People are facing a multitude of challenges these days, but none is probably more pressing than saving money. Some things are just plain easier to address than others, and chances are money troubles have had you hitting your head against the wall for some time now. One of the best ways to solve money problems is by saving money on things you do everyday. While this is always a good idea, it is doubly important now, because finances are tight for most people, due to the down economy. So, just how do you choose a path through your daily life to find methods that work to save money?
A bit of old fashioned budgeting is the way to go here. Take a good, hard look at where all your money goes every month. Don’t just do this in your head. Get out a pencil and paper, or use a spreadsheet if you’ve moved into the 21st century. You are trying to determine where you spend the msot money, because there will be your largest opportunities for savings. Don’t neglect the little things however, because on many occasions those “little” things can add up to major expenditures. Often, they are taken for granted, despite the fact that they can have a major impact on your finances.
Sadly, most poeple have only the most rudumentary financial education. A little bit of financial knowlege can go a long way here.
Here are 5 great, money saving tips tips that can help you rfree up some extra money every month :
1. Start shopping at warehouse food stores, rather than big name markets, such as Safeway, Albertson’s, and Vons. Hit the warehouse food stores instead. Why is this important?
Because, unlike other opportunities for large savings , everyone has to eat, and most people can save substantial amounts of money doing so by changing where they shop and being a little careful when the do so. In most cases you won’t even have to make any major changes to your diet. What happens once you adhere to these tips? Simple, you save money, and sometimes quite a bit. A family of four can chop 25 – 40% off their food bills using this money saving strategy. If you currently spend about $600 per month on groceries, that would equate to a savings of over $200 each and every month!
2. Start brown bagging it for lunch. That is another major food oriented money savings opportunity. Mnay people think nothing of spending $5, $6 or even $10 daily on lunch. You can cut this by 75% by making your own sandwiches. Sadly, your morning latte habit has to go as well. A simple latte and bagel in the morning lightens your wallet by $5, when you can make a mug of coffee at hoime and take it with you for about a quarter. Those two things can save you over $10 a day, or over $200 each month.
3. Cancel your premium cable channels and hook your computer up to your TV. Thanks to the wonders of modern high speed Internet connections, you can watch virtually everything streamed straight to your computer.
If you live in an area where you can get good over the air TV for the local channels, you can almost skip cable altogether, and not miss a thing. Windows 7 will even act as a DVR, so you can record and pause your favorite shows, and watch them when you want to. That could work out to be around $90 – $120 per month back in your pocket, provided you already have broadband Internet. The reason behind that is that modern technology is giving cable companies a run for their money. Most of the networks will let you watch their shows in HD on line, for free, you’ll just have to do a day or two later, that’s all. You can also get inexpensive software that lets you watch live TV on your computer. Thanks to this kind of software, and websites such as Hulu and ESPN3, you’ll be pretty well set for your television programming, even without cable TV .
4. The fourth thing you can do to save money is compare money on your car insurance. You can still get great insurance from the top rated car insurance companies in the United States, but you’re likely to pay much less for it . Figure you’ll save about $40 – $50 per month doing this, possibly more. In fact, there are many reasons to examine your insurance coverage for money savings opportunities. Typically people are elligible for a few discounts that can save them money every month, suhc as multi line or multi car discounts. You should talk with your agent to be sure you are getting all the discounts you are elligible for. In addition, lower your deductibles. That alone can account for hundreds of dollars every quarter in savings.
5. If you have any credit card balances, take advantage of those 0% balance transfer offers that you’re bombarded with in the mail every other week, although it seems they do not come as often as they did a couple of years ago. If you are carrying the average American credit card balance of about $8,000, and paying the national average rate as this is written of 14.15%, you are paying about $700 in the upcoming year in interest on that balance, provided you pay off about 10% of your balance each month, and don’t charge any more on it.
Why should you go this route ? If you don’t use the new, card, simply transfer your outstanding balance, you’ll not only save the $700 this year in interest, you will receive a nice bonus as well.. What are the additional reasons? Because your total credit limit went up, but your aggregate outstanding balance was unchanged, a little thing called your credit utilization score went up, and that is a component of your overall FICO credit score. That means, you guessed it, your credit score will go up too, and you’ll save on just about all things credit related.
Follow the 5 tips above and you will get good results with saving money on things you do everyday. That might easily put an extra $700 – $1,000 in your pocket every month. Imagine how fast that could change your financial picture. Should you ignore these simple money saving tips, best get ready for more of the same financial misery. Think about how fast you could pay down high interest credit card debt, or buld up your emergency fund with that kind of extra money.
Discover more powerful ways to get out of debt and regain financial control of your life now – visit the Insider’s Guide to Financial Freedom and Bad Credit Refinance now!
Filed Under : 
Feb.1,2012
Tags : chuck hughes, investing, money, stocks