| By :
Molly Wider
For those of us trying to put some serious effort into saving, we can be the first to admit it's difficult. Not only because it requires some major cutting back, especially on the non-necessities, but because we don't always know where to start. Making a list of your current expenses will give you a great starting point when it comes to figuring out exactly where it is your money goes. Cutting back on smaller items such as coffees and cable will save you some, but the amount will be minimal. If you're looking to save some big dollars, then it pays to find out where the largest sums of your hard-earned dollars go each month. According to a U.S. Statistical Abstract, the average American family spends approximately 63 per cent of all their money on food, transportation and housing alone. So from these three categories, we have already found where the average person spends well over half of their paycheque each month. When it comes to our monthly food bill, approximately 12 per cent of our pay is dedicated to feeding ourselves. Making some adjustments in this area will definitely have an impact on your savings. Being as food is something we buy every day, eating at home more often will have an enormous impact on the amount you're able to stash away each month. As we've all heard before, eating out is a major expense. For every $1 we spend on food, 43 cents of it is spent on eating out or prepared foods. If you really feel the urge to eat out, perhaps doing so with a group of friends may be a solution. Splitting the bill for take-out like pizza or Chinese will definitely leave both your belly and your pockets with a lot more in them. Transportation takes up approximately 17 per cent of our income and is a difficult one to save on. A car costs what a car costs, as does the fuel to get us around and mechanic bills to maintain our vehicles. A large money saver, however, will be on insurance. It's easy enough nowadays to shop for insurance rates on-line. Finding a better rate could easily save a few hundred dollars a year. Also learning to do simple routine maintenance can add up. Replacing things like air filters, topping off fluids and checking your own tires are all simple DIY projects. According to this Statistical Abstract, 34 per cent of our money goes directly towards housing. Once again, that's on average. We all know that housing generally costs us a lot more than that each month, but either way, housing sucks up a great deal of our income. Refinancing with these record-low interest rates is a sure way to begin saving yourself hundreds each month. As with auto insurance, shop around for house insurance. Make certain your company is the best deal you can find out there. You can also take advantage of things such a free energy audits. Most utility companies will do these 'gratis' and tell you how your home ranks for energy efficiency.
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
