Saving more than a couple of thousand dollars is not as difficult as it sounds. I am not going to harangue you on "you can do it", or "importance of saving", or "why not saving can kill you before the world ends in 2012." No. Nothing like this. Here are few suggestions on how you can actually save few dollars, if not couple of thousands, next year.
1. Calculate the amount of money you spend buying kitchen paper. It may not be quite substantial, but why waste money on these papers when you can replace them with cloth napkins. Spending even a dollar on disposable papers seems to be a waste. Buy a cloth that can be washed and reused. You can save approximately $85 a year.
2. If your family comprises of you and your spouse, both working, why spend so much on cable. Unplug it and save anywhere round $600 per year.
3. Digital camera is perhaps the only device where we use batteries. If you use it a lot, switch to rechargeable batteries. Doing this will save not much, maybe $24. But every penny saved in this kind of economy is 3 pennies earned.
4. Why do we need a landline when all the family members own a mobile phone? I have disconnected it and I sometimes use Skype instead of landline, and mobile most of the times.
5. If you are still left with any gold after, after the "sell gold" advertisements, sell it off. Even if it is small gold scraps, sell it. But do not mail it across. It is better to sell it at the neighboring jewelry shop. You can earn some amount here.
6. Chopped and shredded vegetables, cheese, and fruits cost much more than the un-chopped, fresh ones. Instead of spending more, you can get the fresh ones and slice it at home. Doing this for a year can help you to save $250. Isn't it worth a try?
7. Stop going to the gym and find a way to exercise free of cost. If the only reason you go to gym is losing weight, there are numerous ways to do it without a gym. By doing this you can save as much as $420 in a year. Till now, this is the biggest contributor to your saving.
8. Get rid of your printer. Okay, may be that's not possible, you can at least promise yourself not to print unless necessary. Ink cartridges, color or black & white, can burn a hole in your pocket. I have to replace the cartridge once a year. However, it still costs me around $80 to $100.
Remember these points while preparing a budget for 2010. These are just 8 examples of saving money. We, together, can come up with probably hundreds of them, and imagine the amount we could save. If you have any such suggestion, please comment and suggest, for me, for all the readers. Let's derive the most comprehensive and precise personal finance money management guide for 2010.
Carl M Thomson is an author of this article on personal finance money management.
Find more information about personal finance information here.
Personal Finance - Easy Budgeting Tips
| Posted in Finance
With this fresh new decade, two things are true. It is cold this time of year and people will make new years resolutions. The problem is that most will not see their resolutions through. One of the biggest ones people make is to get their finances in order. With the economy the way it is and people struggling to keep or find jobs, financial stability is more important now than it has been in most of our lives.
A key step towards financial stability is having a workable budget. I would argue that having one is the key foundation towards righting your monetary sanity. Many times people will get ahead of themselves and try to hit a home run investing. I know I have tried that. it is a part of our modern culture to get what we want when we want it. And we want it now. The problem with that, when it comes to personal finance, is that if we have spent years being irresponsible it will take some time to fix those past mistakes. It won't happen over night. But it can happen. And starting a budget will get that ball rolling.
When starting a budget, you can get overwhelmed. There are tons of tricks out there. There are tons of formulas. The truth is, it is quite simple. So here I will lay out some general tips. If you follow these tips, you can build a budget that works.
First, you need to identify your bills. Just sit down and go over your bills. Every recurring cost. While doing this, you may be able to identify areas where you can make a cut or two. But don't get too caught up in that. Just worry about finding what you have.
Next, and this can be a little harder, figure out your weekly living expenses. This is your groceries, lunches, gas, and those types of things. Don't worry about being exact when starting out. Just get an idea. Then identify your extra expenses. This will be entertainment type stuff. Think of it more as wants instead of needs.
Once you have all of these laid out you can start a simple budget. Start with your monthly take home pay. Then go down in level of importance. Start with savings. I know I didn't mention it earlier because I am assuming you don't have one and haven't made it a priority. Most haven't. But you should. Just start small, like ten dollars a month. Then take out your bills. Then your living expenses. And finally your entertainment.
Once you have these laid out, you have a budget. Try sticking with it as best you can. Don't worry about knocking out all your debt right away. You want to get comfortable with working with a budget before your start tweaking it too much. When you do, always do so in small amounts. Setting small stepping goals will help keep you motivated to keep progressing.
The new decade brings the promise of new possibilities. You may have dreams of the future, but most of those dream will require you to take the first steps toward financial stability. If you follow these easy budgeting tips, you will be well on your way.
If you enjoyed these easy budgeting tips you can check out Kevin's other thoughts by clicking on the link.
As children, people rarely think about money and how much of it they do or do not have. This is because children depend on their parent and guardians to provide the food, shelter and clothing that they need to survive. However, as we get older, we begin to take on more and more of those responsibilities for ourselves, until eventually we are the only ones responsible for our own welfare. In order to take care of ourselves, we usually have to get an education and a job that will allow us to cover our expenses. Finance can be complicated, but it is not impossible to manage your money in such a way that you will always have resources for what you need.
One of the first principles of responsible finance is learning how to prepare and implement a budget for all of your personal and professional expenditures. The best budgets are the ones that help you track and record all of the money that you make and all of the money that you spend. If you find yourself coming up short for bills month after month, you can turn to your budget to find out where the extra money is going, and what you might have to give up to return balance in your finances.
Another important thing to remember about responsible finance is that you should only get involved with credit cards and loans if you are sure that you will be able to pay them off completely in a timely manner. If you can't afford a purchase, it is never a good idea to put it on a credit card and simply hope that you find the money to pay it off eventually. Make sure that you have a plan for paying your entire balance off every month.
One of the most important principles of responsible finance is that you have a plan for savings. No matter whether you put your lump sum of cash savings in a high yield savings account, or invest it in the stock market, you need to have a plan for the money that you've already set aside. If you don't have any savings, you must take a look at your budget and find out how you can start putting money away on a regular basis. Even if it is only twenty or thirty dollars at a time, it's important to provide for unseen expenses.
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