BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
Everyone loves to save money, so here are three easy ways you can free up $250 in your budget per month.
Cancel subscriptions you don’t use
Review your monthly bank statement for recurring charges, like subscriptions you may have forgotten you signed up for or no longer want. While $5 a month for music streaming you rarely use may not seem like a lot, that’s an extra $60 per year. The same goes for other monthly charges, like unused, or underused, gym memberships.
Depending on your location and membership, belonging to a gym can set you back anywhere from $10 per month at Planet Fitness, for example, to $300 per month at upscale clubs like Equinox. If you aren’t hitting the weight room regularly, it might be worth cutting ties with your gym and taking a run or following along with a workout video on YouTube instead.
Go generic
We all have our preferences, whether it’s for a favorite cereal or two-ply toilet paper. But one simple way to save money regularly is to look to store brands and generics, which typically cost about half the price of name-brand items, according to a report from Policygenius. Start by making a list of items you purchase frequently and figure out where you’re willing to budget. A smart place to start: Generic or store brand products that experts say are a good value.
Negotiate your bills
The average cost for pay-TV, such as cable or satellite, is about $107 a month, according to Leichtman Research Group. Review your monthly internet, phone, and cable bills to check for any unexplained increases in your plan or expired introductory offers. Then call customer service to try to negotiate your bill. Emphasize that you’d like a better deal on your service. If that fails, ask to speak with their retention department, whose job it is to keep customers and will likely be willing to help. Do this for a few bills, and you could save over $50 each month.
