Reduce Expenses - large and recurring

Reduce expenses where you spend the most. That's what make sense to me. It also makes sense to reduce the money you spend on frequently occurring costs.

If you are trying to save money, don’t expect to save much by reusing kitchen storage bags. We're literally taking pennies and nickels in savings when you do something like that.

Pennies and nickels add up over the years, but you can save much more if you focus on large and recurring expenditures.

Hack down the big one and you'll see some real savings. It won't necessarily be easy, but I promise you it will be effective.

The key areas to focus on are housing, transportation and food. These are the three largest factors in your cost of living - about 65% of what you spend.

There are other areas as well, but leave those for later - after you have hacked as much out of the "heavy hitters" as you can.

I'll leave it to you to figure out in detail how to cut back on these areas. For now I'll leave you with just a few suggestions to ponder.

In the area of housing, you might consider:

• downsizing
• renting
• getting a roommate
• renting out a portion of your house
• locating to a lower cost of housing area

• buy an older car that has no payments
• switch to two wheeled transportation
• carpool
• move to within walking distance of work
• get yourself down to one car

• eat less
• grow some for yourself
• eat out less often
• reduce the "junk" that you buy

These are just suggestions to consider. They might be a bit too much for you, and then again, they might not be quite enough to reduce expenses to where you feel comfortable.

Either way, the choice is yours.

Done with Reduce Expenses, back to Mindset of Frugality