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February 16, 2025

Read about our staffGreetings!

It can be hard to know what to cut from a retirement budget. Should you say goodbye to cable or cut out a gym membership? Or both, or neither?

As I prepare for retirment I've been looking at all my expenses. I'm sharing some of the things that I've done and found others do to reduce my monthly expenses signficantly.

Can you follow in my shoes?

Be Well,
Anisa

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Large Phone Data Plan

Price: $85 per month

I had unlimited. When I looked at my actual data usage, I was only using maybe 2GB a month. The reason? I'm on Wi-Fi most of the time.

Switching to a smaller data plan was a no-brainer.

Fancy Gym Membership

Price: $75 per month

Well this one was easy for me! I kept telling myself I'd use that fancy gym with the pool and yoga studio. I didn't. I found that I enjoy walking and hiking my sister-in-law and neighbors more. I also found on YouTube this really cool fast workout that is called Radio Taiso which is a Japanese exercise routine that has been d one for over 100 years. Its available on YouTube here

Speaking of YouTube you can find all kinds of YouTube videos for yoga and other fitness. That may save you around $900 a year.

If you really enjoy going to the gym and are 65 or older you may be eligible to go for free through the SilverSneakers program.

Cable and Multiple Streaming Services

Price: $150 per month

Since I cut the cord a long time ago this didn't really apply to me, but I know it did to many of my friends. They have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Apple TV+!

I asked two of my friends to log for one month how often they actually logged on to watch the streaming server. Both used two services often. I asked why they had them all and both said they were on auto-renew and they never got around to canceling!

This isn't uncommon, either. According to a 2024 LendingTree survey, of those surveyed who pay for streaming, 25% have a subscription to a service they don't use.

If you do have Cable, see my article here on how to cut it out of your budget and still have over 100+ channels!

Landline Phone

Price: $45 per month

Do you still have one? If so WHY? If you're like the many surveyed it is "for for emergencies". Guess what? Your cellphone works just fine for that. And chances are the only calls you get on the landline are spam anyway.

Storage Unit

Elec-OrangeZapPrice: $125 per month

This was a big one. So many people get a storage unit when they downsize. This is especially true for us seniors. The average time someone holds onto a storage unit is FIVE YEARS! That is around $1,500 a year to store things you probably don't even remember having.

Spend a weekend and sort through the stuff. If you've been living without for a long time you probably don't need it. Give the stuff to your kids or charity. Or you can even give the sellable stuff to a consignment shop. Believe me it will feel like a weight has been lifted.

In Closing

I didn't have all of the above expenses but the few I did and was able to eliminate has saved me over $3200 a year. AND I don't miss any of them.

Whenever I cut out a not-needed bill I through it into a Travel Savings Account and I'm saving it for my next trip to Europe. Now isn't this much better than paying for a storage unit full of stuff I never used?

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