Free Saving Money Guide From Government
The U.S. government wants you to save money! They started mymoney.gov to save you money and they are offering a free “my money” tool kit. This includes money saving handbooks, investing help, social security and more.
Seven Savings Tips For Right Now
#1: Be more careful with with bills and payments! Maybe it’s a laidback attitude, or forgetfulness, or a chaotic lifestyle, just in case you are laden with unpaid bills, get fined for late payments 75 % of the time, bounce a few cheques every 8-10 months, then it is time to take stock of your personal finance department. To change all this, keep a monthly tracker, (maybe set reminders on mobile or make use of online calendars) which can alert you (maybe beep you) when bill payments, insurance reminders, credit card payment reminders arrive and meet them. Sort all such bills at a place and keep them accessible, at least online.
#2: Monthly Budget: Make a monthly budget for all your requirements for the next 5-6 months. Make plans for all your shopping needs, bill payments, gifts, holidays, outings, car loan payments, etc. and ensure that your income is more than this outgoing number.
#3: Make use of credit cards lesser and stop taking loans. Golden Rule – Please remember that you need to spend less than you earn. Distinguish between your needs and desires. Resist the desire for expensive purchases. If you are tempted to use your credit card to purchase an un-budgeted item, think twice. If you really want to buy something, rather than use your credit card, save up for it. If you still need this item, then go ahead and buy the same. Remember, too much debt will eat into your monthly spending and put a road block to any kind of saving, as you will be busy paying off your credit card bills and EMIs on personal loans for you to set aside anything for a saving.
#4: Obsessive, compulsive, impulsive shopping. Remember – Most of the branded stores, shopping malls and supermarkets lined with tempting products were designed with you in mind. Avoid these places like the plague. For each item that you buy, please ensure that you have a reason. Resist the urge to your kitchen or fridge or living room with things that are purchased without any rhyme or reason. This routine is painful initially, but worth making a habit of 0 Keep a tab on your money outflow, make a note of what, where, when, how you spend. At the end of every month, track your bills using an excel tracker or a good old accounting notebook and shred bills that are not required retaining warranty papers and bills, for goods that can be returned. See how much you can save with a little discipline!!!
#5: Do you juggle debts? I am not sure if you are a debt juggler. If so, then find ways to cut back on your monthly expenses and pay off all your dues. Once you do this, always cut back on spending, conserve on resources until to achieve control over your finances.
#6: Cheques that bounce! Please do not resort to this method. If you think you can write cheques that cannot be encashed and get away with it scot free, think again! Bounced cheques come with hefty fine amounts and establishing such patterns will not bode well for your financial track record.
#7: You don’t have back up funds in place! What about a medical emergency? Do you have resources that you can tap into for such a scenario. If the answer is NO, then it is time to take a serious look at how you manage your money. Give it plenty of thought, time, effort, patience, commitment and enforce a plan of action. Small strategies will help go a long way! Keep watching this space on more such tips on managing your money.
Here is a sample of a few things to start with, use your judgment and build on it. a. Start a savings bank account that is different from your salary account. Determine how much money you would need to comfortably and prudently manage your monthly expenses then transfer the rest automatically to your savings account, every month and keep it inaccessible for routine needs and curb any temptation to eat into these savings. b. Prepare a budget and stick to it. c. Keep your credit cards locked away, at least until you take control of your spending habit. One can also use a credit card to wisely keep track of monthly payments, but that is for people who can differentiate between a want and a need. Until you find yourself in that place, lock it away! d. For outings, see if car pooling would help. If you are a reader, try buying used books instead of new books.
Learning To Budget and Live
There are many ways that you can learn to live on a budget. Lately, due to the failing economy, I have been greatly changing the way I live in order to adapt to the current situation. You can entertain yourself and save money by cutting coupons from the Saturday and Sunday paper. If you don’t get the newspaper at all you can also find a copious amount of virtual coupons on the internet. A great site for coupons is www.shortcuts.com. At this website you have the ability to link coupons to your grocery card in order to save money on ink and paper. I love shopping a lot but due to the economy I have had to save my money for only the necessary items that I can’t live without such as toothpaste. Another great site that has helped my situation is www.mypoints.com. At Mypoints I receive emails daily with offers and just for clicking and reading them I get five points. Over time you accumulate points on this site and you can redeem your points for great gift card rewards to many different retailers.
