When I finally decided to get serious about money and my finances, I printed out 3 months of my bank account statement, grabbed a highlighter, and marked every frivolous expense. Fast food – mark. Random store purchases – mark. All the things I knew I didn’t need and could easily eliminate with better planning. I thought this was the best way to save on a tight budget. People always say, “stop buying things you don’t need to save”, right?
The thing is, while this appeared here and there, I wasn’t eating a lot of fast food … maybe twice a month and even then it was on our “Family Friday” where the kids picked or made dinner. I also didn’t have a lot of random store purchases because I really haven’t bought things for myself since becoming a mom 17 years ago. Depressing, I know, but true nonetheless. Frivolous expenses weren’t my problem, my main bills were. With this in mind, I grabbed a new highlighter and marked all of my necessities.
What I Eliminated
My car was having many issues and I was continuously spending money to get them fixed to no avail, so after a bit of contemplation, I switched from driving to taking public transportation. This eliminated direct car expenses, like maintenance, and indirect expenses, like gas. It did mean having to get a bus pass, but at $80 a month, it was still less than the $160 a month I was spending on gas in a month.
My electricity was definitely more than I wanted to pay. Luckily, York Electric has an option where you can “pay as you go”, only placing a certain amount of money on your account. Once you reach whatever threshold you set, you get a text notifying you your account is low and to add funds. For me, I switched to that option and went into the app every morning to check my usage from the day before. It helped me to easily think back to what I may have done differently that day from all the others to increase or decrease my usage. Switching to that option also helped in making sure the budget I set for electricity was never exceeded. If I was approaching my threshold and didn’t want to add more money until the following week, I made sure to find something else to do other than Netflix or sitting around at night with the lights on.
I’d already gotten rid of cable ages ago and was on the cheapest Hulu plan … the commercials made me feel like I was still watching “real” TV, but I transitioned to the cheapest internet package available because I figured it was likely just as good as the “most popular” package I was swayed into getting when I signed up. Spoiler alert … it was. My biggest expense to tackle, BY FAR, was my cell phone bill.
I LOVE Verizon. I’ve had them since I’ve had a cell phone. What I didn’t love was the $200 cell phone bill I was paying for my daughter and myself to have service with them. I called to find out about options for lowering my bill and there really didn’t seem to be any. An odd suggestion for dropping my parental protection was made by a representative but that was about it. Without any real way to save with them, I made the hard decision to leave them, and the only number I’d had for 17 years of having a cell phone, behind.
Rather than enter into a new commitment with another phone company, I did a very unconventional thing and switched to a wifi app instead. This means I have service but only when I’m on a wifi signal. I know this can be a pain to many but in this day and age, wifi is basically everywhere, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. At $19.99 for the entire year, I’ll make it work.
What I Found
I think most people can save by examining their necessities a bit closer. Sometimes the things we think we need are really things we just want and/or have become comfortable with and we don’t like the idea of change. Sometimes it’s keeping up with everyone else and what they might say or think if you don’t have what the “norm” is.
I didn’t think about what other people would say or think because they aren’t paying my bills, so they can think all the things they’d like. When I was growing up, cell phones weren’t even a thing, so I definitely don’t need access to one all the time now. Judging from my Apple “screen time” checker, I still need to find other things to do with my time that aren’t phone-related. I had definitely become comfortable though and giving up my number felt bittersweet. Instead of looking at it like I was losing something, I thought about the fresh beginning I was starting.
Where’d All the Money Go
Taking a hard look at your expenses like this helps in two cases: 1. you’re trying to save money on a tight budget and don’t feel like you have any extra to do so (me when I first did this) and 2. you have no job and you’re paying your bills with your savings (me right now during Covid-19). I’m sure it will help in other situations, these are just the 2 relevant to me.
Doing this is actually how I started a savings when I didn’t think I had money to do so. I basically had just enough in my paycheck every pay period for the bills I had but knew I didn’t want it to continue to be that way. I was barely living at my means and wanting desperately to get below it. Naturally, this meant all the money I was able to save on a tight budget from tweaking my necessities became the foundation of my emergency fund.
These days many people are trying to save money on a tight budget and/or trying to figure out how to adjust things with no income due to Covid-19 related furloughs and layoffs. What are some things you’ve found to help you? Would you consider giving up your regular cell service signal for a wifi-based plan?
