Another 7 Easy Ways To Save Money
Having an idea on how to save money will not only give you that extra dollar but at the same time will teach you how to be a wise spender. You’ll find out for yourself, after following these tips, how much more can you save from your hard earned money. Here are seven more ways to do that.
In our last article we focused on a few ways to save money. This time, you’ll find a few more ways to save money and maybe a couple that you didn’t think of. As always, it’s not my intention to make you a cheapskate, but rather to give you the choice of where to spend your money instead of wondering where it went.
I mentioned this in the previous article but it’s so important that I have to repeat this again.
The first thing you should do after reading this article is grab a notebook, PDA or some other way to keep track and start recording your spending. Write down every purchase you make, even a soda or snack from a vending machine. Keep it up for at least a month and then look at where your money goes. You may start to see a trend that you want to stop before the month is over and by all means, change it. You may also want to do this more than once. It’s a great way to keep from falling back into or developing new bad spending habits.
Here’s a pet peeve of mine, ATM fees. Not only do you pay 1-3 bucks for the ATM you’re using but another 1-3 bucks to your bank. If you stop at the wrong ATM for $20 for dinner then you may be paying $26. Take a look at your bank statement and see how much you could’ve saved by planning over the last month. Personally, I saved almost $100 when I stopped using other ATMs.
Bank fees Depending on your bank, you may have free checking or pay a fee each month. If you’re paying a fee, then you really should think about how much it is and if it’s worth changing banks. You should pick a bank that has a lot of ATMs that are convenient to you and free checking. If you pick the correct bank, you can easily cut down the number of ATM fees that you incur simply by having your bank’s ATMs on the way to your destination.
Gas prices Use a search site like Gasbuddy.com Prices can vary by as much as 25 cents a gallon in the same city. It’s not worth your time to drive across town for a penny a gallon but if you can detour a few blocks for 10 cents a gallon then it’s worth it.
Prescription drugs According to a recent study, the prices can vary widely between pharmacies so unless you have drug coverage from your insurance, you should call around to different stores and check. You can also use a mail order pharmacy but be careful on those.
Pay down your mortgage Unless you have a loan that doesn’t allow this, you can over pay each month and that money goes directly to principle. Depending on your loan and the amount you over pay, you may save thousands over the life of the loan. Incidentally, some auto loans also allow this.
Pay your bills on time. A little known bit of fine print in many credit contracts allow unrelated companies to increase your rate just because you were late on a different account. Not only that but some companies will raise your rate to 29-31% interest if you’re 1 day late.
Free cycle is a group of people that choose to give away items instead of throwing them away. Not only does it save the receiver money but it keeps it out of the landfill. Do a search for your area and see if there’s a group in place.
Brian Baldwin is an entrepreneur who enjoys saving people money by offering some of the best products and services available today. Brian invites you to visit www.southerntechservices.com to compare our rates. If you’d like to read the previous article, please visit stservices.powerfulintentions.com/library
Being able to spend wisely gives you the feeling that you’re in control of your finances. You know exactly where your money is going. It’s very rewarding to have the extra money that you’re able to save from your expenses. And you can achieve all these by just following these seven simple tips.
7 Easy Ways to Save Money
It is not an excuse to spend wildly even if you have a high paying salary job. Saving money will be a breeze if you have a definite budget plan. You’ll be amazed of how much you’ll be saving with just a little consideration of your everyday expenses. Here we have the seven easy ways to save money.
Most people would love to get a raise; but did you know that by lowering your bills, you’re giving yourself a raise? For every $100.00 a month that you can lower your bills, you’re getting a raise of about 60 cents an hour based on $1200.00 a year divided by 52 weeks and 40 hours a week. It doesn’t sound like much until you figure that most companies are giving 3% annual raises and you would have to make $20.00 per hour to get a 60 cent raise. Not only that, but $1200 would pay for a decent big screen T.V.
In this article, I plan on showing you a few easy ways to save money and with any luck, at least one that you didn’t think of.
The first thing you should do after reading this article is grab a notebook, PDA or some other way to keep track and start recording your spending. Write down every purchase you make, even a soda or snack from a vending machine. Keep it up for at least a month and then look at where your money goes. You may start to see a trend that you want to stop before the month is over and by all means, change it. You may also want to do this more than once. It’s a great way to keep from falling back into or developing new bad spending habits.
Improve your credit card balances and rates. This is a given and dozens of books and articles have been written so I won’t waste too much of your time repeating the same old information. Just know that the lower your rate and the faster you pay it off, the more money you save. Start with your highest rate card and pay as much extra as you can until it’s paid off, and then go to the next and include what you were paying on the first card. You could easily drop $100 per month just from this.
Take your lunch and snacks to work. If you spend $5.00 a day on fast food lunch and drink 3 sodas a day, you can easily save about $15.00 – $20.00 a week and that would be about $60.00 to $80.00 a month just by packing a lunch, not including gas and wear and tear on your car. Not to mention how much healthier it would be. You may only want to cut back on the lunches but it would still be a savings. Just a thought, you could use the extra time to read a book or just relax.
Buy Regular Unleaded gas unless your car requires higher octane gas. Check your owner’s manual to be sure. Most places charge 20 cents a gallon extra for Supreme over Regular Unleaded and unless you’re driving a sports car you won’t be able to tell the difference. Depending on your gas mileage this could add up quickly.
