How to Save Money
Try to make a budget and keep track of your monthly spending. If you keep good records such as your credit card statements, bank statement or checkbook this should not be hard or take too long. Everyone has certain items you must have and items you have to spend money on each month but then there are the extras that you don't need and maybe you could cut back on.
If you were spending freely on all the items mentioned below you would be spending hundreds of dollars a month. If you take my advice and follow the tips below you could be saving thousands of dollars a year.
1. Make coffee at home instead buying that pricey, fancy named coffee at Starbucks. Save yourself $5 a day by not stopping off to get that specialty coffee. You can make a decent cup of coffee in your own home.
2. Try eating out less often, you can bake a pizza at home. If you have children go out on those kids eat free nights. Making food at home from scratch or from a box will save you a lot on your food bill.
3. Color your hair at home instead of going to a salon and having a hairdresser to do your die job. You can also wait a few more weeks in-between your appointments than usual.
4. Stop going to the theater to see every newly released movie. Instead visit your local library or try Blockbuster or some other video store in your town. You can still go to the theater but this is the time to cut back and go less often.
5. Stop taking your clothes to the drycleaners, unless they are truly soiled. All those chemicals are bad for the environment anyways. You can use the home dry-cleaning kit from Procter & Gamble called Dryel. Dryel successfully works in your dryer at home, and it even gets stains out.
6. If something breaks search Freecycle before you buy new. You would be amazed at what you can find on your local Freecycle group. The bigger the city you live in the more stuff you will find. Great for replacing small appliances, and finding weight loss machines.
7. Instead of having your own long commute, try finding others to share the ride and carpool. People in your carpool don't even need to work with you; just near your building would be helpful. If its available and you don't mind ride the bus. By not always driving you can double task, clip coupons, read a book, get extra work done.
8. Stop using credit cards unless you always pay off the monthly balance. If you don't have enough self-control then cancel all credit cards except for one. Then if you still can control your credit spending put the card on ice, literally.
9. Ask your doctor for a free sample of the prescription drug that he just prescribed. Those pharmaceutical companies practically bribe doctor's offices to use their drugs, and leave many free samples for them to give out. This is especially true of the allergy doctor's offices.
10. Get a smaller used car that gets lower gas mileage than your current vehicle. We have done this ourselves we went from 2 minivans to one minivan and a smaller sedan that can fit all of us. You will notice that the fill ups are less often, which means more money in your pocket.
11. Shop around for car insurance; don't go below what you need. As you have seen on the TV commercials you might be able to get a better deal elsewhere.
12. Go food shopping only once a week, this will help you stick to your list and cut down on impulse buying. If you normally make 3 trips to the grocery that is 3 times the cost for things you don't need. With this idea you will save time and money.
13. When a light bulb burns out try switching it to florescent. The newer more energy efficient bulbs do cost more at purchase but they can last for many more years.
14. Pack your lunch, and you will save money. If you get bored when brown bagging then spurge once a week and buy or pack an extra special lunch for yourself.
15. Turn down your heater, by just turning the thermostat down by 1 degree or more you will be saving money on your heating bill. "One rule of thumb is for every degree you set back the thermostat, you save 3 percent on your heating bill. That's assuming it's 24 hours per day." ~ Bill Prindle (Expert in energy efficiency!)
Save Me Money Tips Blog
