Mindful spending: how to save money and cut down expenses

As this year comes to a close (I’m still in denial!), I invite you to mindfully look at your personal finance. Earlier this year you might have spent some time looking at your personal values that are important to you.

Are you spending your money on the areas you’ve identified as important for you?

As we head into the new year, I invite you to look at areas where you might be able to cut down expenses. For example, you might be able to negotiate a student rate on certain services (internet, music, Canva or Amazon Prime) or join in with your family members on subscriptions to YouTube Premium, YouTube TV plan, Costco, Peloton or Netflix.

Note on the student rate: you may consider enrolling at your local community college and taking a course (learning never stops, amiright?!). For example, San Francisco offers free tuition for its residents (you just pay a small registrationl fee). With this student status, you might be able to get, free high-speed Internet with Sonic (for 3 months), free Amazon Student (for 6 months), and Canva for Education, to name a few. Of course, I don’t advocate abusing the system. I am advocating for being smart about your money because after all, you’ve worked hard for it.

I am challenging you to thoughtfully look at your expenses and identify one or two areas where you can cut down. I’m not talking about depriving yourself of life’s necessities. I am simply inviting you to re-look at how you spend your money and if there might be more creative ways to save money, if you’ve identified that as important for you.

I am curious to find out if you might engage in mindful spending. Let me know in the comments below!

A note on privilege: I must admit that I am in a position of much privilege to be able to write a blog and have consistent income in my full-time job, among many other factors that I might take for granted.