by wildcherry on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 | Knowledge, Life | No Comments

If you’d like to make regular saving a part of your life, read on to find out how to conquer the first step: finding that extra money.

You can begin by paying attention to these top money wasting activities.

1. Convenience Stores

Many people don’t think about the mark-up they pay for convenience store items. Here’s a hint: it’s huge. This is because these stores don’t purchase food in the large quantities that a grocery store does and also because they make you pay more for the convenience they provide. So, unless it’s an emergency situation, avoid shopping at convenience stores. The premium you pay for convenience is not worth the assumed convenience you get. For example, a Coke at a convenience store might cost you a dollar, while you can go to the grocery store and buy a 12 pack for $4. If you tend to pull over for a drink, buy a 12-pack and keep it in your car. If you visit convenience stores often, the annual savings of cutting out these visits can be tremendous.

2. Cell Phone Plans

Take the time to check your monthly cell phone bill - you may be paying more than you need to. If you are using fewer minutes than your monthly plan allows, switch to a lower-rate plan. If you are using more minutes than your monthly allotment, then upgrade to a higher minute plan. Before making any changes to your plan, sit down with a list of your cell phone company’s offerings and compare and determine which plan provides the most value based on your needs. Most cell phone companies charge 40 to 50 cents per additional minute, so going over your allowed minutes by 100 minutes one month will cost you $40 to $50 in that month alone. With many minute plan upgrades costing $10 to $20 a month, they’ll easily pay for themselves.

You should also scan through your cell phone plan for added features like text messaging and mobile internet. If you aren’t really using these features, get rid of them - they’re costing you money each month!

3. Soft Drinks

This one is a sneaky money waster. Not only does ordering beverages along with a restaurant meal boost your total expenses, but soft drinks also have one of the highest markups of any restaurant item, and thus provide lower value for your money. Consider a typical family of four that eats out twice a week at fast casual restaurants (typical for a middle class family even today). Assuming an average price of $1.50 for a fountain soft drink, that totals $12 a week, $48 a month, $624 a year. Just cutting out this one item from your meal could mean significant savings that could go into something much more productive, such as a retirement savings plan. If you invest $624 at the market average of 9% a year every year, you would have almost $32,000 at the end of 20 years. So dine out, but opt for water!

4. Unnecessary Bank Fees

Many people unknowingly pay a lot to their banks in the form of fees. If you don’t know what fees your accounts are subject to, spend a few minutes finding out. Some banks charge ATM fees for using another bank’s ATM, for example. These can be as high as $5! This amounts to a 25% one-time fee for a $20 withdrawal. The key with this type of fee is simply knowing about it. You would be better off using a credit card to make the purchase.

Go back and examine the rules governing your checking and savings accounts. Many people have accounts with a fixed number of withdrawals and deposits per month. You would be better off with an account maintenance fee of $10 a month than getting hit with two or three different fees a month.

Also consider consolidating bank accounts, as often one account with a larger minimum can eliminate numerous fees that might otherwise exist.

5. Magazines

If you’re the type of person who likes to occasionally pick up your favorite magazine from the local grocery store or newsstand, consider getting an annual subscription. Even if you don’t want the magazine every month, a couple of issues at the newsstand are enough to cover the entire annual subscription. For example, a 26-issue subscription to Forbes Magazine will cost you less than $25, while one issue at the newsstand costs $5.

6. Annual Credit Card Fees

Unless you have a poor credit history, there is no reason to pay annual credit card fees. A host of Visa, MasterCard and Discover cards have no annual fee, yet many people pay up to $100 a year for the privilege of holding a credit card. Unless you’re an ultra-wealthy, exclusive holders of an elite-level credit card with exclusive perks, most people should not be paying annual credit card fees.

And speaking of credit cards, make sure you make a payment on time every month, even if it’s the minimum. Many credit cards charge $39 monthly late fee charges, charges which accrue interest along with your existing balance.

Be Proactive

Spend a couple hours and go over the above categories along with any other regular habits you may have accumulated over the years. The time will be well spent as it could mean hundreds of dollars of recurring annual savings.

Source:Investopedia

Tags: Best Ways To Save Money, Find A Little Extra Money, how to save, how to save money, money wasting activities, Save For Emergency Fund, Save Money At The Grocery Store, saving, saving money tips, Tight Money, tips to save money

by bintangkecil on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 | Business, Humour, Inspiration, Knowledge, Life | 16 Comments

Where would you hide your money at home?
Where are the best places to hide your precious money?

If someone breaks into your house and looks for money, where are the last places to find?

Here are our best ways to hide your extra money around the house (especially if you cannot buy a safe or don’t want to buy a safe because it is a waste of money):

Wall Lamp
Do not tightly screw the bulb to the socket. Burglar will think it’s a broken lamp and you will not burn your house down.

