I recently posted some blog posts about investing in yourself through self-care & retirement savings. If you feel like you would like some more money to invest in those areas, read on for a few simple ways you can save money without sacrificing fun!
Clothes shopping - Are you someone who has a lot of beautiful outfits in their closet, but whenever an event comes around, you immediately make plans to buy something new? But what about all those beautiful outfits you already own? We all need to treat ourselves sometimes, but if we are making the right choices when shopping, we have outfits that we want to wear over & over again.
~ So before heading to the store, check your closet & try on clothes you already own.
If you find something that feels great on, skip the store & put that $50-$100 in your
IRA instead! I promise that afterwards you will be happy with your decision.
~ And if you find clothes you really don't like, get them out of your closet & take them
to the nearest thrift store to donate, & the next time you do buy yourself clothes, make
sure you really LOVE them so you'll want to wear them many times.
Groceries - this is a BIG one! Groceries are so expensive these days & you WILL be spending more than you did just a couple of years ago. But that doesn't mean there aren't things you can do to cut back.
~ Meal planning is the #1 most impactful thing you can do when trying to save money
at the grocery store. This means deciding what you are going to eat ahead of time,
making a list of only the items you need, & sticking to that list. Easier said than done,
but I promise the payoff is well worth the effort.
~ And before you even head to the store, check your cabinets to see what you have &
come up with recipes to use the food already in your house.
~ You can also consider curbside pickup as this will avoid impulse purchases when
you see those chips or ice cream you hadn't thought about until you saw them staring
right at you.
Fun & Entertainment - I absolutely recommend everyone put some money in your budget for FUN! However, it's easy to go way over budget if you aren't careful. There are lots of ways to have fun without spending too much!
~ Check out things to do in your city/town - so many locations offer concerts, movies
in the park, hiking trails, local theater, & many other free or affordable activities. I bet
you have things like this in your area that you don't even know about!
~ You can also change things up a bit - swap happy hour with friends for a hike with
them instead; have a movie night with popcorn at home instead of the theater; invite
friends over for snacks & game night instead of heading out to a restaurant or bar.
~ Please do not spend no money in this category, just set a budget & if you struggle to
stick with it, try some of these ideas.
Television - There are so many streaming services out there, & each one is a very reasonable price - which sounds good, but can lead to trouble if you don't stop to add up how much you are spending in total. I have had clients who think they don't spend that much, but once they add it up it's much more than they thought.
~ My challenge to you is to add up what you are spending on TV, then add up the
hours you spend watching TV - is the cost worth the value? Consider cancelling
just one streaming service for a month & reevaluate after that month is up. If you
didn't miss it, take that extra money & add it to your self-care budget & go get that
facial you've been wanting!
Going out to eat - This is the category I see most people struggle with & I'm going to keep it simple: If you go out to lunch & dinner just once per week, you are likely spending about $2,500 a year. If someone gave you $2,500 right now, what would you spend it on? If your answer isn't "go out to eat" then it's time to cut back. :) Start small & cut out one meal a month. Keep going until you feel satisfied with your budget & your happiness.
All of these things combined could easily add up to thousands of dollars every year. Just imagine if you had an extra $2-$3,000 each year to invest in your self-care and/or your retirement? It may be worth doing a little extra work on the front end to save a little more for your future.
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