One of the harsh realities of being an adult is “adulting.” It’s actually quite funny how the tables turn, isn’t it? When you were younger, you couldn’t wait to get out of your parents’ house… They were so annoying, they didn’t understand you, and they had these ridiculous house rules, like turning the lights off if you weren’t using them, putting only what you could eat on your plate, and closing the windows when the AC was on.

Now that you’re an adult, you totally understand the method to their madness…

As an adult living on your own, you now see why your parents had those “crazy house rules”… It wasn’t to annoy you; their focus was to reduce the household monthly expenses… If what they did to reduce the monthly expenses annoyed you, that was just a bonus for them!

Finding ways to reduce monthly expenses is the forefront of most people’s minds now, whether you’re a homeowner or if you rent. The key to success here is to write down all your expenses, so you’ll know exactly where your money is going.

You, of course, can look through your online banking statement, but if you do that, you still want to write everything down because it allows you to physically see where your money is going, and you can mark those items off your list as you eliminate them.

Ultimately, in order to reduce your monthly bills, it’s going to require you to make certain lifestyle changes. This may be easier for some than others but it’s very necessary, and as an adult, you should be very familiar with the aspect of it not being about doing what you want but more so about doing what you have to do.

Take a look at how you can cut your monthly bills in half.

Painless Ways to Reduce Your Monthly Bills

Depending on your lifestyle, “painless” may not be the perfect word to use… “doable” might be better. Nonetheless, these are the biggest ways to cut back on your monthly spending.

Cook More and Dine Out Less

There’s no denying the fact that everyone enjoys eating out from time to time; some more than others. But according to Business Insider, Gen Xers spend more on dining out than any other generation, so if you’re reading this and you’re a Gen Xer, you may really have to work hard to reduce your dining out expenses.

The thing to get to the bottom of with this particular expense is why you dine out so much. Is it because you don’t know how to cook or is it because of the convenience? Either is no excuse to dine out as often as you do, especially when it’s eating away your income.

Take the meals you enjoy when dining out and look up the recipe on Pinterest or Google and recreate it at home. By doing that, you’ll be eating the foods you enjoy but at a lower cost because you bought the groceries for it yourself. When making the effort to cook more and dine out less, it will be helpful if you implement these tips to save money on groceries as well.

Compare Electricity Prices

Aside from rent, your electric bill is a bill you can’t live without, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be a bill that breaks the bank, either. Have you ever thoroughly looked at your electric bill to see how much energy you use? If you have, you probably thought you don’t use that much electricity… it makes you wonder if you’re truly getting the best deal.

If you’ve ever wondered that, it’s high time you shopped around to find the lowest electricity rates in your area. You’d be surprised at just how much you’ll save in comparison to what you’re currently paying. It also helps to use energy-efficient lightbulbs and to adjust your thermostat a few degrees above or below what the temperature is outside.

Learn to Say No

Saying no to fun is what eats away at a lot of people’s budgets. Everything from going to the mall and grabbing lunch with friends to weekend trips and hitting up happy hours, all of these things can sway you to spend money you don’t have or can’t afford to spend.

Although this may be hard, it’s very doable… your friends or coworkers will have no choice but to understand. Just keep in mind that as you say no, to remember that they don’t know what your bills look like and that they don’t pay your bills either… You have to have fun according to what you can afford.