Yahoo Finance 13% of Americans’ Expenses Held Steady the Past Year: Here’s What They’re Doing Right
It feels like you can’t talk to anyone at social gatherings without hearing about how their expenses have gone up or about how much more money they’re spending lately. We can’t ignore the reality of the impact that inflation has had on our spending and our budgets.
Robert Kiyosaki: 7 Money Secrets They Don’t Teach You in School
Find Out: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS
However, there are still ways that we can reduce our expenses so that they don’t skyrocket to help us keep our finances stable. Let’s look at what you can do to ensure your expenses hold steady.
13% Say Their Expenses Held Steady This Year
According to a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by GOBankingRates, 13% said their expenses held steady the past year. This was an interesting takeaway because many people have expressed frustrations about how much their expenses have gone up in recent years. Here’s a better breakdown of the data:
20.79% of people in the 18-24 group shared that their expenses didn’t go up.
Only 8.2% of those in the 35-44 group confirmed that their expenses didn’t increase.
When it comes to the 13% of people who didn’t have expenses go up, it’s pretty much even between males and females, with 12.48% of females and 13.46% of overall males falling under this category.
This proves that it’s still possible to find options for limiting your expenses even when it feels like the price of everything around us is increasing.
What Could This 13% Be Doing To Limit Expenses?
How’s it possible that 13% of people surveyed had their expenses hold steady? Here are a few points to highlight:
It’s easier to save money at certain ages. With 5% of the people in the 25 to 34 age bracket admitting that their expenses have gone up over $10,000, this could be tied to a life transition into more adult responsibilities. None of those surveyed in the 18 to 24 age group had their expenses increase over $10,000 in the past year.
People could be delaying significant purchases. According to a survey done by Bloomberg, 45% of people between 18 and 29 are living at home with their families still. This is the highest figure since the 1940s. This would indicate that many younger people are putting off moving out and are reducing their expenses by staying at home for longer.
Check Out: 12 Unrecognizable Signs of Wealth
How Can You Limit Your Expenses?
With life getting more expensive, it’s essential to look for ways to control your spending so that your expenses don’t become too much. How can you limit your expenses?
Analyze Your Budget
“One of the best ways to reduce your expenses is to go line by line on your budget,” recommended Deacon Hayes, founder of Well Kept Wallet. “Ask yourself how you can then make the expense smaller with as many items as possible.” Hayes suggests going through every expense in your budget to see if it can be reduced. The good news is that you can quickly review your budget by going over your credit card or banking statement.
“When you know how much you’re spending in a given category, you can take a few different actions to reduce that category,” said Hayes. It’s essential that you go over your budget to see if there are any problem areas because you can’t fix a problem until you diagnose it.
This leads us to the next point.
Review Subscriptions Often
Your budget will be filled with fixed and variable expenses. One section of your fixed expenses will be your subscriptions. The goal is to review your subscriptions often to ensure that they’re still adding value to your life. You don’t have to eliminate every subscription, but it helps to review these to ensure that you’re utilizing all the services you’re paying for.
Here are a few options for reviewing your subscriptions:
Ask yourself if you still use this as much as you once did. Your lifestyle and habits can change as you get older. You may not use Netflix as much or have stopped visiting that yoga studio.
See if you can get a lower tier. You don’t always have to pay for the premium tier, and you could seek out a free version of a similar service to save money.
Try to pause a subscription. Test yourself by pausing a subscription to see if you notice any changes in the quality of your life by cutting out the expense.
Suze Orman, a popular financial expert, says that you can save $1,000 annually by cutting out subscriptions. This is one way to limit your expenses and ensure your spending isn’t increasing.
Negotiate Your Fixed Expenses
Hayes believes that you don’t have to accept the price that you’re given for any of your expenses. “You can ask the current provider for a better deal, shop around for a lower price option, or cancel that product or service altogether. This process alone can easily save you $250 to $500 per month!”
How can you work on a better deal for your fixed expenses? Try this:
Call to ask for a discount. The best way to reduce a fixed expense is to call to ask for a discount. If you’ve been making your payments on time for an extended period of time, you’re a loyal customer that this provider may want to reward.
See if your workplace or any professional organization offers discounts. Many employers or alumni groups offer group discounts for expenses like insurance and cell phone plans.
Take Advantage of Apps
“Use sites/apps like Rakuten or Honey to get cash back on your purchases and expenses,” shared Eric Nisall from Understand Finances. While you can’t control the price of every expense, you can find ways to offset the increased costs. You can take advantage of these apps that let you get cash back on the purchases that you were already going to make.
“Make sure to look at your credit cards for bonus offers like additional points or statement credits,” said Nisall. You could also find that your credit card gives you cash back in specific categories, so even though your grocery bill has increased, you could get some money back.
“Use GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas near you or where you will be heading,” added Nisall. Even though certain expenses have shot up, you still have options for trying to find the best possible deal. It’s critical that you take advantage of these apps to help offset the increased expenses.
What If Your Expenses Have Increased?
The reality is that there’s only so much that you can control when it comes to your expenses. Since only 13% of those surveyed stated their expenses didn’t go up, there’s a chance that yours did. Here are three things that you can do if your expenses have gone up lately:
Hold off on major purchases: If you’ve been thinking about buying a new car or buying a home, you may want to wait until interest rates stabilize. You could use this time to focus on building up your savings account.
Pay down debt: With interest rates increasing, this would be a good time to make paying off your debt a priority. This will help you save money in the long run since the debt payments could hold you back from saving money.
Build an emergency fund: It’s more important than ever to stash some funds away for a rainy day because you never know what life will throw at you.
Closing Thoughts.
Even though the stubborn inflation figures have impacted all of us, it’s important to remember that there are still ways to save money. You can apply the tips in this article to help you limit your expenses during this challenging time.
GOBankingRates surveyed 1,021 Americans aged 18 and older from across the country between October 12 and October 16, 2023, asking twenty-three different questions: (1) How much did you spend on your pet in the last year?; (2) How much have you spent/are you planning to spend on Halloween this year?; (3) How much money do you spend on kid-related activities in a year?; (4) How much do you spend on average on your monthly utility bills (electric, heat/gas, water)?; (5) What spending/saving habits have you had to change in the last year due to inflation/rising prices? (select all that apply); (6) What was the biggest unexpected expense you had this year?; (7) How much do you currently spend on monthly car payments?; (8) Do you live in a single-income or dual-income household?; (9) In the past year, did you have to take on a side gig because of rising prices/inflation?; (10) How much do you bring home from your side job(s) each month?; (11) How much have your overall expenses gone up in the past year?; (12) What is your top financial priorities to end 2023?; (13) What is the top way you’ve earned your money/gained wealth?; (14) Have you started financially preparing for 2024?; (15) How much have you spent on home upgrades in 2023?; (16) How will the resumption of student loan repayments affect your budget?; (17) How much do you currently owe in student loans?; (18) How much do you spend on yourself (not including housing, food, etc.) out of each paycheck?; (19) How much do you spend on online purchases per month?; (20) Where do you shop for groceries most often?; (21) Do you shop around for groceries to get better deals?; (22) What are you currently invested in? (Select all that apply); and (23) What is the current value of your stock investments?. GOBankingRates used PureSpectrum’s survey platform to conduct the poll.
More From GOBankingRates
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 13% of Americans’ Expenses Held Steady the Past Year: Here’s What They’re Doing Right
