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Cut Your Budget Some Slack By Slashing Your Recurring Expenses

By Peter Anderson 8 Comments - The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited September 7, 2014.

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This month the folks over at GoBankingRates.com launched a contest to have bloggers shoot a short 1 minute video with their best money saving tip, and the winner would receive a $1000 prize and have their video shared at the Financial Blogger Conference. I thought it sounded fun, so I decided to enter.

I decided to go beyond just reading my short tip on my webcam, and instead wrote a short song called “Cut Your Budget Some Slack“.

Here’s my song, with the lyrics included below the video:

Watch on YouTube

LYRICS:

Cut Your Budget Some Slack

If your pockets are empty and dinero is short
Take time to examine before you are poor
The bills in the mail and your other big costs
You’ll be glad that you did, save money, you boss!

If you want to save money and your bills just ain’t funny
It’s time … to cut back
If your costs are sky-high and you’re asking why
Cut your budget some slack

Cutting your cable and your magazine scrips
Your Netflix and your cell phone and life insurance
Refinance your mortgage, insurance and car
You’ll be well on your way to being a star

If you want to save money and your bills just ain’t funny
It’s time … to cut back
If your costs are sky-high and you’re asking why
Cut your budget some slack

Ah yeah, time to cut..

  • If you enjoyed the video, I’d appreciate if you could head on over to their site to share it!

Save Money By Cutting Your Regular Monthly Expenses

cut your budget some slack

The tip I was singing about in the video up above is one that I’ve talked about more than once on this site, that you should find where you’re spending money every month on a regular basis, and find ways to cut those recurring costs.

When you take the time to write down all of those recurring expenses, you might be surprised by just how much money you’re spending every month.  By the same token, when you start cutting those costs you’ll come to realize that you can save hundreds – if not thousands – of dollars every year just by cutting existing expenses.

Start Tracking Your Spending

So where can you start?  My suggestion is to start by actually sitting down and figuring out where your money is going.

  • Track your regular recurring expenses: I use a software at our house called “You Need A Budget” that helps you setup a household budget by category, and then track your spending every month in each category.  When we first started tracking our budget we found we were spending much more money than we thought.
  • Find pain points in your spending: Once you’ve figured out where the money is going, it’s time to identify areas that you can cut back.  Look for bills that are especially high, or that are for services you no longer use.
  • Figure out ways to cut those recurring expenses: Look for bills that can be cut completely, negotiated for a lower amount, or that can be switched to a new service to save.
  • Wash, rinse and repeat on a yearly or bi-yearly basis:  You may want to set an entire day aside in order to find ways to cut those costs, and then re-examine your recurring expenses once or twice a year to ensure you’re not overpaying.

Typical Places To Cut Costs

There are a million and one places that you might be spending money on a regular monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. Here are a few places you can look for savings.

  • Save on internet, phone and wireless bills: Often the costs you’re paying every month for internet, home phone and cell phones can be cut drastically.  Look into switching internet providers to a lower cost alternative with an introductory deal.  Switch to a prepaid cell phone provider, instead of an expensive contract plan.  Use a free VOIP service like Ooma for your phone instead of using an expensive landline.
  • Save on housing costs: Refinance your mortgage to save thousands in interest.  Appeal your property taxes if you think they’re too high.  Get cheaper homeowner’s insurance.  Remove your mortgage insurance if you’re got enough equity.
  • Save on entertainment costs: Shop around for a better deal on your cable TV package, cancel un-needed or doubled up services (Amazon Instant Video vs. Netflix?), cut the cord on cable completely, or switch to cheaper or free online alternatives.
  • Save on different types of insurance: Shop around to find better homeowners, life, auto, disability, and other insurance. Often you may be paying more than you should.  Think about using an insurance broker to save.
  • Save on energy bills: Save on energy costs by getting a programmable thermostat, turn the temp up in the summer and down in the winter, turn down the temps on the water heater, get a home energy audit.

The tips above are just a few of the ways that you can save on your recurring expenses. You just have to be creative, and find ways that you can cut. Often you won’t even notice once you’ve made the cuts that you’ve lost a service, or that you’ve downgraded levels of service.  But you’ll notice the extra money in your account at the end of the month.

 Have your own tips to save on recurring expenses? Tell us what they are in the comments!

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Last Edited: 7th September 2014 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.

This article is about: Budget, Frugality

About Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson is a Christian, husband to his beautiful wife Maria, and father to his 2 children. He loves reading and writing about personal finance, and also enjoys a good board game every now and again. You can find out more about him on the about page. Don't forget to say hi on Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook!

Comments

    Share Your Thoughts: Cancel reply

  1. Molly @ FeeHacks says

    Ha! Awesome video. I’ll have to send this to my friend who just had her cable bill sneakily increase by $20 a month…

    Reply
    • Peter Anderson says

      It’s one of those things – if you don’t revisit your regular recurring expenses every once in a while, you’re likely losing a lot of your hard earned money!

      Reply
  2. Shelly Burke says

    Within the last few months I cut my phone bill by $30/month (took patiently getting transferred many times and calling back when I got “cut off” — I suspect they were trying to get ME to hang up…) and cable bill by $40/month. After several months I really missed 2 cable shows, so subscribe to Hulu now which will get me those shows as well as movies (I miss weekend movies too!).

    As for magazine subscriptions, I have a different outlook–reading is a big part of my leisure time. After I found myself purchasing different magazines once a week or so I realized that it would be MUCH cheaper to get subscriptions to those magazines. I’m very selective in which ones I do purchase and WILL reassess my desire for them before I renew next year.

    I think your point (and the point all of us should take) is to be conscious of where the money goes, and continually ask yourself what you could do without.

    Reply
    • Peter Anderson says

      It truly can be a pain sometimes to get a company to help you out and reduce your bill, but if you don’t ask – you for sure won’t get a reduced monthly cost! I love your stick-to-it-iveness! Keep calling them until they reduce your bill!

      Reply
  3. Alexis says

    I decided to eliminate some of my electronic bills and end my contract with Netflix. For awhile I was using both Netflix and Huluplus, but decided that it wasn’t necessary to have both. I want to become more active outside as well and by having 2 cable accounts;that wasn’t doing me any good.

    Reply
    • Peter Anderson says

      We had both Hulu and Netflix at one time as well, but canceled the Hulu account because it duplicated some of the content and we weren’t really using it very much for the rest. Cut those un-needed subscriptions!

      Reply
  4. phyllis c. littlejohn says

    Thanks for those wonderful tips on saving. Since you are giving sound advice as a Christian, please don’t do something stupid as I did. If you want to save money please don’t take in a roomers/boarders especially if it is a supposed so called “Christian” who takes advantage of the simple things in life. It is a burden that seems impossible to get rid of. I can’t, as much as I would like to, throw her out as the book of Matthew indicates that If I do so, I will be eternally punished. In order to save money, never let anyone take advantage of you the way they are taking advantage of me and please pray for me. Thanks. By the way, since my sound is not “up to snuff,” I enjoyed the video just the same and lyrics related thereto. Have a blessed day.

    Reply
    • Peter Anderson says

      I’m not sure which verses in Matthew you’re referring to, but if you’re being taken advantage of, I’m not sure you are required to allow them to do that. Sure, we’re called on to forgive when we’re wronged, and to help others, but I can’t find any verses saying that we should allow others to take advantage of our kindness.

      Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

      Helping someone in need who is thankful for your help is one thing, but helping someone who isn’t grateful is quite another, especially if they’re taking advantage of you in some way. I would prayerfully consider either trying to help them in another way, or finding another way to help besides giving them room and board. God bless.

      Reply
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