One of the most important things I’ve learned this past year (and I can’t believe I forgot to include it on Friday) was how little money I actually needed from month to month. In January, for the first time in my life, I sat down and looked at my spending. What I found out shocked me.

Before leaving my 9 – 5 job to become a freelance writer / editor, I had saved a fair sum of money. I knew that I wouldn’t be making anywhere near the salary I was leaving and that it would take some time to build a good, stable client base. What I didn’t realize was how long that would take and by late last year, I was starting to get worried. I was definitely going through my savings quicker than I wanted. I knew that I had to do something about it and soon, which started with evaluating my spending and looking at ways to reduce it.

To begin with, I went through my bank accounts and credit cards and made lists of everything I had spent for the last 3 months. I then grouped them into essential (rent, bills, etc.), necessary (groceries and the like) and extra. To my horror, I discovered that my essential payments were actually quite low, especially when you compared it to how much I was spending. What was even more astounding was that when I had a salary, I still managed to get through most of that each month. It’s actually quite humbling to see how much, and how easily, I was wasting money.

That day opened my eyes. It actually made me re-evaluate how I live my life. Of course, I promptly sat down and worked out a budget for each month, but on top of that, I took real action to change how I was spending. I have since become a much smarter shopper and put real thought into what I’m buying. It’s funny how saving a few cents here and a few cents there, quickly adds up. I’ve even changed where I shop. Instead of going for convenience (my local, more expensive, grocery store is across the street), I’ll walk to other shops if they have what I want for a better price. I’ve also started to use coupons and rewards cards. If they’re going to give something for free or cheaper, why not take them up on it?

Lastly, I cleaned out a lot of the clutter in my apartment and sold it on eBay. The worst part was that I kept finding things I had forgotten I owned. I even found things that still had the sales tags on them, which is just crazy!

Overall, although things seemed very bad in January, I think I may have turned them around. Not only am I spending a great deal less, but I’m actually increasing the amount I bring in each month. It’s only taken me 37 years to learn about spending, but better late than never.