There comes a sweet spot in between contributing to an RRSP and filing taxes that makes a lot of us rethink our spending habits.
Maybe you overspent during the holidays or paying money for indoor outings, like eating out or going to movies to avoid the cold. Either way, your finances need a reality check this month, says author and financial coach David Campbell Lester, who also hosted his own spending freeze on his blog in February.
"People who are good with their money actually find excitement in paying off their debt," he says. "They get excited about the future, a sense of security, spoiling their kids, having a sense of family or just freedom."
While eating out less or taking public transit are easy ways to save, Lester says sometimes the costs that get to us are the ones we're not paying attention to. For example, pre-paid memberships, like magazine subscriptions, or even online streaming sites continuously take out money from your account, even if you're not using their services fully.
Here are Lester's 15 tips for cutting down costs around entertainment, food and well-being. For the most part, we can see ourselves abiding by these challenges, but let us know if you have any tricks you're willing to share in the comments below.