Things to Cut From Your Budget (When There's Nothing Left to Cut) -

Are you at a point where you feel like there is NOTHING left to cut from your budget to make ends meet?

It can be so frustrating when you hear people talking about giving up Starbucks to save money, when you’ve been making coffee from home for years and STILL live paycheck to paycheck.

Now, I want to preface this post with some things. Everyone’s situation is different. Your paycheck to paycheck living may look completely different from someone else’s.

And there is a chance that you’ve already done all of these things.

If so, it may be better for you to look at ways to increase your income.

Unfortunately, there is only so much to cut before there’s genuinely NOTHING left to cut.

This list is to help spark ideas for ways to save money that maybe you haven’t thought of before.

This also isn’t to say that you HAVE to give up all of these things in order to get out of debt. If these things fit in your budget, and you value them, that is awesome!

Here at the ATB I strongly believe that there is a balance to be found between paying off debt, saving and spending.

So all of that is to say, hopefully you find some helpful tips in here to help you save money in ways that you haven’t considered before!

coins holding up a 50 euro bill like a tent

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Get on Family Plans with Friends

It’s SHOCKING the price per person difference on family plans vs. individual plans.

This is true for phone bills, Spotify, etc.

You could be savings hundreds of dollars a year by getting on family plans with friends or family that you trust.

It’s a lot better to pay $30/person on your cellphone bill when you split it amongst the 5 of you, rather than $80 for just yourself.

And if you have people you can trust to pay their bills on time and regularly, you all benefit from joining a plan together!

Store Bought Cleaning Products

As a kid, I never would have guessed just how expensive store bought cleaning products could be!

Especially if you have a larger house or family, you could be spending hundreds on store bought cleaning products.

Instead, switch to making your own products at home.

There are tons of YouTube videos on this. Clean My Space is a great resource for making your own homemade cleaning products.

And she cleans for a living, so she knows what’s up.

Something as simple as vinegar and water can be used to clean SO many different surfaces.

You can keep your home clean and disinfected, without splurging the high prices of store bought cleaners.

Single Use Items

Reusable items don’t have to be a huge investment, and can save you TONS of money.

While it’s not always accessible to purchase the reusable version of an item, if you are able to, it could pay for itself really quickly!

Something like these reusable makeup remover wipes cost as much as 2 packs of regular makeup remover wipes that have to be thrown out. They pay for themselves very quickly, and last so much longer!

Switching to affordable reusable alternatives can save you tons in the long run!

NOT Couponing

This isn’t necessarily something to cut, but something to add!

Listen, I absolutely hate regular couponing. I can’t be bothered to sit there and plan things out and cut coupons and all of that.

But couponing doesn’t have to take forever anymore!

Store apps often have awesome digital coupons on items you’re already planning to buy, that take 2 seconds to clip then scan at checkout.

I especially love places like CVS and Walgreens for that.

On top of that, you can stack your savings further by also scanning your receipts into Ibotta and Fetch Rewards.

These two apps give you rewards back on many items, which can be combined with the discounts you’re already getting with using coupons!

Small Monthly Subscriptions

If you are living paycheck to paycheck, every dollar counts. In that case, it’s really important to look over all of those tiny purchases and subscriptions to decide what is worth keeping and what you can cut.

Some things to think about are iCloud subscriptions, Amazon Prime, Spotify, etc. These are often less than $10, and may not be necessary.

Important note: if they add value to your life and are necessary, then no need to cut them! These are just to give you ideas to see if you have expenses that DON’T add value and AREN’T necessary.

Wifi

Now hear me out on this. This won’t work for everyone. Especially if you are a gamer or have tons of devices hooked up to wifi.

But if you are a normal wifi user (occasional streaming and surfing the web), then you may be able to exchange your wifi for just using your Hotspot.

My friend did this for a few months when they first moved into their apartment. Eventually, as their partner loved playing video games, they switched to wifi.

But prior to that, their hotspot on their phone worked great for streaming Netflix and all of their other wifi needs.

Wifi can be EXPENSIVE. And that extra $50-$100/month could make a HUGE difference in your budget.