The gift card values vary depending on the amount of points you have collected at the time you decide to redeem your points. You have the option of getting gift cards worth $10, $25, $50, and $100. There are gift cards available to use at retailers such as Macy’s, Sears, Wal-Mart, Bath and Body Works, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc. I have been a member of Mypoints for quite some time, and it’s a great website for those who are having a hard time with money due to the economy. Many people also don’t know that www.walmart.com offers freebies. When you first get to the Wal-Mart website you can type in the search bar “samples” and you will get the link to the samples page. Most of the American people are suffering due to this extremely bad economy. However, there are great ways and tips to save our money for emergencies, and purchasing things we simply cannot live with out or the essentials in order to survive.
Save With The Bike
A great way to save a lot of money is to park your car and then ride your bike or take public transportation. Not only can you save money on gas and car maintenance, but you can also get a little more exercise into your day, thus saving gym fees as well. Many towns and cities have great public transportation systems that offer a break on their regular rates with a monthly pass.
The public transportation system is also more kid-friendly during bad weather. It is easier during inclement weather to take the bus or train when you have kids along because is warmer and more comfortable than riding a bike through rain and snow. On nice days, though, bikes will take you to work and errands just as well as your car will. Most people tend to stick close to home for their groceries and other tasks, and the type of driving they do consists up to a lot of starts and stops, which can be hard on your car’s engine.
There are also a lot of ways to take small children along on a bike trip. Bike trailers are a great way to take children in slightly rainy or windy weather. When it is a nice day, an add-on, one-wheel bike can be attached to the back of the parent’s bike and a small child can “ride” with his or her parent to the destination. Many of these child transportation products can be found used on classified advertising websites, such as Craigslist.com, or for a fair price as a new product. Be sure to check size and weight limits for bike trailers and the one-wheel bikes. And be sure your child wears a helmet. Imagine how nice it will feel to save all that money on gas and get some exercise too!
Find Your Budget Buster
Already-prepared items and certain cuts of meat are the budget-busting things to avoid when shopping. For instance, avoid chicken parts that are trimmed of bone and skin. Buy a whole chicken and cut it up yourself. With a proper, sharpened knife, it is not difficult or time-consuming. I love beef but prime rib, for instance, is beyond my budget.
One of my favorite recipes is the expensive beef with Yorkshire pudding but it can be made the budget way. Saute’ a pound of ground round blended with steak sauce (I use Worcestershire), 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons of chopped onions, a teaspoon of chopped parsley and 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg. Mix a cup of flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt and beat in a cup of milk and 2 eggs. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a shallow casserole dish (1-1/2 quart), pour in half the batter, spoon meat mixture in center, top with remaining batter.
Bake for 35 minutes in 375 degree oven or until browned and crisp. Voila’, a delicious and much less expensive beef and Yorkshire pudding! All it takes is a little imagination to eat delicious meals for less money. Leftover vegetables added to a tomato sauce could be served over pasta. They can also be blended together with V-8 juice and served chilled as a gazpacho-type lunch or appetizer.
I use leftover meats, even chicken or pork scraped from the bone, to make casseroles by adding them to cream of mushroom soup or other flavored cream soups, which is served over rice. Flavor the mixture with a dash of cooking sherry or chicken broth, too. My small city has two food banks operated by local charities where residents can shop and choose non-perishables from shelves personally without being handed a food basket. Many charitable and religious organizations are now doing this and any family in need should check with the local non-profit organizations and churches to see what is available in this manner.
My city also offers a small space of land where residents can grow their own vegetables and keep what they grow. Some of the growers exchange items with each other during picking season if they do not choose to freeze or preserve their crops.
Wondering How To Save Money?
People are wondering how they can save money and still be able to live off what the make each week, month. One way to start that i use is clip out coupons and also if you have a printer, print out coupons from websites. Grocery bills have gone sky high but lately been going down some, same as gas.
Buy your meats in bulk is the next thing. Freeze what you will not be using for a while. Cook what you do have and precook your meals a head of time. When you know you are going to want to have a certain item for dinner that night. Take it out and re-heat it. Takes away time and energy. This way you have time to do other things as well.
By precooking your meals will save you time when you are to busy to cook a healthy meal for your family. Having children myself i know what that is like. Our schedules sometimes are not always the same. Sometimes we are all hungry at different times. So this way if one wants to eat at say 5 they can take what they want and heat it and eat. Frugal is my households first name these days. Actually i have always shopped pretty frugally. Even when buying paper goods, bathroom supplies, soap and things in that nature. I buy what is not only cheaper but buy the one that has more than the more expensive brand.
Gives me more for less and more for my money. Paper goods and such I usually go to a discount store most the time. Those are the best places to go when you need toothpaste, tissue, etc.. Living frugally is not has hard as some may think. It is easy and if you set your mind to it you will do just fine. When thinking you want to buy the name brand item at the grocery store or store in general. Compare the ingredients and you will find not much of difference from the store brand to the name brand just the name. With name brand you pay for the name not the product. Save money, live frugally and be budget conscious with the tips you find and get from others.
