Lifestyle

Tips for Saving Money on Daily Living Expenses

Published

4 years ago

March 6, 2021

Saving money puts you in a better financial position, whether you want to invest for retirement or just give yourself some breathing room each month. If you can find a way to pay less for the things you need on a consistent basis, you can end up with hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars each month. Properly invested, this could snowball to help you retire early – or accumulate wealth even on a modest salary.

Let’s take a look at how you can save money on all your biggest monthly expenses.

Rent and Mortgage Payments

Housing is typically your biggest expense. So how can you lower your rent or mortgage payments?

Move to a cheaper area. For starters, you could move to a less expensive area. Chances are, if you move to a different neighborhood nearby, you can find cheaper houses, lower property taxes, or both.
Reduce your square footage. The bigger the house, the more you’re going to pay. Do you really need all that extra space? Reducing the square footage of your house may be more than enough to sharply reduce your monthly payments.
Refinance or renegotiate. Consider refinancing your home if you currently have a significant monthly mortgage payment. In many cases, you can score a better interest rate and reduce your payments significantly. You may even be able to pay off the home faster. Alternatively, if you’re renting, you can consider renegotiating your lease with your landlord.

Car Insurance and Fuel

If you drive regularly, car insurance and fuel costs can add up to drain your budget.

Here’s how you can save:

Get new quotes. Start by getting new auto insurance quotes from a variety of different providers. Even if your policy remains exactly the same, you may be able to find lower premiums with a different company. Otherwise, consider tweaking your policy (such as increasing your deductibles) to keep your monthly payments low.
Lower your risk profile. You can also reduce your car insurance premiums by reducing your risk profile. Maintaining a clean driving record, living somewhere safe, and driving fewer miles can all help you do this.
Take public transportation (or bike). You can eliminate your car insurance and fuel expenses if you decide to take public transportation or bike to everywhere you need to go.

Groceries

Everyone needs to eat. But many of us pay too much for our groceries.

Here’s how you can cut costs:

Figure out the most cost-effective groceries. Feel free to splurge on your favorites on an occasional basis, but on a regular basis, try to prioritize the most cost-effective groceries. Items like oats, lentils, and legumes are very healthy, easy to prepare, and ridiculously cheap.
Look for sales. Keep an eye out for sales from your favorite grocery stores. You can often get food items for half price (or even less) this way.
Buy in bulk. Consider joining a wholesale club or warehouse club to score great deals when buying groceries in bulk. This isn’t always cost-advantageous, so make sure you do the math.

Utilities

Your water, electricity, and natural gas bills don’t have to be so expensive. Here’s how you can minimize them:

Invest in appliance upgrades. Though buying and installing a new appliance can be a hefty upfront expense, it can often save you a ton of money in the long term. Energy-efficient appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, and dishwashers can all pay for themselves eventually.
Compare electricity plans to find one that is less expensive, more efficient, and has better service. A Pennsylvania resident, for instance, wants to save money on electricity, he or she can compare, choose and switch to the best electricity provider in Pennsylvania.
Turn things off. It’s a simple strategy, but an effective one; turn things off when you aren’t using them. That means turning off lights when leaving a room and turning down the heat (or cooling) when leaving the house.
Minimize your consumption. You can also work to minimize your consumption overall. Take shorter showers. Reduce the heat. Try to do all your cooking at the same time.

Entertainment

Your entertainment expenses are arguably the easiest ones to cut, since they’re not strictly “necessary.” For example, you can:

Learn to cook. Instead of going out to eat or ordering food, consider learning how to cook. You’ll save money, have fun, and possibly eat healthier along the way.
Get a library card. Cancel a couple of your streaming subscriptions and get a library card for your media instead. Everything’s free at your local library.
Find fun for free. Find new ways to have fun that don’t involve spending money, like hiking in the woods or foraging for mushrooms.

Cutting these costs may not be fun and you may have to make some sacrifices along the way. But if you manage to follow these strategies consistently, you could greatly improve your financial position – and set yourself up for a much brighter future.

