The Save Money Blog

Archive for the ‘Saving Money Tips’ Category

With the holiday season upon us, savings often seem to go out the window. Between buying all of the items needed for a perfect Christmas feast and purchasing presents for friends and family, saving is often a challenge throughout the holiday season. While it might seem challenging, it is possible to save extra cash this Christmas.

Make a Plan:

Before doing any shopping for the holiday, creating a plan of action will result in added savings. The plan should list every individual who needs a gift. Beside the individual’s name, set a spending limit or budget to avoid overspending on gifts. 
A budget and a list of people not only organizes the shopping trip, it prioritizes the gifts and prevents spending more than the allotted amount. 

Look for Special Discounts:

Discount codes for online shopping can add up in savings when it comes time to shop for that perfect gift. Some retailers even offer codes and specials on their social networking pages that offer their friends and followers an opportunity to save even more.

Getting a few discount codes can result in savings as much as 30 per cent, even on items like gift cards. The exact savings will vary depending on the store, the code and the item, but often can add up quickly in extra savings for the season, and you may even come across some great free stuff.

Make Some of the Gifts:

Nothing tells friends and family how much they mean than a homemade gift. This type of gift requires more thought than the purchased item and can save a large amount of money by making numerous gifts with the same supplies.

Great homemade gift products include homemade bath items, special homemade sweets like fudge and Christmas cookies or that unique craft project that will delight the receiver and makes a great decoration.

Homemade gifts vary in cost and options, but even the least expensive gift of some baked cookies or fudge will make the receiver happy while limiting the cost of the gift. 

Suggest a Secret Santa:

The holiday season often means a tight budget for gifts and special items, but one way to help improve the savings is through a secret Santa exchange. This is appropriate for family gathers, friends or even an office setting. 

Instead of buying a gift for everyone at the event or gathered for the holiday, the secret Santa requires a single gift either for one individual drawn out of a hat or for an anonymous exchange.

Each person brings one gift and that is used in the exchange or given to the individual drawn from the hat. 

Recycle for Wrapping:

Wrapping paper is often a large expense in the Christmas season. With so many gifts to wrap, it is possible to go through several rolls of the paper. This is especially true when working around large gift items rather than small gifts.

Instead of using traditional wrapping paper, opt for a recycled option. Use pages from a magazine for small gifts of use the comic section of the newspaper to cover the gifts this year. 

The cost of Christmas adds up when that special meal, decorations and gifts are added up at the end of the season. Fortunately, it is possible to limit the cost and bring down the expenses with a little careful planning and setting a spending budget.

Over in the UK, businesses are bracing themselves for a potential double-dip recession after the Bank of England revised their growth estimates. Unfortunately, here on the other side of the Pond, the economic situation is not too dissimilar. It's at times like these when businesses have less capital to fall back on that insurance becomes particularly important.

In order to reduce the amount you pay out on your various business insurances, you may consider lowering your level of cover. It is wise to review your insurance regularly to see if you are over-covered in certain areas, or if you are able to get a better deal elsewhere. Carrying out online comparisons with specialists such as Staveley Head Business Insurance can help you ensure that you are getting the best deal possible.

The importance of simple building maintenance is often overlooked when it comes to the cost of business insurance too. Making sure your premises is as secure as possible and fitting a security system endorsed by your insurer can help to lower your premiums significantly. You may also want to consider paying a health and safety professional to review both your building and procedures to lower your perceived risk; something that is likely to be viewed favourably by potential insurers. One final step is to make sure your business can operate whatever the weather. Do this by preparing for winter and ensuring pipes are not at risk of freezing and bursting. If you are able to have an alternative site available for business use should yours be out of use, this will also have a positive effect on the price of your premium.

Finally, you may want to do what many hundreds of thousands of businesses are doing all over the globe at the moment and review your staffing situation. You could consider taking on any extra staff through contractors who should then be responsible for covering their own staff; just make sure you confirm this before outsourcing.

Summer is in about full swing right now and I have to tell you, the money sure finds a way out of my bank account in a hurry. It seems it's one thing after another with buying things around the house, golf tournaments, birthday parties and so on. It's endless and hard to save money. It got me to thinking the other night when I was looking for a chair to get something out of the kitchen cupboard.

Maybe we all need a step stool of sorts to help us save money. We all need a hand to save money, the question is what is your step stool going to be? I guess it could be whatever it takes to help you sock some money away or pay off your bills. You could put a change jar next to where you drop your keys when you come home, your credit card debt amount posted on your fridge so as to remind you to try and get that number down, or maybe a post it note with your goal on it that you update as you move closer. The possibility is endless.

You just need to find your step stool and use it. I would love to hear other ideas if you have them.

