10 Tips to Help You Save on Household Spending

I am always looking for ways to cut back on our household spending. We only have one consistent income, so we have to be smart about where our money goes. With that said, there are certain areas that we don’t want to sacrifice, such as buying new clothes, driving a nice car and eating out, so we have had to look for other areas to cut back on. That’s the beauty of saving money. You don’t have to eliminate everything in your life that you enjoy. You simply cut back in the areas you don’t care as much about, so that you can continue to enjoy the things that you really love.

If you are looking for ways to cut your household spending, you may consider some of these tips:

1. Make your own household cleaners. Pinterest is a great resource for DIY projects. I recently found this easy recipe for DIY Dishwasher Detergent. I love it because it’s not only eco-friendly, but also works great.

2. Buy in bulk. You’ll save money and you’ll end up going to the store less. We pay $40 a year for our Sam’s Club membership and we easily make that back just in what we save on organic salad mix.

3. Cancel or downgrade your cable tv/satellite package. We downgraded ours and it saved us $20 a month. We don’t even miss the extra channels.

4. Try to limit eating out to once or twice a week. Tell yourself it will be a treat when you do. We almost always eat out on Friday nights and I look forward to it all week.

5. Wash your clothing in cold water to save money on your energy bill.

6. Refill your printer cartridges instead of buying new ones. If you are in the UK, you can sell empty ink cartridges to make a few extra bucks.

7. Do your own yard work. The hour or two you will spend on it each week will save you a ton of money and you will get good exercise at the same time.

8. Cancel your gym membership and work out at home. You will save at least $40 a month.

9. Make your own coffee. The $3-$5 you spend for a drink at the coffee shop multiple times per week could be put towards a Keurig machine or a whole lot of bagged coffee.

10. Rent movies from Redbox instead of going to the movie theater. It’s fun to see movies when they first come out, but it costs a fortune, especially if you bring the whole family.

I encourage you to sit down and take a look at your spending. Calculate what you spend each month in key areas such as eating out, groceries, entertainment, etc. Then make a plan for how you can cut back. You’ll be surprised at how much you save!

How have you cut back on your household spending?