A Penny A Day

written on August 4, 2008 in Tips & Tricks

Are you in need of debt consolidation, debt relief, debt help, or the need to consolidate debt? Sure, there are a lot of online resources that can help, for example, like Bills.com, but why not start with the very basics so you can avoid falling into debt? Simple, you can start with saving money!

I’ve been doing exactly just that lately, and it feels great because now I don’t need to worry about how to pay off my bills all the time, or where I’m going to get that money from. Besides, it feels good to have lots of extra cash sitting in your bank account. You never know when you might need it. I’m going to list a couple of ways that I use to save money:

• Open a free checking and savings account in the same bank. I have both with Wachovia, and it’s great because they automatically withdraw $100 from my checking account every month, and every time I use my debit card, another $1 will be transferred to my savings account. The interest is extremely high for savings, so it’s a good way to grow money (literally). Bank of America has a similar system where they automatically round up your debit card purchases to the nearest dollar, and the extra change will go into your savings account. Bank of America will also deposit however much you saved in the first 3 months into your savings account as a bonus! If you’re interested in opening an account, please email me.
• Avoid using your credit cards. It’s easy to spend more than you can afford when using a credit card, but when the bill comes, that’s when you start fretting where you’re going to get the money to pay it off.
• Make a habit of recording your expenses and incomes. That way you’ll always know how much money you’re spending and how much you have left, so you won’t spend more than you have.
• Make a shopping list. Don’t buy things on impulse, but instead, write the things you want on a list, and wait a couple of days. If you still want it or feel the need to get it, then go buy it. Often I buy things on the whim only to realize that it’s useless. Talk about a waste of money or time.
• Turn the shopping list into a budget list by listing the prices of the items as well. That way you’ll know what you can and can’t afford, and you can better decide what you should/want to buy first, and what you can save for later.

• Use sales to your advantage. You’d be surprised at how much you can save if you shopped in the clearance section vs the full-price section. My motto is: never buy anything at full price unless it’s absolutely worth it (like a Tiffany jewelery).

I hope you found these tips helpful, and if you have any you’d like to share, please leave a comment. Thanks!

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