How to Cut Expenses
Food
| Clothing | Insurance
| Personal | Medical | Auto
Entertainment | Miscellaneous
Food
1. Shop alone.
2. Stick to your list: Never shop when hungry because impulse purchases destroy budgets.
3. Make as few trips as possible to the store. Limit the time for shopping; browsing the
shelves tempts us to make expensive impulse purchases.
4. If you have a freezer, use it to stock up.
5. Don't overbuy perishables because of a sale. Spoiled food is expensive.
6. Buy in season. Fruits and vegetables are most expensive at the beginning and end of
production.
7. Learn unit pricing and buy items based on their cost per ounce (price/weight).
8. Substitute store brands for name brands whenever possible.
9. Substitute products can save 50-60% (i.e., powdered milk for whole milk, cheese food
for cheese, etc.).
10. Avoid extensive use of frozen "heat and eat" foods.
11. Carry lunches for school and work.
12. Give up restaurant eating, if possible.
Clothing
1. Shop garage sales for children's clothing, as it is quickly
outgrown.
2. Stop wearing clothes that require dry cleaning.
3. Shop during seasonal clothing and white sales.
Insurance
1. Can some insurance policies be eliminated? Some types of coverage have little or
no value (i.e., whole life, credit card, full coverage on an old car, etc.).
2. Shop for insurance. Door-to-door policies cost more.
Personal
1. Could someone in the family learn to cut and style hair?
2. Restrict your snacks at work--snacking can be costly.
3. Shop toiletries carefully--some stores discount these.
4. Stop smoking.
5. Trade your old books, records, CDs and tapes at the 1/2 price or discount book store.
Medical
1. Don't skip regular medical and dental check-ups. Preventative measures are
usually less expensive in the long run.
2. Ask your doctor to prescribe generic drugs. Also, shop by phone for best price before
buying a prescription.
Auto
1. Plan your days so fewer car trips are necessary.
2. Do you really need more than one car?
3. Consider and check into car pools.
4. Self-service gas pumping will save dollars (not available in all
states).
Entertainment
1. Home entertainment costs less.
2. Eliminate some or all leisure activities that cost money. Major newspapers list free or
minimal charge entertainment activities each weekend.
3. Could a relative or friend do your baby-sitting to reduce costs?
Miscellaneous
1. Consider less expensive housing. As a rule-of-thumb, do not pay more than 30% of
net income for housing.
2. If you can do without air conditioning, shut it off. Watch your bill and have
appliances checked for efficiency (utility companies usually do this free).
3. Put your phone bill on a diet - keep just one phone.
4. Have the phone company block 986 and 900 numbers.
5. Consider a long distance block and buy calling cards to control long distance.