Egg Carton

Scale

Paper Towel

Tape Player
Burglars won’t look at tape players anymore, won’t they? let’s hope they will only take electronics that have “values” nowadays.

Trash Bag Box

Decorative Doll

Toilet Cover
Again, don’t forget to put your dollar bills into a ziploc bag, just in case you want to wash the cover and drop the money inside the toilet bowl.

Dining Table
Some tables do not have holes where you can slip your money but burglars won’t be interested in dining tables, will they?

Hairspray Can
This is a special designed hairspray can. You can twist the bottom and save your money in it.

Trash Bin
Make sure you put your money into a ziploc bag first before hiding it under the trash bin.

Tags: best ways to hide money, easy money, extra money, free money, frugal, frugal living, hide money around the house, hide money at home, how to make money, how to save money, make money, make money online, money, money management, money saving ideas, money saving tips, personal finance, save money, saving money, savings, ways to

by wildcherry on Monday, December 29th, 2008 | Knowledge, Life | 3 Comments

Start your saving habits now!

Here’s a list of 180 money saving tips that can turn your financial life around 180 degrees.

Automobile/Transportation

Wash and vacuum your car at home.
Buy a used car. New cars drop significantly in value as soon as you drive off the lot.
Get rid of your car. If you’re married, just have one.
Keep your tires inflated at the correct pressure.
Do not carry unneeded weight in your vehicle. Excess weight puts a heavier load on the engine.
Accelerate slowly and smoothly. Avoid jackrabbit starts. Get into high gear as quickly as possible.
Use your air conditioner only when absolutely necessary.
Avoid unnecessary stopping and braking. Maintain a steady pace.
Do not rest your foot on the clutch or brake pedal. This causes needless wear and poor fuel economy.
Keep the front wheels in proper alignment. Improper alignment not only causes faster tire wear, but also puts an extra load on the engine.
Rotate your tires regularly. Rotating tires slows down tire wear.
Wash your car regularly. A dirty car can damage paint.
Avoid heavy traffic. You’ll save on gas by not idling as much.
Change your own motor oil.
Observe speed limits. You’ll save money on gas and avoid costly speeding tickets and the resulting increase in insurance rates.
Pay your auto insurance premiums annually instead of every six months. You’ll get a lower rate.
Use the bus to get to school or work.
If possible, ride your bike or walk to your destinations.
Carpool with co-workers.

Clothing

Find an image consultant in your town and ask if you can have the clothes their clients get rid of.
Don’t buy into trends. Keep a wardrobe of classic pieces, so you don’t have to update your clothes every year.
Buy clothes at a thrift store.
Wear clothes more than once before washing them. You’ll reduce wear on your clothes and save energy by not washing so often.
Shop at outlet stores.
Avoid buying clothes that require drying cleaning.
Cut dryer sheets in half to double the value of each box.
Buy your winter clothes at the end of winter/beginning of spring. Buy summer clothing at the end of summer/beginning of fall.
Shop at discount stores like TjMax and Ross.

Food

Forage for food. Check out a book on local edible plants and start stocking up on them.
Buy a water filter and make your own bottled water.
Buy bread at the bread outlet store and freeze excess loaves.
Make meals that are left over friendly, like soups and casseroles.
Join a food co-op.
Make dinners in a crock pot
Buy in bulk.
If you buy soda, buy 2 liter bottles instead of cans. It’s much cheaper per unit price.
Have potluck dinners.
When you eat out, share meals. Most restaurant meals are big enough for two people.
If you don’t have someone to share it with, split the meal and half and put when half in a to-go box for next day’s lunch.
Skip the soda when you go out to eat, and drink water.
Quit smoking.
Make your own coffee. Better yet, stop drinking coffee.
Quit drinking alcohol.
Quit drinking soda.
Find cheaper café’s and restaurants to go to.
Cook your own meals.
Take a list when you go shopping and stick to it.
Buy generic brand products at the supermarket.
Bring your lunch to school or work instead of buying it.
Grow your own vegetables.
Use coupons and loyalty cards at grocery stores.
Reduce meat consumption.
Eat cereal instead of fast food. It’s cheaper and usually healthier.
Have a late lunch/early dinner when going out to eat. You can save on lunch menu items.
Buy cheap food coupons on eBay.
Join clubs at school and take advantage of free food at meetings.
Don’t buy prepackaged cheese or meat. Go to the deli and have them slice it for you. You can get more for you money.
Collect vegetable scraps in a bag in the freezer. As soon as it’s full, make a soup out of them.
Buy whole roasted chickens. When you have used all the meat, throw the bones into a soup.

