IT

5 Things I Do to Keep My Spending at Bay (+ Giveaway)

We're halfway through January, and while I didn't exactly let you in on my monthly personal goals, it's understood that saving up is top priority on my to-do's list this year. I get it—setting goals is always easier said than done, hence I'm doing the following things in order to keep my unnecessary spending at bay:

Track daily/monthly expenses. Since I'm taking full responsibility in managing our finances, I am aware of all our monthly recurring bills and when they are due (i.
e., apartment rent, utilities, auto insurance, etc.). Thanks to Shayne's recommendation, I discovered this app called Level Money, which helps me in planning our finances wisely.
Unsubscribe from all promotional email newsletters. I did this the other night, and boy, was it liberating. Agreeing with what my friend Emily said, I have to remind myself that stores never seem to run out of sales, so I'm not exactly missing out on anything! I did this manually, but if you're looking for an app to help you with this, I heard that Unroll.me is great! (P.S. I haven't been to any drugstore in weeks!)
Cancel any unnecessary monthly expenses. I joined ipsy in September in the hopes of getting the best bang for my buck; as it turns out, it wasn't even worth it. Yes, at only $10 a month, it's dirt cheap, but most of the items you receive are only sample sizes, so it's not that practical at all. I cancelled my subscription beginning February, and I don't think I'm going to resubscribe to them again in the future.
Cook more, eat out less. Roan and I have been doing great in this department. Not only are we eating home-cooked/home-prepared meals more, we're maximizing usage of food in our fridge and pantry, too.
Since I'm also watching my weight, my Starbucks visits have become so infrequent. We're saving at least $50 a month for that reason alone. Major win!
Put aside at least 30% of our combined earnings. This may sound a bit superficial, but doing so brings more savings towards our travel and emergency funds. If you think setting aside the same amount is difficult, then Jaelan's easy method of saving money might be more helpful.

What are money-saving tricks that you find effective?

In other news, I have teamed up yet again with Becca and friends to give away $200 PayPal cash to one lucky reader! It is worth noting that when asked what blog you're entering from, please make sure that you write SCATTERBRAIN instead of your blog name. Got it? Good luck, everyone!