How can you recover financially after a summer of spending?

If summer spending left your budget stretched thin, you're not alone. Whether it was a water park, an outdoor concert or sporting event, or some air conditioning at the movie theater, summer fun costs money. Heading into the summer, research from PwC found that on average, Americans planned to spend $2,800 on travel alone. Tack on a dinner out here and a boat rental there, and it's easy to see why fall feels like the right time to tighten things up. Five small financial challenges can help you reset this fall. Each one is a specific, achievable action rather than a total overhaul, so you can rebuild your savings without feeling like you're limiting yourself too much. They are:

• Canceling one subscription you're not using
• Finding a way to earn a higher savings rate
• Trimming $30 to $100 from your spending with a revamped budget
• Boosting your 401(k) savings rate by 1%
• Maxing out your Roth IRA contributions

How much could canceling one subscription save you?

Nowadays, many of us pay monthly subscriptions for everything from food delivery apps to streaming services to gym memberships. But if you’re not careful, those subscriptions can add up quickly — and you may not even be taking advantage of all of them. CNET recently found that adults in the US are wasting $252 annually on subscriptions they’re not using.  

Take a few minutes to look over your last credit card statement and identify one subscription that you’re either not using, don’t need or could downgrade for a lower price. 

How can you earn a higher rate on your savings?

Growing your balances doesn't necessarily mean spending less. You can also move your money into savings products that pay higher yields than wherever your cash sits now.

"With rates being higher than we were accustomed to over the past decade, your idle cash should be earning a competitive interest rate," says Trenton Leffingwell, an investment advisor at Titleist Asset Management. "While it may not be an ideal time to take out a mortgage or new car loan, at least you can take advantage of the idle cash you have sitting in savings rather than the bank giving you pennies on the dollar."

You have several options, including purchasing short-term Treasuries, or opening a certificate of deposit (CD) or high-yield savings account. With Current, you can earn up to a 4.00% annual bonus on money in your Savings Pods, which are dedicated buckets for setting savings aside for specific goals within the app.

How do you trim $30 to $100 a month with a revamped budget?

Now that summer is over, you may want to spend your money differently. If you haven’t been budgeting, putting a cap on your “fun money” — money you spend on discretionary items such as theater tickets and happy hours — is a good place to start. 

You can revamp your budget simply with a pen and paper or spreadsheet by going through your bank statements to determine how much you’re currently spending, and then making adjustments. Plenty of banking service providers come with budgeting tools online and in their apps (including Current), or you can use a budgeting-specific app if you need some extra help. Even managing to lower your spending by $30 per month will add up to $360 by the end of the year. Cut $100 per month from your spending and you’ll save $1,200 throughout the year. 

Why should you boost your 401(k) savings rate by 1%?

Even a 1% increase to your 401(k) or a similar employer-sponsored retirement plan can make a meaningful difference over time. Retirement may not feel like a priority when you're decades away from saying goodbye to your day job, but saving now and letting that money grow is key.

"Many investors underestimate how powerful incremental savings increases can be," says Brian Carlson, partner and financial planner at Summit Investment Advisors. He offers this example: a 30-year-old who contributes just $25 more per week to their 401(k) is investing an additional $1,300 per year. Assuming an average annual return of 7%, those small additional weekly contributions could grow to approximately $180,000 by age 65.

"Consistently raising your contribution by 1% whenever you receive a raise can potentially add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your retirement nest egg while helping offset inflation and future spending needs," Carlson says. Plus, the money never hits your bank account, which makes it much easier not to spend.

Are you actually maxing out your Roth IRA contributions?

If you're contributing to a Roth individual retirement account (IRA) on top of a 401(k), that's great. But many people make a common mistake, Leffingwell says: they treat their Roth IRAs as if they're on "auto-pilot" and never raise their contributions as the IRS limits increase.

A lot of people still have contributions aligned with IRS limits from previous years, such as $500 per month based on when there was a $6,000 annual limit, Leffingwell says. The limit has since increased, and you can now contribute $7,500 per year, or $625 per month.

"The extra $125 per month might not seem like much, but compounded over 30 years makes a significant difference," he adds.