Personal Finance in Your 20s & 30s For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 5

Proven Ways to Spend Less and Save More

IN THIS CHAPTER

Cutting your housing costs and trimming your taxes

Managing food, transportation, fashion, and recreation expenses

Reducing the expenses of technology, insurance, professional advice, and healthcare

In my work as a financial counselor and teaching courses, I have been surprised at how often people, who were otherwise doing a fine job saving a good portion of their income, have solicited my feedback on their spending. In addition to wanting to know how to save more to accomplish their goals, they also wanted to know how their spending compared to others’ and how they could best cut their own spending.

This chapter includes the same advice I gave all of my counseling clients and students about spending money.

In this chapter, I present ideas on how to get the most from spending and how to spend less. (In Chapter 2, I discuss the importance of developing a savings mindset, as well as budgeting and spending strategies.)

How and where you spend your money is a matter of personal choice and priorities, but those choices can affect the amount of money you have left to save. Savings is essential to accomplishing many personal ...