If your outgoings are outpacing your income or you’re saving up for something special, you’ll want to get a handle on your spending and slash your expenditure. Fortunately, there are numerous ways you can cut your costs, without living frugally.

For inspiration, take a look at these top tips and find out how you can stop spending so much money:

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How to Stop Spending So Much Money

Switch Suppliers

As your contracts come to an end, don’t let them automatically renew. Instead, scour the market for the best deals. From the cheapest Apple smartphone contracts to the cheapest electricity providers, there are numerous service contracts that can be renegotiated. Whether you’re paying above average for car insurance, home insurance or gas and water, you can save a substantial amount by renegotiating your rates or switching to a different supplier.

Track Your Spending

When you don’t keep a running total of what you’re spending, it’s easy to underestimate what your outgoings really are. By keeping track of your spending, however, you’ll be able to identify excessive spending habits, as well as unnecessary purchases. Fortunately, today’s tech makes it easy to track your spending, whether it takes place online or offline. By scanning your receipts into apps or manually inputting the figures, you can keep a running daily, weekly or monthly total and gain a deeper insight into your spending. 

Set Goals

Everyone wants to save money but having a vague goal offers little motivation. In contrast, when you set yourself clear objectives, it’s easy to achieve your goals. If you want to take a holiday in 2021, for example, calculate the amount you want to spend and identify cost-cutting exercises you can undertake now. This gives you a defined goal to work towards and will help to keep you on track when you make changes to your spending habits.

Start Meal Prepping

Many families overspend when it comes to grocery shopping, particularly if they shop multiple times a week or rely solely on processed foods. Fortunately, it’s easy to slash your shopping bills by rethinking the way you prepare meals throughout the week. Instead of making meals from scratch every day or relying on takeaways and processed foods, start preparing your meals in advance. 

This will ensure you make the most of your ingredients and reduce waste, thus reducing your costs. What’s more – when you always have a tasty meal to enjoy, you’ll be less tempted to overspend on takeaways. 

Avoid Impulse Purchases

When you are going to spend money, give yourself time to think about the transaction first. By giving yourself 24 hours to consider a purchase before making it, for example, you can determine whether you really need or want to part with your cash. 

Rethink Your Household Budget

Creating an up-to-date household budget is a sure-fire way to take a new approach to spending. When you can clearly identify your expenditure, it’s easy to see where changes can be made. From cancelling unused subscriptions to finding better deals, cutting your spending can be simpler than you think.

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Note: This is a collaborative article.