Whether you live in costly California or inexpensive Iowa, you can benefit from money saving tips aimed at helping you get the most bang for your buck during the recession. It’s not quite like the seventies, where we had to limit our driving due to insane gas prices; and it’s not quite like the forties, where we’re rationing out food. However, there are probably some money-draining activities that you don’t even know about, even though they’re affecting your budget as we speak! Naturally, there is no substitute for bringing in more money, so if you need to take a second job, start a home based business on the side, or change your stock market investment portfolio, then by all means do it. Once you have a steady stream of income arriving, you can then focus your efforts on saving nickels and dimes elsewhere in your budget. However, in some cases, consumers must start with cutting expenses because it’s this hemorrhaging of finances that is the source of their unhappiness.
“Getting organized” tops the list of money saving tips because, without organization, you can’t get anywhere. Many consumers end up paying late fees, reactivation charges, interest and penalties all because they missed a due date when their papers got shuffled into a pile. Not surprisingly, “Getting Organized” was right up there with “Losing Weight” for Top New Year’s Resolutions in 2009. A quick stop at Office Depot to buy a $30 filing cabinet is a great way to get started. You might want to have hanging files of different bills (credit card, car loan, taxes, utilities, mortgage, etc) and you might want to demarcate a section for “unpaid bills.” Next, invest in accounting software like Myelopes, Quicken or Microsoft Money. Why test out your amateur mathematician skills when you can use a computer’s expert accuracy every time to ensure no mistakes are made on your annual budget? You’ll find all your financial information is neatly filed and printable for your convenience. These programs can even remind you to pay bills, allow you to check your finances online, track your purchases and lets you know how much you have left to spend in each category based on the initial budget you set up!
The second money saving tips is to scrutinize your expenses. You can easily make up a spreadsheet on your computer to list all expenses, including restaurant excursions, entertainment, groceries, movie rentals, clothing, gas, electricity, hydro, mortgage, cable, cell phone, internet, credit card payments, gifts, alcohol, etc. It can be a real eye-opener to see where all your hard-earned money goes! Your plan of attack should be to add up all your monthly “must’s” (things like rent/mortgage, utilities, transportation, credit payments) and subtract it from your monthly earnings. This will give you an idea of how much money you have to play with. Then you should divide that number by 4 to see what you can afford to divvy up each week. Then you can prioritize where your cash is best spent. Also, be sure you’re saving up a safety cushion of at least $2,000 to $5,000 to protect you in case of an emergency!
The wise Benjamin Franklin leaves us with these money saving tips: “The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything.” In essence, financial freedom is a bit like weight loss. One cannot lose weight by simply dieting or simply exercising — but with a combination of both. Likewise, our penny-pinching efforts must be a combined approach of bringing in a steady income stream and cutting costs.
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