Saving Food Money on a Budget
Saving money with a budget is easier then most think it is. Buying your food on a budget and finding budget friendly recipes is easy. Getting food from local pantries and food banks for free are out there. Check your local papers and churches for those sort of places. Also check your with Salvation Army and other charities that help people in need of food. When you have left overs of a ham or roast you can take those dump it back into a crock pot or pot itself on the stove and re heat but first soak beans to make a soup out of or dinner surprise if you like. Here in my house we do that allot. On the budget and the way our economy is right now we shop very budget friendly. I buy the store brands over the name brands and why you may ask? Not a difference between the more expensive cereal over the store brand and why the ingredients are the same.
Just one you are paying for the name and the other you are paying for the food inside the box. Having kids and taking my daughter shopping with me sometimes she will want me to buy the cereal with the Disney or Nick characters on it. I ask her why? She says because of whats on the box and the prizes. I tell her you are paying for the name and i can buy the same thing in the box store brand and get more and pay less. It works.
Use common sense when shopping for your groceries and you may use coupons when you find them in your local paper or even print them out online. Taking items you have at home with left overs in the fridge you can make many meals out of and even freeze what you do not use if you are able to. Using a budget, finding places in your local city or town for pantries and food banks you can find them just call your local social services and places such and they will help.
Monthly Food Budgeting
Having a monthly budget is part of everyday life, but getting the most out of your food budget is possible with a few tips. Finding good quality food recipes that allow for budgeted items is a big plus. It not only can save you money, but lots of time as well. There are several cook books that are available that include recipes for individuals that are on a budget. They provide recipes of incredible taste but are less expensive. They are usually designed with fewer items used and items that are less expensive but still have great quality and taste. There are also was of getting free food locally.
Farms and produce manufacturers often have an end of season free picking for anyone who is willing to come and pick the food. You can also pick during prime season and receive a portion of what you pick. Planting plant your own garden to reap the benefits is always cost effective and a great way to get exactly what you want or need. The best way to stay within your budget is never to throw out food that is still good.
There are thousands of recipes that can be found anywhere from your family to the web that will allow you take last night’s left-overs and turn them into another great meal that your family will love. If possible, designing a meal for two nights is also a budget saver when you are able to cook a wonderful dinner the first night while knowing that what ever is not used can be turned into a totally separate meal for the following night.
Preparing food on a budge can be easy with a few tips, but eating great prepared food that was inexpensively purchased is even better. Staying on a budget is never easy, but you can do just that by using recipes that allow for meals at a lesser expense, finding food locally for free, and using those left over food items to create another great meal.
Keep A Ledger To Save Money
The number one thing that I have found that helps me personally save money is keeping a ledger of absolutely every single penny I spend. It helps you realize, over time, exactly how much you spend on any given thing throughout the years. I used to buy a lot of coffee from coffee shops, thinking, “Oh, it’s only 4 dollars.” Then I realize that 4 dollars adds up to 1460 dollars a year. Caffeine is definitely not worth that much to me. I could have invested all of that money in something worthwhile, and I’d probably have a fair amount of additional money to spend on whatever I actually NEEDED. It seems obvious, but I really didn’t even realize it was THAT much until I saw the number in front of me. Having a list of expenditures allows a person to see what isn’t necessary, and “cross it off” the list. The visual representation really helps significantly. Sure, it does take a little bit of time to do this, and perhaps a bit of effort to get into the habit of doing it, but the amount of money a person can save by just knowing how much they spend on any given thing is worth every second.
Saving Tips – Use Coupons
A great way to save money on groceries is to really utilize coupons. You can clip them yourself from the newspaper or buy them for a small fee from somebody who has already done the work. Online auction sites are a good source for large lots of coupons at very low prices.
When you buy them you are actually paying for the time it takes to clip them, but the price is usually well worth it: for instance, you could get 100 or more coupons for a buck.
Several online sites have printable coupons you can print out and use yourself. If you do that, make sure to set your printer on a low quality setting that uses less ink, since ink is so expensive! Some experts say the best time to grocery shop is early morning, midweek, when there aren’t too many shoppers and the morning markdowns have not sold out. In combination with coupons, this could be quite a money-saver. Try it out and see if it works for you.
Don’t forget to buy store brands whenever possible, especially items like soda. The savings can be quite significant. Also, grab a sales flyer at the entrance to the store, if there are any, and make a mental note of any great deals you find. Lastly, don’t forget to check out the clearance rack, usually in the back, which might have items in damaged boxes for huge markdowns. Good luck and happy shopping!
