Save money on meals
If you spend one hundred dollars a week on average on all of your meals, including eating out and at home, and you could cut that amount then the money you save could go towards your debt. Now, I know that one hundred dollars may seem like nothing to quite a few of you but it is possible for a family of four to eat in comfort and perhaps even eat healthier than they normally do.
So, let’s just pretend you spend one hundred dollars a week and you can adjust the idea to what you actually spend. If you could only spend $75 a week save the other $25 then you would have an extra $100 a month to go towards your debt. It may seem difficult but it is not that hard to cut back on the cost of the food you eat for a week. Many people could pay off great amounts of debt just by eating at home and not eating out.
You could also shop at a discount grocer such as Aldi’s instead of hitting the locally owned, and often higher priced, grocery store on the corner. Even a trip to Wal-mart often can cost twenty to thirty dollars more than what you may spend for the same amount at an Aldi’s type grocery store.
Another way to save money on meals is to share a meal when you go out and cut out the appetizers and alcoholic drinks. This alone can turn a fifty dollar meal into a ten dollar meal and you still get to go out and have a good time. Often, my friends and I will have an appetizer at home before going out so that we do not order as much at the restaurant.
Try saving money on your meals for just one month and see how much extra you have to send to your credit card debt!
Simplify the expenses in the house
Saving is a keyword to survive the economic crisis. For the household in-charge, it’s hard to do the budgeting. But what can we do? It is best to simplify things. Make a substitution that will not sacrifice the usual goods we use. Instead of buying branded ones, let’s switch for other quality and cheaper brand. Sometimes, groceries offers promos in the store that can be convenient for our expenses.
Segregate and organize our used goods. Be creative to use those products in different way. Like in cooking, having stocks of flour and eggs can come up to a bread. Baking soda can be used in baking and also as a cleaning materials. There are lots of things to do to save. Just simplify and still enjoy the luxury of living the life we used to have.
Avoid Debt
Sometimes it’s hard for us to budget our income. Especially, the high prices of goods and fares in our economy. There’s no chance in buying things that are not useful. We focus more on meeting our neccesities. But what can we do? Budget. Yes, we can have it but unproper way can lead us to more debts.
Let’s avoid debts. As much as possible let’s just buy things that are consumable for longevity and practical. Let’s focus on meeting our needs like foods and home goods. If we still have good clothes and shoes, we can set buying this aside. If we are meat lover, why not try eating fish and vegetables. It is cheaper and nutritious.
Let’s avoid using credit card when we still have previous balance. Let’s pay first the previous one before making a new credit. Through this, we can avoid paying higher interest for the long time.
Be a smart spender.
The art of Budgeting
Nowadays, we are suffering from economic crisis. Unstoppable price of oil increases that affects the prices of the other products. No increase in employee’s wages. How can we survive with all the taxes, high prices of products and fares? Proper budgeting is a must. We need to be wise in spending our money.
When we’re shopping for groceries, we have to make a list of important goods that we need. Through this method we can save time and money. Let’s schedule our meals for the week or let’s create a menu for each meal. By this technique, we can budget our food stock in our refrigerator. There will be no wastage in our kitchen.
We can have inventories of our groceries. Through this we can predict the lifespan of each goods. It can save money in buying much and less needed stocks.
There are different ways in budgeting. Different people have different techniques. It’s not that hard. But sometimes, we need sacrifices saome things.
Saving money on your apartment
Renting an apartment can be a positive proposition for some who live in faraway places. It generally cuts back traveling time and at the same time offer a lot of conveniences for renters. For some, renting is a better option to owning a home that can easily drain one’s resources with mortgages, real estate taxes, registration fees, and maintenance fees among others.
Here are some tips on how you can further save when living in an apartment:
1. Lease an apartment appropriate for your needs. You can base it on the size of your family or on the set of activities you intend to do while renting the place. Rationalize if you have a small family, or if the apartment would basically just be a sleeping quarters.
2. Check whether your prospect apartments are near your usual destinations and are within walking distances. In addition, consider apartments near transport terminals that will make commuting pleasant.
3. Contemplate whether you would live in an apartment leased by private owners or in a condominium unit. An apartment leased by a private owner may only charge a rental fee, while condominium units may charge association dues on top of the rental fee. Association dues are fees for a variety of amenities offered by the condominium.
4. Consider various options when bargain hunting. Given the effects of a down housing sector, many people who have a lot of properties with no tenants are offering interesting proposals to lure tenants. Some schemes include no advance payments or no security bonds. Others provide a half month free to those who would avail longer contracts of say 24 months.
5. Verify if the property owner cares for the proper maintenance of his property. This will be good for you in the long run. A tenant should never spend a single centavo on maintenance or renovation for a rented property, that’s the responsibility of the owner. If the landlord does not live within the property or near it, and has no property manager, then avoid that property. You will find it hard to link with him when you need him most re repairs. While on it, on your first day consider walking with your landlord the length of your apartment including the outside. Both of you will have to agree on how the property looks prior to you occupying it, and then reconcile this with how it looks just before you leave it.
Shopping Alone
I have written before that one way to save money is buy bring a To Buy list every time we go grocery shopping. This is because if we have a clear view of things that we truly need, there is not much time and energy spent deciding which things to buy. Also, this helps not to go over the budget.
