Gaining Control - The Fifth Step to Owning Your Money - More Cuts

After slamming you with lots of information last week in this series, I took a break to post some other items. Now that you have mentally wrapped your mind around what your finances really look like, have put together a budget, have brainstormed some income ideas and have made some cuts, let's move on....

So you've made the basic cuts now. You're feeling better about cruising along. But you'd still like more wiggle room AND you'd still like more to send to your creditors. Because you know, the more you send them, the shorter time that you'll have to make these sacrifices.

There are more extreme measures you can take. Here are just a few suggestions:

• Cancel your tv subscription altogether. Between movie boxes (free or $1), Hulu (free), and Netflix (just $10) you can spend $11 to get a lot of quality entertainment for only a fraction of what you're currently paying. And although it will be strange to have the silence initially, you might just learn that you have more fun without it (game night, go outside, play with toys, read a book, talk, etc).
• Learn some new tricks for common items. (google this, there are hundreds of blog posts and articles about it online).
• Sell the car that you have a payment on and downgrade to a used, reliable car. If your vehicle is already paid for but gets really poor mileage, think about making the change for that reason.
• Do minor repairs on your cars at home. Change the oil, tune up, hoses, etc. You can do it! I'll bet if you google it, you'll find some instructions (possibly a video) specific to your car!
• Cut your hair at home. Do your nails at home.
• Give up your pets. They are expensive little creatures.
• Give up your vices (smoking, alcohol, etc cost a LOT of money).
• Downsize your home. Of course it is difficult in most places to sell a home right now, but if you are confident that yours will sell in your area or that you can find a renter, downsize your home so that you can buy or rent something more affordable. And the smaller it is, the less utilities, etc it will cost.

Some of these just really not be for you. But you'd be surprised what you can become accustomed to if you give it a try.

Photo credit: lusi