Stick to that list when you’re at the grocery and do your best to avoid any unnecessary purchases at this time.
4. Get rid of your vices.
Speaking of keeping your body healthy, which is one of the most potent weapons against the novel coronavirus, you might want to consider giving up some of your vices. Smoking and drinking are the first things that come to mind.
Just to put things in perspective, cigarette smoking claims about 480,000 lives every year in the U.S. alone. 41,000 of those are second-hand smokers.
Let’s say a pack of cigarettes costs about $6, that’s an easy $180 in savings a month and a total of $2,160 a year. Imagine that’s how much you’re spending to make your health deteriorate.
5. Avoid comfort-shopping as much as you can.
This lockdown has sure caused a lot of discomfort for us. While some of us turn to food for comfort, others go shopping. And since the malls and stores are closed, folks go online for their shopping fix.
If you’re a comfort shopper or an impulsive buyer, do your best to resist the urge to make those unnecessary purchases with your card or Paypal account.
When the lockdowns are lifted, it’s not an excuse to go back to your usual ways. We are still in territories unknown and as long as we still haven’t developed immunity to the virus or a vaccine has been discovered, it is best we stay frugal with our expenses to secure our families.
