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Banking and Finance  » 7 Easy Ways to Save Money

7 Easy Ways to Save Money

Most people would love to get a raise; but did you know that by

lowering your bills, you're giving yourself a raise? For every

$100.00 a month that you can lower your bills, you're getting a

raise of about 60 cents an hour based on $1200.00 a year divided

by 52 weeks and 40 hours a week. It doesn't sound like much

until you figure that most companies are giving 3% annual raises

and you would have to make $20.00 per hour to get a 60 cent

raise. Not only that, but $1200 would pay for a decent big

screen T.V.

In this article, I plan on showing you a few easy ways to save

money and with any luck, at least one that you didn't think of.

The first thing you should do after reading this article is grab

a notebook, PDA or some other way to keep track and start

recording your spending. Write down every purchase you make,

even a soda or snack from a vending machine. Keep it up for at

least a month and then look at where your money goes. You may

start to see a trend that you want to stop before the month is

over and by all means, change it. You may also want to do this

more than once. It's a great way to keep from falling back into

or developing new bad spending habits.

Improve your credit card balances and rates. This is a given and

dozens of books and articles have been written so I won't waste

too much of your time repeating the same old information. Just

know that the lower your rate and the faster you pay it off, the

more money you save. Start with your highest rate card and pay

as much extra as you can until it's paid off, and then go to the

next and include what you were paying on the first card. You

could easily drop $100 per month just from this.

Take your lunch and snacks to work. If you spend $5.00 a day on

fast food lunch and drink 3 sodas a day, you can easily save

about $15.00 - $20.00 a week and that would be about $60.00 to

$80.00 a month just by packing a lunch, not including gas and

wear and tear on your car. Not to mention how much healthier it

would be. You may only want to cut back on the lunches but it

would still be a savings. Just a thought, you could use the

extra time to read a book or just relax.

Buy Regular Unleaded gas unless your car requires higher octane

gas. Check your owner's manual to be sure. Most places charge 20

cents a gallon extra for Supreme over Regular Unleaded and

unless you're driving a sports car you won't be able to tell the

difference. Depending on your gas mileage this could add up

quickly.

Use a shopping list and stick to it. Avoid impulse buys unless

they're something you'd normally use and on sale. Clip coupons.

If you think it isn't worth it, try it for a month and keep

track of your savings. If it's more hassle than it's worth you

can stop. But I'm betting you'll be surprised at how fast it

adds up. Pay attention to prices at different stores. Most

stores offer some products under wholesale just to bring you in

because they know most people will buy other things and they'll

make money on the higher priced items.

Do you still smoke? I bet you're expecting me to say quit. Well,

that would save you money but I'm not going to. If you want to

quit then I wish you luck because I know it's hard. Try out the

cheaper cigarette brands. Buy a single pack and see how they

taste. If you find a brand you like and it's a $1.00 a pack

cheaper then look at how much you'll save. If you smoke a pack a

day then you'll save about $30.00 a month, $365.00 a year. If

you're scared of what people will think, buy a nice case.

They'll never know you're smoking cheap cigarettes.

Take a look at your cable/satellite package. Look at what

stations you watch and which package they're included in. If you

don't watch anything in the higher end packages, drop the extra

or find out if you can get just the channels you watch. If you

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have cable, take a look at satellite providers such as Dish

Network and see if you can save money if that's an option where

you live. Some apartments don't have access to the correct

direction to use satellite but if you do, then it could be a

better deal and you may receive a channel you've always wanted.

Check your phone bill. This is one of the easiest bills to be

over charged for and one of the easiest to change. Most people

think they don't spend enough to bother with it, but many

companies hide fees or make up their own. Some will even tell

you a fee is mandatory when it's really just an administrative

fee. What you may not realize is that depending on your calling

habits or the area you live in you may want a different long

distance company or you may want to go with VOIP (Voice Over

Internet Protocol) if you have a broadband internet connection.

We offer a calculator that compares 11 companies and shows the

rates for your area. There's even the advanced calculator that

takes your calling habits and finds the best rate for you based

on if you call more instate or out of state.

The point of these tips isn't to make you a cheapskate, but to

allow you to choose where your money goes. You can save the

extra money, go out to a nice restaurant each month or spend it

in any way you want, even to buy a new T.V. And wouldn't it be

much nicer to choose where you spend your money instead of

wondering where it went?

About the author:

Brian Baldwin is an entrepreneur who enjoys saving people money

by offering some of the best products and services available

today. Brian invites you to visit

http://www.southerntechservices.com to compare our rates with

the rates you're paying and find out for yourself how much money

you can save.