Your Favorite Products for Less – Save Money
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How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
in Your Kitchen the Frugal Way
saving money
For some, it seems like saving money comes naturally. With very little effort, they build up an emergency fund, college fund, retirement fund and vacation fund. For the rest of us, it’s not quite that easy.
Saving money isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. We have to spend a large portion of what we earn in order to have the necessities in life. Once all the bills are paid and those necessities are taken care of, we usually have some money left over. But there’s just so much temptation to spend it, that when it’s all said and done, we frequently don’t have anything left to put into savings.
Most financial advisors will tell you to make a budget, and allocate a certain amount out of each paycheck to savings. Then, when you get paid, put the planned amount into savings before you pay bills or spend a dime. In theory, this is a great idea. But in practice, it can be rather scary – especially if you have limited funds and no savings to fall back on.
But don’t be discouraged. There are a few tricks you can use to get into the habit of saving money. Here are some to try.
* Make your budget, and cut out unnecessary items. It’s okay if they’re small expenses, such as that latte you buy every day. They will add up. Then, instead of making those purchases, put the money that you would have spent on them into savings. If it’s a daily purchase, you can either put away that amount each day or add it up and put it away at the end of the week. You won’t miss the money, because you’ve been spending the same amount anyway.
* Find ways to save money on groceries and other items you buy on a regular basis. Seek out sales, use coupons, or go to a store that has lower prices. Figure up how much you saved, and put that amount into savings after each grocery trip.
* If you get a raise, put the increase from each paycheck into savings. You’ve lived on the amount you were making before for some time, so it shouldn’t be difficult to continue living on that much.
* Set up automatic transfers from your checking account to a savings account. Have your paycheck direct deposited if possible, and set the transfers up to occur shortly after you get paid. As long as you’ve budgeted carefully and chosen a manageable amount to save, you’ll learn to live on the amount of money you have in checking.
Once you’ve started saving up some money, it won’t be as difficult to continue doing so. It feels good to check your savings account balance and see how much it has grown. Once you’ve got some money in there, you’ll be more motivated to find ways to save more.
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Saving for an emergency need not be a chore when you are making a good effort to put money aside constantly. Be in a mood of saving and watch as that bank account accumulates.
Instead of buying a new DVD, save money by trading with family and friends. Once a month do the rounds and before you know it, you will have a new library of good movies to enjoy.
Plant a small garden each spring, with just the vegetables that you really like. Even a small effort every day can save you dollars usually spent on fresh vegetables at the produce market.
Buy your bread and other bakery items at the local thrift bread store.
Check your local library for the newest DVD/video releases and then rent three for $2.00 for two days.
Read your local newspapers online.
Search eBay for big ticket items and then save literally hundreds on computers, DVD players, etc.
Keep track of the cost of items you buy a lot and get them at the cheapest store, like cleaning supplies at Family Dollar, pet food at Wal-Mart, etc.
Make a conscious effort to combine tasks that require driving some place, so you will get the most out of your mileage.
For your friends and family who do not feel slighted by this, send e-mail cards for holidays, birthdays and as thank you cards. In addition, e-mail family and friends who live far away, instead of calling long distance.
Get rid of your monthly fee long distance service, and just use an access code when you do call, which is infrequently anyway and inexpensive.
Decide which satellite channels you could do without, and give up a few shows you really like. You can save more than $20.00 on your monthly bill.
When you buy vegetables, fruits and bread at the grocery store check the reduced-for-quick-sale carts and shelves first.
Change the oil in your vehicles yourself.
Save money when buying clothes for the following year at the end of the season / during the off season. You can get great mark down prices.
Each evening take the spare change from your pockets or periodically clean out your purse and toss the coins aside. Never take any money back until the end of the year. Then take all of the coins to the bank and exchange them for cash. You’ll be surprised to find out they’ve added up to $50, $100 or even $200.
“Take care of your cents, and then your dollars will take care of themselves.”
Bike to work in good weather instead of driving to save on gas.
Eat a few hearty vegetarian meals each week.
Shop garage sales for a great source of household items, books, clothing, and furniture.
Don’t buy bottled water! Buy a good water-filter and drink tap water.
