Take a vacation day and spend it cutting costs. You could save thousands.
Daniel de Visé, USA TODAY
Updated 6 min read
Imagine you have a vacation day. Rather than head out to the mall to spend, you stay home and look for ways to save.
It might seem a rather unexciting plan for a day off. But several hours of determined cost-cutting today can yield thousands of dollars in savings over the rest of the year, financial advisers say.
Here’s a checklist of money-saving tasks to fill a day of cost-cutting, drawn from the experts.
Your family may have more streaming services than it needs.
Scrutinize your statements
It is all too easy to click a button and sign up for a subscription: a streaming service with a hot new show, a publication with a viral article, or a gym with a fall promotion.
And it’s all too easy to forget about those subscriptions. But trust us: They will not forget you.
Here’s the good news: Rooting out unwanted subscriptions is not hard. Many charge by the month. You don’t need to look very far down your card or bank statement to find them.
“Just go back 30 days and see what surprises you,” said Kimberly Palmer, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet.
Thinking of her own finances, Palmer said, “I could tell you right now, I’m paying for duplicate music subscription services.” She hasn’t found the time to cancel one of them.
Palmer also recalls signing up for a streaming sports package during the Olympics. She forgot to end it when the games were over.
In the October/November issue of AARP The Magazine, financial journalist Diane Harris recounted a day she spent cutting costs in her own budget, starting with recurring charges.
Harris found “two streaming services I’d forgotten I had, a handful of subscriptions to magazines I rarely read, and a mystery monthly charge from Apple.
“All told,” she wrote, “I was spending about $100 more a month on these services than I’d guessed.”
Canceling your subscriptions is about to get easier: On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced a new “click-to-cancel” rule. It requires sellers to “make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up,” the agency said in a release.
Press department, newspapers and magazines, woman press, Cosmopolitain, prima, Marie Claire, Elle, Biba, in Talmont Saint Hilaire, on August 17, 2024. (Photo by Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP) (Photo by MAGALI COHEN/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
Take charge of recurring charges
With a few easy steps, you can protect yourself now against unwanted subscriptions in the future.
Consider putting all of your subscription-based services on one card, said Catherine Valega, a certified financial planner in Boston. Having them in one place makes them easier to track.
If you start a subscription you don’t intend to keep, consider canceling it immediately. A subscription-based service will often allow you to cancel, and to keep using the service for the month (or year) for which you’ve already paid.
Also on Wednesday, Capital One introduced a new subscription management tool that can do the work for you. The tool “offers a seamless way for customers to block and cancel recurring subscription charges with just a few taps,” the company said in a news release.
If you don’t cancel, renegotiate
Palmer, at NerdWallet, said she recalled taking out a subscription to New York Magazine a while back. She isn’t using it. Still, she may just keep it, as a gesture to support high-quality journalism.
You don’t have to cancel a subscription to save money. Instead, try to renegotiate.
Figure out how much you’re paying. Then, go to the website and see what kind of deal they’re offering new subscribers. Often, it's a better one.
To get that deal, experts advise, you will probably have to pick up the telephone and call the company. Ask if the subscription agent can match the deal you saw online.
Harris was paying $51 a month for The New York Times. She saw a promotional offer of $20 a month. Armed with that knowledge, she telephoned the newspaper and bargained her monthly fee down to $12.40 a month for six months and $24.80 for the next six.
You can also try to negotiate better deals on services you wouldn’t want to drop, including cellphone and internet plans, Harris said.
Shop around for insurance
Comparison-shopping for home and auto insurance is always a good idea, said Palmer at NerdWallet.
Insurance policies generally renew every six or 12 months. So, every year or so, “I would take a step back to look at those quarterly or annual or semiannual costs,” she said, “just to make sure I’m not auto-renewing, and I’m actually taking the time to shop around.”
Consumer sites offer tips for saving on car insurance, such as raising your deductible, the amount you pay before your policy kicks in.
But you can also just call around and ask the insurance companies to compete for your business. The same logic applies with homeowners insurance.
8 budget apps to help you keep track of your money
Get a budgeting app
A budgeting app, such as YNAB or Goodbudget, can be a great tool for cutting costs over the long haul, Valega said. Apps help you track and categorize spending so you can see where your money goes.
“That exercise of downloading the expenses and categorizing them is a light bulb for everybody,” Valega said.
With a budgeting app, consumers will discover how much they’re really spending at restaurants and on weekend getaways and eBay indulgences.
“I love that kind of behavioral finance thing of having to track everything,” Valega said.
Let’s say you have to make an entry in your budgeting app for every $3 coffee purchase. That simple chore, Valega said, might stop you from buying the coffee.
Gather your gift cards
Many of us have unused gift cards stashed away from the holidays. According to Bankrate, 43% of consumers have at least one unused gift card, voucher or store credit.
“Gather your gift cards and look up their current value. Then, add them to your stash,” said Bobbi Rebell, a certified financial planner and personal finance expert with CardRates.com.
That stash can also include unused public-transit cards, spare change and even small checks − the ones you got in the mail and never bothered to deposit.
A zoned HVAC system can increase efficiency.
Economize your home
Flipping switches and pulling plugs around the house can yield savings, experts say, especially as seasons change.
Walk around your house, turning off and unplugging appliances you aren’t using, to save electricity, Rebell said.
“Also, consider adjusting the thermostat just a smidge,” she said, to save heating costs.
Fall is also a good time to have both your heating and A/C checked, Palmer said, “just to make sure nothing is about to break.”
Going through your bedroom closet can be a way to simultaneously declutter and extract savings, Rebell said.
“Take everything out of your closet and try each item on before you put it back in,” she said. Missing a button? Sew one on. Anything you don’t wear can go to charity. Be sure to get a receipt for your taxes.
If you find garments with the tags still on them, Rebell said, they’re probably impulse buys. “Return them for cash if you can,” she said. “If not, return for a credit, and use that toward your holiday shopping.”
