How to Save Money in the Coming YearMany people are wondering how to save money as the US and world wide economy reaches new lows. New predictions are that the US won't rebound until 2010, or it could even be later! There are a number of present economic factors that are preventing us from making much of the green stuff! Without enough money to sufficiently pay our bills, we are having to cut out things that are not necessary. Taking care of needs outweighs wants! Many people reported a very flat Christmas last year, which is evidence of further bad news for the economy.
Do you know how to save money? Any ideas you can contribute to this page? Please let us know. When we all come together, we all benefit! Contribute Your Ideas Below Recently Ray Martin, financial consultant for CBS News, asked a select group of people what their New Year’s Resolution was going to be. A lot of people told him they wanted to save more money next year. Saving money is hard, but cutting back right now is imperative with the economy faltering. Seems we all got used to the economy being stable and good, but are now having to relearn what most baby boomer's parents already knew! In order to save money for tomorrow, you can't spend it all today. It really made me think about how to save money this year. What more can I do to save more money? What could we cut back on? Below are some suggestions for you. Ways to Save Money in the New YearFast food will make you fat and possibly sick. Just the thought of someone else having their hands on your food or breathing all over it, should be enough to break this bad habit for you. Eating out all the time is down right unsanitary! To make a point: One of the last times Lars and I ate out, we went to McDonald's. Our favorite meal there is a fish sandwich and a chocolate shake. The guy took my order and we waited. When our order didn’t come up promptly, the guy went into the kitchen, pulled our buns from the bread bag and tossed them into the microwave with NO protective gloves on. He had just been handling cash out front and now had his dirty hands on our bread. He proceeded to finish fixing our sandwiches and brought them out front to us. I just looked at him and then asked him if I could speak to the manager... Taking a vacation is only good if you're vacationing in the US. At least you're feeding local economies. It’s bad if you aren’t making ends meet during the year and you go spend the money frivolously. When you increase your withholding taxes, you will have more money in your pocket during the year to pay off bills, especially credit cards. No, you won’t get that one big fat check after your taxes are done, but you will catch up on your bills! People think in terms of simple interest, not compound interest. For instance, if our investments are 8% a year for 10 years, we don't earn 80%, as many people assume. Rather, we would notch a cumulative 116%. The reason is that our returns are not only on our original investment, but also on the investment gains earned in earlier years. Similarly, with credit-card debt, we pay interest both on our original purchases and on any monthly interest charges we didn't pay off in full. "People use simple interest because they don't know to use anything else," says Prof. Eisenstein, of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. "The higher the interest rate and the longer the time horizon, the worse the error." He argues that this basic math mistake helps explain why people delay saving for retirement and why they postpone paying off credit-card debt. Participating in budget billing should make it easier to budget and manage your money. It’s important to note that Budget Billing does not reduce your utilities, it simply enables you to spread out your costs over a 12-month period. At the end of the year, if your actual costs are more, the balance of the unpaid cost will be rolled over into a new level payment for the next year, which would be a little higher. If your actual costs are lower, the extra amount you paid is credited to your utility bill. Most states require utilities to offer this option to their customers. This economy is a tough one! Its by far worse than anyone could have ever imagined. (At least for us sheep out in the field...) Now more than ever, it's important to know more about where you're money is going and how to save money on the things you do buy! We're all in this together and we're all depending on each other to do all we can! How Do You Save Money?Share your money saving thoughts! What Other Visitors Have SaidClick below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
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Never before have we had to juggle so much! We are overworked, underpaid, and are now being forced to pick and choose which bills we must pay, and which bills we must eliminate altogether. The good news is that it's never to late to understand how to save money!
