How Do You Cut Expenses Without Feeling Deprived?

Most people think budgeting means eating beans and rice in the dark while you're wearing a sweater because you're too cheap to turn on the heat. Guess what? That's not budgeting. That's torture.And if you're afraid to look at your bank statement because you think fixing your finances means giving up everything that brings you joy, you've been sold a lie, and today I want to break the lie down. I'm going to teach you how to cut the waste without cutting the happiness. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.You've joined me for Financially Confident Christian, where every day we try to break that cycle of financial shame and do it with confidence. And today's show is something that all of us can learn from, and that's cutting cost without losing your mind, without feeling deprived.Let's get right into today's listener question. Ralph, I'm trying to cut back, but it feels like I'm the only one suffering here. I'm saying no to every little thing.I'm saying no to coffee and lunch out and anything enjoyable, and it's making me angry. I don't want to be reckless, but I also can't keep living like life is nothing but bills and guilt.How do I cut expenses without feeling deprived and resentful? Wow, you knocked that question out of the park. Kind of feels like a diet discussion, doesn't it?Had to keep moving forward without feeling that resentful. So today's big idea is cutting expenses isn't punishment. We gotta lay the groundwork right there. It's permission to spend on what truly matters.Which is why we've got to change the mindset right from the beginning. This is where we got to start. This budgeting is a choice, not a restriction. Friend of mine calls it an intentional spending plan. I love that one.Well, you got to start by swapping the I can't. So many of us live in the I can't. I can't do this. I can't do that. Change your mindset. Change it to I choose not to, so I.Can you see the difference there? Not, I can't, but I choose not to, so I can see that deprivation that comes from feeling trapped.If you feel trapped, you will live in deprivation that is just a factual truth, but a plan, an intentional idea that gives you power. Because when you have the power, guess what happens? You're the boss of your money. You're not a victim of it.You want to be the boss of your money, have a plan. But now you're thinking, okay, Ralph, how do I make that happen? I'm going to give you some real practical advice here.First thing I'm going to encourage you to do, do a 30 day money leak audit on paper. Now you're saying, Ralph, you're an accountant. You know what an office in an audit looks like. Let me lay it out for you. It's not complicated.Truth is, you can never slay a monster that you can't see. Remember as a kid I used to be worried about that monster. Live under the bed or lived in the closet, never seen that monster come out.But for so many of us with our money, there's monsters there. But we've never looked for them, never looked at the leaks. So here's one thing you can do, some real practical advice.Print or pull the list 30 days of your bank statement and your credit card statement and highlight every single non essential spending line. Now I'm not talking about the essential things, you know, food, clothing, shelter, utilities.I'm talking about the little $5 here, the $12 there, the coffees, the little treating yourself things, all that money that disappeared quietly. But print that out and just highlight that thing. Just go through. Because you're going to be surprised at how many things there are.And then the first thing you can do, if you don't want to feel deprivation, cut what you don't even notice before you cut what you love. See, if you start off with, I'm going to cut the things that I see right away, you're going to get yourself into deprivation land.But think about those zombie subscriptions. I call them death by a thousand cuts, those forgotten trials, those unused memberships.Oh, it sounded like a great idea at the time, but man, I haven't used that since. Ask yourself this. If you wouldn't pay for it today, you shouldn't keep paying for it tomorrow. And see the beauty of these things.These cuts don't hurt because you weren't using them anyway. So start there, what I call the low hanging fruit. So highlight, print these things out, grab those things and cut those first.Then what I want you to do is run what I call the joy test. On the rest notice, it'll rhyme there. But the joy test, ask yourself this.Does this spending bring you real value or is it just some temporary distraction? And you really have to think about that because I pick on people who drink coffee in the morning.But that morning coffee that you truly enjoy, that might be part of the joy for you. And that's cool. If you can afford to do it, that's great. But if you've got three streaming services, you only scroll through cut it.If that's not bringing you real value, cut those things. And finally, you swap. Don't stop, man. I'm telling you, there's a song here. Swap, don't stop. Keep the joy and lose the cost.This is not the time to stop that.Date night might be super important for your relationship, but you could swap that expensive dinner for dessert only or a picnic or something cheaper. But the time still matters. You don't have to stop reading. Swap Amazon for the library. Go to the library and check out books. Yeah, guess what?There are still libraries. You can still check out books. What I'm telling you here is keep the ritual, but drop the price tag. Lower the price tag.Because you're not cutting joy, you're cutting waste. And that's the big answer today. Don't cut the joy of. Cut the waste. So here's my one win for you. Just a single step and I'm going to challenge you.I bet every one of us could cancel one zombie subscription in the next 10 minutes. That's what I want you to do when you're done listening today.Open up your bank app or your phone or your subscriptions and go find one zombie subscription. Because I bet one thing you're probably going to find when you forgot about cut it off today. Stop the bleeding.Well, let's get to our scripture for today. It comes to us from First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 23.And listen to this one, because, man, this one is ideal for what we're talking about today. Again, First Corinthians, 10:23. I have the right to do anything you say, but not everything is beneficial.I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive. Just think about that one for a second. You may be allowed to spend it, but wisdom asks if it's actually helping you. Let's pray right now.Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the resources that you've entrusted to us. And Lord, we confess right now that sometimes we look for comfort in spending instead of being in your presence.So give us wisdom, Lord, and discernment today. Help us to see our finances clearly and give us courage to cut what is not beneficial so we truly can focus on what is constructive.Replace our fear of deprivation with the joy of stewardship, Lord, and teach us contentment not in what we buy, but truly in who we are, in you. And just give us discipline to say no to the temporary so we can say yes to what truly matters. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen, friend.I just want to encourage you, when you cut waste, you make room for peace. So go find that waste and cut that out. Don't cut the joy today, just cut the waste and find some peace.And if you've got a question for the show, I would love to have your question on the show. Go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question we'll put that in the show notes, but I want to give it to you again in case you want to write this down.Go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question thank you so much for joining me today. I hope it was an encouragement today you can do this. Stay financially savvy.May God bless you and you have a great day today.