Get it together
- Stop wasting time looking for things you use often, like scissors, reading glasses, or baby wipes. Stock up and keep duplicates in the rooms where you spend the most time.
- Create a file for coupons for your favorite restaurants and file them with take-out menus. Put the coupons that expire soonest at the front of the pack.
- Set up a box for bills that need to be paid and stock it with stamps and envelopes.
- Organize your favorite articles, parenting information, and recipes so you can find them more quickly. Place pages from online sites, magazines, and newspapers in page protectors and stash them in a three-ring binder.
- Keep cardboard boxes labeled "donate," "trash," or "consign" in the garage or storage closet to routinely rid your house of unused items and clutter.
10 Tips to Help You Save Money
1. Deliberately reduce your grocery bill by ten dollars. Write a check for it and mail it in to your savings account.
2. Designate one day each week as a *spend-no-money* day. Can you carry iced tea from home with you? Tuck away three dollars for every pitcher of tea you make at home!
3. Bring lunch to work one day this week. Simply cook a bit extra for dinner the night before to take with you.
4. Buy used. Sure, we all like to buy new. But there are huge money savings to be made in buying used. Typically cars lose one-third of their value in the first 24 months from new. Why not buy a car 24 months old? Other items such as clothes can be worth even less just the day after new. Look for ways to buy "as good as new" items and save money. Typical products you might consider buying used to save money include: cars, clothes, electrical goods, garden items... tools and sheds, household items... pots and pans, the list of used goods where you can save money is endless.
5. Challenge yourself to eating out only if you can spend less than five dollars (choose what your limit will be.)
And how about these…
6. Ask for cash back when using coupons — and tuck away your savings.
7. Save money on commuting. (This includes leathers, too.) Carpool with a co-worker or someone who works nearby. Take a bus or other public transportation. Bicycle like my uncle does or run to work. (It saves money plus it helps lower down cholesterol) Ask your manager if you can work from home one or two days a week or us a flexible work schedule to avoid rush hour. An increasing number of employers are more open to telecommuting and flexible hours.
8. Downsize by slowly eliminating items you’ve kept in storage units that cost you money. Aim for eliminating the unit altogether within a month or two.
9. Replace a name-brand item with a generic, including medication, if possible.
10. Eat in rather than out. This is a huge area where you can save money. A cup of coffee taken out could easily cost you TWENTY times (or more) what it would cost you to make it at home. So think before you drink when you are out. Eating is the same. Fast food restaurants are counting on you eating food that you perhaps don't really need at that time but buy just because it is quick. Why not wait until you get home and have a more nutritious meal and save money at the same time.
Regardless of which day you choose — or which tips you use — be sure to actually tuck away all money you save. That way, the money sponge in your checkbook won’t absorb it.
Now, how much can you accomplish by choosing just *one* day on which to focus? Have some fun with this!
