Perfectly Imperfect Family and Finances » Saving

What are some money saving tips that you use?

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:58:50 +0000

I would like to know what things that you do in order to save money? Things like saving money on buying certain things such as household things like soap, tissue, or anything that you do that saves you or your family money.

1. I say clip coupons all the time and buy sale items.

I once helped my family turn a $200 grocery bill into a $80 bill for scan and clipping coupons. trust me it is worth it.

2. Put all coins in a jar then cash them in.

3. Buy out off season clothes for cheap at places like plato’s closet

4. research sales online

5.research the lowest gas prices in your area (www.gasbuddy.com)

6. have a set amount you put away if you have a job like 15%

7. set financial goals

8. rent movies from the library
______________________________________
SHOPPING RULES

1. never carry credit cards

2. make a list

3. don’t carry all your money with you

4. look at different store prices

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What good is saving all your money and never actually spending it?

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:58:47 +0000

I have been saving and saving and investing and investing for years but never really spend much. So what good is saving all this dough if you don’t enjoy it?

I agree, there is no good in saving if you don’t know what you want. BUT, what’s even worse is, wasting money and later finding a better place to spend it.

If you think you’re unhappy saving money, you should ask "would spending money on ___________ (hot dogs, shoes, tv) make me happy"?

If you’re happy now with what you have, I would still encourage saving until you find something you like to spend it on later.

Here’s a few
1. Retirement
2. risk of job loss
3. insurance or your own medical, legal expenses
4. Travel

There’s no shortage of ways to waste money, so I’d just keep saving until the "right" way to spend comes along, things are MUCH MUCH WORSE for people today who have debt, no savings and no job. You’ll be happy one day you need money.

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How to Break the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle

Mr. Imperfect — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:15:52 +0000

Welcome! If you are new here, consider subscribing to our RSS feed to get post as soon as they are available. Not sure about RSS feeds? For a description, and a brief tutorial, check our RSS Page.

At some point in life most of us have experienced the aggravation of having to live from one paycheck to the next. By the time the next paycheck arrives, you are already broke. When the new payday comes, most or all of it is already spent. There never seems to be enough money just to put food on the table and cover the normal household bills, let alone provide for any leisure or luxury. There will come a time or an event in your life, a catalyst, that will make the change that needs to take place less painful than continuing on your current path. When this happens, here is a good way to get started on your journey off of the payday to payday cycle.

The first thing that you must do is get on a budget. Do not let this “b” word scare you. I can honestly say that one of the most important steps on our journey out of debt was creating and sticking to a budget. Bob over at Christian Personal Finance has a great article that list 7 free printable budgeting worksheets that is very handy when you are just beginning.
Next, look for any place in your budget that you can save money. Do you really need a house phone and a cell phone? Is cable/satellite TV really a necessity? Are you watching your “phantom” charges from appliances and other electronics that are seldom used? Are your windows and doors sealed for air leaks? For more ways to save money each and every month click here.
After you have pinched every penny from you current income, if you still do not have adequate capital to make progress with your debt reduction, it may be time to look for ways to increase your income. Do you have a unique set of skills that you could market for extra income? Are there items in your residence that are no longer in use that could be sold at a yard sale or on Ebay? For a list of ways to make some extra money check out this post.

We can encourage you that it is a process worth undertaking. Using the strategies that we have listed on this blog we have eliminated two of our monthly bills, we will eliminate a third within the next month, and we are on track to dispose of over 40% of our total debt this year! Using the strategies that we listed in our Making extra money post we doubled (yes, I did say double) our income in February this year-and it has stayed the same since. No matter how big the obstacles seem, there is hope. Will the task be easy? Probably not. Most things worthwhile are not. Will people criticize and judge/discourage you? You bet. We could not even begin to count those that have told us we were fighting a losing battle. They have repeatedly told us that debt is just a way of life. We even bought into that lie until we seen that there are a select few that are living debt free. That is the life we are choosing to live. Will you join us on this journey to financial freedom? Please drop us a line and let us know what stage you are in, what goals you have set, and any strategies you have in place.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day! Have a question or topic your would like to see covered? Leave a comment and we will respond the first chance we get!

A Good Website on Money

Mr. Imperfect — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:54:39 +0000

Just wanted to give everyone a link to an awesome website about money. We are working on kicking off several series about saving money as well as resources for your entire household. Stay posted by subscribing to our RSS feed. Have a great day, and here is the link:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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Start Your Savings 2: Your 401k or 403b plan.

Mr. Imperfect — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:44:11 +0000

In this series we are discussing various savings accounts and how to possibly fund them. To get the rest of the series click here, or subscribe to our RSS feed. The post will be delivered as soon as they are made available!

Lets take a few minutes and talk about your 401k or 403b retirement plan. If your employer does not offer one, take heart, you may change jobs in the future and work where one is offered. If you are very influential, you may convince your employer to offer one (encourage as many coworkers as possible.)