By the end of each day put all of your change into an empty coffee can. Then roll coins as you watch TV or listen to the radio. This will add up to hundreds of dollars very quickly and gives you something good to do with your hands to relax.
Save money by reducing your energy costs. Energy can be the number two or three expense, along with the cost of rent or mortgage and food.
Switch every single bulb to compact florescent bulbs. They may be expensive but they last for years (no more replacements) and tend to use about 10-20% of the energy of regular bulbs. Buy one each time you make a shopping trip, starting in the high traffic areas of the house like the kitchen or stairway until you no longer have any incandescent bulbs left.
If you own your home, seriously consider switching any electric heating appliances to natural gas such as the hot water heater, furnace, stove or dryer. Electricity can be used for almost any device, and you pay a hefty premium on electricity for that. Gas is very efficient for heating devices; it heats up much quicker and wastes far less energy.
Do all of your laundry in cold water. Most modern detergents are just as effective in cold water as in hot water. Also, make sure any laundry that you do is a complete and full load – it takes the same amount of energy as a tenth of a load.
Try this trick with your dryer: Put it on for 20 minutes, and then put it on “air fluff” for 15 minutes. Your clothes are already hot with the water coming off as vapor and you’ll find although it takes about 20% longer, you save about 50% of the energy costs of your dryer.
In the colder months when you need to use your furnace, turn the heat on to your desired temperature. When the furnace turns off (your house has been heated to temperature), turn the thermostat to the off position. If you feel cold, check the thermostat. If you 5 degrees below your desired temperature, turn the thermostat on again to your desired temperature.
Often furnaces will kick in and out to maintain your desired temperature, but furnaces are far more efficient when they are in the heat cycle for longer periods. You’ll save about 50% on your furnace costs, even 30% over having a high-tech digital thermostat. Of course keep it completely off when you’re out of the house.
If you ever leave the house for the weekend or longer, unplug everything. That alarm clock or VCR blinking or DVD on standby still take power. If you’re leaving the house for a week, you will save real money by just unplugging all of these devices- and you’ll protect your home from fire risks should there be a malfunction or power surge.
Keep your fridge and freezer as full as possible. The fewer airspaces in your fridge, the less time it takes for your fridge or freezer to cool the air. Don’t have much money for food? Just buy a bunch of bread and throw it in the freezer, you usually can get bread cheaper when you buy it in large quantities anyway.
If you really need a magazine subscription make up a small group maybe with three people to divide the costs. Then each person can keep the magazine for one week.
Save money by throwing away any catalogs or magazines which tempt you to buy something.
Cereal can be frozen and it keeps for a very long time. Before that, we could never eat it fast enough and had to throw it away when it was stale. When you pour milk on it, you would never know that it had been frozen. I have not yet found a cereal that tasted bad from the freezer.
Don’t throw away your empty bags of milk. Instead cut them open and wash them. You can use them as baggies. They also keep frozen foods fresh when used with a sealer.
Save money by preparing your grocery list by planning menus for the coming week and buy only what is on your list.
Borrow DVDs from friends and family instead of renting.
Set your washer to the shortest wash setting possible. Instead of washing your clothes for 10 minutes put it on for 5 minutes. It saves on your electric bill and on your clothes wear and tear.
Pick up the pennies, dimes and nickels found on the sidewalks or in parking lots. Add it to the jar of loose change you are saving and by the end of the year you can add this money to your emergency fund.
Foster the practice of team sports in your kids. The more time you spend with your kids playing sports, the less time and money they will spend at the shopping mall.
To save money on gas, don’t fill the gas tank to the brim since the extra weight of the gasoline takes extra toll on engine power. Take out all items in the trunk which are not important to reduce vehicle weight.
Watch other peoples’ budget-conscious movies. Buy your own jar of popcorn and add your own seasonings.
Turn off the heat at night and sleep with a hot water bottle. This works fine in a small apartment, because it heats up quickly. For people with larger houses, turning the heat down should work well, too.
If you must drink a specialty coffee, Espresso seems like a luxury item, but because it’s ground finer, and you use less, the coffee lasts longer.
Shop eBay for things like razors, lotions, computer software, baby formula, diapers, etc. If you can plan ahead, you will save.
