Saving even a small amount of money can have a dramatic impact on your financial situation. Consider increasing your savings as a New Years’ resolution. If you create a personal budget and analyze your spending, you can make some meaningful changes in your monthly costs.
Create a monthly budget
To increase your savings, start by creating a monthly budget. Try to put together a budget before you start a new year. You can choose from several great personal finance apps, or simply write down your budget in a notebook.
Record your monthly net pay, then create a category for each area of spending. Some categories, such as your car payment or insurance premiums, will be fixed expenses. To reduce your spending, take a look at costs that you can control, such as meals and entertainment.
A monthly savings amount
Once you put together your monthly budget, decide on an amount you want to save each month. Commit to cut other areas of your spending to fund a savings account. In fact, you should open a savings account at the bank.
The first check you write each month is an amount to be transferred from checking to savings. This discipline will help prevent you from spending your monthly savings amount.
Entertainment and meals expense
One area where you can cut expenses is meals and entertainment. Think about these specific areas:
- TV programming: Many people pay for cable TV. On top of that, they may also have subscriptions with Netflix or HBO GO. DIRECTV TV package pricing explains that you may be able to save costs by combining your Internet, TV channels, movies and sports programming into one package.
- Music: There are a variety of subscriber-based music apps. Pandora and Spotify both offer “premium” access for a subscription. Consider dropping these subscriptions and using only the free music services.
- Meals: Consider eating more often at home and dining out less. If you choose to pay for food, try carry out rather than eating at the restaurant.
- Family activities on a budget
- Many families make it a priority to plan activities. Here are some inexpensive activities that your family can consider:
- Movie discounts: Theaters offer discounts to get people to the movies during traditionally slow times. You can find coupons to attend movies during the week or on a Saturday afternoon. Theaters offer large discounts during summer weekdays.
- Libraries: Your local library may offer free reading clubs and speakers. Check your library website or your community newspaper to learn about these events. Using the library can get your family more interested in reading as a hobby.
- Festivals: Most communities put on festivals throughout the year. Many festivals include free music acts.
- Museum: Lots of museums offer free admission on certain days of the week. This is the case with most museums, because of their mission to make art available to everyone.
- As you build a savings account, you can use it to invest or to cover expenses in an emergency. Creating a budget and sticking to it can be challenging. Once you start saving, however, you’ll have more peace of mind.