Money Saving Ideas

Being a savvy saver puts you in a more stable financial situation for the long run

There is not a time when many families are not worried about making ends meet and even for those families who are able to make ends meet there should not be a time when money saving ideas are not being implemented. Whether there is more than enough money in the bank or not, implementing money saving ideas can save your family thousands of dollars every year that could be saved for retirement, college funds or even just for a rainy day. There is a stigma with money saving ideas; however, that tends to drive even those who are in need of the extra money away from doing so. What many people do not understand though is that those who have succeeded in squirreling away millions of dollars often do it by utilizing every money saving tip that they can get their hands on. There is no shame in being a savvy saver because in the long run it puts you and your family in a much more stable financial situation.

There are a Variety of Money Saving Tactics

Money saving ideas run the gamut when it comes to ways in which you can be thrifty, from grocery shopping to Christmas shopping and from taking advantage of financial opportunities to simply recognizing needs versus wants. The first step in implementing any money saving ideas is to truly analyze your family’s spending habits and find areas in which you could make some cutbacks and changes in order to begin living a thriftier life. One of the most common ways that people find that they are overspending is through indulging in what was once a luxury on a daily basis. The best example of this is gourmet coffee; the majority of the population is guilty of dropping in to their local coffee shop on an almost daily basis and spending somewhere around $3 to $4 for a cup of coffee that could have been made for cents back at home. The trouble is, however, that we have become used to these indulgences and at the time $3 or $4 for instant gratification does not seem all that extravagant; however, when a whole bag of coffee beans can be purchased at the grocery store for $6 the extravagance becomes more noticeable.

Couponing and Shopping Via Circulars

Overindulgence is not the only reason for increased spending in families where the purse strings need to be pulled tighter, another offender is sheer laziness. Although with current economic circumstances many people are beginning to cut coupons for the first time, many others are still just too lazy to pick up a paper once a week and start clipping coupons. For other people this activity is avoided because it makes them feel “cheap” when they go in to the grocery store with a stack of coupons. The truth is though, that the individuals that do spend the time clipping coupons and matching up deals in circulars and fliers are generally able to save somewhere between 25 to 40% off their grocery bill as well as their smaller shopping trips throughout the week. Coupons are just like free money and by not clipping them you are simply passing up the opportunity to save on a large portion of your regular shopping trips. Coupons do not just have to be clipped either, a quick search online will not only reveal numerous coupon databases where coupons can be printed out but corporate websites also frequently offer up coupons to save on their products. By combining clipped coupons, printed coupons and weekly specials from fliers and circulars it is possible to complete a full grocery shop for a family of four for under $100 for a minimum of two weeks of food. In fact $100 is rather a large number for a seasoned coupon collector and as you become more experienced in clipping coupons and shopping deals you will find that it becomes a challenge to see just how low you can get those prices!

Megastores Accept Coupons Too!

Groceries aren’t the only items that we all shop for on a regular basis; there is usually at least one trip to a megastore to pick up paper towels, toiletries or other hygiene items that tend to be cheaper in the megastores than they are in the grocery stores. By price shopping to find the store that carries the majority of your non-food products at cheaper prices it is easy to arrange a once weekly trip to pick up these items to make sure that the money that you save not buying them at the grocery store is not lost in gas getting to the megastore every other day. It is also always worth checking out megastore circulars and their websites to check for any available coupons on products that you purchase regularly. Another great way to save on your favorite items is to always check the end caps of the aisles in the megastores because oftentimes items will go on clearance to make room for other new brands and a few bottles of your favorite product will find their way over there as well.

Be Prepared to Cut Some Corners

Shopping is always one of the main culprits for spending far too much money where you could have spent far less and while you are not expected to cut all of the corners you should be prepared to work with your budget. Many people are unaware that certain items in generic form are exactly the same as items with name brands to them, for example many grocery store brand cereals are identical to brand name cereals and simply lack the cartoon character or toy inside the box that jacks up the price of the brand name box. Certain medications also fall in to this category, for example if you purchase a lot of indigestion medication or gas relief medication, comparing the ingredients of the “off brand” to the name brand will show you that they both contain exactly the same amount of the same ingredient but one costs significantly less money. There are always going to be areas where you are not willing to compromise and give up your name brand; however, and this is perfectly understandable, the process of saving money should not be about giving up all of your “little pleasures” and instead it should be about working to establish a system of gives and takes. A couple of times that families commonly do not like to move to generic brands in include: diapers, feminine products, toilet paper and pasta sauce. For products such as those listed above there are rather definite reasons not to give up a favored brand name whether it be due to safety of a brand, the lifespan of a brand, the quality of the brand or the difference in taste (which in the case of spaghetti sauce is quite a difference!)

Identifying Needs versus Wants

Shopping sales and clipping coupons is not the only way to save money though, oftentimes it simply comes down to deciding whether an item is a need or a want as mentioned above. Certainly a gourmet cup of coffee on a Monday morning is a nice treat to start the week but when that $3 of $4 cup of coffee becomes a daily routine your coffee budget jumps to $90 to $120 a month and that is assuming that you only splurge on one coffee and avoid purchasing those sugary treats that are always within reach. You do not have to deprive yourself of your favorite treat but you must convince yourself that a treat is not a treat if you indulge in it daily and so it is up to you to regulate the frequency of your indulgences. By cutting back on gourmet indulgences not only leaves you with more money in the bank but it also allows you to trim a few pounds off your waistline as well!

