Tighten Your Belt
Your spending may not have to go under the knife yet, but you can get a good idea now of areas that could be trimmed. Look at the nonessentials in your budget first. Memberships and subscriptions that you don’t use to their full potential are prime candidates for removal, says Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.
If you pay a membership fee to a gym you hardly visit, try working out at home instead. Rather than fork over extra money for a bloated package of cable channels, consider switching to a streamlined plan or to a couple of video-streaming services, such as Sling TV and Netflix.
By connecting your bank and credit card accounts to TrueBill, an online money-management tool and app, you can see a listing of recurring fees and get information on how to cancel service for each. Among essential expenses, you can probably reshop your wireless plan to nab a better deal.
