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Everyone nowadays is looking for ways to save money. This section of
Financial Health will offer you a variety of ideas for saving money. One of the
keys to saving money is to realize the difference between our wants and our
needs. Saving money means making some small sacrifices but good financial health
is well worth it! Not all these ideas will work for everyone but by following
just a few of the ideas you can start saving money today.
- Master the thirty day rule. Whenever you’re considering
making an unnecessary purchase, wait thirty days and then ask yourself if
you still want that item. Quite often, you’ll find that the urge to buy has
passed and you’ll have saved yourself some money by simply waiting. If you
want, you can even keep a “thirty day list” where you write down the item
and the day you’ll reconsider it, but I prefer just to keep this one in my
head – that way, I often just forget about the unimportant things.
- Call your credit card company and ask for a rate reduction.
Take any of your credit cards that are carrying a balance, flip them over,
and call the number on the back. Tell them that you want an interest rate
reduction or you’ll take your business elsewhere. If the first person you
talk to won’t do it, ask to talk to a supervisor. If you have a $5,000
balance, even a 3% rate reduction saves you $150 a year.
- Give up expensive habits, like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs.
Those habits cause money to flow away from you with nothing in return. Call
up your fortitude and work hard to kick the habits and you’ll find that
money staying in your pocket instead of burning up and floating away.
- Clean your car’s air filter. A clean air filter can
improve your gas mileage by up to 7%, saving you more than $100 for every
10,000 miles you drive in an average vehicle. Plus,
cleaning your air filter is easy to do in just a few minutes – just
follow the instructions in your automobile’s manual and you’re good to go.
- Do a “maintenance run” on your appliances. Check them
to make sure there isn’t any dust clogging them and that they’re fairly
clean. Look behind the appliances, and use your vacuum to gently clear away
dust. Check all of the vents, especially on refrigerators, dryers, and
heating and cooling units. The less dust you have blocking the mechanics of
these devices, the more efficiently they’ll run (saving you on your energy
bill) and the longer they’ll last (saving you on replacement costs).
- When shopping for standard items (clothes, sports equipment,
older games, etc.), start by shopping used. Quite often, you can
find the exact item you want with a bit of clever shopping at used equipment
stores, used game stores, consignment shops, and so on. Just make these
shops a part of your normal routine – go there first when looking for
potential items and you will save money.
- Give a gift of a service instead of an item. For new
parents, give an evening of babysitting as a gift. If you know pet owners,
offer to take care of their pets when they travel. Offer up some lawn care
as a gift to a new homeowner. These are always spectacular gifts for anyone
– I know that, as a parent of a toddler and an infant, I love
receiving a babysitting gift, probably more than any “stuff” I might
receive.
- Switch to term life insurance. Repeat after me:
insurance is not an investment. Switch to term insurance instead and
use that difference in cost to get yourself out of debt and start building
some wealth. Universal and whole policies are much more expensive and offer
a sub par investment opportunity – you’re much better off getting yourself
free of a debt burden than spending extra on such things.
- Brown bag your lunch. Instead of going out to eat at
work, take your own lunch. Lots of people think that this means “nasty
lunch,” but it doesn’t. With some thoughtful preparation and just a few
minutes of time, you can create something quite enjoyable for your brown bag
lunch – and save a fistful of cash each day, too. After my husband starting
brown bagging we saved almost a $100 a month. Bring your own coffee too and
stop those stops at Starbucks!
Keep in mind the old adage "A penny saved is a penny earned".
Saving money and making smart decisions allows you to stretch your current
income farther. And in these days when so many companies have a freeze on
raises, we all need any little bit of help we can get!
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