Cutting Expenses

Cutting back on expenses is pretty self explanatory. You want to reduce the amount of money you spend on things that aren’t essential. Its not always easy, but overtime can get easier as you get used to it. I like to think of cutting down expenses as less money going out, so it’s more money in my pocket. There are also many major goals I am saving for, so I also keep those in mind as the motivation to lower expenses as much as possible so that I can reach my goals faster. In some ways it feels like I made more money out of thin air. Its very rewarding and something we should all strive to do.

Personal Experience:

Growing up I learned a lot of good financial habits such as saving money and as got older the importance of investing. One of the things my parents taught me was importance of saving for later and the importance of having a reserve amount set aside for emergencies. As I got older and started working I learned about investing and compound interest which interested me a lot. One of the moments of truth for me was seeing the gross and net pay on my paycheck. It felt pretty discouraging not knowing that half my pay was gone to taxes, but it pushed me to have better control of my money by making sure that every dollar counted and was spent wisely. Like most people I had my stretches both long and short where I spent too much whether it was stress related or for other reasons. Eventually I found my way back and continued trying to cut expenses again and stay on track. Most recently I had to be honest with myself, that I was spending way too much money eating out and it led to the debt. And as difficult and frustrating it is to go through the process of paying it down. It has ingrained in me that, I don't want to do this again and put myself in debt again. It hasn’t always been easy or felt great in the moment, but in the long run I’m always glad I made the choice to remove a couple extra expenses here or there.

Profitability:

Cutting expenses does not bring in cash flow, so its not profitable in that regard. But being able reduce overall expenses is a good thing and is something that is good to do.

Pros and Cons:

Pros: More money saved every month, is a good opportunity to grow it through savings accounts or investing.

Cons: Some of the expenses or excess spending that you will cut can be hard when you want to spend. Allocating what you save can be challenging.

Would I recommend it:

I would definitely recommend cutting expenses where possible. One way to think of cutting expenses is think about the long term outcome whether that is saving for a big expense like a vacation or just to build up an emergency fund. My significant other and I set a goal of not ordering out for a month and at the end of the month going to a nice restaurant we both liked or getting something we wanted each individually. It becomes much easier when you have both big and small goals, to stay on track. Small goals help you manage the day to day and month to month life choices. And big goals give you the motivational and aspirational aspect of trying to climb higher. Cutting expenses is a good general first step in personal finance and in life. Obviously most people don’t have an endless supply of money, so cutting a little extra to save a few dollars for something bigger will always reward you in the end.