Make Your Money Work for You

One if the lesser known tricks to saving money and getting the most out of your financial institutions is to really put their rewards systems to work. Many credit cards offer cash back bonuses when cards are utilized frequently and many banking institutions are starting to implement a similar system where they offer rewards for utilizing check cards or debit cards. These systems may seem like rewards are unattainable but there is actually a perfect way to make these reward systems go to work for you. While spending money on a credit card may seem counter intuitive when it comes to trying to save money it is actually the perfect way to get cash back for your regular monthly purchases. Utilize credit cards that offer cash back bonuses for as many monthly bills and necessities as you can, the trick is to only utilize the card for bills and items that you have the cash to pay off in the bank. Utilizing your credit card serves as a middle step to increase reward points so that you earn credit for money spent but at the end of the month you will be able to pay these items off in full using the cash you would have used to pay these expenses in the first place. It may take a little getting used to for some people who are not used to utilizing credit cards but as long as you keep in mind that you never want to purchase anything on that card that you cannot pay off in full at that very minute then you should be safe. Not only does utilizing this system for credit card and banking rewards work in your favor by providing you with money for paying items you would have to pay anyway, but it is also a great way to increase your credit score rather quickly.

Increasing Your Credit Score

When it comes to your credit score doing everything you can to increase your credit score is going to be extremely beneficial in helping you to save money in the long run. Most families these days require at least one vehicle, with a credit score in the 400’s you are lucky if you can get any financing approved for a vehicle, but if you can the interest rate will be somewhere approaching 18% or even higher. Boosting your credit score will allow you to finance that same vehicle at a significantly lower interest rate which will not only save you money on your monthly payments but it will also reduce the risk that you will be unable to make your car payment regularly because the monthly payments will be so much lower. Increasing your credit score can be done by utilizing the credit card method explained above as well as making sure to pay financial obligations on time every time while always striving to pay more than the minimum amount due. Paying more than the minimum amount due will help you to pay items off faster as in the case with car payments and in a situation where credit card balances cannot be made in full.

Be Watchful Spending Over the Holidays

One of the worst times of year for maxing out those credit cards and being unable to pay them off in full is Christmas time. As the holidays approach everyone gets caught up in the hustle and bustle of things and before they know it they have completely forgotten to save up to purchase the gifts that they planned on for Christmas. The best way to avoid this from happening to you is to mark a date on your personal calendar when you want to begin your Christmas shopping. By providing yourself with a physical reminder you will find it easier to remember to start shopping or at least start saving for the upcoming holiday season and reduce the likelihood that you will give in and simply charge everything to your credit card. It is also important to keep your budget in mind when it comes to shopping for the holidays. While everyone would love to be able to gift the most expensive and luxurious gift to everyone on their list it should be remembered that the holiday time of the year is not about the monetary value of a gift, it is more so about the thought that went in to the gift. Coming up with a list of gift ideas throughout the year that can fit a variety of budget situations can ensure that you are able to gift a heartfelt item without spending more money than you have to spend.

Always Avoid Over Spending

Spending more money that you have to spend is an extremely common thread when it comes to analyzing the spending habits of individuals and families that find themselves in a financial pinch. It seems that with the fast paced life that many people lead these days fewer and fewer people are stopping to plan out their financial needs and goals on a regular basis and as a result they are grossly overspending. Avoiding overspending is only the first step in being able to succeed in saving money but it is certainly a great place to begin. After learning how to identify overspending you will then be able to rectify bad habits that have set in and begin to set out on your new life as a watchful spender. Being a watchful spender does not mean that you have to be a cheapskate, it does not mean that you have to shop for groceries at the discount grocery stores and it does not mean that you are doing or have done something wrong in your life that resulted in tightening of the purse strings. No, being a watchful spender means that you are becoming more aware of your own habits and recognizing things that you can change to ensure that you do not have to work until you are seventy five years old or that your children don’t have to take on thousands of dollars in student loans.

Saving Money Can Wind Up Saving a Lot of Stress

Not everyone is concerned with saving money; some people choose to live their life day to day with a budget that functions on a paycheck to paycheck basis. This system may seem to work for some; however, without fail there comes a time when a paycheck is late, an unexpected financial obligation comes up or someone falls ill and then that tightly wound system begins to come undone. For those who are not concerned with saving money this situation will become their downfall, they will soon fall behind and their well timed machine of payments will begin to falter. On the other hand the watchful spender will have saved hundreds of dollars on grocery shopping alone and that money will be sitting in a savings account, a certificate of deposit, a savings bond, a money market or maybe even under the mattress, just waiting to bridge that gap in the financial income. Watchful spending is much the same as saving for a rainy day, you hope you won’t need the money but should you, you know right where it is when you do.