Money Saving Hacks // Auditing Your Expenses + Monthly Tracking
Hi Everyone!
Earlier this week I launched a new series that is all about learning how to save money, so you can lower your monthly expenses. One value that most Steemians can relate to is the idea of FREEDOM. By limited your monthly expenses, that gives you more freedom to invest in your next entrepreneurial venture, or save up for an amazing trip, or reach your financial goals faster. Many of us could benefit from examining our expenses more closely.
My first money saving hack was all about utilizing your Local Library to take advantage of their free resources. I was stoked to see that SO many people enjoyed that post! I really appreciate all of you that let me know that a series of this nature was of interest to you.
VLOG Notes
The text in this post is meant to provide a high level overview of what was covered in the Vlog. Please watch the video to get the full content from this post.
Today's Hack?
Well... it's not REALLY a hack - but this is honestly where this series should have started. I highly recommend that you perform an audit of your monthly, recurring, expenses - and start tracking your monthly expenditures.
The Audit
This is really simple. I just recomend pulling up your last month of expenses (credit card and bank statements etc.) and look through every re-occuring expense (aka automatically billed) expense - to make sure you are actually using it.
This may sound obvious, but most people can find some low hanging fruit by doing this. Here are a few examples...
Did you sign up for a free trial on something and forget to cancel before they started charging you a monthly fee?
Are you a member of multiple fitness facilities that you aren't using? (Think regular gym, yoga studio, climbing gyms etc.)
Are you paying for multiple streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Hbo? Are you really using all of them?
I go into way more detail in the Dtube Vlog - but here's a high level of the audit process. I actually prefer to print off my statements and go through them with a pen - but you could do this all digitally as well.
I also recommend doing an audit once a quarter. Perhaps right now you are using both Netflix and Hulu, but maybe a few months ago, that will no longer be the case.
Tracking Monthly Expenses
This first step to reducing your monthly expenses - is to bring some awareness to where you are spending money. Honestly, you might be surprised! For those of you who are currently budgeting or tracking your expenses - you can skip this part.
When I first started tracking my expenses, a few categories really surprised me!! I always thought I was pretty frugal when it came to eating out. I would split meals with people, go during happy hour, go out for breakfast, limit the alcohalic beverages I ordered etc. I was shocked at how much I was spending every month eating out! I have a feeling you might be surprised by a few areas as well.
In the video I reference two different apps that I have used for years that serve slightly different purposes.
Mint - This app directly links up to your credit cards and bank accounts to automatically categorize your spending. This can be a really nice approach because it does so much of the work for you. Just be sure to double check everything, because things are sometimes categorized incorrectly.
DollarBird - This is a really simple app where you manually input every expense. I actually prefer this, even though it is more work. The reason I like to do this is because I like to organize expenses into really specific categories. For example... a trip to the grocery store may include groceries and personal care items - which I log separately.
Conclusion
If you guys have any questions on the auditing or tracking process - or really anything I have covered in this video - please let me know! You guys know I love to chat and get into good discussion in the comments. If you have any thoughts or opinions, please don't hesitate to share.
I look forward to continuing this Money Saving Hacks series and I would appreciate your input on what types of subjects you'd like to see covered.
Have a great rest of your day!
xo, Lea
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I am so impressed by your range @coruscate. You really do have so many talents and so much value to add in so many different disciplines. I’m so happy I found you! You are such an awesome Steemian :)
Aww your comment just made my night!! Thank you for the encouragement, it means a lot to me.😊
Sincerely. I really enjoy your posts and feel enriched by them. I think you are going to be one of the most prominent Steemians on this platform. Trust me on this one :)
Ok, now THIS comment made my night. Seriously, that means so much coming from you. I love this place and I’m so grateful to be here. 😊
:):)
This is really helpful! I like all the easy-to-implement ideas and just taking a look at the bank statement. I think we take those for granted sometimes because it's all digital now, and there's more of a disconnect when you know things just get deducted automatically. I can think of a couple things I might need to revamp. Thanks for the tip!
I’m so glad you found this post helpful! It really is easy to feel disconnected and wonder where the money went. I think just the act of tracking my expenses and shining a spotlight on them has helped me make more reasonable choices.
Awesome that you thought of a couple things already!
I know. It's amazing what even a tiny little bit of "knowing" can do. Ignorance pretends to be bliss.
Great tips! I could stand to do this. I always kick myself over forgetting to cancel free trials.
You and me both! Haha I always kick myself when I forget.
i think i should also track my expenses!
i dont know how my hard earning money disappears
I hear ya!! I used to feel the same way until I started tracking my expenses. It was pretty eye opening. Good luck with your money tracking adventures! 😉
I use Mint and strongly advocate for it. The initial setup can be a little daunting. It gives a great snapshot and budgeting overview.
That’s awesome to hear!! I’m glad you've had a good experience with Mint as well. I really like their interface. Once everything is setup, it’s super user friendly.
These are some great tips. We often forget these small things which lead to unnecessary expenses.
I'm off to save money that I don't have :p
I’m glad you found this post helpful! It really is the little things that can add up!
I agree that we should look into our credit card bills. In certain month, credit card does charge an annual fee that can be wavied with a simple call to their service line. In the early days when I had credit card, I didn't know about we can request for wavied of annual fee so I paid for a few years. After I found out, I have been requesting it all these years. There are also some credit cards nowadays that permanently no annual fee. Thanks for recommending the two apps to handle our finances.
Awesome point about credit card fees! Your right, many will waive it if you just call and ask.
Some good hacks there... Really is a worthwhile..
guao you are right sometimes we make unnecessary expenses and we do not know where we left the money, if not when we no longer have it, we must look for strategies of a maximum saving
This post is right in my wheelhouse! I do a weekly quick tip on the Music and Money show on MSPWaves radio and it is usually something related to personal finance.
It's amazing just how the simple act of looking at your monthly expenses pays so many dividends. People don't do it, it blows my mind.
At a minimum people should look at their year end credit card summary as it breaks out all the spending by category. I mean a review once a year is doable for anyone, but quarterly is so much better.
The best part of breaking down monthly expenses is the realization that financial freedom is much closer than imagined.
I did the analysis a few years ago and was amazed at how much lower the monthly number was that what I had anticipated.