5 Ways I’m Cutting Monthly Expenses to Save More

This post is sponsored by Orby TV. Thank you for supporting brands that help make Lots of Sass possible.

Happy Thursday, sweet friends! Can y’all believe it’s the last day in February? I seriously don’t even know where the month went and that we are so close to spring. With two months almost behind us, I’m revisiting my 2019 goals and am really trying to spend time focused on my major financial goal: eliminate all consumer debt. With this goal, I’ve realized there’s some cutting back I need to do monthly that can help me achieve this much quicker than I think and possibility add more money to my savings. So, here’s what I’m doing:

One | Cutting cable costs with Orby TV – Okay y’all, I will not lie when I say that I love my dose of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Fixer Upper and NCIS, just as much as the next person. However, my cable bill is out of control. This is why I’m switching to Orby TV and paying only $40 a month with taxes and fees included, and no, that’s not an introductory rate y’all. Orby TV is an awesome solution for people who don’t want to sign a contract, get a credit check ran for cable and don’t want to pay for high-speed internet (like you do with streaming services because high-speed can get really expensive). If you only have a mobile connection to internet, you’ll be all good with Orby TV! So, what do you need to get started? You can pick up the equipment at your local Best Buy then get it installed that same week. Since you’ll own the equipment, you save on that monthly rental fee which you can add straight to your savings account or add to your debt. With the pile up of savings, the equipment pays for itself. Plus with Orby TV you’ll always get your local channels for free and you can turn off packages of channels whenever you want with zero reactivation fees. Oh wait, did I mention you can do all of this within the app? For example, if I know I have a month where I’ll be traveling frequently, I can go straight to the app and turn off my channels package and save $$$ that month since I won’t be using it. How awesome that?

Two | Stick to a cash budget – If you have a budget of $50 to spend out that week, only carry that amount with you and use cash for your purchases. This way, you can visually see when that budget is completely gone. You can try the envelope method and put your spending month in one envelope for the entire month. This helps you keep track of how much you are spending on entertainment that month and lets you know if you need to adjust your budget or cut back.

Three | Look for deals – Okay guys, one of the reasons I started my blog was to focus on affordability in all things including fashion, beauty, travel and more. I’ve never seen the fun in paying full price when I know I can pay half just a few days later. For example, if there’s a movie I really want to see, I’ll wait until $5 ticket Tuesday to see the movie. Along with tickets being $5, all concessions are half off. So for only $10, I can purchase a movie ticket, a drink and a small popcorn. Nothing about the movie or food has changed, however, I’ve just saved $15 going on a different day. When it comes to clothing, I know certain stores run sales often such as LOFT, Old Navy & J. Crew Factory. If I have my eye on a dress for work at LOFT, I’ll wait until that weekend, which is usually when they have 40%-50% off sales. Since new clothes are part of my monthly budget for my job, there’s no point in paying full price when I can get the same exact item for cheaper a few days later. Additionally, I set a clothing budget and once it’s gone, it’s gone. This also challenges me to find the best deals to share with y’all and challenges me to be creative when putting together new outfits.

Four | Shop discount groccery stores – Maybe it’s only me but one of my biggest monthly expenses is food. Recently, I started waiting until I got the weekly circulation before I picked up groceries. This way I can craft my list around the current sales which has helped tremendously but I needed to take it one step further. One of my favorite places to grocery shop is Aldi. They have a huge selection of organic and healthy finds, plus super fresh produce for usually half the price of major groccery stores. Once again, the same bananas and spinach and chicken breast for a fraction of the cost. If my budget that week is $35 for groceries and I only spend $20, I’ll add the other $15 to my debt payment which gets me an inch closer to my goal.

Five | Say no – This is my favorite tip in here. Something I noticed last year was that I would spend money on things I didn’t want or spend money to go places that didn’t interest me because I was scared to say no to invitations. When I tracked last year, I spent $150 in one month just to attend events or trips that I didn’t really want to go on. That $150 could have gone to my savings or to my debt or both. I could have donated that money to an organization I care about or stocked up essentials. Plus after these events or outings, I wasn’t too happy with myself which extends further than the money of it. Now if I know I don’t want to attend an event, I’ll say “thank you for the offer, but I’m going to pass right now.” This alone has helped me not only save money but take control of my time and increase productivity since I don’t get dragged away from work or relaxation time.

Are there things you could back on to achieve your financial goals for 2019? If you are needing to cut down the cable bill, Orby TV is the perfect option for you! Learn more here , then in the comments, let me know one of your goals for 2019! Thanks so much for reading. -xo, Azanique <3