Simply Junior

As life becomes more expensive, it’s getting harder to save for a rainy day. But with a little examination, you can find ways to save even on things you consider essential in fact it is much easier than you think!

1. First you’ve got to see where you are now. Take a couple of weeks and keep track of every expense, and don’t leave anything out. Even a couple of bucks spent at the local Gas n’ Go is subject to scrutiny. And don’t forget your normal “operating expenses” such as electricity, groceries, etc.

2. Now, take your list and cross off every essential item. You now have a list of unnecessary expenses, and it is your goal to cut or eliminate as many as you can. You may be most surprised at what you spend eating out. Consider brown-bagging for lunch during the week, cut family dinners down to once a week, and of course, nix the infamous $4 coffee.

3. OK, that didn’t hurt too much. Now take a look at your essentials list. What can you do to reduce expenses there? You can cut electrical costs at home by unplugging appliances when not in use, switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and lowering or raising your thermostat, especially when no one is home. Consider carpooling to save on gas, and pay attention to sales, coupons and special offers when you’re shopping for food and other necessities.

Stretching your money is a matter of small steps that become habit. The sacrifices now will be worth it as your savings grow!

Whether you are feeling the pinch or you would just like to have some money put by for a special occasion, you might find that you need to start thinking about how to save money and fast! If you are in a situation where you need to stop spending and start saving, keep some of the following hints in mind.

1. Use your own bank. If you are going out of town, make sure that you look up where your bank’s ATMs are located. So many of us are dependent on your debit cards, but we don’t realize that every time we use them we get a convenience fee slapped onto it. This adds up, so cultivating some bank loyalty can go a long way!

2. Pay for the TV that you watch. When you are looking to cut costs, take a long hard look at your cable bill. How much do you really watch everything that is included in your package? By calling your cable company and negotiating to make sure that you are only paying for what you watch, you can cut costs significantly.

3. Consolidate your bills. There are services where you can put everything from your water to your electricity to your cable and phone bills on to the same bill. When you do this, you can see a huge drop in processing fees as well as added convenience.

4. Buy in bulk but do it reasonably. When you are looking at groceries or household supplies, it might be best to buy in bulk. Remember that it is not a saving if something is going to go bad before you eat it or use it, and think about use before you purchase.

5. Use coupons. Coupons are most handy when it comes to cutting down your food budget, but remember that you can get coupons for just about anything. The more you search them out and use them, the lower your costs will drop.

6. Stop eating out. How often do you eat out? Chances are, this is impacting your budget in a larger way than you think. Take the time to cook at home and see how much you save by limiting your eating out to once or twice a week.

7. Head to the library. You can borrow books at the library, but you will also find that you can borrow DVDs and music CD’s as well. The library’s a great way to get your media fix without breaking the bank.

8. Routine maintenance. By doing routine maintenance on your car, your home and your clothes, you can make sure that it stops at small repairs without needing big ones. Take some time and save some cash.

9. Do your research. Never make a purchase until you have seen what the other place is offering. You will find that a little bit of price comparison can save you a fair amount of money.

10. Think before you buy. Ask yourself if you really need something. It is fine if the answer is yes, but just taking the time to ask yourself this question can weed out a lot of spur of the moment purchases.

Take some time to really think about saving money. It’s a lot easier than you think it is to do, so just keep a few of these tips in mind and put them into action where applicable.

Let us begin by asking you a question: Are you in debt? When you are in debt, you may be pointing fingers at everyone else, but there is something that you do not know. You may have a problem and you do not even realize it yet. If your check book has been coming up short each month and you are running out of money, then you may have a spending problem. Despite what you may believe, that spending problem you have is very problematic. You think we are lying, don’t you? Well, let us point out some important factors. You are only seconds away from learning how to stop impulse spending.

You have a spending problem and that is only the beginning. Even though it is the beginning, it is the beginning of something that needs to end. What you need to do firstly is control yourself. We know you may find it hard to control yourself, but you are a human and one thing humans were born with is self-control. You may not believe it right now, but you have the control to stop spending money on stuff you do not need.

Before you go to the store, you should make a list and stick with that list. Put the “need” before the “want.” Does this make any sense? What this means is you need to get what you need first. Yes, this involves paying all of those bills beforehand. Make a list of the things you want, it is fine to keep this list and add to it. Each month, purchase one thing off of that list and mark it off. If that one thing is real cheap, then allow yourself to get two things.

Would you like a better solution? Have a budget in your mind, for instance, say you make $2500.00 each month, your house bill is $800.00, electricity is $250.00, car and insurance together is $450.00 and your phone bill (with Internet) is $120.00. This is a combination of $1620.00 in bills with $820.00 left over. Just because you have money left over, it does not mean you have to spend it. You have to eat, don’t you? You still need to set money to the side for food. When all else fails, only purchase the things you want when they are on sale and watch for that sale. Now that you know how to stop spending impulse, it is time to put those tips in action.