TOP TEN WAYS TO CUT YOUR EXPENSES Everyone is interested in making more money, being wealthy, or just having more.  The best way to have more money is to cut your expenses. First you need to know where your money is being spent.  Do you know where every last dime of your money went last month, for example?  Start now to track your money flow by writing down every cent that comes into or goes out of your life. This may be a challenging habit to form, but it will pay huge benefits by letting you know the real truth about your money.  After all, money represents your precious life energy.  Before spending your life energy, know where it is going. So why cut your expenses?   Besides being the best way to immediately make/have more money, many of us would like to save more...for retirement, for emergencies, a long vacation, a better car, or a sabbatical. Some of us are deeply in debt or moving in that direction. If you want to save more or are spending more than you can afford, you may want to start economizing or  cutting your expenses. Here are my own favorite top ten ideas: 1. My number one pick for saving on your expenses is to stop shopping! Don't go to the mall, don't look at the dozens of catalogs that arrive in the mail, don't surf the internet for stuff! Window shopping can be dangerous to your wallet. If you find yourself overcome with desire, wait at least three days. If you still must have it, then buy it. Most of the time, the desire will pass. 2. Each month pick one utility or service bill and reduce or eliminate it. For example, on your phone bill, eliminate all those "extras" such as call waiting,  call forwarding, caller ID, etc. I use a 3 cent a minute phone card for all long distance and so cancelled my long distance carrier which charged me  $7/month for nothing. And, of course, I don't pay the ridiculous high prices for long distance they would have charged me! For electricity, shop around. Your  service provider may not be the cheapest. You could save as much as 20%. Do you really need a monitored alarm system? Could you be comfortable  with only an audible alarm? What about cell phones? The plans change frequently...and I do mean frequently! Call your cell phone company and request a lower rate or a better plan. Well, you get the idea. Don't just assume that there is nothing you can change. 3. Look at any service fees you may be paying. Service fees are the fastest growing category of spending for consumers. For example, internet service providers, investor reports and services on the internet, weather bulletins, subscription fees, user fees, download fees, etc. These can add up to hundreds of dollars a month if not carefully watched. There are several really inexpensive internet service providers that work quite well. Don't stick with AOL or Earthlink just because you always have. It's easy to investigate others and  many give free 30-day trials. For example, try academicplanet.com, netzero.com, ev1.net, hal-pc.org or pcpeople.com. 4. Everyone seems to assume that they must have cable or satellite television and that the $50 or $70 or $99 per month charge is "just the way it is". I  double-dare you to take charge of your family's television viewing. With no cable or satellite, you still get 3 to 6 stations in Houston. If you need more,  buy the absolute minimum you can live with. For example, if you get HBO only to watch the Sopranos, can you watch it with friends? Ask them to tape it  for you? Or at least have HBO connected only during the season! Don't even get me started on how bad TV is for children and how much time adults waste  watching it! 5. Shop around for big ticket items. If you have not shopped on the internet, you will be amazed at the differences among prices for the same item. Prices  can vary hugely. You can always go to a brick and mortar store to see and touch the item, make a selection, but then shop online for best prices and  warranties. You can use shopping comparison sites such as nextag and pricewatch.  6. For smaller, regularly used items, shop around, both on the internet and locally. For example, I buy my printer ink cartridges at half the office supply  store price at a local store called Cartridge World. The first time I went in, I saved $122. For gift wrap items such as paper and ribbons, try Arne's on  Montrose or any Dollar Store. When I bought my daytimer updates for 2005, the price at one office supply store was 1/2 the price at the other a few  blocks over for the identical item, a savings of $22! 7. One of my biggest weaknesses is books. I read voraciously. The Houston Public Library has an online service that is incredibly useful and efficient. You  can look in their catalog, find the book you want, have it sent to your local library branch and they notify you when it arrives and is ready for pick-up. If  the Houston Library system does not have the book, they will search other libraries in the state including university libraries, have it sent to your local library  and notify you. You can even renew the book online. If you really must buy a book, try Half-Price Books and 1/4 Price Books as well as consignment  and thrift stores locally. But none of these has catalogs so you have to go and look around for what you want. Online, try the book shopping comparison  services: fetchbook.info and addall.com. Also try for used books on half.com and ebay.com. Again, you can often get books for pennies on the dollar. I promise! 8. Reduce or eliminate a daily habit. For me it is canned sodas. I drink several a day. Eliminating these would save me $2/day or more than $700/year.  I have cut back, but haven't eliminated them...yet.  I'm not suggesting you do without all pleasures, but many are just habits, nothing more. Lattes? Bottled water? That morning donut or candy from the vending machine? One more purple stuffed bear for your collection? Another pair of shoes? Be a conscious  shopper. 9. Insurance of all kinds: life, house, health, and auto. Each year, at renewal time, take the time to shop around for each of these that you have.  Company prices vary tremendously. Use every discount you can get, especially for house and auto insurance. Ask your agent about these because they  don't always tell you. For example, most insurance companies will give you a discount if you have your house and auto at the same company. There are  discounts for alarm systems in house and auto, for renewers, for smoke alarms, etc. For life insurance, the first question is, do you really need it. Many  people have it who don't and many of those that do need it, don't have it. If you really do need it, shop around. Try quotesmith.com for comparative rates. 10. If you are carrying balances on your credit cards, call your credit card company TODAY! Ask them for a lower rate. The credit card companies are in stiff competition. They know you can always leave them for a low or zero interest rate on another card. Be insistent If you have high credit card debt, check out the payment calculator at MotleyFool.com. You put in your debt amount, interest rate and payment amount, it tells you how many years (or decades!) it will take to pay it off. Sobering and motivational. If the above article resonates with you, and you feel you could use some help with changing your relationship with money or having more prosperity and abundance in your life, give me a call. I help clients every day with improving their quality of life by addressing these concerns. Let's collaborate. Don't delay, call today!  To contact me for a complimentary session...click here. Mary Anne Fields, Business and Personal Coach, Trainer & Speaker         www.LifeUnfolds.com/contact.htm (713) 528-5971 maf@LifeUnfolds.com All rights reserved.  Copyrighted by Life Unfolds, Mary Anne Fields, 2005.