But you need to consider how much you're spending when you want to cut expenses. In fact, if you're goal is to save that much money you'll either need to do something dramatic in one area or plan on getting part of the money from a couple of different expenses categories. You can find a few dollars in a number of different areas. But if you need big savings you'll need to focus on the areas where you spend the most. After all, what I call waste may be your one joy in life.
Many couples have major disagreements on what's wasteful spending.
Yet, it's important to know whether there's room to shave some spending in an area. One way look for possible cuts is to compare your spending to some average or benchmark. If you visit your library you'll find some sample budgets. Another source is information collected by the government. In the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994 they list what different size families spent in various parts of the country.