Clip coupons

Day 7

Clip coupons

Have you ever heard of those people that save hundreds at the grocery store? They are even making television shows about these people. It is a simple thing that every individual can do yet; people are too lazy to look for coupons to save money. There are websites that can help you find coupons like  http://www.groupon.com/ & coupon.com. You can also find coupons in magazines and believe it or not many companies send coupons in the mail. There is a huge opportunity to save a lot of money so don't miss Out!

 

I want you to start using coupons today. Start out by just using 5 coupons.

I want to give you a simple example of how using coupons can help save you money. If you get 5 coupons that save you 50 cents each. You will have just kept 2 dollars and 50 cents in your wallet or purse. If you shop twice a week and go to the store eight times a month that will be 20 Extra Dollars in your pocket! You don't have to go crazy about using them but it will help you save money. Remember just because something is on a coupon it doesn't mean that you have to buy it. There is no point of buying food that you will never use or deodorant that you won't use because you don't like the smell of it.

 

 

 

Regulate your electric use

Day 6

Regulate your electric use


This can be done a number of ways.

1. Turn off the Television: We spend so much extra money a year on our electric bill just because we leave the television on when we leave the room. Start turning off the television or even better unplug the television when you leave the room.
2. Lower your air conditioner use: This can be done a number of ways. The easiest way to lower your air conditioner use is to turn it off when you aren't going to be home all day. Also, turn the air up at night and sleep on top of the covers. You can also lower your air conditioning use by closing blinds and keeping the sunlight out of your house. Make sure that you replace filters for the air conditioner regularly.
3. Unplug appliances: Unplug all those appliances that you don't use that often. This can save you a lot of money.
4. Replace old appliances: You would be suprised how much energy that your old furnace or refirgerator uses compared to the new products that you could buy today.  
5. Turn off lights: This is a typical thing that we all do. Its night time and every light in the house is on. When you leave a room, turn off the light. There is absolutely no reason to have every light on in the house!!!!

Here is a related article that may be helpful for you
http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3915

Car Maintenance

Day 5

Keep up with your Car Maintenance

This is one of the easiest things that you can do

and it will help you save so much money.

Many of you might be saying easy, really

does this guy know who he is talking to.

I want you to take a long breath and listen to

me. Taking care of your car is easy as long

as you know what you are doing.

 

1) Check your tire pressure regulary. This can help you get better gas mileage and help prevent you from having to buy tires more often.

2) Wash your car often. This will help prevent you paint from chipping. Waxing your car will make you not have to wash that car as often and will give it a nice shine.

3) Change your oil on time. This will make your car run better and last longer.

4) Take your car in for regular maintenance checkups if you aren't knowledgeable about vehicles.

Doing all of these things will increase the value of your vehicle and will make it easier when you are trying to buy a new car in the future. Thus, it will help you save money by spending a little money on your car now.

If you enjoyed this blog view some of my earlier posts and my website

•  http://31ways2savemoney.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-3.html#!/2012/10/day-3.html
• http://31easyways2save.webs.com/

Related Articles                                                                   

• http://www.carbibles.com
• http://editorial.autos.msn.com

 

 

Paying your Bills

Day 4

Pay your Bills on Time

This is one of the simplest but most challenging things to do for many people. Paying your bills on time will make sure that you don’t have pay that expensive late fee.

1)      Make sure that you have all of your bills.

a.      I would recommend that you buy a calculator(TI-83) from Amazon.com if you don’t already have a calculator.

b.      After you have your calculator make sure that you have plenty of paper and write down all of your bills. Ex) electrical bill, water, etc.

c.      Now that you have all of your bills written on a paper add them up. This will be your fixed costs for each month.

d.      If you don’t make enough money for your fixed costs than you need to get rid of these things or get another job. Ex) If you don’t have enough money coming in for your cable bill. Get RID of you Cable Television.

 

2)      Make sure that you have your checking book balanced

a.      This might seem like an obvious one but many people overdraft their checking accounts and have to pay a huge fee.

b.      If you are not sure of what is in your checking account go to your bank immediately and find out. Start keeping track of your checking book immediately because the bank isn’t always correct.

Paying your bills on time can save you a lot of money. You are supposed to be doing this anyways so stop being lazy and make sure that you don’t have to pay fees ever again!

 

Review of Article

Review of 

“Little Steps: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started”

You can find this article at thesimpledollar.com

First off this website is a great place to go whenever you are on the web. They really have a great way of presenting ideas and this article is perfect. This article is written in a list which definitely makes it easy to follow. I have gotten many ideas and have followed many of the steps that they have presented to save money myself. This page will give you a brief overview of a 100 ways to save money in a short 10 minute sitting. I have read this page 5 times and know that if you like my blog that you will definitely enjoy reading it. My only complaint about this article is that it is pretty old. Some of the ideas that they have come up with to save money are a little out dated but I am sure that if you read it, you will gain some knowledge. There are many other sites that you can visit that can help you save money to. Don’t just limit yourself to my blog or just any one website. Make sure that you get out there and grow your own opinion of the best way to save money.

Here is a website that promoted 50 other blogs about saving money and I felt that it was way to good not to promote this website to. frugaldad.com

Impulse Buying

Day 3

Impulse Buying

This is going to be one of the toughest challenges for you, we all impulse buy from time to time. I am suggesting that you try and make sure that you don’t impulse buy all the time. My biggest problem when it came to impulse buying would be when I went to the grocery store. My last blog just told you to try and cook at home but that won’t be helpful if you don’t spend your money on the right grocery food. I would constantly find myself buying Oreos, ice-cream, and Twinkies. I finally realized that I was spending all my hard earned money on the wrong type of food products and wanted to change that. Here are some ways to avoid impulse buying are:

1)      Avoid going shopping for groceries when hungry

2)      Write a list of what you are wanting to buy

3)      Follow that list and don’t give in to temptation.

4)      Don’t shop with the wrong people

5)      Bring less money with you when you are shopping

I hope that these five tips help you stop impulse buying. For some more help on how to stop impulse buying views this article that I found to be very helpful. Impulse Buying

 

Budget your Money

Day 1 & 2

I just want to get you started on a brief overview of many ways to start saving your money. This is what you should start doing the first 2 days.

1.      Budget your Money

a.      Of all 31 days, this is the most important! The only way to start saving money is to learn how to budget your money. This is going to be the most difficult thing ever for you, it sure was for me. You need to write down every single thing that you spend money on. This includes that cup of coffee that you bought before going into work.  Write down everything!

b.      I suggest that if you know how to use Microsoft Excel that you make a spreadsheet to help you organize your expenses. If you aren’t that experienced with excel just write down your expenses with a pencil and notebook. Just remember to write down every expense! Categorize everything, that way you can learn how much you spend on everything.

c.      You will be surprised how much money you spend on unnecessary items. I learned that I spend roughly around 15 dollars a week on soda and snacks. Fifteen dollars a week times 52 weeks equals $780. Think about that, $780 a year that I could’ve been saving or spending on something that is more important like the bills.

 

2.      Start Cooking at Home

a.      This is one of the easiest ways to start saving money. It doesn't matter if you are a college student, an adult, or a teenager you can start saving money by eating at home instead of spending a fortune for someone else to cook your food. Many people don't realize how much they spend eating out at fast food restaurants. Actually I was just like you, I always ate fast food.

b.     A friend of mine brought it to my attention how much I ate out. I decided to just keep all the receipts from the places I ate at for just one week. I was amazed when I added up the total of all those receipts. ($23.40) Thats how much I could've still had in my pocket!!!