Hi Everyone!
Earlier this week I launched a new series that is all about learning how to save money, so you can lower your monthly expenses. One value that most Steemians can relate to is the idea of FREEDOM. By limited your monthly expenses, that gives you more freedom to invest in your next entrepreneurial venture, or save up for an amazing trip, or reach your financial goals faster. Many of us could benefit from examining our expenses more closely.
My first money saving hack was all about utilizing your Local Library to take advantage of their free resources. I was stoked to see that SO many people enjoyed that post! I really appreciate all of you that let me know that a series of this nature was of interest to you.
VLOG Notes
The text in this post is meant to provide a high level overview of what was covered in the Vlog. Please watch the video to get the full content from this post.
Today's Hack?
Well... it's not REALLY a hack - but this is honestly where this series should have started. I highly recommend that you perform an audit of your monthly, recurring, expenses - and start tracking your monthly expenditures.
The Audit
This is really simple. I just recomend pulling up your last month of expenses (credit card and bank statements etc.) and look through every re-occuring expense (aka automatically billed) expense - to make sure you are actually using it.
This may sound obvious, but most people can find some low hanging fruit by doing this. Here are a few examples...
Did you sign up for a free trial on something and forget to cancel before they started charging you a monthly fee?
Are you a member of multiple fitness facilities that you aren't using? (Think regular gym, yoga studio, climbing gyms etc.)
Are you paying for multiple streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Hbo? Are you really using all of them?
I go into way more detail in the Dtube Vlog - but here's a high level of the audit process. I actually prefer to print off my statements and go through them with a pen - but you could do this all digitally as well.
I also recommend doing an audit once a quarter. Perhaps right now you are using both Netflix and Hulu, but maybe a few months ago, that will no longer be the case.
Tracking Monthly Expenses
This first step to reducing your monthly expenses - is to bring some awareness to where you are spending money. Honestly, you might be surprised! For those of you who are currently budgeting or tracking your expenses - you can skip this part.
When I first started tracking my expenses, a few categories really surprised me!! I always thought I was pretty frugal when it came to eating out. I would split meals with people, go during happy hour, go out for breakfast, limit the alcohalic beverages I ordered etc. I was shocked at how much I was spending every month eating out! I have a feeling you might be surprised by a few areas as well.
In the video I reference two different apps that I have used for years that serve slightly different purposes.
Mint - This app directly links up to your credit cards and bank accounts to automatically categorize your spending. This can be a really nice approach because it does so much of the work for you. Just be sure to double check everything, because things are sometimes categorized incorrectly.
DollarBird - This is a really simple app where you manually input every expense. I actually prefer this, even though it is more work. The reason I like to do this is because I like to organize expenses into really specific categories. For example... a trip to the grocery store may include groceries and personal care items - which I log separately.
Conclusion
If you guys have any questions on the auditing or tracking process - or really anything I have covered in this video - please let me know! You guys know I love to chat and get into good discussion in the comments. If you have any thoughts or opinions, please don't hesitate to share.
I look forward to continuing this Money Saving Hacks series and I would appreciate your input on what types of subjects you'd like to see covered.
Have a great rest of your day!
xo, Lea
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