Spending Less on Essentials

When it comes to buying essentials like food, clothing, and paying the electric bill, it may seem like there is no way to spend less. However, there are many ways you can spend less on essentials if you are creative and determined. Let’s look at some different ways to do it.

Food

Believe it or not, food is one of the places you can cut expenses and still eat healthily. Eating with a budget meal plan can also be fun.

Consider having a GST free month – that is buy only fresh food – there is no 10% GST applied to fresh meat, vegetables and fruit. That’s a huge saving on your weekly food bill.

Buy generic or store brands: Generic or store brands can be cheaper than name-brand products but are often just as good in terms of quality.

The other thing you can do to save on food is to plan your meals in advance, shop sales, and use coupons. When you serve the meals, focus on ensuring everyone gets the right serving size, calories, and nutrition. One wasteful thing that most people do is making too large of servings - which of course costs more money but doesn’t make anyone healthier.

Utilities

It really depends where you live regarding your utilities and what you may or may not be willing to do to cut the bill. One way to deal with utilities if you want to be sure you can run your AC when it’s hot and your heater when it’s cold, is to ask for "budget billing." If you’ve lived in a place at least a year so that you have a record, you can easily get that set up. This means your bill will be the same every month, making it a lot easier to budget. It’s usually evened out twice a year.

The other things you can do is ensure that your home is insulated well so that the windows don’t have gaps letting air out of the house (and air into the house). Plus, if you look at your utility bill, they usually have tips right on it about how to cut costs. For example, the best time to run your dishwasher is to run it right before bed or after 8pm at night, when the power grid is not being overstressed.

Shop around for the best utility plans – it is a very competitive market and you can get huge discounts by paying vie direct debit or paying on time. Ask for discounts.

Use energy-efficient light bulbs: Energy-efficient light bulbs, such as LEDs, use less electricity and last longer than traditional bulbs. They may cost more initially, but can save money in the long run.

Clothing

The truth is that outside of growing kids, most people could go at least a year without buying any clothing. Unless you’re involved in a sport or do lots of walking or running, you don’t need tennis shoes every single year either. Let’s look at a few tips to help you save money on clothing.

• Buy High Quality – Some types of clothing are an investment. For example, a solid suit, nice dress shoes, the little black dress. If you spend more on these items, they’ll last forever and always be timeless. Check the seams, the buttons, and the overall make to ensure the quality is good.

• Choose Classic Pieces – Don’t go for the fads in the high prices. Buy quality classic pieces on sale that are of high quality and value, then add a few fad items from discount stores to freshen up the wardrobe seasonally.

• Avoid Too Many Colors – When you buy anything, including a t-shirt, you should know what you’ll wear it with. If you avoid buying too many colors and stick to a color palette that enables everything to match everything else, you’ll save a lot of money, instead of trying to match something with that random sweater you just bought on sale.

• You Only Need One – There was a time that people had that one Sunday dress or that one thing they could wear to a wedding, a funeral, and a cocktail party with minor changes. When you think of investment pieces like that, you really only need one. You don’t need two little black dresses or even two pairs of the same jeans.

• Thrift – This is especially important for growing children. Children grow super-fast during certain ages, so there is no reason to spend a lot of money. This is especially true for baby clothing. Buy second hand and accept hand me downs from family and friends.

• Find Sales – There are certain times of the year that you should buy different clothing items, from coats to shoes, and it’s always off season. It depends where you live but if you pay attention, you’ll start learning when the best deals and sales happen.

The important thing to remember is that you only need the right clothing for the job. You don’t need more than one thing for each job. You can add little touches to the items to spruce them up without breaking the bank. Plus, if you’ve never budgeted before, you may already have more clothing that you’ll need for a while.

Medicine

1. Use generic medications: Generic medications can be just as effective as brand-name medications, but are often less expensive. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if a generic version of your medication is available.
2. Check for discounts and coupons: Many pharmacies and drug manufacturers offer discounts and coupons for medications. Check online or ask your pharmacist if any are available for the medications you need.
3. Buy in bulk: Buying medications in larger quantities can often be cheaper than buying smaller quantities. Check with your pharmacist to see if bulk purchasing is an option for your medications.
4. Use home remedies: For minor ailments, consider using home remedies instead of over-the-counter medications. Simple remedies like honey for coughs or ginger for nausea can be effective and cost much less than medications.
5. Shop around: Not all pharmacies charge the same prices for medications, so consider shopping around to find the best price for your medications.
6. Take care of your health: Taking care of your health through exercise, a healthy diet, and preventative care can help reduce the need for medications and health products in the long run.

Maintenance

If you own a house, or a car, or anything that can break down, the best way to prevent unexpected costs is to keep the maintenance up according to whatever the manufacturer suggested. When you do that, you will end up having fewer costly repairs. Getting your oil changed, changing AC filters, and keeping bugs off your car all help maintain the value of your investments.

Anything you want to save money on, including essentials, can be done if you give it some thought. Ask around about what other people do and set up a budget that you will stick to no matter what. When you are forced to stick to your budget, you can become quite creative when you need to. Just don’t give yourself permission to go over your budget.

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