Use a shopping list and stick to it. Avoid impulse buys unless they’re something you’d normally use and on sale. Clip coupons. If you think it isn’t worth it, try it for a month and keep track of your savings. If it’s more hassle than it’s worth you can stop. But I’m betting you’ll be surprised at how fast it adds up. Pay attention to prices at different stores. Most stores offer some products under wholesale just to bring you in because they know most people will buy other things and they’ll make money on the higher priced items.
Do you still smoke? I bet you’re expecting me to say quit. Well, that would save you money but I’m not going to. If you want to quit then I wish you luck because I know it’s hard.
Try out the cheaper cigarette brands. Buy a single pack and see how they taste. If you find a brand you like and it’s a $1.00 a pack cheaper then look at how much you’ll save. If you smoke a pack a day then you’ll save about $30.00 a month, $365.00 a year. If you’re scared of what people will think, buy a nice case. They’ll never know you’re smoking cheap cigarettes.
Take a look at your cable/satellite package. Look at what stations you watch and which package they’re included in. If you don’t watch anything in the higher end packages, drop the extra or find out if you can get just the channels you watch. If you have cable, take a look at satellite providers such as Dish Network and see if you can save money if that’s an option where you live. Some apartments don’t have access to the correct direction to use satellite but if you do, then it could be a better deal and you may receive a channel you’ve always wanted.
Check your phone bill. This is one of the easiest bills to be over charged for and one of the easiest to change. Most people think they don’t spend enough to bother with it, but many companies hide fees or make up their own. Some will even tell you a fee is mandatory when it’s really just an administrative fee.
What you may not realize is that depending on your calling habits or the area you live in you may want a different long distance company or you may want to go with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) if you have a broadband internet connection. We offer a calculator that compares 11 companies and shows the rates for your area. There’s even the advanced calculator that takes your calling habits and finds the best rate for you based on if you call more instate or out of state.
The point of these tips isn’t to make you a cheapskate, but to allow you to choose where your money goes. You can save the extra money, go out to a nice restaurant each month or spend it in any way you want, even to buy a new T.V. And wouldn’t it be much nicer to choose where you spend your money instead of wondering where it went?
Brian Baldwin is an entrepreneur who enjoys saving people money by offering some of the best products and services available today. Brian invites you to visit www.southerntechservices.com to compare our rates with the rates you’re paying and find out for yourself how much money you can save.
Following these tips will not only help you save money but will also teache you to spend wisely. You will know where your money is going and can decide for yourself if it’s worth it. Deciding to spend on more important things will not only keep you in track of your budget but will also allow you to become a more sensible person.
Budgeting For Your Regular Expenses Each Payday
One may be getting a big salary out of their job, but after deducting expenses, one may not know how much exactly is left for take home pay. You might want to start computing how much money is left for you to budget for the entire month. Expenses like transportation, food, clothing and others should be taken into consideration before you could actually say that your getting enough of your paycheck.
When it comes to your job, many individuals are unsure how much they bring home in a given pay period. Instead of taking the number provided on your paycheck, you must first take a number of expenses into account. Factoring in these expenses will allow you to determine the exact amount of money you bring home each month that is available to your disposal.
If you are looking at quitting your current employment for any reason, you should be completely aware of how much money you make in any given pay period. This information is critical for anyone who whishes to change their current career, begin their own project, or stop working all together in order to care for a child, parent, or family member.
The reservations regarding finances have held back many an individuals from venturing into their own business. It might not be a feasible idea to limit the options for the sake of money. Consider the expenses that are factored as a result of your current employment. These can be under the heads of commuting (car and gas), food and clothing as well as other necessary items.
Commuting to work is becoming more and more expensive as the price of gas keeps rising. When you add the costs of maintaining your vehicle and all its component parts you have a necessary expense regarding your work. You need to take into account the amount of gas you use in a week’s time plus its wear and tear. You can use the templates on the internet to factor this number into your take home pay.
The way you attire for your office is determined by the people of your office, hence the expenses made for these dresses also need to be factored in the take home pay as these expenses are incurred due to the fact that you are employed. The item list for factoring should be all encompassing and apart from the expenditure incurred on buying clothing items like suits, shirts, etc it should include the expenses incurred on cleaning and dry-cleaning.
Another factor in your take home pay is any food expenses you incur while on the job. These innocuous expenses can add up quickly and often go unnoticed by working individuals. That morning cup of coffee or breakfast goodie coupled with the lunch at a sit down or take out restaurant can quickly become expensive. Additionally, these meals can often pack on pounds, which can lead to health issues.
If you have kids, then the childcare costs might dig deep into your paycheck. In case you don’t happen to be working, the question of meeting these bills does not arise; hence these costs also need to be factored from the take home pay.
Thus, you need to consider all related business expenses when you calculate your take home pay. These expenses are astounding. Once you realize how much of your income goes into earning it, you may find it easy to take the decision to change your career or start your own business or just quit working to take care of your home and children.
David Neehly is an independent Credit Counseling writer for “Credit Counseling Card” You’ll find all the latest Credit Counseling news there. Read David’s latest Credit Counseling articles by going to CreditCounselingCard.com/articles
After considering related expenses you may start thinking if you’re still getting enough from your job. You may want to consider other option like getting a new job or starting your own business. You can now compare from your net take home pay the profit that you might get if you start putting your business ideas into reality.