Also good ideas on how to save money are appreciated
-justice
Whenever I've taken a look at my spending patterns with an eye to saving I've come to the conclusion that there are few, if any, 'magic' areas where cuts will work wonders. Either I can't or I just don't want to cut big-budget items to a significant degree.
Further, having been desperately poor and now, fortunately, not so poor I can tell you that the latter is better. Cutting only discretionary spending seems too much like removing the reward for hard work. On me, at least,
that acts as a disincentive.
In my experience it's the mind set that matters more than the strategy, and it seems that you're on the right road by
wanting to save some more.
Perhaps the best plan is to aim for a small percentage cut
across the board. To give yourself an incentive, try the old-fashioned step of putting the 'savings' somewhere in physical form. For example, you mention heating -- turn the heat down by 1 degree, estimate what that'll save over one month and drop that physical amount into a jar. Next time you are about to stop for coffee, give that one occasion a miss and drop the physical amount into a jar. About to buy the daily newspaper? Miss a day and drop the physical...
Try to cut
everything by a small amount. It's surprising how many of the "essentials" can be cut without any really negative impact if only the cuts are small.
Try that for all aspects of your life for a month and see if the result seems worthwhile. If so, open a separate account somewhere as johnfdeluca suggests, keep going, and watch your account grow. Results not worthwhile? Double your cuts and try again.
Good luck with your effort, let us know when you have your next million!