Every year at tax time I wait until the last minute to get myself organized and I end up paying for it. What I mean by paying for it is that I have to make phones calls to the bank or to the utility company to get copies of bills or receipts. It is such a pain and waste of time not to mention some of them actually charge for copies.

I blogged recently about keeping all of my receipts together by putting them in a bag inside my junk drawer. I turned over a new idea about my bills and important mail. I am scanning everything that comes in and backing them up to a disk and saving them for tax time. These days most computer printers have scanners and comes with scanning software. I have a scanner and never use it. Up until now. I am starting to use my resources to save me some time and money.

This past fall I entered into the world of a smart phone user. I picked up an iPhone 4. Mostly because I get a good deal through my place of employment. Otherwise it would have been an expense I could live without. For the first little bit I was using it as an iPod for music and as one of those ebook readers for my books. This really isn't the most productive use of the phone.

I am guilty from time to time of missing a credit card payment. It happens. You get the email or the snail mail and you forget about it. I hate paying interest and so should you. I haven't paid a cent since I got my phone thanks to the world of banking apps. I downloaded my banks free app from the itunes store, set up my account and set up my monthly bills for credit cards and other payments such as cable or hydro.

Now everytime a bill comes in the mail, I grab my phone, load the app and make the payment over the phone and post date it to the date that it is due on. It is as easy as that. No more remembering two days later that you were to make a payment or getting bill the next month with interest on it.

Just remember to check the due date and make sure it isn't a weekend or holiday. If it is you might want to move the day up a couple of days to make sure your payment clears.

I blogged before about the home renovations that I have been working on. The plan once I get my basement done up is to have an open room with my TV, maybe a small bar and poker table. I also want to have a little fitness area at the back of the room. I started to look around at stores for exercise equipment. Nothing fancy. An elliptical and some weights. The prices are crazy to buy new. That's when I went to the free trade sites like Craig's List and Kijiji and found some really decent used equipment that will save me a bundle. I think most people buy health equipment and then use it to hang their clothes on. A used elliptical, some free weights and a pull up bar and I am on my way to having a cheap home gym.

It really doesn't matter if you are ahead or behind in your savings plans, it's always a good idea to try to save a little more. I know I feel better about myself and my life when I look at my bank account or my credit cards and know that I am winning the battle to save and get rid of my debt. Here are a few easy tips to help you start saving money today.

Examine your priorities and ask yourself if you really need the items you are thinking of buying. Especially those big ticket items. Do you want them because somebody else has them or because you are trying to fill a void or are you just bored? Prioritize and spend your money on things you need and seriously think about things that you want.

Set spending limits and stick to them the best that you can. You have to realize that you can't always meet your goals but try to come as close as possible. Don't get depressed or upset when you don't meet your goals but feel good that you made the attempt and came as close as you can. Things happen in life that are beyond our control like flat tires and a car that won't start.

There is that old saying about keep it simple stupid. Life can be complicated. Sometimes we try to make things more difficult than we have to. Do you need to join an expensive gym when you can take up jogging or walking for a fraction of the cost? Can you get buy with your existing car without having to sink into massive debt to have the latest model?

Take stock in what you have and be happy. Some people place too much importance on having the latest gizmo's and toys. Does this make a person happier? Not really, especially if you can't afford it and it bogs you down in debt. Be happy with what you have and enjoy life. Work towards the goal of saving money, getting out of debt and enjoy life one day at a time.

I have reached a point in my life where I am in a need to update my skills and pad my resume with some courses. For the past few weeks I have been looking at some Online Schools to take some distant learning courses. It's not something I want to do but I started to look at it from a saving money point of view.

Here are some benefits of taking some online courses:

• the cost of the courses themselves are generally less expensive than going to school
• you save money on travel expenses such bus passes and gas money
• books can be cheaper depending on the courses you are taking.
• you can save on food, when I was going to school I spending tons on junk food and eating in the cafeterias or restaurants
• start and stop courses when you want so you don't have to drop tons of money on taking 4 or 5 courses at a time

Updating your job skills can't be a bad thing. I blogged about it once before. You can't take courses to try and get a job in a dead industry. You have to research the field that you are interested in otherwise you could be throwing your money away right from the start.

I love to save money. This week I did some bargain hunting on a few items we needed for the household and I saved quite a bit of money on my purchases. The reason I saved so good coin on my buys was because I had a plan right from the start and never deviated from that plan. I sat down and wrote out what I wanted to do, what I was going to spend or what I could spend and I planned how I was going to go about it. It was document management at it's finest.

Saving money is all about having set goals and then planning on how you can reach those goals. You can't just say I am going to try and save money. This is especially true if you have lots of debt to work off. You have to have a plan to get yourself debt free or save money and stick to it. You also have to carefully watch your plan and if it's not working then revise or adapt until it does work.

