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Reducing Your Outgoings

Try and identify areas of your spending where you could maybe cut back on spending.

With your budget in front of you see if the following plan might help:

• Put a mark against payments that cannot be changed e.g. your rent.
• Look at bills or payments that could be reduced e.g. electricity, gas, telephone maybe could be reduced. (See info sheet) Visit www.sei.ie.
• You may be able to negotiate lower mortgage payments or shop around for cheaper insurance (See Hints on Negotiating).
• Now consider how you might budget for essential weekly spending on groceries, housekeeping, clothing etc. you might find that keeping a daily spending diary for a short while useful as it will give you a clear idea of where your money is going and where you might be able to economise (See Spending Diary).
• Look at other items such as entertainment. Although you might again decide to make cutbacks here, do try and leave room for a social life for you and your family.
• Look at an amount in your budget that you need to put aside for dealing with unexpected expenses that may crop up or for education costs and so on.

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