If you’re having trouble with chronic overspending, you’re certainly not alone. Lots of people across all income brackets are having trouble affording everyday living expenses as costs keep climbing higher and their purchasing power weakens. Here are some tips that may help you cut back on your monthly expenses.
Find Ways to Save on Medical Care
If your health insurance premiums are too costly, you may be eligible for savings through the marketplace this year. If you qualify for this type of enrollment option, enter information about your income to access the most affordable rates available to you.
Predictive analytics in insurance helps carriers structure quotes depending on how much you plan to utilize your benefits. If you don’t really go to the doctor much beyond your regular wellness exams, a high deductible plan may be a good way to go because it’s going to get you lower premiums. However, if you are managing one or more health conditions and you know for a fact that you’ll be using your plan a lot, you should pick an option with a lower deductible and out-of-pocket limit. The increased cost of your premiums may be wholly offset by the money that you’ll save on your deductible, medications, and copayments.
Choose the Right Phone and Phone Plan
A lot of people are weirdly fixated on their phones as status symbols. Having the latest model of a phone that’s over a thousand dollars doesn’t really give you any bragging rights. If your old phone is working fine for you, forget about trading up every time your favorite manufacturer puts out a new version or you see an attractive trade-in offer on a TV commercial.
In reality, paying for the cost of a phone along with the cost of service usually isn’t a very economical proposition. The only context in which these costs are somewhat reasonable is in family plans for four or more people. Otherwise, if you’re purchasing a phone and service just for yourself, plan the two expenditures separately to get the most for your money.
Next, don’t pay a premium for unlimited data unless it’s something you really need. If the majority of your screen time is at home or other places where you have a wifi connection, review your past data usage to determine which data plan is really right for you.
Consolidate Loans
A loan consolidation option could help you get lower monthly payments. Alternatively, it may be possible to reduce the total amount that you’ll have to pay over time if you can consolidate your loan in a way that has you paying less interest over time.
Say you have about twenty thousand dollars in student loan debt and you pay $200 a month. A consolidation option that has you paying $220 dollars a month may be well worth it if it’s going to enable you to pay down the balance of your loan faster. The sooner you get that obligation entirely off your books, the sooner you can start putting that money to better use instead of squandering it on unnecessary interest payments.
Stay on Top of Your Subscription Services
It’s surprisingly common for people to stay signed up for subscription services that they aren’t really using. Years ago, people may have had one or two such services like a membership for a gym that they didn’t have time to go to. Now it’s pretty run-of-the-mill to have half a dozen extraneous memberships auto-billing your credit card.
Take a look at your recurring charges for stuff like streaming services or access to news sources that aren’t a good value, and be diligent about opting out of free trials to services that you aren’t interested in continuing past the trial period.
To avoid continually spending more money than you’re making, you have to manage your budget fastidiously. Using innovative approaches to maximize your purchasing power can make living on a budget less stressful.
