This post is an aggregate of money-saving tips that I've written at this website and elsewhere over time. For reading convenience, I'm summarizing tips that have worked for me in the past.
The amount of money you can save can be life-changing. If you're in debt, and want to erase it, then you either have to earn more money or spend less of what you make. Here are some suggestions for how to spend less/ save more.
(1) Learn to cook. It constantly surprises me how many people don't know how to cook. Take a little bit of time on Sunday afternoon to make a few meals for lunch on Mon-Wed. If you're commuting a fair distance, this usually means having to make vegetarian food, else meat may spoil.
There are tons of great vegetarian dishes that are inexpensive, tasty, and easy to make. Have a look on the Internet for recipes. It beats having to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or sticks of carrots and celery every day. And if you have a microwave at work, you can have a hot meal at lunch and won't be tempted to go to a restaurant every day. Of course, that saves you a lot of money. Enough to treat yourself on Fridays. (You'll have to decide what to do on Thursdays, but if you're healthy and have a physician's approval, you might try controlled fasting.)
(2) Carpool. Don't give up your car, but if you can find 3-4 suitable/ compatible fellow carpoolers who live near by and work in the same area, you can save 75-80% of yearly commuting costs, not to mention repair costs. I've spent as much as $600/month on just highway tolls for some of the contract work I've done. But it just didn't occur to me back then to look for carpoolers. Factor in the gasoline and parking costs, and I could probably have rented a small apartment with the savings, had I carpooled.
(3) Move closer to work. That doesn't work for everyone, especially if you work in an area where real estate costs are high. However, some people might benefit from this. Just keep in mind that moving around a lot (after less than three years at your current adress) can sometimes affect your credit score.
(4) Telecommute. It varies by city, but some estimates that I've heard in 1999 is that each employee's work space in a big city costs upwards of $55-60/hr to maintain. So some employers are more than happy to have trustworthy employees work from home, with the occasional check-in meeting once a week or so. They may even pay some rent for the use of a clearly-defined home office, which they can write off against taxes.
A friend of mine knows someone who does computer programming work for the government and lives four hours away from her employers. Once a month, she drives up for three business days. They pay for her hotel and travel expenses. It's allowed her to live in a relatively inexpensive city, and saved her from uprooting the family to move. It never hurts to suggest a similar arrangement to your employer.
(5) Work online. What's the difference between this and telecommuting? Home-based businesses. I'm saying that it's possible to make a legitimate living entirely online. No going in to work each morning, or reporting to anyone but yourself. I'm finally doing it, but it takes time to build, and the earnings are paltry at first. (I'm still nowhere near in earnings with what I used to make in salary, but I'm working on it.)
Home-based businesses, especially online, are only recommended for certain personality types, but if you're dedicated, your income will grow. While there are a number of ways to earning a living online, I'm specifically talking about blogging, which focuses primarily on writing for websites - either your own or for someone else. Revenue is earned from advertising. If you're looking for a place to start, try Performancing, which has free tips and tools for people who write weblogs in the hopes of earning money from online writing and other activities. Another website to visit is ProBlogger.
(6) Use credit cards. If you are very disciplined, there are loads of special credit card promotions these days where you can get some bonus money for signing up. But if you're unable to pay off your credit card balance each and every month...
(7) Stop using credit cards. I'm a firm believer that ever since easy credit was obtainable in North America, personal bankruptcies rose many-fold. Most people are just not disciplined. Media bombards us with images suggesting we're not worthy unless we spend loads of money. Usually that's on useless products that don't really make us feel better or improve our lives.
By not using credit cards - or at least paying off your full balance every month - you save a tremendous amount of money. Spend only what you can afford. Sit down sometime and do the math. At some of the current credit card interest rates, you can end up paying double or triple, over time, of the original price of items purchased. Sorry, but that's just plain nuts. With jobs so unstable, can you afford not to save your money any way you can?
(8) Use VoIP service to save on your phone bill. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol - aka Internet telephony - can save you a fortune on your phone bill including international calls. The best part is that there are even a few services that let you call long distance to many countries for absolutely free, provided that all parties are registered with the service. How do you beat free phone calls?
(9) Eat less food. Chew each bite you eat more slowly, and 16-20 times, and you won't be hungry from eating less. It's healthier, as your food is digested more efficiently, reducing all types of ailments. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how expensive healthcare is. We're a nation used to solving problems after they happen. But a little bit of preventative measure can save you a lot of money. I'm not saying you'll save lots, but eating less means that you might save a couple hundred dollars each year. And there's your health, which of course is priceless - unless you need medical attention.
(10) Use an online savings account. Ah, you knew this was coming, but I feel that with banks being the way they are, you need to take advantage of every safe liquid investment to make your money grow. So save your money in a flexible, interest-bearing account such as an online savings account, which typically pay the highest interest rates.
As per usual I recommend Emigrant Direct or Ing Direct. They are not necessarily the accounts with the highest APY (Annual Percentage Yield) %, but they are two of the most flexible with the fewest strings, and no minimum balances to get started. Here's how to open an online savings account.
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