Housing

House sit. Older affluent couples often leave their house for months at a time for vacations and need someone to watch it while they’re gone. Not only can you get free rent, you might get some extra cash.
Become live in help. Some older people need help around the house, someone to cook meals for them, or just someone to talk to. You can live rent free this way.
Relocate to an area with a cheaper cost of living.
Share an apartment. Better yet, move in with your in-laws.
Make an extra mortgage payment each year. You can save money on interest.

Household

Buy furniture at a consignment store.
If you need a tool, see if you can borrow it from someone before you go out and buy it.
Don’t throw away “dead” batteries. Remove them from your radio and use them in quartz clocks. These clocks take such a small amount of power that batteries too weak to run anything else may have enough power to run a clock for a while.
Wash and reuse plastic bags.
Clean your own carpets. You can rent carpet cleaning machines for about $10.

Health Care

If you take a prescription medication on a regular basis, ask your doctor to write a three month prescription. Instead of paying three co-pays, you only pay one.
Go to the dentist at your local dental school. Students need people to practice on. You can get all your dental needs fulfilled at a reduced cost.
If your doctor gives you a prescription, ask if he has samples that he could give you.
Use your local park’s playground as a workout station. Monkey bars can be used for pull-ups and leg lifts. The park will also have a trail where you can run.
If you go to school, use the school’s gym. It’s free.
Brush and floss your teeth. You’ll save on dental expenses.
Eat right and exercise daily. You’ll reduce health costs.
If you join a gym, find one that offers a month to month contract. That way if for some reason you stop going, you won’t be stuck with a 1 year contract that you have to pay for.
Beauty and Hygiene
Use baking soda for toothpaste.
Use baby shampoo for a makeup remover.
Buy makeup online.
Use makeup samples.
Don’t throw out small pieces of bar soap. Wet the small piece and the new bar and stick them together.
Add water to your shampoo to get more uses.
Stop using shaving cream. Shaving cream’s purpose is just to keep your beard wet. You can maintain a wet beard in the shower.
Cut your own hair.
Simplify your beauty products. Do you really need 5 different types of body lotions?
Travel
Pack your travel meals in advance.
Buy snacks at the grocery store, not at roadside convenience stores.
Plan trips where you have friends and family. You might be able to score free room and board.
Go camping.
Stay at a college dorm room when traveling. Many universities rent out dorm rooms at a decent price during the summer.
Book your flights and cruises way in advance. You can get lower prices.
Always negotiate hotel room prices. Hotel rooms are like highly perishable food: if they’re not used that day, they’re wasted. You can almost always get a better deal just by asking, but do it with a nice smile face-to-face when you check in, or with friendly calls direct to the hotels you’re considering. It won’t work if you just call national 800 numbers, because they can’t negotiate. If your flight is overbooked and the airline offers a voucher if you take a later flight, take it.
When flying, bring your own snacks. Airport food is expensive.
Avoid renting a car at the airport. You’ll find more competitive rates, plus avoid extra surcharges at car rental agencies away from the convenience of the airport.
Time your stay for best hotel deals. Plan the timing of your stay according to the type of place you visit. Hotels in cities are usually cheaper on the weekends, when business travelers aren’t staying there, but hotels in resort areas or other places that are popular with leisure travelers are often cheaper during the week
Tourist spots sell everything from film — to capture those special moments — to sunscreen, bottled water and aspirin for prolonging your fun, at a higher cost. Purchase these items before and save.
Travel after peak season. This might not be an option if you have school-age children. But families with infants and toddlers can take advantage of discounted rates by traveling in the fall.
Bring an empty water bottle with you to the airport. Bottled water at airports is expensive. While you can’t bring any liquids past security, you can bring an empty bottle. Put it in your carry on and fill it up as soon as you get past security.
Stay in hostels when traveling overseas. While you do have to share a bathroom and a room, you can stay for as little as $5.
If you need a quick get away with your significant other, spend a night in your local bed and breakfast.
Entertainment
Buy an Entertainment book. The initial investment is about $20, but there’s hundreds of dollars in entertainment savings in it.
Join Gamefly for cheap video game renting.
Trade video games, DVD’s and books with your friends.
Start a book or film club. After reading the book or watching the film, discuss it.
Have a game night with friends.
Attend movies at dollar theaters.
Take advantage of your local university. Colleges often have free entertainment events.
Join the library.
Read magazines for free at bookstores.
Check out DVD’s from the library, rather than renting them from the video store.
Find cheaper hobbies like blogging or jogging.
Go on a hike, take a walk in the park, or go to the beach. Some of the nicest things to do in life are totally free.
See if your local zoos, museums, entertainment parks and water parks have annual passes. Often the annual passes may not cost more than the price of a couple of visits.
