Your money is being pulled in many directions constantly, from groceries to utility bills to the average cost of hiring a Nevada car accident attorney. It can get overwhelming, especially when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. 

Luckily, there are plenty of easy ways to cut down how much you have to spend, from documenting each transaction to doing the math on sales to make sure you’re actually getting a good deal. You’ll learn just a bit of this advice below. Hopefully, they’ll help you out in some way.

Document Your Spending

One of the best things you can do for your financial health is track your spending. Every time you spend anything, write it down somewhere. This could be in one of the many budgeting apps (just make sure you can trust it), a spreadsheet in your Google Drive or Microsoft Excel, or even by writing it down. 

Document the date you made the payment, when it actually came out of your account, how much you paid, and what it was for. You’ll have to do this for your entire life, but it will help you notice charges that you didn’t incur that could mean someone has your information and cut down on unnecessary spending.

Failing to track your spending will lead you to have misconceptions about how much money you have to spend because you’re not paying attention to how much you currently have and how much you need to have for later. 

Even if you watch your expenses to make sure you can pay your bills, you will likely end up bleeding money without a clear indication of where it’s going. Documenting your expenses will clear up all of these problems or help you find solutions by telling you where that money is going.

Create a Budget

You need to create a budget. It will tell you how much you can spend and how much to save up, not just monthly but weekly. To do this, start by considering how much you make and how much you have to spend. These are some of your hard limits. You likely won’t be able to increase how much you earn quickly, and how much you need to spend can be broken down into two categories: debt and utilities. 

Water, electricity, Wi-Fi, and more are all utility bills that need to be paid so you can function. Debt could be things like medical bills, car payments, or even a mortgage whose payments must be made, but once you’ve paid what you owe, the bill disappears. The final costs to consider are the variable ones, such as entertainment, groceries, and general wants. 

Once you know how much you spend in each area, you can budget to focus on paying bills, have plenty to contribute towards groceries and debt, and still have some left over for fun stuff. It will take time, but try out a different type of budget if one isn’t working for you; there’s no one right way to do it, but you’ll know you’re not doing it right if you’re struggling too often to pay certain bills.

Know What You Need

As you create your budget and track your expenses, you may overspend in some areas. When this happens, you need to evaluate each expenditure and decide whether it’s a need or a want. 

Needs include debt payments, bills, groceries, etc. Wants are things you don’t necessarily need but buy anyway. This could include music, TV shows, or even streaming services. You do need to have room in your budget to get these things every now and again, but the cost explodes quickly if not controlled. 

Cut out constant unnecessary expenses and limit how much fun stuff you buy. For example, maybe end your Netflix subscription if you don’t watch the stuff on there anymore or limit how many shopping trips you go on during the week. This process can be difficult, and the adjustment will take time, but your wallet will thank you for it.

Watch Sales Closely

Unfortunately, not all sales are created equal. While many are legitimate temporary price cuts, others are just clever tricks to confuse you and get you to pay more money. Some stores say that items are always on sale, that each purchase at their store is worth more because of how low the prices are, or the price is increased before the sale to make you think you’re getting a good deal. 

When you’re unsure if a deal is good, pull out your phone and do some research. See what they’re charging online and what other stores are charging for that same item, or open the calculator and do some math. 

Some BOGO, or buy-one-get-one deals aren’t as worthwhile as they seem and may require the calculator treatment, for example. If you think the deal is worth it and you’ll use the item you’re buying, grab it. If not, pretend the sale label doesn’t exist and move on.

Embrace Off-Brand Products

Many people snub off-brand or generic products because they don’t recognize the brand name. However, most of the time, the generic options taste the same, are cheaper, and may even be made by the same company as the original. The main differences are the logo, brand name, and cost. 

When you’re paying close attention to your budget, you need to embrace these generic items. If you struggle to do this, start small. Grab a generic flour or pasta and try it the next time you use them. From there, move on to other staples and then out further into snacks, cleaning sprays, and paper products. 

Once you’re comfortable with off-brand stuff, then you can try the ultimate money saver: generic medicine. These medications share the same ingredients as the name-brand alternatives, and they have to go through the same testing. The big difference is that you can buy more while still paying less. 

You can get massive bottles of ibuprofen or acetaminophen for headaches, for example, and still pay a fraction of the price. In fact, many generic items are able to be bought in bulk like this, which will save you money. Just make sure you’ll actually use that bulk purchase, or it will have the opposite effect.