Many of us have to live paycheck to paycheck, it’s a fact.  Are you in this camp?  If so, there are some things that you can do to make that paycheck stretch and get you living a less stressful life!

Create a Budget Friendly Meal Plan

One way to significantly cut back on your expenses is to choose more budget friendly meals.  Here’s how I do it for my family.  I create a monthly meal plan and I always choose a meat free meal for the week (savings of $10 or more per week).  Additionally, I choose rice and beans meals more often as these staples are very inexpensive.  I can buy enough beans to fill my crockpot for $1 or less.  I also make sure to use coupons when I go grocery shopping.  I have found that coupons alone have saved our family up to 40% on our grocery bill.

Cut Back on Entertainment

Entertainment expenses for families can get quite expensive.  If you have found this to be the case with your household, here are some changes that you can make to save more this month:

• Cancel your satellite and/or cable.  We were paying nearly $100 each month for our Satellite services.  We chose to cancel our satellite and instead signed up for SlingTV, which gives us a great selection of channel/shows to watch for just $20 each month.  We also kept Netflix at $9.99 per month.  This is 70% less than paying for satellite alone.
• Just say no to the restaurant or club.  Going out to eat or out to the club can get very expensive, very quickly.  If you typically go out like this several times a month as many people to, try to cut them out altogether and see how much you can save.  Even if you only go once during the month, you are not depriving yourself, but you are not breaking the bank either.
• Quit renting movies.  There is really no need for movie rentals anymore.  You can stream thousands of movies via Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant Video!

Watch your Power Usage

You should really consider cutting down on your power usage throughout the month.  This is especially true for the winter months.  Remember to turn off lights when you aren’t using them.  Same goes with electronics.  Also, consider turning down the thermostat on your furnace as well as your water heater.  Even a single degree can save significantly on your heating bill.