Ten Thrifty Tips to Beat the Crunch
With the all the current doom and gloom of job redundancies, negative equity and rising fuel costs there has never been a better time to start living by some of the old clichés, like tightening your belt and saving some pennies for a rainy day. We’ve put together our top ten thrifty tips to help you save some money and beat the crunch.
1. Switch your pet to dry food. It’s healthier for them and much cheaper than the tins and pouches. What’s more you can feel smug knowing that not only are you keeping your pet in tip top condition, but you’re also helping save the environment by reducing the amount of packaging that you’re chucking away.
2. Compare electricity and gas providers online to ensure that you’re getting the best deal on your household utilities.
3. Quit your gym membership and start cycling to work. As the evenings get lighter and the weather warmer, you’ll find cycling can be quite a liberating experience. It also gives you the chance to kill not two, but three birds with one stone, as it keeps you fit and healthy, is good for the environment and free! Meaning no more expensive travel cards or trips to the petrol station.
4. Order your weekly food shopping online. This will help you avoid picking up special offers on items you wouldn’t normally buy and don’t actually want. It also saves time and cuts out that stressful trolley dash every Saturday morning.
5. If you regularly enjoy drinking a glass of wine (or two) with your evening meal, consider sampling some wine clubs. Most companies offer very competitive deals on your first case, so it pays to keep switching! You can also read the accompanying taste notes and impress your friends when you flaunt your knowledge as a wine connoisseur.
6. If, like me you’re an avid reader, you probably get through at least one book every week. When you tot up the cost of new books up over a year it soon mounts up. Signing-up for a library card could help you save up to £30 or more every month. Now-a-days most libraries offer a good selection of new DVD and CDs which you can borrow for a small cost. You can also renew your borrowed items online to avoid those late fees.
7. Book a bargain holiday through Teletext. They currently have some of the best offers to be found anywhere on the Web, such as an all inclusive three star holiday to Turkey for just £166. As Turkey is still outside of the EU you’ll also benefit from a better exchange rate on your holiday spending money.
8. Start making lunches to take to work. A recent survey found that on average people pay in excess of £5 a day for their lunch. Over the course of a month that adds up to a whopping £100! If you really can’t face making sandwiches every morning, try cooking a bit extra with your evening meal and taking that with you instead.
9. Enjoy a free day out. If you’re stuck for things to do at the weekend now that shopping’s off the list, why not enjoy an educational trip to a museum. Most of the major museum’s and art galleries in London are now free and well worth a visit. Plus the exhibitions change every few months which means you can pop back for a regular dose of culture.
10. Sign-up to all the voucher code websites and get loads of freebies and money off vouchers for all your favourite shops and restaurants (well after all that saving, everyone needs a treat!).
Kyle
April 18, 2010 at 6:55 pm
You can try Smart Money. They have quite a few interesting articles.
But, Money magazine has lots of personal interest stories like how a guy deals with a father having Alzheimer's, or how a family tries to live according to their religion and be financially astute.
I would say that Money magazine is thus far the best magazine I have read which covers all topics related to finance.
Tonya
April 18, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I have found something related of what you are looking for, it works fine for me.
Janelle
April 20, 2010 at 2:24 am
assuming you're in Australia, you have a few options. Keep the money undeclared,seek investment advice that doesn't need to assess your cash flow. Ie savings plans or even a retail superfund. this is a good short term option because obviously you can't do this work forever as your looks will expire no matter how many pilates classes you do. you can then decide after you settle down.
If you want everything on the table, just treat yourself like any other independant contractor then the Tax office can help you with that. The advantages is you will have a history of declared earnings which will entitle you to a home loan under similar conditions of other contractors.
I'd go option one. My understanding is you girls earn heaps and have boyfriends who help you spend it so instead of giving the Tax office a slice leaving you with nothing, save it up and use it as a deposit once you start a regular job.
true_red_4ever
April 20, 2010 at 6:52 am
Well I actually use Mint.com and haven't had any "security" issues to speak of. Mint.com does not store your bank login credentials so they never see that information and potential hackers will never see that information either. I don't think it's fair just to say it's unsafe and dismiss the idea altogether. I started using the product because Kiplinger recommended it. Anyway, I like that you can add all of your bank accounts, loans, credit cards, and investments. They create trends, help you set up a budget, offer deals that fit your finances,etc.
So far I have my checking acount, 3 savings accounts, 1 credit card, my 401k, and my paypal account added to the site. My only complaint is that they don't pick up the auto loan and credit card I have with my bank. They are constantly working on issues like this though.
Karibuboo
April 20, 2010 at 3:52 pm
There are many great resources out there. http://www.fool.com is a great start to learn the basics. Suze Orman has some books and has articles you can read on Yahoo Finance.
Here are some of the things that I do:
1. Contribute to a 401k up to the amount of the employer match.
2. Contribute as much as you can to a Roth IRA. Index Funds only!! 80 to 90% of actively managed mutual funds don't out perform the S&P 500.
3. Never buy mutual funds that have a front or back load. Buy Index Funds Only!
4. Never buy whole life insurance…buy Term. You can buy so much more coverage. If you save properly, your need for life insurance should decrease as you should be able to eventually live off your savings.
5. Have about 6 months worth of expenses saved in an emergency fund.
6. Buy disability insurance.
7. Be consistent!! Treat savings like a bill.
8. Don't create a budget!! They don't work. Most people try to do "Saving = Earnings – Spending". That never works.
Try "Spending = Earnings – Savings". Once you have your savings out of the way…have fun spending what ever is left.
Best of luck!
liipl 2
April 20, 2010 at 7:49 pm
book called financial accounting
toothbrushx2
April 21, 2010 at 3:36 am
I use Excel. I've tried other programs, but if it's too difficult, it will be tough to stick with it.
Here's how mine goes.
Income, Fixed Expenses, Variable Expenses, Bottom Line. Fixed expenses aren't truly fixed, but expenses that you can't significanly control with behavior – groceries, utility bills, auto gas, insurance, etc. Variable expenses are things that I can control – retail, eating out, etc.
I charge everything I can on my credit card (and pay it off at the end of the month), this way, I can just look at my statement at the end of the month and easily see where everything went. I used to save receipts and categorize them – too much work. Keep the categories broad and drill down if you see a problem.
money.cnn.com has a lot of good personal finance articles, calculators and how-tos
Good luck.
satin_rust
April 21, 2010 at 7:10 pm
This one is free for the first month. Its the best tool I've found for personal money management and planning. Tracks everything you spend on a given day and shows your balance.
supermoren02130
April 21, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Not sure which DEATHS you need to pay off but certainly clearing your credit cards makes sense.