Taxes. We just completed our taxes the other day, so this is foremost in my mind. Your contributions to your 401k come out of pre-taxable income. Depending on your income level, this could place you in a lower tax bracket if your income is right on the line.

Employer match. Most employers will match a certain amount of your contributions. The amounts vary greatly, but it is usually x% of your contributions up to y% (example-they may match you 25% on the first 4% of your contribution). Regardless of the amount, this is free money. If you contribute nothing more, at least get the maximum amount that your employer will kick in.

Tax deferred growth. Again, I am going back to taxes. The contributions, and the earned interest/dividends (compounding is your friend), grow tax deferred. The 401k’s have investment options in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., but the capital gains and dividends are not taxable until withdrawn.

It is automatic. You can set this on auto-pilot and forget it. We found that if it was gone before we seen it, we did not miss it. I would review once a quarter, and only change after careful consideration. Avoid watching CNN and other news networks at all cost. They live on promoting fear and the gloom and doom of “the coming recession.” The facts are these: recession or not, the market has cycles. It will forever go up and down. Whether it be the tech bubble bursting, or the sub-prime market falling on its face, it will always be a roller coaster ride. The Dow Jones started in 1896 with an average of 40.94. It is now over 12,000. Yes, it has seen low periods, but it continues to grow over the long run. Which brings me to my next point.

Stay in for the long haul. Unless you plan on retiring in the next 10 years or so, do not stress over the ups and downs of the market. Just keep plugging along and ride it out.

As we have stated in our about page, we are not financial advisers or professionals. Your situation is unique, and you should consult a competent professional before making any decisions. We are only sharing our thoughts and what has worked for us.

Do you contribute to your 401k? How much does your employer match?

Start Your Savings 1: Build an Emergency Fund

Mr. Imperfect — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:07:27 +0000

I will say that I am extremely biased on this topic. It seems to me, from the research that we have done, is that there are two schools of thought. Either you pay off you high interest debt, then build your savings, or you get a specific amount saved before you begin paying more than the minimum payment on your debt.

Having been in a situation where the income suddenly disappeared, I am now a firm believer in having an emergency fund. It would have been nice to have a cushion to fall on when things went haywire. We have started our emergency fund, but we have a long way to go to reach our goal. When you first begin, I recommend setting your goal to be enough to cover at least one month of expenses.

The first step is finding the money to place in the fund. We had a zero budget when we began, which means everything we had coming in (and then some!!) was going back out. Here are some of the ways we have “found” money to save:

We created a budget. The list included all of our expenses that we had gathered. I am working on a spreadsheet budget, and as soon as I get it finished and uploaded we are going to do an entire post on budgeting. Once you have created a budget, any amount that is not used in a category (providing all other expenses are covered) can be placed in your savings.
We started a change jar. We placed a simple mason jar on our kitchen counter and place all loose change (other than quarters) in the jar. Our first month we had around eight dollars. If you use your debit card for most purchases (as we do), this will not add up quickly, but every little bit will help.
Look for ways to lower your expenses. For a list of general ideas on how to save on expenses check these post. Again, whenever you are able to lower an expense, place some (if not all) of the savings into your emergency fund.
Sell unused items. Anything that has value, that you are not using or personally attached to, get rid of. This was a two fold bonus for us. We made money for our savings, and the extra space and clutter free rooms really made a positive difference in our house. Ebay is one place to start. Although, I do not recommend selling anything that will not bring at least five dollars. It is not worth the time and effort to list items and pay the associated fees for less. Ebay has great research tools available to see what most items are selling for.
Take on additional work. This is not a favorite choice, but it is an option. Either volunteer for overtime or extra work at your current employer, or find “odd jobs” to help people with. Unless circumstances are dire, I would try to find other ways before taking additional time away from family.

Once you have a little extra money, the next matter to consider is where to save it. Here are some of the choices we considered.

Our local bank. If you need to have the money immediately available, then this is your best option. You can walk in and withdraw your money if need be, but you are going to pay for this luxury dearly. I am not talking about an actual expense, but rather in lost interest. Our bank currently only pays 0.5%. Our bank also requires a minimum balance, or you are assessed a $3 fee every month your balance is below minimum.
Online savings accounts. These accounts are insured just like your local bank accounts by FDIC. There are many options available, and the interest rates will vary, but we chose ING. At the time of this posting their rate is 3.4% APY. While there are banks that are paying higher, all of our research lead to the fact that ING has phenomenal customer service, and an easy to use site. We were not disappointed.
Interest bearing checking. This was an option for about two minutes for us. First of all, most require a minimum. Secondly, we decided that this was to be a savings account, and even though we wanted to have “quick” access, we did not want immediate access. We know enough about ourselves at this point to know that we could find an “emergency” (we should buy that limited edition thingamajig, they might run out!) if we had instant access.

Even though there are many other options available, those are the only ones we considered. As with most avenues in personal finance, patience is a key factor. It may not make you feel like dancing in the street, but that $4.40 deposit (yes, we have made one) will get you closer to your goal.

Do you have an emergency fund? How do you save for your fund? Where do you invest the money? We would love to know!