How Budgeting Brought to Light Being Nickle & Dimed...

Subscriptions are EVERYWHERE. For TV streaming services, makeup, clothes, razors, toys; you name it, there's a subscription for it. While some can add value to our lives and save us money, we have to be sure not to get carried away! What seems like a measly $15 a month adds up when you have 10 of them!

My husband and I have always had Netflix and an antenna for local channels. It was a way better deal than the $100+ you could spend on cable. Then HULU came out and we subscribed for it. Then another. Then another. Before we knew it, we were paying almost $100 a month for TV Streaming services. The crazy part? With our work schedules, there wasn't much time to watch TV! So we were spending a good chunk of money on something we barely used.

How did we discover this? When we made a budget! A budget is an awesome tool to help you discover where your money goes and what changes could be made in your spending to save some extra cash and give yourself an instant raise! When budgeting, start with your income. Then, deduct your fixed expenses (mortgage/rent, internet, phone bill, etc). After those, list your variable expenses (groceries, entertainment, dinning out, etc).

Be sure when making your budget, you use all of your bank statements, from checking accounts to credit cards, as a reference to ensure you do not miss any monthly expenses. In doing so, my husband and I were able to see areas we were spending carelessly. Just cutting out daily coffee at the local coffee shop, several streaming services barely used, and limiting eating out, we saved HUNDREDS a month. Below, is a list of items to give you an idea of what to include in yours!

Mortgage/Rent

Utilities (Power Bill/Gas/Water/Sewer)

Property Tax/Home Owners Insurance

(if you own your home - generally this is added in to your mortgage payment already)

Internet/Cable/Home Phone

Trash Pickup

Alarm Company

Subscriptions (HULU, Amazon, Netflix, etc)

Cell Phone

Vehicle Insurance

Groceries

Gas

Credit Card/Loan Payments

And any other daily/weekly/monthly habits you may have like cigarettes, dinning out, lotto tickets, daily stops at gas stations for snacks, etc. EVERYTHING you spend your money on is important when budgeting! This can be done on a scrap piece of paper or I know of many that take budgeting and their bills vary serious down to keeping a planner on them at all times to ensure they make the best financial decisions and keep track of all monetary commitments. Below are some top-rated budget planners found on Amazon!

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