Saving money is at the heart of all of your financial goals. Want to get out of debt? Want to save for retirement? Want to just make ends meet each month?

You are going to have to learn to save money. It can be hard to learn, but is actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. Here are a few tips for getting started.

First, you have to start organizing your finances. This will help you in seeing your true financial situation. How will you be able to get out of debt if you don't know how much debt you have? How can you save if you don't know what you are spending? Gather all of your financial documents and calculate what your monthly bills are. Take the time to create a budget. Be honest and include everything — otherwise your budget won't work.

In order to truly budget, you are going to have to know what you spend each month. This helps you see where all the money is slipping out. You can use a computer and personal financial software or a small notebook. The key is to write down every penny you spend. This sounds time consuming, but can be a lot easier if you simply get receipts for every purchase. Then write them down every couple of days. Anything you don't get a receipt for you will need to write down immediately.

Now the savings begin. You look at what you are spending and see where you can cut things. You may need to be extreme and cut out everything but the necessities. Satellite TV and cable can go. You can reduce your cell phone plan and use it for emergencies only. You can look for ways to reduce your utilities and grocery bills. If you are buying coffee each morning, stop buying it and make it at home instead.

If you have your paycheck direct deposited into your account, have your employer split it and deposit a portion into your savings. This can be $10 or $200. It doesn't matter. The idea is to start saving money. When it is automatically put in your savings and you never see it, it becomes quite easy to forget about it. If you get a raise, have the amount of the raise put in your savings each month. When you never see the money, you learn to live without it. It is the easiest way to save.

If you want to protect your budget from disruptions, you need to start a savings account that will handle your annual expenses. These are the things that don't come due on a monthly basis. You need to save for Christmas, holiday spending, birthdays, annual insurance premiums, property taxes and other annual events. By saving this amount, you won't stretch your budget beyond its limits later.

With the same idea in mind, you should start contributing something towards an emergency fund. You never know when something will break down. When it does, it usually puts you in a financial pickle. You can avoid the stress to yourself and your finances by having an emergency fund. Most financial advisors recommend that you have at least three months of expenses in the fund. Don't let this discourage you. Put anything you can in there. Even if it isn't a full month's worth, it will help out in an emergency.

This is ironic. One of the best ways to save money is to get out of debt. And that is why you start saving money in the first place. So I guess you could say that by getting out of debt you can save even more money. Think of how much you are paying in interest. That amount could be going into your savings and earning you interest. Instead of paying a lender, the bank could be paying you. It is important to get your debt paid off first, then work on your savings.

Don't focus on trying to save a certain percentage of your income unless that goal drives you to save. The key in the beginning is to save as much as possible. Have goals that you are working towards. Budget wisely and make saving a habit. It will pay off in the long run.

With the economy changing as much as it is, one has to wonder if a new car is really worth it. Is it worth spending that extra money when you could get a used car that is in good shape? When people buy a used car, the sticker price is not the only thing they save on. There are many ways you can save when you buy a used car.

First, you can save on gas. Many people think the new cars offer all the gas savings, but that is actually not true. You could get a new hybrid and save on gas, but studies have shown it can take you between five and ten years of owning a hybrid to actually get ahead in the cost department. That is because of the sticker price of a hybrid.

There are many cars that were made in 1990s to the early 2000s that get excellent gas mileage. Consider a Corolla, or a Mazda Tribute. They are both affordable and will save you a great deal of money on gas. When you are able to get an affordable vehicle that also offers a great savings on gas, you will save quite a bit of money in the long run.

Also, you will save money on insurance. When you buy a new car, your insurance company is going to give you an expensive policy. The cheaper the car, the less you pay for the insurance. That means people who are driving around in used cars are going to get some great deals.

Many used cars are also cheaper to maintain. The parts in cars are getting more and more expensive. If you buy a used car, you have a greater chance of getting a car that has replacement parts for a much better price.

In addition, many people pay off a used car faster than they pay off a new car. Because of that, they are able to get rid of their car payment and then really feel the difference in their bank accounts. Most people take out a five year loan with a new car, but when it comes to a used car, many people only finance for three years. That means less interest and less time paying on the loan. You can save quite a bit of money this way, and you are likely to really benefit from this savings.

Used cars offer a great deal of saving. Of course, you are going to save money on the cost of the vehicle, but then the savings will continue. If you are looking for a long term savings, consider a used car.

Add up how much your savings can be with a used car and you will probably be shocked. Think about gas, insurance, parts, and repayment. When you look at all of those factors, it only makes sense to buy a used car. With the way that the economy is, it is in your best interest to purchase something that will cost you less money instead of more money.