Lifestyle

How to Get the Tools You Need to Live a Happy Healthy Life

Published

14 hours ago

January 18, 2025

Michelle Langton

Living a happy healthy life isn’t as easy as many will have you believe. Social media is often filled with quick fixes, expensive supplements, and highlight reels to convince you that all it takes is [enter product or service for sale here]. The reality is that you need tools for that life — like a nutritious diet, sufficient sleep, stress management, and positive social connections. And many people don’t have the slightest idea how to get those tools. Here are the critical steps:

Know What You Need

First, because both happiness and health are specific to the individual, the most important ability you need is self-awareness. If you can’t see yourself clearly, it will be almost impossible to improve yourself. So, take a good hard look at yourself and factor in your strengths and weaknesses. Ask yourself what you’re capable of and what you need to get there.

For example, some people may be in good physical shape and simply need to hire a personal trainer to help take their fitness to the next level. Others need a full panel of tests at a local clinic to figure out what health issues they may need to address. In cases of abuse or addiction, you might need weekly therapy, or you may benefit from inpatient treatment for substance abuse. You’ll have to evaluate your specific situation and go from there.

Ask for Help

If life is really bad and has been for some time, and you feel like you just can’t pull yourself out of a downward spiral, you most likely need to ask someone for help. Even in the case of an average life change, it could help to have an outside opinion in the form of a therapist, a friend, or a family member you trust. Many people struggle to ask for help, so this step may be especially challenging for you.

Remind yourself that truly everyone needs help at some time in their lives, whether they realize it or not. It’s also helpful to remember that many people enjoy helping others and even sign up as volunteers or go into service jobs for that reason. If you have trouble asking someone you know for help, look into local resources like counseling or social services, which can be inexpensive or even free. Those spaces will be able to help you get the additional tools you need.

Make Sure You Have a Safe Space to Live

Speaking of spaces, it’s hard to access the tools you need for a happy healthy life if you don’t have a safe space to live. Where are you supposed to sleep? Where can you store your nutritious food? These are real concerns for a lot of people, and if you’re one of them, you need to take it seriously. Look around you. Are you living in a safe environment that invites you to thrive and become your best self? If the answer is no, it’s time for a change.

Obviously, it’s not typically easy to just pick up and leave your current residence, but, again, if you answered “no” to the question above, you’ll need to take the leap. If you can afford it, get your own place, so you have more of a sense of control over your own life and choices. If not, reach out to your resources, like social services, and find out about safe, affordable housing. Also, if you have a friend or family member you trust, you may be able to stay with them.

Find Rewarding Work

Another crucial step toward accessing the essential tools for a good life is finding work you enjoy. It’s not enough to make money; plenty of people are miserable at high-paying jobs. Your goal should be to find the intersection between what you’re good at (what skills you have) and what you love. Then, work with your resources to figure out what kind of work you can do that will pay you a living wage or more.

When you find rewarding work, you can look forward to showing up to do your job every day. Most people spend more time at work each week than they do doing anything else, except maybe sleeping. It’s important you feel good about your work. Then, you won’t end up numbing your misery with drugs, alcohol, food, or too much screen time. Instead, you’ll be more encouraged to eat well, get enough sleep, and exercise, so you can keep showing up.

Engage in Community

Finally, in addition to those resources you find and utilize, you’ll also want to find and engage in community. This may begin with a program like Alcoholics Anonymous or a support group for grief or eating habits, but it can evolve into book clubs, walking groups, and more. Try to give as much as you get in these community spaces, whether it’s at your local farmer’s market or at a soup kitchen.

The more socially engaged you are, the better you feel, and the more likely you are to keep up your self-care. Community provides this feeling of giving back like few other avenues do because you are in an almost constant state of giving and receiving. When you want to be part of something, you can join a group or festival and socialize. At the same time, when you feel up to contributing, you can lend a hand and make a difference. Many times, you can do both at the same time.

The tools you need for a happy healthy life are basic. You require good food, sleep, exercise, and people. But as basic as they are, many people need a lot of help to get to where they can access those tools. The most important part of this entire process, toward getting happy and healthy, is acknowledging that you are worthy of those tools and that life. From there, you can start doing the work to get them.