Blog Mike

Saving money can be hard for some, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips that I recommend:

Stop eating out – I used to eat out a lot. I would stop by Starbucks on the way to school or work and pay almost $4 for a coffee. For lunch I might get drive through lunch for about $6. Take a few minutes out of your morning to make your own coffee and prepare a lunch. Dinner leftovers are a great idea. How many times have you had to throw away leftovers that no one ate? Plus it is healthier then stopping off at McDonalds everyday.

Bring your own drinks - Do you frequently buy a soda from the vending machine at work? Stop paying a dollar for a can of soda. Bring a 12 pack of soda to work and leave it under your desk. Or save even more money buy drinking water. Buy a couple water bottles and refill them at home.
If you decide to buy lunch or dinner at a restaurant and take it home, don’t buy a soda. Go home and have water with your meal or soda. There is no reason to buy cans of soda when you are at home. Save even more money buy buying the 2 liter bottles.

Get a part time job - A great idea to bring in a little side income is by finding a part time job. Teachers and students can offer tutoring. This would take up only a few hours of your day a couple times a week. During the holiday seasons, many retailers are looking for people to work a couple days a week. Craigslist has a section where people can list labor gigs in your area. People are often looking for help moving, painting, and cleaning. Some jobs were paying $20 an hour to help someone move across town. If you have a truck, thats a plus. Many people need help moving furniture.

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Sell items on eBay – Do you have some books laying around the house that you read once and don’t plan to ever read again? Sell them on eBay or half.com. So many people have things stored away in their closets and garages that they will never use again, but haven’t gotten around to clean it out. I used to have a garage sale once a year where I would clean the house out. Now I sell everything on eBay and get three times as much as I would have gotten from a garage sale. The easiest things for me to sell are my old DVD’s, CD’s, and books. Most of the people looking for those items know exactly what they want and you can see easily how much they are selling for.

Where it out and make it do – How many shirts do you own that you just don’t wear anymore? How about shoes? Just because your wardrobe is of last seasons design does not mean you have to go out and buy more clothes. There is no reason to have a dozen purses, when they are all look brand new. I had my last wallet for at least 6 years. Clean your shoes once every month. People will start commenting on your “new shoes.” Do you really need a new computer because Microsoft released a new operating system? Do you really need that cell new phone that just got released, or is the one that you have working just fine?

Wait before making a larger purchases - Stop impulse buying. Next time you are out looking at TV’s and think you must buy the new TV, go home and think it over. Most likely you will decide that you really don’t need it. Anything, for example, over $25 don’t buy immediately. Talk it over with your partner and wait a few days to a week and see if you really need it. Impulse buys can add up. How many items have you bought only to realize that it is something that you will only use once? Some people even go the the extreme by putting their credit cards in a block of ice. Whatever works for you, do it.

Make it automatic - When ever you get paid, have some of your paycheck automaticly deposited into a high yielding savings account. When you receive a raise, increase your savings. In time, you will not even notice the money gone from your paycheck. This also works well if your employer offers automatic stock purchase plan. Every week or month your employer will keep some of your paycheck and will automatically purchase stock with the funds. Be careful not to keep too much money in one particular stock, look what happened to the employees at Enron.

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