In today’s tough economy, many people are looking for ways to reduce their cost of living. For many people this means making sacrifices like cutting cable, not going out to eat, and cutting back in every way possible. While these will all be successful in reducing your cost of living, after a while, it may start to feel like too much of a sacrifice if you’re not careful. There are other ways that you can reduce your cost of living without making quite so many sacrifices.
One of the most trendy ways to save money at this point in time is with coupons. If you combine coupons from online sources, such as coupons.com, Smartsource, Redplum, and even company websites and Facebook pages, with coupons from your Sunday newspapers, and sales at the grocery and drug stores, you can cut your grocery bill by 50 percent or more. If you like going out to eat, you can even join the mailing lists of your favorite restaurants to get coupons from them periodically. T.G.I.Friday’s is a good example of a restaurant that will send you coupons to buy one entree and get the second free. This is a great way to save money on your outings and date nights.
When it comes to cutting cable, there are many that do not want to cut this expense, because it’s often a big part of the entertainment budget. There are, however, coupon codes that you can use to get free movie and game rentals at Redbox and other places. While Netflix is not as great a deal as it once was, it is still often better than cable prices. Also, if you don’t mind waiting an extra day to watch your favorite shows, many of them can be accessed online the day after airing on television. Granted, it’s not as good as watching it on the big screen, but it is a good way to save money.
Part of cutting costs is also to analyze what you are doing in your home.
Check your thermostat and make sure that it is at a temperature that is slightly higher during the summer and slightly cooler during the winter. Even a couple of degrees can make a world of difference in your bills. Check your filter, and make sure that you are replacing it frequently so that your air conditioning is working at maximum efficiency. Make sure that all of your bulbs are the high efficiency light bulbs that use less power. Unplug any appliances that are not in use as well.
These are some of the best ways to help you save money on your living costs. It’s just a matter of cutting the little things most of the time, because even those little things can add up to big savings.