Hello Friends!
One value that I think most Steemians can resonate with is the idea of FREEDOM and creating the life that you want. One way to help you reach that goal is to focus on reducing your monthly expenses. When you require less to “live” every month, there is a certain peace of mind knowing that even if you have a lower income month from your entrepreneurial ventures – you won’t have to sweat paying the bills.
By reducing your monthly expenses, it also allows you to put that money towards things that build your dream life. Whether that be investing in more cryptocurrency, or saving towards a fun adventure, or purchasing a bigger item you’ve been eyeing – finding ways to save money can really improve your quality of life.
Now, there are certain things that I have consciously chosen to spend more money on – even if they are more expensive. One of those things for me is organic food. Even though this means my grocery bill is higher than it could be, I feel great about making that choice for my health and overall wellness.
Why Am I Talking About This?
I have spent the last few years really going through each of my expenses with a fine tooth comb to see where I can make adjustments. Sometimes I realize that I can cut something out all together, or find a more reasonably priced alternative, or negotiate a better deal. There are many areas of my life in which I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching and coming up with a better solution – so I thought I would start sharing some of these with you. A few areas I have focused on include, but are not limited to:
-Cell phone bill
-Car insurance
-Groceries (yes, even eating organic)
-Eating out
-Health, wellness and beauty routines
-Clothing
-Household supplies
And so much more!
My goal with this series is to provide information on various ways that I am saving money each month. Each person will have different priorities in terms of their spending – but it should at least give you a starting point.
If saving money is something you are interested in, then I hope that this series sparks some ideas for you.
Today’s Money Saving Hack
This one may surprise some of you… but I am going to talk about utilizing your local Library. This one won’t be a game changer in your finances – but most people are not even aware of how many resources that are available to them. Many of the resources are available completely online – which means you don’t even need to go into the library to access them!
For example…
-I have an app on my phone which allows me to read hundreds of magazines for FREE each month – completely because of a partnership my local library made with this app.
-Download and listen to tons of audiobooks… completely for free!
-Check out countless book and movie titles.
When checking out a physical book or DVD, there may be a week or two wait list. If you can wait… it can definitely save you a lot of money. Most libraries have a pretty robust website and search engine so you can quickly check a title to see if your library carries it, and what the wait time would be. I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought a book or rented a movie – because my library has such a robust list of titles, they have almost everything I am interested in.
I hope you guys found this topic helpful! I’d love to hear from you if a series of this nature is something you guys are interested in learning more about. If you have specific topics that you would like to see me cover – mention them in the comments below! If it is an area that I have some knowledge in, then I’d be happy to consider it for the series.
Have a great day!
Xo, Lea
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but most people are prone to instant gratification, probably they had a belief that they gonna die someday and they can't bring money to heaven, that's all i heard about them and it's hard for me convincing them about the value of delayed gratification. You empress me with this post thanks for sharing your not only beautiful but also smart about money, looking forward to your next post. :)
The library has been a very useful resource for me in the past! Thanks for the post!
Awesome to hear that you are already taking advantage of the resources at your library! 😊
Really its a nice post. Its so valuable for the steemit community. Thanks for sharing.
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Great information and awesome to see someone on here sharing awesome tips.
Followed you :-)
Look forward to future posts
Thank you for the awesome advice, you always provide great knowledge us, really appreciate it.
Thank you! Im so glad you found these tips helpful.
couldn't agree more! I need to start cooking to save more! Financial freedom :)
Omg I hear you! Food is the hardest expense for me to reign in! 😉
The best advice from my grandpa (born 1932) for saving money while traveling:
"Don't travel!" :D
Hahah can’t argue with that!
Very useful information, thank you! I thought for sure my city would have nothing like that available but amazingly enough there's actually about 8 apps to download. I quickly browsed the DVD catalog and I'm surprised by the large selection they do have, like seasons of the Simpsons and Game of Thrones.
I love that you’ve already jumped on their site and gotten plugged in! It really is pretty crazy how many free perks the library offers.
Thanks for sharing! There's this saying that 'Money comes to those who knows how to manage it'
Ooh that’s a great quote. Thanks for sharing!
good motivation ,this is a big problem of today generation we spent a lot of money on expensive clothes outdoor foods and parties
Great observation. I used to be guilty of blowing all my money too until I started studying this way of living about 5 years ago.
Very interesting video :D Especially now that I'm not working and concentrating on music I've had to really look at my spending habits as well!!
Congrats on going full time music! That’s awesome! Cutting expenses should definitely help you have a little more piece of mind. 😊
Libraries amaze me with how much resources they provide... books, internet, free seminars and more.
Oh great point!! I didn’t even mention all the free classes and seminars!
I cannot remember free seminars...
Indeed!😊And I find this a great help, sometimes we need to know our wants and needs, which one should be first.
So true! It can be challenging to separate those out sometimes, but it can really help when making decisions about spending. 😊
I couldn't agree more with you! I moved to Barbados and got rid of my car and i am now saving about $1000 a month now, its amazing.
Wow, that’s amazing!! Barbados doesn’t sound half bad either. 😉
I’d love to eventually get rid of my car. Even though I paid cash for it, all the gas, insurance, oil changes, tires, repairs etc. all start to add up!
Do you just take a lot of busses around?
Yes they are way too much money, buses or i usually walk everywhere that i can which is so much cheaper haha
Brilliant! Now, people will know how to reduce the huge amount of money spent on irrelevances. Thanks for sharing.
:D
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Very informative writing @coruscate..
All of us need to be in good security
Money is need your very work ..If you save money than you spend the future.
This post has been upvoted and picked by Daily Picked #2! Thank you for the cool and quality content. Keep going!
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Thank you! That’s really kind of you to include me.
It`s not about the incomes, but the expenses...
Both can definitely play a vital role in your financial success, but low monthly expenses can certainly provide a little peace of mind.
Brilliant. I too have been 'penny-pinching' so I can pursue my real dream career as an artist. Most artists will tell you that the term 'poor artist' is a true one. We invest hours upon hours of time, money on paints and/or equipment, produce (sometimes) a small masterpiece and people who can't paint or draw appreciate it, but don't buy or will on pay a few pounds. It's like working for minus $'s or £'s. So when we sold up, downsized, paid the bills, my husband said I could follow my dream of not going out to work but to do my painting IF we could afford it. I've cut back our monthly spend to almost a half of what it was. In fact apart from food/essentials, the only outgoings are insurances, utilities and car, and even they are lower than before. YET we lose nothing. We're not missing out, we still go out for lunch once a week, we're going on holiday shortly... we just don't throw money away any more. The library is an excellent choice to add to the list, as is the internet. I watch free painting lessons for inspiration via Youtube, or rent a book for two/three weeks and talking with the staff, I may even be having a small art show of my work set up there in the summer....
Well done for highlighting this and I hope people will take it on board when they need a little inspirational cost cutting.
Nice idea! By saving, one can have some cash to invest in steem little by little to build our steemit account slowly into a little hill before reaching a future mountain. Most of us cannot invest huge amount but we can sure invest some extra cash monthly. Thanks for sharing your saving plans!
It can be very helpful to cut out unnecesary expenses. I'm learnig to prepare money for certain small investments crypto. Thanks for the encouragement @coruscate..
Nice vídeo!