Interested in Saving Money? If you are like many Americans, you may often find yourself wondering where all the money goes at the end of the month. You resolve to save money, but without a specific plan in place and ideas on how to accomplish this goal, your savings account may not be impacted much at all by this resolve. If you are interested in truly saving money and building your savings account, you may want to take a look at this article. Here are tips for saving money that can help you tackle the average family’s biggest expenses: cable bill and food etc…
Saving Money and your Cable Bill
Are you still paying for a land line? Most of us today rely primarily on our cell phones, yet a good percentage of households still have a land line. If this is the case with you, is that expense really necessary?
Do you really need all those hundreds of television channels that you are paying for? Really? Chances are pretty good that you could make do with a less expensive cable plan and not really even notice the difference. Try calling up your cable company and letting them know that you’d like a smaller cable bill. They might be able to give you a discount you weren’t even aware you were eligible for or suggest a different plan that might meet your needs.
Saving Money By Taking Your Own Lunches To School or Work
Who doesn’t enjoy going out for dinner? Eating out, however, can quickly add up. Try packing your lunches during the work week to saving money, and when you eat out, order off of the children’s menu or stick with an appetizer. You can also eat dinner at home and go out for dessert with your friends. If you track the amount of money you spend on food for one month, you’ll likely be unpleasantly surprised at how much you’re spending. Set a goal of reducing your currently monthly food expenditures by a certain percentage, and come up with a plan for how you can meet that goal.
Impulse purchases – that new perfume, those shoes, or that pedicure – can really add up over time. Financial experts recommend that you set a ‘one week rule’ on any items over a certain dollar amount, say fifty dollars. Before you buy any item over that amount, you will first wait a week to make sure it is something that you either really want or really need. If, after a week has passed, buying that item still seems like a good idea, then by all means, buy it. You will likely find, however, that many of the items you originally wanted to buy no longer seem important after a week has passed.
Keep your financial goals firmly in your mind. Before you make major purchases, remind yourself of those goals – will the purchase of that item help support your goal, or work against it? If financial peace of mind is your goal, you will likely have to make adjustments to how you spend your money and what you spend it on. The benefits of financial peace of mind, however, are definitely worth the price!
