Maintain your budget goals by giving into some of your indulgences and luxuries. These small pleasures cause regeneration because they remind you of some of the little pleasures of saving money. Plan and set restrictions so that it is easier to indulge a little.
Make them Rare
Avoid overspending or wasting time by making luxuries a reward instead of a necessity. Start by composing a list of things that you often reward yourself with daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, maybe you buy an expensive cup of coffee every morning. Instead of buying this coffee and pastry daily, make it a sweet reward that you allow yourself once you hit some sort of financial goal.
Use Coupons
Groupon and similar sites offer daily deals that make almost any luxury, such as visits to a salon or meals at 5-star restaurants, affordable. Take advantage of Groupon’s service by occasionally buying some of these deals and coupons. You could end up saving anywhere from 10 percent to 80 percent off a service or product.
Make Trade-Offs
Do not give up every unnecessary expense. Being too strict turns budgeting too much into a chore, which leads to resenting the process, and just eliminates some of life’s small joys. Compromise by choosing a few luxuries that are very important to you. Next, examine all your bills. Then, commit to eliminating one unnecessary expense every time you decide to keep another one.
For example, if you love having cable, but don’t necessarily need all those premium channels, downgrade your plan to only reflect the essential channels. Another example: you love having cable, but do not need it and the additional streaming services. Keep your cable but close your extra streaming accounts.
Generate More Income
Supplement your regular paycheck with some sort of passive income. If you know a lot about a certain profession or hobby, try developing a blog on it. Research how to monetize that blog, and then develop that as a passive source of income. If you do not want to go through the process of developing a blog, consider writing articles and selling them to magazines or websites that specialize in your expertise.
You could also consider taking on weekend work, such as having a weekend nanny or dog grooming service. You could also just do a few small things such as paid focus groups and selling stuff on eBay or Etsy.