Simple Tips on Bringing Your Household Costs Down

Haven’t we all experienced scratching our heads as we look at our planners and budget lists? There’s no getting around it: running and maintaining a household is hard and expensive. A big chunk of your income is spent on paying utility bills, food, and other incidental expenses in the house. If you’re looking to save on household costs, there are plenty of things that you can do to cut back on your expenses.

Utility Bills

You can cut down on your electricity bill by calling a home solar company in Utahor other states and having solar panels installed in your home. Although there’s a one-time upfront fee, you can save a lot of money in the long run. Solar panels are easy to maintain. They last for a long time-up to 25 years without major repairs and replacements. It’s a wise choice to finally relieve yourself of the costly energy bill.

Shop around for the best cable and data service. Do you really need unlimited data service in your home when you already have one in your phone bill? Maybe you can check out alternatives such as Netflix and Hulu. You might not need cable services because you rarely open your TV these days. Check out what channels you need and only pay for those.

Food

Eating out is the most expensive thing people do these days. Picking up a rotisserie chicken for $13 will cost only about $6 when you make it at home. The more money you spend on restaurants, the more you won’t be able to save anything. Eating out is 50% more expensive than preparing your own meals at home. Studies showed that the cost of preparing food at home dropped by 0.5%, while the price of eating out increased by almost 3%.

Before you go to the grocery store, make a list. Impulse buys make up 70% of your purchases. Do you need that bag of chips? Put that back on the shelves. Not only is it unhealthy, but it is also expensive. Use coupons and other discounts that you can maximize. Be wise about spending money in the grocery store.

Debts

The average interest rate for credit cards is 16% annually. The average American family has a debt of around $16,500. Imagine paying $2,640 in interest accrued annually. Talk to a debt counselor or seek a debt management program. They can consolidate your debts and talk to the lenders about lower interest rates. You then have to make one monthly payment to the non-profit credit counseling agency that will distribute the funds to your lenders.

Garden

Vegetables are expensive. They’re more expensive than meat and chicken. While you don’t have to be a farmer, you can grow vegetables in your own garden. You can make aherb garden, too, so you don’t have to buy mint, juniper, basil, spring onion, tarragon, dill, and parsley. You only need some seeds, garden soil, and a few tools to start growing your own carrots, tomatoes, peppers, and many others.

Vices

You don’t need to be told that there are 480,000 deaths a year in the U.S. alone because of cigarette smoking, but there it is. If you’re smoking one pack a day, that’s $185 to $200 a month. In a year, that’s $2,220 to $2,400. Imagine how much you’ve already spent on these death sticks for the past years. The cost is astronomical.

Kicking out bad habits is difficult. Stopping yourself from using your credit card, for example, is a habit that needs practice and discipline. But think about how much money you’re wasting on unnecessary things. The same money can be invested instead and put to better use.