February 20, 2024
Saving for Frugal February
With all the new trends that are catching on, February is now a time to spend as little as possible on non-essentials while saving as much as you can.
February is a good time to look at your finances after the holidays and get back on track. To build wealth, it’s not so much about how much money you make, but more about how much you save.
Where do you begin? Here are some ideas to help you get started:
Track your income and expenses - Most people are shocked when they track their expenses and see where their money is going. This often makes you think twice about eating out or spending money without tracking. It is also important to know how much money you have coming in every month. This can help you balance out your spending.
Cut back on your energy costs - This may not be the easiest change for people but can save you money in the long run. Two ways to help cut costs are limiting the lights in our home and turning down the thermostat. Turn off lights that are not being used and, it might also be a good time to consider changing light bulbs to LED lights. By turning down your thermostat 1 degree, you can save yourself 1% on your bill. Now think about if you turn it down 5 degrees. This might not be the most popular way to save money but will help cut costs.
Go on a money diet - Pay all your necessary bills, but NO extra spending. Think about the things you can spend less on. Getting Starbucks before heading to work, eating out on your lunch break, impulse shopping, etc. All the little things we do without thinking about them add up. Some of them can add up to much more than we realize. Making a conscious effort to cut back on the everyday spending that we do not budget for or even think about can make a big dent in our savings.
Audit your bills - Now is a good time to look at all your expenses. We have a habit of signing up for automatic drafts to pay bills, but are we making sure that is what is being taken out? Also, are you automatically paying for a service you no longer use or need? Have you taken the time to look at your insurance? Lots of times if your agent checks your policy against another company you could be saving yourself some money.
Put more money in your savings - Now that you have looked at your income and expenses and hopefully found some ways to save some money, it is time to move that money into your savings. Even adding half of the savings you have created for the month of February to your savings account will help in the future.
Budgeting and saving can be challenging. One important thing to remember is to start by making a plan. Having a plan in place before you even start looking at your finances will help you understand what you would like to accomplish and make it easier to start achieving that goal.