Topic : Money Saving Tips and Tricks

Hey there! 

Just wanted to know if anyone knows of any good books about managing your finances?  I am having some trouble living on a very limited budget and never  being able to save as much as a I would like and would love to get some advice in this area... 

/Emma. 

I am only 21 living on my own, and what I do is go to the low income grocery stores ... Get the no-name products so what if its no-name your going to eat it anyway and it has the same vitimins and nutrious value of the high end stuff you see on tv.  

Before you shopping i.e - groceries write your list down before you leave takes about 10 minutes maybe 20 minutes, gives you an idea of what your really going to buy. then while your shopping write down the price of the items you picked up from your list before you reached check out add them up and so if it says $2.99 make it 3.00$ round up gives you a better idea of what you see on the cash screen.  

Since you added up everything before you checked out gives you time to return things you really don't want or that is over your budget instead of making an embarassment out of yourself doing it while your checking out.  

The only reason some stores have product called no-name is because it's too long to put low income or genertic product on the boxes of the products some groceries stores have thier own brand of products one of them in canada is called equality. you save about 2 to 5$ on each product with the lower brand name, but a lot of times the food you buy tastes better then your regular tv commercial product, not saying to go all out on no-name products while shopping there something out there you can't replace with no-names.  

Well I just recently wondering the same thing about what books I can use to help me along the way I save myself from a financial heart attack.  

www.creditcanada.com - has a REALLY good deal you make a donation up to $25.00 CAD plus $3.00 shipping and handling pay by check, credit card or money order. and they mail you within a week 8 great booklets -  "Couples & Money", "Kids & Money" and "Money 101" and more books but I only list those titles.   http://www.creditcanada.com/bookshop.asp 

Plus Amazon.com has a really good money help book section I just purchased;  

Pay yourself first and 101 Real Money Questions -  Jesse B Browm  

And I also got books from http://www.bridgforthfinancial.com She was on Oprah the other day for Debt Diet Thing too bad they do not have one for canadians we are in debt just as much as  

Americans.  

I order her books Girl! Get your money straight and Girl! Make your money grow, then also I order her online The Basic Money Management Workbook 

I think getting a book from an author you can relate too will help you getting the financial direction you want. But those places I listed that have books should get your feet wet.  

My husband and I have been married for just over 6 months and we are trying to figure out how to budget and plan for several different things:  1) To save and so we can pay off all the loans we have gotten in college(we are still getting more each year), 2) To save money for a honeymoon that we didn't have the money to take, and 3) learning for the first time to deal with paying monthly bills.  We want to save so bad that we often find ourselves feeling guilty about spending in money that is "unnecissary".  We don't go out very often to do anything unless we have to.   We need some ideas of a better way to save, budget, and also how to feel okay with spending money on doing some fun things.   Sometimes I wonder if after we save all the money for a honeymoon up that we wont ever take it because we will wonder if we should actually spend the money on it.  What should we do? 

Sweetie: 
 

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Go.  Bon Voyage!  Don’t drink the water! Send me a postcard!  Wish I was there! 

Save for that honeymoon and take it.  In fact if you don’t take it I for one am going slap you.  Well, not really but the computer screen is really going to get it. 

This year the Hubster and I will be celebrating 30 wonderful years of wedded “hit and miss”and I am still waiting for that honeymoon we said we would take just as soon as we had paid off the car, the student loans, the new well pump, the two root canals, that roll top desk that I still won’t let anyone actually work at, the vet bill for the cat, the dog, the rabbit etc. the Stanley Cup tickets etc. etc. 

And don’t let “the honeymoon” become an abstract.  Make this a goal.  Dr. Phil said that the difference between a dream and a goal is a time line.  And time is going to pass whether or not you take that honeymoon and one day you will be 50 years old and never have had the chance to work on your tan line in Hawaii and then, if and when, you finally ever do get the chance you know the wrinkles and sags are never going to tan evenly and every time you see your reflection in a shop window you will know that that bikini was a big, big mistake. 

Decide where you want to go, find out how much it will cost, set a date - an anniversary is a great goal whether it is the first or second (depending on the amount you have to save). But believe me the 30th is not a good idea – leads to incredible PMS and unreasonable bitchy behaviour the rest of the time) - and just start saving.  If you must, then both of you should get a short-term part time job - one night a week or every other Saturday.  It will be worth it.  Trust me. 

There are two ways to save for anything – the all your eggs in one basket method or the have my cake and eat it too method.  The egg method is when you put everything else on hold and put every spare dime towards one goal.  The cake method is when you save slowly for a few things at the same time and still have a life.  Your style will depend on how badly you want it.  My experience says go for the eggs as far as the honeymoon is concerned.  Once you get the house, the dog and the 2.5 kids you will be spending and saving for them no matter how hard you try to be selfish.  Once “we” are pregnant, you just may possibly still take that honeymoon but I doubt it and besides I have never been overly fond of the combination smells of champagne and baby powder.  However, just as a piece of totally useless information - they did a study in Sweden and the scent that most attracts women to men is not the smell of expensive aftershave but that of baby powder.  Hmm.  Interesting.  Mind you if you are on your honeymoon that is just too much information for any husband. 

