Personal Insights
My 21-day spending cleanse

Article

Learn how one woman conducted a DIY spending audit and created a road map you can use to reduce expenses.

By: Monica Michael Willis

Millie, a content program about women and money, is licensed from Dotdash Meredith, publisher of Real Simple, InStyle, Investopedia, The Balance and more.

Any way you look at it, money is an emotional subject, charged with needs, wants and expectations. Lack of it has sunk dreams (and relationships), and surplus wealth hardly guarantees happiness. For me, money in the bank has always equaled security and freedom.

When my savings are solid, I sleep sounder. But the truth is I haven’t taken serious stock of my finances for several years. This assignment provided the kick I needed to tally my books and re-evaluate my spending.

Three weeks is a long time to think about ways to save money. And although what worked for me won’t work for everyone, I hope my story will motivate women at every stage of their financial journey to figure out how they can spend less to reach their own financial goals. My objective wasn’t to simply free up funds for a trip to Barbados or next season’s wardrobe—though both sound lovely—but to funnel any recovered savings into a six-month emergency fund and hopefully beef up my retirement savings, which aren’t as robust as they should be. Apparently, I’m in good company: According to the 23rd Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey, published in 2023, nearly one-third of all women have less than $1,000 in emergency savings, and one-third of us have less than $10,000 put away for retirement. I’m not trying to scare anyone, but if we don’t look out for ourselves, who will?

Getting started

The first thing I did was take a hard look at my spending patterns. My goal was to be using the simple 50-30-20 rule to allocate my expenses: 50% of income should go to the things I need (mortgage, utilities, insurance, groceries), 30% toward the things I want and 20% toward saving or paying off debt. So I started week one by creating a document that listed all of my fixed and discretionary spending and current savings. It wasn’t a surprise that my breakdown was more like 50-45-5.

Checking accounts

I also went through all of my bills for the last six months. This was prompted by advice from budget expert Andrea Woroch, who encourages clients to “make sure that every monthly membership or subscription—such as a beauty box or gym membership—on your bill is something you use or need. If it’s not, cancel it,” she says.

My discoveries? I was still being charged $149 a month for a storage space I had vacated three months earlier. I have also been charged a yearly fee of $19.95 for a grocery delivery service I canceled. And a family member had accidently put a big purchase on the Amazon Prime account we share, instead of on another account. After I got everything squared away, I recouped just over $600.

Streaming for dollars

Next, I tallied up my family’s streaming services—and almost fainted. Suffice it to say I’d never run the numbers. Together my family of four, including two daughters in their 20s, subscribe to nine streaming services: Amazon Prime (for videos/music), Audible, BritBox, Disney+, Gaia, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, and Showtime. Plus, we had three separate Spotify accounts.

Right out of the gate, I reduced our annual cost by more than $300 by canceling the three Spotify accounts and signing up for the family plan, which also netted an additional membership for my youngest child, who had been using the free version with ads. I hadn’t used my Gaia or Audible accounts once in the last 60 days, so I clicked cancel and saved another $144 and $179, respectively, per year. I pocketed $84 more a year by bundling Hulu and Disney+, which shaves $7 off my monthly bill and offers ESPN+ as a bonus, which made my husband very happy.

Shopping around

I knew it was smart to compare car and home insurance prices every two years, but I’d never gotten around to it. Major mistake. According to the folks at policygenius.com, a website devoted to helping consumers understand the ins and outs of buying insurance, bundling your home and auto policies with a single carrier typically saves up to 20% on insurance premiums.

In about five minutes on the phone with my own insurance agent, I bundled our home and car insurance and reduced the monthly payment on our 2012 Jeep Wrangler from $163.39 to $78.32 and got better collision coverage and a reduced deductible to boot. That’s a whooping $1,020.84 a year in savings.

Imposing a 24-hour online shopping rule

Although I love beautiful things, it takes an earth mover to get me to actually step foot in a store. In my mind, e-commerce couldn’t be more perfect: No crowds, no testy salespeople, just tons of lovely merchandise at my fingertips. Which can be a problem when you surf the internet in the wee hours like me. After one too many 2 a.m. purchases wrapped in regret (hello tangerine jumpsuit), I initiated my own 24-hour web rule. Now I wait a full day before buying anything online.

For reasons I can’t explain, my more practical self shows up the following day and usually decides against the patent-leather raincoat for my dog. It’s a win-win. I’ve already reduced my online spending, and for the most part there’s a genuine need, or deep desire, for every single item the postman delivers.

Wising up about “free” trial memberships

I have trouble ignoring the targeted ads that pop up on my news service and Instagram feed. I know the flashy promos and free trial memberships have been cherry-picked by an algorithm designed to push my buttons. But I still buy. Or I used to anyway. Now I’m sticking to my 24-hour buying embargo. I also canceled two subscription-based apps I found on Instagram, both of which I barely used (and forgot to cancel) after my free trials expired. It adds up fast. Combined, the two apps were costing me $311 a year. Ouch.

Accelerating my mortgage payments

The biggest savings I found came when I logged onto my mortgage account and changed my payment plan from monthly to biweekly. By paying every two weeks instead of monthly, a standard 30-year mortgage gets paid back in 25 years and three months. This is because the biweekly plan works out to 26 payments each year—the equivalent of a 13th month.

Though my exact savings are complicated by the fact that I’ve had my mortgage for 11 years and only just started paying bi-weekly, had I taken out a $350,000 mortgage at 5% and made biweekly payments from the start, I would have saved $46,000 in interest—after factoring the loss in tax benefits—over the life of the loan.

Earning my energy star

Con Edison, my power company, offered customers Energy Star LED bulbs for $1 each. I bought a box of 20 for $20, which seemed like a steal. According to Energy Star, a standard bulb costs $7 a year to power, while LEDs run around $1. Since they last up to 15 times longer than average light bulbs, there’s the potential to save up to $55 on your electricity bill over the lifetime of each bulb. To further lower my power bill, Con Ed recommends taking showers instead of baths (less water to heat); washing clothes on cold; cleaning ducts, vents and filters on AC and heating units; and lowering thermostats (each degree over 68°F increases energy usage by about 3%).

Leaning into the sweet spot

Once you hit your monthly savings goals, it’s okay to spend wisely on extra things you just really want. I’m not going to beat myself up if I pay a little more for aged balsamic vinegar or spring for Mah Jongg lessons, and you shouldn’t either—as long as you can still make steady progress toward your long-term goals. The point is, we’ve all got little luxuries we’re willing to splurge on, and sometimes the right answer when it comes to spending on yourself is to carry on, just with caution. Apparently cutting out the things you love saps the joy right out of life, which no one, even the financial geniuses, can get behind.

The bottom line

Re-evaluating my spending habits was a real eye-opener. I’ve frittered away a lot of money on meaningless products and services. I put off reassessing everything from my car insurance to my cable bill. After just three weeks of focusing on the bottom line, I’ve reined in my online shopping sprees and started promptly reviewing my monthly statements. I’ve also started to funnel some of my recovered savings into funds for emergencies and retirement. As with most things, having a plan helps all of us achieve our goals—be it paying back student loans, amassing a down payment for a home or saving for retirement. Plus, it’s easier to enjoy life when you’re living within your means, sans financial anxiety. So, go ahead, do the math. Tightening your belt doesn’t always have to be painful.

A journalist and former editor-at-large at Modern Farmer, Monica Michael Willis has written for Martha Stewart Living, Parents, HGTV and Food Network, among others.