Posts Tagged ‘save money’

Finance tip to save you money - learn to cook

More Americans spend extra money eating out than you would possibly believe!  Think about it - every time you go out to a restaurant, you order enough food for you and whoever is going with you. How much does it cost? You might be eating fast food, or you might be getting a steak dinner but whichever is the case, stop and think for a minute about how much it would cost to buy the groceries and cook the food at home? You will probably come to a realization that, with the money you spent eating out, you could have eaten three or four times with the groceries you could have bought!

If you are tired of draining your bank account every Friday when you go out for dinner, then think about buying some groceries and cooking at home. Not into cooking? Well, I’ll bet you change your mind when you see how good of a job you can do! When you taste that home cooked steak, cooked to perfection by your own hands on your own grill, you will probably wonder why you would ever pay someone to do something that you can do so well yourself!

So, next time you feel like a special meal, just run to the grocery store, get what you need, come home, and get it ready. Not only will this save you money, but it will also give you a good sense of accomplishment. Cooking at home is a challenge, but it is something that you can learn and feel good about once you start noticing improvement!

So start saving more money, and learn how to cook at home! In fact, with the money you save, you might even be able to go out for desert afterwards!

How to get lower insurance costs

Have you ever noticed that, as time goes by, your insurance seems to get more and more expensive? Now, granted, if you are older than your coverage probably has gotten less expensive, but if you are about 21 or 22 years old, you have probably seen increases. Is it the economy? Well, maybe not exactly. See, I had an issue this past year where my insurance company would raise my premiums about every six months or so. It was only like $10 per month, but over the span of two years this got a little ridiculous. Not to mention that fact that in that span of time I had gotten married, had a child, moved away from home, started my own business… etc. etc. I should have been getting better rates, when I was actually getting hammered by higher ones.

So, I decided that enough was enough. I started getting bids from other companies, and believe it or not, I found some other insurance providers that could give me the same level of coverage for JUST ABOUT HALF of what I was paying now! That sure isn’t saying much for my current company, huh? Well, I called my company up to tell them I was canceling my coverage (boy, you should have heard how fast I got to talk to my agent THIS TIME… she is usually so busy…). She asked what the problem was, and I told her simply that I was paying way too much, and that I had gotten better deals down the road. So, she asked me if I would give them a chance to re-figure my coverage, so that maybe I could get lower costs and stay with them. I told her to give me her best price, and then we would see. (more…)

5 ways to save money

Are  your finances getting tight? Well, you are not alone. Everyone else is cutting back, trying to save, and trying very hard to make the most of every dollar. Well, did you know that you can also save a ton of money every single day by following just five simple rules? It is true. Shave hundreds of dollars per month, or even per week off of your spending platform so that you have more money for the things that matter!

1. Buy things in the cheapest manner possible. Did you know that you don’t really have to forgo the things you love? For example, soda. You don’t have to give up soda just because it costs money. But you can find cheaper ways to buy it. For example, if you usually buy it at the convenient store, try getting it at the grocery store instead. This will often save you a lot since soda is considerably cheaper at the grocery store. And if you usually buy cans, try buying two liters instead! This can save you even more money, because soda is cheaper if you buy it by the two liter bottle.

2. Buy generic brands. Name brands are great, but you pay for them too! Buying generic or store brands can save you TONS of money. And actually, store brands really don’t taste all that different, nor are they of lesser quality. And you don’t have to give up your favorite name brand things, just the ones you wouldn’t notice, like Spaghetti noodles, cooking oil, or bread. (more…)

3 ways to maximize your savings

Are you, like many people today, trying to make sure that you have a little bit of money saved in case something unexpected happens? It is no secret that building your savings is a good idea, but sometimes we find it hard to do this in a consistent way. For example, we often plan to save so much of our paycheck, but then end up spending so much of our savings-to-be money that we don’t even see the point to putting the rest back. Well, believe it or not, even though you have the best intentions to save, that right there might be your biggest problem.

The intention to save is a funny thing, because it is often what causes us to fail when it comes to putting money aside. Here are three ways to not let your intentions get into the way of your savings. (more…)

Saving money on your electric bill

The electric bill is a necessary bill. After all, it’s tough to live without electricity. It runs your appliances, keeps your lights on, keeps the TV going… it is needless to say that electricity is vital to our modern way of life. In fact, your job is probably one that deals with computers, and without electricity, you might not even have that job. But, it is not the cheapest thing either. In fact, depending on where you live, your electric bill probably lies somewhere between the “expensive”  and “Oh my gosh, why is it THAT expensive” categories. But, don’t worry, because electricity doesn’t have to be so expensive. No, electricity can be affordable if you know how to save money on it.

First, make sure that unused lights are turned off. During the day, open up your windows. Utilize the sunlight so that you can turn off your kitchen, dining room, and bedroom lights. Also, change out your light bulbs. Stop using incandescent light bulbs, and start using fluorescent,  or even  better, LED light bulbs. These light bulbs use a fraction of the electricity that the older incandescent bulbs do, so you will definitely notice a different just by changing them out. Also, keep your computer turned off when you are not using it. Your computer burns more electricity than almost any other appliance in your home, and you will notice a big difference if you turn it off when it is not being used. The same goes for your other appliances.

Also, make sure to unplug things like cell phone chargers. Even if the cell phone is not plugged in, the charger still uses a small amount of power if left plugged in. Things like this should be unplugged to maximize your hard earned money when it comes to the electric bill.