YW Blogcast 10 - More obvious ways to trim your budget

Entering the work force after college is a great time to develop good budgetary habits. In the beginning, you may not be able to control how much you earn but you sure as heck can get a grip on how much you spend. The following items are a sequel to the recent list of ways to stop the money hemorrhage. Yes, you will probably shriek and curl up in a ball on the floor when first contemplating these changes but give it a change to bounce around in your cranium.

1. Kill the Friday afternoon/evening Happy Hour. In case you haven’t noticed, even the cheap drinks are expensive, especially if you end up with a DUI on the way home. Why not limit yourself to one drink, gather at a friend’s house, or give it up completely and spend the extra money on a gym membership instead?

2. Speaking of gym memberships, if you haven’t noticed, March attendance is but a shadow of January. Don’t fall for the high-pressure, multi-year sales pitch. If there’s even a smidgin of a chance you’re going to bail on workouts, opt for the month-to-month plan instead.

3. Tony Stewart driving habits. Jack rabbit starts, slamming stops, and speeding can decrease your gas mileage by 30%. Try the speed limit in town and 60 mph on the highway. Sure, everyone will hate you for the slowpoke that you are but drop that extra moolah in a savings account instead. Take that, speed bunnies!

4. Shoes. How much footwear does one human being need? Probably less than you might think.

Put one or all of these suggestions into practice and you’re going to be light years ahead, financially speaking, of your boozing, speeding, shoe abusing, lazy compadres.