I would like to add that when doing our grocery, it helps if this is done alone, without the kids in tow. I know this is a fun time to be with the kids so that they can take part in the activity too but if one is working on a budget, it might be difficult to say no to the items the kids will put on the grocery cart. Add to this that after grocery, the kids might be hungry and then there will extra expenses for food and other stuff. Sad to say, this will ruin the budget and it will be difficult to come up for money to cover for this.
While it is indeed a fun, bonding moment to do grocery with the kids, maybe this can be done once in a while or maybe if you or your husband just received your paycheck. Think if there is money to spare, if there is by all means, have the kids tag along. Otherwise, it is better to do this alone.
Budgeting helps
Ever since I got married almost two years ago, I have been handling our finances and doing the budgeting. At first, it was more of a trial and error as there have been times when I went over-budget and then I have to take note of it to make sure that I don’t commit the same mistake in the future.
It is a challenge to make ends meet especially these days where the prices of general commodities continue to soar. When I budget out finances, I make sure to cover the essentials like house rent, bills, food, etc. It is a good thing that my husband supports me because he understands our situation. When we have extra money, we also know how to have a good time. Usually, we just eat out together with our son. If we would like to go out of town, we save up for it monthly so that we have enough time to raise funds.
Nowadays, I notice that even if we earn a little more than before, our expenses catch up in no time. We even can’t travel in our car often because the gasoline prices go up every week and it’s just too much for us. It’s a good thing we have our good old motorcycle to rely on for short trips around the town.
Saving on groceries
Grocery shopping can be your single biggest spending category, as it includes expenses in food, toiletries, cleaning agents, and many more things used for daily living. Thus getting savings from grocery shopping would contribute greatly to your cash flow. The monthly grocery bills of people, of course, varies. Families with newborns and toddlers would experience higher grocery bills due to the addition of milk, diapers and baby food, among others.
Here are some ways to cut that grocery bill and to shop supermarkets more efficiently:
-Make a list of what you would need for the next two to three weeks. The list should be the basis for your purchases. More often than not, shopping without a list leads us to pick a few more items from the grocery shelves, items we do not really need. So check your needs. Check your pantry, ref, bathroom, and bedroom, as well as other areas so you will not miss an item. In that way, you will not need to go back to the supermarket just to buy the missed item.
-From past grocery shopping, you should be able to identify which supermarket should be the right one. The right one may be the one that offers affordable goods, or probably the one that offers a complete assortment of goods. Try to do comparison shopping once in awhile.
-Take advantage of coupons or memberships to supermarket clubs to avail of larger than usual discounts. Over the course of a year, this will provide great savings.
-Try house brands for some necessities like toiletries, cleaning agents and even sauces. Usually, these goods are manufactured by reputable producers. They are as effective as the pricey branded items you have bought through years.
-Shop intelligently by using unit prices. Sometimes, larger does not equate to more affordable if you consider the unit price. Also, there are sales of items that attract you to buy things you do not really need. Study such offers and you will find out that you are better off without them.
-Use a credit card with rebates to accumulate cash that payoff a part of your bill. Just make sure to always pay your credit card bill on-time and in-full to avoid finance charges and interest payments.
-Avoid going to often to supermarkets so you will not have the urge to spend. Spread out grocery shopping evenly, so you will have goods available for you for a pretty longer time before you again set out to do grocery shopping.
To Buy List
When we do our grocery, it is important to bring a To Buy list of all the things that we need. This will greatly help to be within the budget and also to shorten time spent on the grocery. How many times have you wandered aimlessly in the supermarket just because you don’t have a clear picture of the things you need. I can relate for this has happened to me a number of times.
Before heading to the supermarket, check your food supplies to see which things you need to replenish. If you can create a menu plan for the week, that’s even better so that you can at least buy the ingredients ahead of time for some of the meals. This is also a perfect opportunity to make an inventory the food you have left so that you can check which foods need to be consumed before its expiry date. If you don’t need to buy in wholesale or bulk, you can note it too. Some food may spoil easily or the veggies may wilt when not consumed immediately. We can save money by doing this because we only buy the things we need.
It also saves money if some of the supplies can be bought in the market where it is cheaper and you can haggle for the price. It maybe just a few centavos but it also helps to have loose change.
These are just some tips to stay on the budget. Sometimes it happens that unexpected expenses come up while shopping but when you have a clear view of the necessities, it’s easier to make a judgment if something is worth buying.
Envelope System
Some of us fall into the trap of spending more than what we are actually getting. This in turn causes problems. Sometimes, just to cover the costs, one resorts to taking a loan or pawning jewelry and other valuables in order to straighten out the budget.
This was my problem before. Back then, my paycheck has already been allotted to bills and miscellaneous items that when the time came for me to get the money, I just counted the payment and distributed it all away. There even came a time when all I had left was transportation allowance for another two weeks before the next pay date. It was a difficult time indeed.
After learning it the hard way, I decided to finally do something to correct the problem. I wrote down my expenses and provided a short envelope for each category, for example, food, bills, car fund, etc. When I got my paycheck, I distributed the money on the envelopes and even set aside some for our family’s savings. This helped me because if I needed to buy food, I’d just get money from the food envelope. This way I budgeted wisely and noted that I only have such amount for that category. Just to be on the safe side, I also had a miscellaneous fund envelope which was like a fallback just in case there are unexpected expenses.
So far, this has worked for me. It also helped that I took note of all the expenses so that I won’t have any difficulty finding what I have bought and where the money has gone to. No more rummaging in my purse for the receipts.