Also, never, ever feel guilty about spending time and money on yourselves as a couple.  Don’t do anything foolish but do plan for romance and adventure.  This will not only rejuvenate you and your relationship but will make life fun and give you something to bore your great grand children with while settin’ in your rocking chairs on the porch of the old folks home.  In fact it should be the law.  Funny how we never feel guilty about indulging in duty but we always do when indulging in pleasure or taking time for ourselves.  I can assure you that I have never, ever felt guilty about cleaning the oven or mowing the lawn but still have to fight those little twinges even when I lock myself in the bathroom to read the last two pages of a book I have been reading for the past eleven years. 

THIS IS A MUST READ!!!!!  

This is for anyone that would like to save more money when spending, someone who has credit card debt and wants to get out of it, or people like me, that are young and just want to stay ahead!  

    I worked for Discover Card (the credit card company) for almost a year and here are a few tricks I learned working there:  

   Now I know I worked there, but honestly Discover Card is one of the best credit card companies I have been exposed to.  They have a "customer first" policy. That means that they do anything they possibly can to help the customer.  And the REALLY do that.  

    One thing that Discover does is gives Cashback Bonus (CBB).  Yes, many other credit card companies do this as well, but they have maximum amounts that you can receive, and have MANY "extra" things that you have to do to receive that money... get a subscription, buy from a catalog, etc.  Discover doesn't do this.  This is how the basic CBB works:  

                                $.01 - $1500.00 is  .25% CBB  

                                $1500.01 - $3000.00  is .50% CBB  

                                $3000.01 - above is a full 1% CBB  

    This is unlimited! You can earn as much as you want and get CA$H back in the form of a check, credit to your account, or you can get UP TO double your money if you get gift cards from partner companies. Example :  You have $100.00 CBB.  You want to go to The Sharper Image, but you want an item that costs $40.00.  Then you can take $20.00 of your CBB and get $25, $35, or $40 back in gift cards from The Sharper Image.  All the companies that give gift cards will give you more than you have there.  

    This restarts every 12 months, on your anniversary date. (Normally the month that you opened the account.)  

You can also chose to get 5% CBB on gas, or just participate in their FREE promotions that they change every 3 months, where you get 5% CBB on certain purchases.  THIS MEANS THAT YOU ARE GETTING PAID FOR SPENDING MONEY ON THINGS THAT YOU ARE BUYING ANYWAYS ! ! ! ! !  

          So this is what you can do.  Every 3 months you need to call your credit card companies and ask them about lower interest rates.  NEVER TAKE THAT INTEREST RATE! ALWAYS ASK FOR LOWER AND LOWER UNTIL THEY REFUSE TO GO ANY LOWER!  Most people will just be happy with a 2% decrease in their interest rate, when they could be getting 6% lower!  Another thing to do it say that you want to close the account.  If you do that, then the company wants to keep you as a card holder.  They WILL ask you what they can do to keep you.  If they don't ask this question or try in any way to keep you, close the account for real.  You don't want to have a company that only cares about themselves dealing with your money.  When they ask you what they can do, ask about lower interest rates if you normally carry a balance over, or more CBB if you pay in full every month.  Also if you might make a larger purchase then call and ask about promotional rates that could be 0% for 6 months, 9 months, or a year.   

     The biggest trick??? Use a card that will pay you for using it. Example on how to do this without getting into debt:  

                  You have $2686.24 in your checking account.  

                 You have to buy groceries, gas, car, house/apartment, bills, etc.  

              These bills total to $2431.59.  So you use your Discover Card.  With this payment structure you will be into the 1% category within the 2nd month of your 12 months!  This means you will be earning back 1% of $2431.59 every month on things that you have to spend money on anyways.  Thats about $24.31 a month. Over a year is about $291.72. That is money that you get back for doing NOTHING!  It doesn't get easier than that. Plus you can earn 5% CBB on different purchases to help build that!  

     One thing I heard a lot is that "I don't use my credit cards because I don't want to get into debt". Well, if you pay it off in full every month, you have no finance charges, and you get cash back. No debt- getting more money back!  The easiest way to do that it to use your card just like you would use your debit card. Take your balance book and everytime you use your card, put that in your balance book like you used your debit card.  Then the "money isn't there to you".  Do this EVERY time and at the time that the bill is due, you can  pay it with your checking account.  It is so easy!  I am only 19 years old and I know how to handle my finances and "cheat" the credit card companies to get what I want!  I hope that this wasn't too long, and some people can get their finances under control! If you do have any questions, or anything that you have concerns about from this post please feel free to e-mail me... YamahaStuntGirl@aol.com.  Have a great day!  

Stephanie