Save money on movies by going to the matinée.
Watch amateur sports. High school athletic competitions are cheap and can be just as exciting as the pros.
Banking and Investing
Start an automatic savings plan with your bank.
Use your credit card to make all purchases, but pay it off each month. That you’ll earn cash back or travel points.
Invest in index funds. There are hardly any costs in purchasing and owning index funds.
Open an online savings account. Most online accounts offer a 4% interest rate. That’s much better than the 1% you get at your current bank. E-mail me for an ING referral.
Avoid ATM fees. Only withdraw money from machines approved by your bank. 7-11 doesn’t have a surcharge.
Pay bills by direct debit. You save on postage and avoid the risk of paying late fees.
If you use checks, don’t buy them from the bank. You can get a better deal with other printing companies.
Don’t overdraft on your account. You’ll save yourself money on penalties.
Invest with a cheap online brokerage company like Sharebuilder.
Children
Buy gender neutral baby clothing so you can use them again with the next baby.
Make your kids Halloween costumes. It’s cheaper and more fun.
Buy your baby toys from the thrift store. Toys suck these days. Give your child the gift of old school toys that actually requires an imagination.
Buy your baby’s and tot’s clothes from the thrift store. Your kid isn’t going to notice the difference between a thrift store onezy and a Gap onezy.
Utilities
Use a clothes liner to dry clothes. You’ll save on your energy bill.
Replace old appliances with ones that have Energy Star approval.
Regularly clean the coils on the back of your refrigerator. A clean coil uses less energy.
Make sure your freezer is full. An empty freezer requires more energy to keep cold.
Use washable coffee mug instead of Styrofoam. You’ll save money and help the environment.
Replace all your incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent lighting.
Turn off the lights when not using a room.
Turn off your appliances when not using them.
Don’t use a cell phone.
If you have a cell phone, don’t buy the extra features like text messaging and web access.
If you have a cell phone, get rid of your land line.
Get rid of cable. Who needs 100 channels of crap?
Use the internet at school or the library. Not only will you save money, you’ll save time.
During the winter, leave the oven open after you cook to heat the house.
Sign up for Skype for long distant phone calls.
Turn your heater thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in the summer.
Miscellaneous
Get a digital camera. You save money on film.
Don’t own a pet. You’ll save money on food and shots.
Shopping
Avoid impulse buying. Practice tantric shopping.
Buy as much as you can online.
Negotiate the price on big ticket items like cars, electronics, and large appliances.
Use cash as a negotiating tool. Nothing makes a seller’s mouth water than cold hard cash in their hand.
Before you buy something, ask if the item will be put on sale in the near future.
Don’t buy extended warranties. Eighty percent are never used, and they’re a major profit item for the vendor. That’s why they push you so hard to buy them!
Keep receipts and send in rebate slips. Very few consumers actually return rebate coupons. Which is, of course, exactly what the manufacturers are hoping for.
Low cost ways of making extra money
Sell your old stuff, like CD’s and books on eBay and Amazon.
Turn your hobby into a business. Pretty much anything you do can be turned into a business of some sort.
Sign up with an online survey company like Survey Spot.
Become a mystery shopper. Not only can you make some extra money, you might get some free stuff as well.
Have a yard sell.
Start a blog and put Adsense on it. You might only earn 4 cents a week, but it’s something.
Become a consultant. Do you know a lot about a particular skill? Put that knowledge to work by helping others.
Do freelance work on the side. If you’re a good writer, photographer, artist, or programmer you can make some extra money by selling your talent to companies.
Start an errand Service. Offer to pick up groceries or dry cleaning for others.
Waiting service. People these days don’t have time to wait on the plumber of cable guy. Charge by the hour to do the waiting for other people.
School
Check out study supplements from the library. Don’t buy them.
Buy used text books.
Take advantage of free pens and pencils at business conferences.

Keep track of your pens and pencils. You’ll spend less on them if you don’t lose them all the time.Buy back packs that your kids can use for years. While they might think the Sponge Bob Square pants one is cool in 2nd grade, they probably won’t think it’s cool in 4th.
Computers
Use open source software like OpenOffice for your computing needs. Here’s a huge list of all the open source software you’ll ever need.

Refill ink cartridges instead of buying new ones.
Print off your documents in draft mode. It’s faster and saves ink.
Use free online storage for all your digital storage needs.
When you buy new computers or printers, keep the old cables. You never know when they’ll come in handy.
Gifts
Make your own greeting cards.
Make your own wrapping paper.
Agree with family and friends to NOT buy each other Christmas presents this year.
Offer to give a service, like a night of free babysitting as a gift, instead of buying stuff.
Give baked goods. Everyone loves cookies!
Learn the art of the re-gift. If you get something that you don’t like, keep it and give it to someone else later. However be careful to keep track of who gave you what. You don’t want to give a gift back to somebody.

Tags: how to save money, saving, saving tips