I Saved $400 a Month with These 5 Simple Changes

I used to feel broke at the end of every month even though we made decent money.

We weren’t living some lavish lifestyle. We didn’t have expensive car payments or go on fancy vacations. We just never seemed to have money left over. And I had no idea where it was all going.

Then I spent one week tracking every single purchase, and I found the leaks. Little expenses I didn’t even think about that were draining $400 a month. Sometimes more.

I made five simple changes. Not a complete budget overhaul. Not some extreme frugal living situation. Just five specific adjustments that plugged the biggest leaks.

Within two months, we were saving $400 a month consistently. That’s almost $5,000 a year. From money we were already making. I wasn’t earning more. I was just keeping more.

Here are the exact five changes I made and how much each one saved.

Change #1: The Subscription Audit (Saved $127/Month)

This was the easiest and fastest win.

I went through three months of bank and credit card statements and highlighted every recurring charge. Anything that charged me monthly or yearly.

I found seven subscriptions I completely forgot about.

A meditation app I used once in 2023. Still charging me $12.99 a month.

A meal planning service I signed up for and never opened. $9.99 a month.

A streaming service I got to watch one show, then forgot to cancel. $14.99 a month.

Two app subscriptions that auto-renewed. $6.99 each.

A gym membership I stopped using in November. $49 a month.

Amazon Prime (we weren’t using the benefits enough to justify it). $14.99 a month.

I canceled all of them. Total savings: $127.35 a month.

That’s $1,528 a year for stuff I literally wasn’t using.

The whole audit took me 30 minutes. I sat down with my statements, went through line by line, and canceled anything I didn’t actively use.

I wrote the full story here: I found $127 in monthly subscriptions I forgot I had.

Change #2: Stopped the Phantom Power Drain (Saved $15/Month)

I didn’t even know this was a thing until someone mentioned it. Appliances and electronics that are plugged in but not being used still draw power. It’s called phantom power or vampire power.

I walked around the house and unplugged five things:

Coffee maker (when not in use)
Microwave (we only used the clock anyway, so I just unplugged it)
Phone chargers (when not actively charging)
Toaster
A lamp in the guest room we barely used

Our next electric bill was $15 lower.

The month after that, another $15 lower.

That’s $180 a year for literally just unplugging stuff when I’m not using it.

It takes two seconds. Plug in the coffee maker when I want coffee, unplug it when I’m done. Same with the toaster.

I know $15 doesn’t sound like a lot. But it’s literally free money for doing almost nothing.

Full breakdown here: I unplugged 5 things and my electric bill dropped $15.

Change #3: Changed the HVAC Filter Regularly (Saved $30/Month)

This one shocked me.

I used to change our HVAC filter maybe twice a year. When I remembered. Or when the system started making weird noises.

Then someone told me you’re supposed to change it every two months. So I tried it.

I bought a $10 filter and changed it. The next heating bill was $30 lower than usual.

I thought it was a fluke. But the month after that, it was the same. And the month after that.

A dirty filter makes your heating and cooling system work harder, which uses more energy and costs more money. A clean filter makes it run efficiently.

Now I set a reminder on my phone every two months. Change the filter. Takes five minutes. Saves $30 a month.

That’s $360 a year. For a $10 filter that takes five minutes to change.

Best return on investment I’ve ever gotten.

Here’s the full story: HVAC filter change dropped my heating bill $30.

Change #4: Fixed Our Food Waste Problem (Saved $150-200/Month)

This was the big one. And the hardest to admit.

We were throwing away about $200 a month in food that went bad before we ate it.

Produce that rotted in the fridge. Leftovers nobody ate. Ingredients I bought for recipes I never made. Bread that went moldy. Milk that expired.

I was literally throwing money in the trash.

Here’s what I changed:

Started meal planning with only five flexible meals per week. Not seven. Five. That gave us room for leftovers and life happening.

Stopped buying produce in bulk unless I had a specific plan for it that week.

Used leftovers for lunch instead of letting them sit in the fridge.

Froze stuff before it went bad. Bread, meat, even vegetables can be frozen.

Checked the fridge and pantry before grocery shopping so I didn’t buy duplicates of stuff we already had.

These changes cut our food waste by probably 80 percent. We went from throwing away $200 a month to maybe $20 or $30.

That’s saving $150 to $180 a month. About $2,000 a year.

Just by being more intentional about what we bought and actually using what we had.

Full story here: We were throwing $200 in the trash every month on food waste.

Change #5: The 48-Hour Rule for Non-Essential Purchases (Saved $100-150/Month)

I had an Amazon problem.

I’d see something at 11 PM while scrolling on my phone. Kitchen gadget, organizing supplies, kids’ toys, whatever. Seemed like a good idea. Click buy. Two days later it showed up and I’d think “why did I even order this?”

I was spending $150 to $200 a month on impulse Amazon purchases I didn’t need.

So I made a rule. If I wanted to buy something non-essential, I had to wait 48 hours before purchasing.

I’d add it to my cart but not check out. If I still wanted it two days later, I could buy it.

About 70 percent of the time, I either forgot about it or realized I didn’t actually need it.

This cut my Amazon spending from $150 to $200 a month down to about $50 a month. Saving me $100 to $150 a month.

It also made me way more intentional about what I was buying. I started asking myself “do I actually need this or does it just seem appealing right now?”

Most of the time, the answer was “it just seems appealing right now.”

The 48-hour rule gave me space to think instead of just clicking buy.

