5 Ways to Cut Household Expenses

If there's one thing surviving 2020 taught us, that's how to cut our costs. Here are 5 simple ways we are able to cut our monthly household expenses.

Use Coupons

I'm not talking about Extreme Couponing (however this is something I use to do!) but rather buying the things you need and just pairing it with your stores digital coupons or rebate apps; like Ibotta. The great thing about most stores now is that they will let you know if they have digital coupons available for certain products in their ads. This makes couponing much easier. By using coupons and/or rebate apps it's possible to cut your grocery bill in half or lower. I have a Telegram group where I share not only grocery deals but online deals as well. If this sounds like something you're interested in you can join us here.

Renegotiate Rent Payment

This is something that definitely helped us cut our household expenses over the last 2 years and that's renegotiating our rent. Now we've lived in our current house for 3 years prior to attempting to renegotiate. Honestly I didn't even know this was a thing! Our lease was ending and I knew we needed to cut our expenses but after looking in our area we noticed how much more expensive everything was. We took a chance and let our landlord know what we were trying to do. We said we was looking to move so we could save on our expenses. We ended up renegotiating our rent payment and saved us $125 a month! Now I know this may not be feasible to everyone, mainly if you live in an apartment complex but if you have been renting awhile it's something definitely worth a shot.

Use discount apps

I briefly touched on this earlier but the use of discount app can drastically cut not only your grocery bill but the amount you spend shopping in general, in half. Ibotta, Fetch Rewards are great rebate apps for groceries and various items. To use these it's a simple as taking a photo of your receipt, checking the item you purchased and/or scanning the product barcode. For online shopping I tell people to check out Rakuten or Retail Me Not both have browser extensions so if you're on a computer there's no extra step you need to remember. You'll automatically be alerted if coupons or rebates are available for the site you're shopping on. They also have free mobile app options as well, just remember for this option you will need to start you're shopping within the app first. These apps either pay out in cash via Paypal , Venmo or your choice of gift card options.

Utility Budget billing

This is something I believe a lot of people aren't aware of. Most utility companies offer a Budget or Averaged Billing. The process & program may differ by location and company but the basics are still the same. The company will take your previous 12 month average, this amount will be your monthly bill, however it can fluctuate depending on your usage. Definitely something to check into.

Cancel cable

We "cut the cord" over 10 years ago and haven't missed cable at all! Now with so many streaming services, the need for cable is nonexistent. If you have a Firestick or FireTv, even better, you have the ability to add a lot of free tv apps. Even if you choose to purchase subscriptions like Hulu, Netflix, Peacock etc these are still cheaper than cable.

Declutter

Everyone has items or clothes that we haven't touched or worn in sometimes years! Take those items and list them for sale. Facebook Marketplace, Mercari and Offer Up are just some of my favorite sell sites. I've decided this year that every time something coming into my house another thing must also leave. This is a great way to put a few extra dollars in your pocket.

These were just 5 of the ways we cut our household expenses. Tell me, have you tried any of the things discussed before? How are you saving on your household expenses?