Each pay period set aside any amount that you have budgeted for but did not need to spend. For instance, you may have anticipated that $50 would be needed to maintain your car, but only had to spend $30. Take the “extra” $20 and put it into your savings account.
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If your plan for money for your next emergency is to scoop up the change that falls between the cushions, you might want to come up with a plan to add to that stash. It is always a good idea to have a little extra green for the lean times. Rainy days could be just around the corner. Rainy day funds become necessary! Here are some very clever and virtually painless ways to put aside some money now!
Put aside a large envelope, cookie tin, coffee jar or something similar. At the end of every week, throw a couple of dollars aside. By the end of your first month you should have some extra cash put aside to have a nice start on an emergency fund. The idea to doing this is don’t count it or spend it. Place it somewhere that is hidden away. Put it somewhere that you won’t be tempted to dip into it. This kind of money really adds up!
The next time you treat yourself or your family to a meal out, tip yourself! Just as you go to tip the waitress 15 to 20 percent, put the same amount aside for yourself. When you get home, stash it away in your cookie jar. Every time you go through a fast food window, put a dollar away for that cookie jar, too!
The next time you get a good raise, instead of applying it to your cost of living, bank it! This way you will always be living one raise behind and your bank account will be growing by some 3 percent.
Take advantage of that cash back option! Next time you make a purchase using your debit card, ask for a small amount of cash back. Instead of spending it, stash it away in your cookie jar! Chances are you won’t even miss that extra $1, $2 or $5 bill and come emergency time, you will notice how the amount has piled up.
Next time you pay off that big-ticket item like a new car or tuition, continue to make the payments to yourself! Set up a savings account and each month slip the ghost payment into it. Watch as it builds nicely.
If you have noticed that you can get a better long distance telephone plan and you want to switch, allocate the savings to your cookie jar. You won’t likely miss that little bit of extra money, and you will have a better telephone plan, too.
Consider joining a Christmas club. You will save a lot of money. Each year you put aside a bit of money and place it into a hamper program. Then, as Christmas rolls around you don’t need to scramble looking for Christmas cheer to share with your family. Your hamper arrives filled to the brim with all kinds of seasonal goodies that you paid for over the previous year. You can easily put aside $50 each year towards your emergency fund this way and you and your family will enjoy a hassle free Christmas.
Sign up for a grocery shopping membership card. At the bottom of your store receipt, you will see a print out that states how much you save each week. It really adds up. You can easily save an average of $15 on each weekly grocery trip. Add that amount, each week, to your savings cookie jar.
Did you enjoy your tax refund this year? Sure you did, we all did. That’s because of the new tax laws. Many people will have a little extra money coming their way after April 15. Decide to deposit that extra money right away into your savings account or cash it and then stash it. Sure you can come up with plenty of ways you can use that money now, but put it away for later. You might need it even more later.
If you are a responsible spender, take out a credit card that rewards your loyalty. When you pay off the bill every month, use a card that promises a cash reward and bank the money. Use your reward credit card smartly and you could end up with a very nice windfall for your rainy day fund.
Put aside a large mouthed jar in the kitchen. It is very likely that your parents and grandparents had one. At the end of each workday simply empty your pockets or clean out your change purse. All the change goes into the jar. Who wants to carry around all that dead weight, anyway? Your spare change adds up a lot faster than you think. While you are at it, add at least one bill to your change jar at the end of each week. Aim for a $20!
Is it time to give up that nasty smoking habit? Imagine the money you will save! If you are not quite ready to quit at least cut back by half. Put the savings each day into your change jar and watch it overflow!
Convert to a coin-operated laundry. Keep a jar on your washer and dryer and every time you go to do a load of laundry, slip in a coin or two. This adds up month by month.
The next time you go to return a movie rental on time, pay yourself the late fee. You will see how quickly that $1.50 to $4 can add up.
If you yearn to loose some weight, try rewarding yourself the cost of the item that you do without each day. Put that money into your change jar. You will look great and you will be saving for a rainy day!
Place a large jar by the telephone. Everyone must drop in a coin to make a call. All proceeds go to the emergency fund. This one works!
Emergencies always crop up. They are always guaranteed, unlike the money to deal with them. Be prepared and plan!
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