I wrote a whole guide on how I stopped the Amazon spending spiral with more strategies beyond just the 48-hour rule.

The Total Savings Breakdown

Here’s what these five changes saved per month:

Subscription audit: $127
Phantom power: $15
HVAC filter: $30
Food waste reduction: $175 (average)
48-hour purchase rule: $125 (average)

Total: $472 per month

Some months it’s a little less. Some months it’s more. But on average, I’m saving $400 to $500 a month now.

That’s $5,000 to $6,000 a year.

From money I was already making. I didn’t get a raise. I didn’t pick up a side hustle. I just stopped wasting money on stuff I didn’t need or wasn’t using.

Why These Changes Worked When Other Budget Advice Didn’t

I tried budgeting before. The traditional kind where you track every penny and have strict categories and beat yourself up if you go over.

It never worked. It was too restrictive, too much work, and I’d always end up giving up after a few weeks.

These five changes worked because:

They were specific and concrete. Not “spend less money.” But “cancel these seven subscriptions” and “change the HVAC filter every two months.”

They didn’t require constant willpower. Once I canceled the subscriptions, I didn’t have to think about it anymore. The money just stopped leaving my account.

They were one-time changes with ongoing benefits. I didn’t have to make the decision over and over. I made it once and it kept saving me money.

They were based on my actual spending patterns. I looked at where my money was actually going and fixed the biggest leaks first.

I wasn’t trying to become a different person or live some extreme frugal lifestyle. I was just plugging obvious leaks.

The Hardest Change (And How I Made It Stick)

The food waste and impulse buying were the hardest because they required ongoing attention.

For food waste, I had to actually plan meals and be intentional about grocery shopping. That took effort at first.

What made it stick: I started small. Just planned five meals a week instead of trying to plan every single meal. That felt doable.

For impulse buying, I had to pause before clicking “buy now.” That required self-control.

What made it stick: The 48-hour rule gave me a system. I didn’t have to just white-knuckle resist buying stuff. I could tell myself “I can still buy it in 48 hours if I want.” That took the pressure off.

The other three changes were easy because they were one-time decisions. Cancel subscriptions. Unplug stuff. Change the filter regularly. Done.

What I Did With the Extra $400 a Month

This is the best part.

For the first two months, I just let it accumulate in our checking account. It felt so good to see money actually staying there instead of disappearing.

Then we started using it for things that actually mattered:

Paid off a credit card that had been hanging over us for months.

Built a small emergency fund. Nothing huge, but having $1,000 in savings for the first time in years felt amazing.

Stopped stressing about unexpected expenses. When something came up (car repair, kid needed new shoes, whatever), we had money to cover it without panicking.

We’re not rich now. But we’re not constantly broke either. That’s a huge difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did you find your budget leaks?

I tracked every purchase for one week. Every single thing I bought, I wrote down in a notes app on my phone. At the end of the week, I added up each category (subscriptions, food, Amazon, utilities, etc.) and saw where money was disappearing. The patterns became obvious really fast.

Can anyone save $400 a month this way?

It depends on your spending. If you have subscription creep, food waste, and impulse buying problems like I did, then yes, you can probably save close to this amount. If your budget is already really tight and you’re not wasting money anywhere, your savings will be less. But most people have at least a few of these leaks.

What should I do first to save money fast?

Cancel subscriptions you’re not using. This is the fastest win and can save you $50 to $150 immediately. After that, tackle food waste by meal planning. Those two changes alone can save $200 to $300 a month for most families.

Do these changes feel restrictive?

Not really. Canceling unused subscriptions didn’t change my life at all because I wasn’t using them anyway. The food waste fix actually made meal planning easier. The 48-hour rule was the only one that felt a little restrictive at first, but I got used to it fast and it helped me buy stuff I actually wanted instead of impulse purchases I regretted.

How long did it take to see results?

The subscription savings showed up immediately on my next credit card statement. The phantom power and HVAC filter savings showed up on my next utility bills (within a month). The food waste and impulse buying took about two months to show consistent results because I had to build new habits.

What if I don’t have subscriptions or food waste?

Then your budget leaks are probably somewhere else. Track your spending for a week and see where money is going. Common leaks include eating out too much, convenience purchases (coffee, gas station snacks), paying full price instead of shopping sales, and not negotiating bills. Everyone has leaks somewhere.

You Can Do This Too

I’m not some financial guru or extreme budgeter. I’m just a regular person who was tired of feeling broke all the time.

These five changes worked for me. They might not all work for you. Your budget leaks might be in different places.

But if you track your spending for just one week, I guarantee you’ll find leaks. Places where money is leaving without you really thinking about it.

Pick one leak. The biggest one or the easiest one. Fix it. See how much you save.

Then do another one. And another one.

Small changes add up. That’s not just a motivational saying. It’s literally what happened to me. Five small changes added up to $400 a month.

That’s real money. Money I can use for things that actually matter instead of wasting on stuff I don’t even notice.

If you want the complete system I use for managing money, plus all the home organization and meal planning strategies that support these changes, I put everything in my 30-day home reset guide.

It has a whole section on the five money changes with more details, printable tracking sheets, and strategies for making it all stick.

But you don’t need that to start. Just pick one of these five changes and try it this week. Track your spending, cancel unused subscriptions, or implement the 48-hour rule.

One change. That’s all it takes to start. The rest will follow once you see how much you’re actually saving.

You’ve got this. I promise if I can save $400 a month, you can too.