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Many times we think that the rising cost of living is a part of life but the truth is there are most likely things you are doing to artificially increase your cost of living. With a few small changes, you can lower your cost of living and start saving more money. Below are “tricks” on how to stop the rising cost of living:
The original article has been edited here for length (…) and clarity ([ ]) by munKNEE.com – A Site For Sore Eyes & Inquisitive Minds – to provide a fast & easy read.
#1. Stay Off Social Media
Do you know that social media tricks you into spending money and, as a result, increases your cost of living? Here is how it works:
- You check out your latest feed and see your friends posting their amazing pictures of vacations, nights out, their new car, etc.
- You get sucked in and want these things too, even though you don’t really need them. The next thing you know, you are in debt or aren’t saving as much as you used to.
To overcome this, you can stay off social media…If you really don’t think you can quit social media, then you have another option:
- keep things in perspective. Remember that people only post good things on social media. Doing so makes them feel good, as does the positive comments they get back. They aren’t posting how the vacation they just took added another $5,000 to their massive debt load – or how the new car was bought to make them feel better about their failing marriage.
Summary: Either quit social media or keep things in perspective to avoid increasing your cost of living.
#2. Know What You Value
Many times we buy things thinking they will bring us happiness. The reality is the items don’t so we buy more things hoping to find happiness.
The true path to happiness is to know what you value. When you do this, you stop wasting money on things that don’t matter and start spending your money on things that do matter. You won’t feel like you are missing out on things either because you will know that those things won’t bring you pleasure.
Take some time and figure out what you truly value in life. The sooner you do this, the sooner you can stop wasting money and get ahead financially.
#3. Stop Comparing Self To Others
This is easy to do if you follow the point above about knowing what you value. This usually happens when you visit friends or family and see all they have but, just like with social media, appearances can be deceiving. They may appear to have everything going for them, but if you step back and think about it, you will see whether they truly have it all or are just showing off.
Summary: Simply be happy with what you have. The sooner you learn to do this, the happier you will be.
#4. Be Proactive
A great trick to slow the rising cost of living that many people overlook is to be proactive.
- Have you looked at your property taxes compared to your neighbors, for example? If their houses are similar in size, you should be paying close to the same in property taxes. If you are paying a lot more, then challenge the assessment…
#5. Move
A final solution to keep your cost of living in check is to move to a location that costs less to live. Many cities on both coasts have high costs of living, but in the middle part of the country you can get by with a much lower cost of living and you can find low cost of living areas on the coasts too. You just have to do a little research to find an area that meets your needs.
Final Thoughts
The above 5 tricks will help you limit the rising cost of living and, in most cases, you can start working on these right now. Some may take some more time to implement, but the sooner you get started, the sooner you can limit the rising cost of living and start changing your financial picture to the positive.
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