Cutting the Cord
We did this pretty early on so we haven't had cable in a while. I'm not even sure, to be honest, how much cable costs these days. I'm guessing quite a bit! We don't watch a lot of tv already as it is so it made no sense for us to put money into something that wasn't getting any use. Sure I like the occasional Bachelor on ABC but I can also watch it through my antenna, if positioned perfectly, or through Hulu which also streams it. Speaking of streaming services...Go Easy on Subscriptions
Now, subscription services with their relatively cheap prices can really suck you in where you won't be able to get out of it. My Birch Box subscription was the first to go. It was only $10 a month (so $120 a year) for something that didn't bring me that much joy. Sure I liked some of the samples but majority of them were random hair products that I ended up giving away. It just wasn't worth it in the end.
Next was our Spotify subscription. I liked premium, commercials sure do suck but for a family plan of $14 a month ($168 a year) it certainly wasn't worth it. I listen to it for 30 minutes a day max, so I think I can survive with a couple of commercials. Alex felt the same way and he's been listening to podcasts a lot too, which are free - hooray!
Finally, Netflix. I know, I'm probably crazy but hear me out. We have Amazon prime, which we already paid for and it enables us to watch shows on there. They have some decent stuff like Mozart in the Jungle, I have to be honest I haven't done much exploring because I haven't had time to watch tv lately. Which is probably another good reason to cancel Netflix though it wasn't super expensive at $10 a month ($120 a year). We still have Hulu because we signed up for it during a special when it was $5.99 a month which I guess I can live with (because Handmaid's Tale is awesome).
So just for opting out of those 3 subscriptions we save $408 a year, which could instead be used to buy plane tickets or something along those lines!
Bring Lunch
Sometimes I don't do this enough because I'm too lazy or because my coworkers are going to a restaurant I really like so I can't resist, but eating out is a big spender. If I'm being conservative in my calculations, say I buy lunch for $10 dollars every day of the week, that comes out to $50 a week. If Alex does the same thing it's $100 a week. If we do that for a whole month it's $400, if we do it for a year it's $4,800 which is insane.
It's amazing how quickly tiny purchases worth around $10 can add up. It's an amount that seems kind of small and insignificant but if you do it often enough it really adds up.
Are you taking any small steps to save money?
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