What are some practical ways to save money?

Question

What are some practical ways to save money?

Answer 1

get a bank account it might sound lame but it helps me alot

i have like 300 saved from that thing

Answer 2

The first step to take is to get on a budget, when know how your monthly spending compares to your monthly income you can determine how much income you have to save.

You can download a free budget spreadsheet from: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/de... or use an on-line tool at: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/budget/

Keep track of your spending for the next month or two, most people are surprised by how much they are spending on some items; eating out, phone bill, clothing, snacks are typical culprits.

God bless!

Answer 3

If you are living in your own home:

1) Try to put the air coniditioning down a few degrees or turn of the fans when you are not in the house.

2) Try meal planning for the week to reduce buying excess groceries and buy "No-name" or cheaper brand groceries.

3) Turn of the lights, T.V's, computers as much as possible when no one is using them.

4) Re-use as many things as you can instead of going out to buy new things all of the time.

Answer 4

I recommend reading a book called "The Richest Man in Babylon".

It's available on Amazon, Play etc

Seriously give it a try. Don't judge a book by it's cover... or title for that matter.

Answer 5

Decide what is important in your life and only spend your time and energy on that.

Answer 6

hello - GREAT that you are thinking of this. You are way ahead of the game and clearly on the path to staying there -

here are some more tips and ideas -

List out how much money you have coming in each month (paycheck, alimony, side jobs, etc.).

List out what your fixed costs are (rent/mortgage, car payment, car insurance, phone, cable, student loans, commute costs etc.) If you have credit card debt look at how much per card and which has the highest interest rates.

Track it by category -

retirement (401K, etc.)

home

car (payment, insurance, etc.)

gas

cable/electric/water

groceries

eating out

clothing

movies/plays (include the popcorn)

books

newspaper (if you already paid your news paper or magazine subscription, figure out the monthly cost and include that)

hanging out with friends (bar, pool etc)

non meal related drinks/snacks (Starbucks, diet coke, snacks)

other

other

(other could be alimony, whatever, things I did not list out but you have to pay)

and you will see quickly where your money is going to go. Then you can see if it is all the right places, or if you want to make a change and not buy so many clothes, see so many movies (or pass on the popcorn) etc. Do you need to have the car you have or is there a way to get a vehicle without a car payment? Do you need HBO?

Consider what is really important to you and what is not and spend accordingly.

Be sure to put all left over money into retirement savings somewhere and not just spend it on something else (or put it towards paying down credit card debt). And keep tracking what you spend for at least 6 months. that will help you get into habits and patterns that are good ones.

Retirement savings are very important, so if you have a 401K or the equivalent, dont stop contributing to that. I see so many questions here about stopping contributing or taking the money already saved out, dont do that. The value of the compound interest is huge.

feel free to email me for more info if you like

good luck

Answer 7

you can save the money you have buy using a bank account with a good interest rate