06 May 10 ways to save money

There are basic ways to save money by just doing some average things. Some people do not know that it is simpler than they think. Have you made promises to yourself to increase your savings and do less spending, but have not gotten around to it? You are not alone, but you have to take the high road and do what is financially wise for you and your family. For several reasons, some people make the choice not to save. However, there are several more reasons to save. For example, a commitment to saving will allow you to be able to have more leisure time and be able to pay your bills on time, decreasing your debt and financial burden and actually creating wealth. Yet, for some families, saving money continues to be a challenge, especially with maintaining household expenses. Let’s look at this in more depth.

Grocery Shopping

When you decide to do your grocery shopping, make sure that you write a list and don’t go to the supermarket while you are hungry. In addition, don’t concentrate on buying name brand products, but instead purchase generic brands of products that are less expensive. Look for sale items at your local grocery store by flipping through the newspaper prior to going to the store. It is a good chance that you will find products that are advertised in the local newspaper. There are many families in the United States that clip coupons. This may be time consuming, but it will save you a ton of money each week. So coupon clipping should be a mandatory occurrence in your home, if you want to save money on food items each week.

Dollar Store

In every community, there is always a dollar store or thrift store that offers low priced products. Instead of going to the major retail stores to shop, why not support your community discount store? These days, discount stores are competing with the larger stores. You can get some incredible deals such as:

• Personal care products
• Household goods
• Clothing
• Edibles

Discount store products are not inferior to the products in larger stores. In the past, there was that kind of stigma attached to discount stores as it relates to quality products, but these days when people want ways to save money, this is the ideal option.

Dining Out

Many families love the idea of going to a restaurant to dine out during the week or on weekends. While nothing is wrong with this, it would be wiser to do this every other week instead of going every week. The bill after dining at a restaurant could be quite high. So rather than going to an expensive restaurant, sometimes, it would save you a lot more if you tried an ‘eat all you can’ restaurant. These restaurants usually charge one price to everyone. You could also look in the newspaper or on the Internet to find if there are restaurants offering discount dining. Groupon is an Internet site that offers information about special local deals that you could take advantage of.

Budget Travel

If you are traveling, you can do so on a budget. The first thing to do is to book your flight in advance. It cost more to book last minute flights. You could also try to book your travel on websites that offer discounted airline fares such as Travelocity and Orbitz. The same is true for hotel accommodations. You can save on food at the hotel by purchasing at the local grocery store. So, choose hotel rooms that offer a small refrigerator and/or stove where you can store and cook your food. Instead of dining in the hotel room, find a nearby park and just go have a picnic.

Buddy Travel System

For additional savings, if you have someone in your family or a friend that works on an airline, you could use buddy passes to travel. You could also try to travel in a group because group booking is far less than booking an individual flight.

Saving

No matter how much you make as salary, you can put away something in your saving account. This allows you to have an emergency fund set up in case you have an unanticipated situation arise. A small savings by the end of the year could amount to thousands of dollars.

Track Spending

If you want to stay on top of your finances, it is best to track both income and expenses. With a budget, you can forecast the immediate future and know how much you are spending and making at the same time. Keep a worksheet of your income and expenses.

Pay Bills in a Timely Manner

If you want to avoid giving your creditors additional money in terms of late fees, then you will pay your bills late, but if you are looking for ways to save money, this is the ideal way. Another thing is to pay more than the monthly minimum due to a lender or creditor. In so doing, you will save on finance charges, fees or interests and pay off your balance sooner rather than later.

Assess Relationships

In some cases, you may have a family member or friend who bothers you constantly and unnecessarily for money all the time. If you give money to someone who is able to work and earn income, then you are an enabler, causing undue financial stress on yourself. It is OK to say no when you don’t have money to lend to others. It could be time to assess that relationship and get rid of anyone that causes negative conflict on you.

Savings Account

Another of the ways to save money is to open up a savings account. This forces you to save and provides a means of securing funds for that rainy day situation. Choose a bank that offers incentives and earned interest when you save.

The Bottom Line

Assess the situation that you are currently in and make changes, if necessary. Set some financial goals for yourself and educate yourself on financial matters by reading different books and conducting research online. This will make you financially savvy.