Cool article, there's so much information out there about the benefits of waking up early but these are all true to the opposite type of people. I think the biggest one is #10. If you can't wake up early in the morning, the best thing to do is get completely ready for the next day the night before. I always sleep as long as possible before getting up for work, so the night before I get the coffee maker ready, put my lunch together and pack my bag for work.
Good advice here. I think the best one is to limit your options and weight the pros and cons. Its definitely harder to make a decision in a group, but narrowing down the choices and deciding between a couple rather than a large amount can really help. I'm a terrible shopper and usually find myself standing in the middle of the store staring blankly pondering a decision to buy something or not running through the pros and cons of the purchase in my head.
A couple more that haven't been mentioned that I use as well.
http://www.CouponsWiz.com and http://www.GroceryWiz.com. They are related sites but one is all about grocery coupons and the other is all about discount codes that you can use when checking out on online stores.
I tried to become an early riser for years - I did wake up early. but my creativity plummeted. Thinking clearly at 5am is one thing, being creative at that time is something else. If you're a night owl, embrace it and don't try to change!
I am attempting a no spend January but my great love of take out food has gobbled up most of my funds. Luckily I just received a Costco rebate cheque from using my American Express card. It is less than $10.00 but it will buy us milk and I will take the cash change to another grocery store to buy a bit of fresh fruit.
We have a lot of food in the house but most of it requires effort to prepare. After a stressful day at work drive through is my favourite easy, no dishes meal but I do no like to fail at challenges I set for myself so I will be forced to eat my own cooking.
I'll second that. I took one of those online courses; I thought medical transcription would be a good choice because I already had medical training (I was an RN for several years) and could type really fast. It turned out that wasn't nearly enough; when I finished I discovered the only jobs available were for people with actual work experience - no experience=no job. A Catch-22 maybe, but there was no getting around it. And that was several years ago, when the outsourcing was just starting. Now - there's no way I'd encourage anyone to do that. Any courses out there, regardless of how good they are, are just a big waste of time and money.
We think of one thing at a time that we want to save for that isn't retirement and save up for it. But we make sure that money comes out of each paycheck for our daughter's savings account, our general savings account, and our retirement in addition.
I take advantage of the gas points @ Weis. Also, if you get a prescription filled at the pharmacy, you get 10 gas points. I got 15 gas points when I got my flu shot at the pharmacy. Also, they sell gift cards - my friend needed a new washer/dryer set, so she bought a Lowe's gift card at Weis, got the gas points, and then drove across the street to Lowe's and used the gift card to purchase the new appliances.
I also make sure I take two empty gas jugs with me so I can get all 20 gallons allowed when I cash in my points!
I unintentionally froze spending in the past few months by doing one simple thing: I started buying my veggies from a co-op once per week. It's SO MUCH healthier! I developed a meal planning one pager in word, so after I get my veggies, the meals for the week are planned. Then when I go to the grocery store I don't have to get as much (although I will admit I'm still spending quite a bit on wine).
I prioritize my savings goals by putting away a little each week and keeping a good budget! I try to budget for the unexpected....and have alot of categories! Any extra in those categories that is not used that month rolls over to the next. AFter time, they add up for when needed!
Does a spending freeze mean no spending? Because I still have my share of the rent and the food and my health premiums and my medicine and gas to get me from one place to the other. On te other hand, if it just means no spending except for necessities, I've been doing that for a while.
Preparing my own meals and free fun are a couple big ones for me. Making my own meals and bringing them to work saves me money from eating out, gas money from driving somewhere, and also prevents extra wear & tear on my vehicle. Also if you are a parent of young children, taking them to the park on a nice day is a great way for them to have fun without spending anything. Not nice outside? Try building a "fort" with chairs, couches, and blankets. They love this.
My wife has bad credit and we have been thinking of get a secured card... Is that the way to go or should I get her a card on my amex account... Would that help her the same or more???? Could that damage mine????
I have several savings accounts. One is general savings account which I don't touch. This one is sort of an emergency fund or intended to big purchases, like a car or a house.
I also have another savings account, named Dental. I put money to this account, so when it's time to visit a dentist I can pay from this account. Instead of paying to dental insurance every month, I am putting the money away for later usage. The bank worker with whom I talked said that this is a very clever move.
I am a college student right now, so my priorities may be a bit different. My boyfriend and I focus on an emergency fund. He was unemployed for six months last year. Using our emergency fund helped us to get through that period. Therefore, it is important for us to have that safety net. Next, we are saving for a car. And lastly, a house. The car and a house are future goals to help us settle into married life when the time comes. It is difficult having a set income every month. At times, it seems as though we will never achieve our goals. However, we keep striving to have financial security/
Thanks for the tip! I am not very visual or mechanical (and none of my research uncovered a dryer connection) so taking apart the dryer hadn't occurred to me. We just had to replace a 15 year-old dryer so there is no telling how many socks were contained there.
Cutting back is not easy. I do not like bringing lunches to work, I prefer eating out. I understand that this is something that has to be done in order to reach my goals.
We don't have any of these stores or programs where we live, but our local grocery store chain, Publix often publishes coupons in its ad for $10 off a $50 gas gift card with a $50 grocery purchase. If you're already buying that much in groceries, and can find a gift card for the stations near you, it can help a bit.
Cool article, there's so much information out there about the benefits of waking up early but these are all true to the opposite type of people. I think the biggest one is #10. If you can't wake up early in the morning, the best thing to do is get completely ready for the next day the night before. I always sleep as long as possible before getting up for work, so the night before I get the coffee maker ready, put my lunch together and pack my bag for work.
Good advice here. I think the best one is to limit your options and weight the pros and cons. Its definitely harder to make a decision in a group, but narrowing down the choices and deciding between a couple rather than a large amount can really help. I'm a terrible shopper and usually find myself standing in the middle of the store staring blankly pondering a decision to buy something or not running through the pros and cons of the purchase in my head.
Thanks for including us!
A couple more that haven't been mentioned that I use as well.
http://www.CouponsWiz.com and http://www.GroceryWiz.com. They are related sites but one is all about grocery coupons and the other is all about discount codes that you can use when checking out on online stores.
I tried to become an early riser for years - I did wake up early. but my creativity plummeted. Thinking clearly at 5am is one thing, being creative at that time is something else. If you're a night owl, embrace it and don't try to change!
I am attempting a no spend January but my great love of take out food has gobbled up most of my funds. Luckily I just received a Costco rebate cheque from using my American Express card. It is less than $10.00 but it will buy us milk and I will take the cash change to another grocery store to buy a bit of fresh fruit.
We have a lot of food in the house but most of it requires effort to prepare. After a stressful day at work drive through is my favourite easy, no dishes meal but I do no like to fail at challenges I set for myself so I will be forced to eat my own cooking.
direct deposit. out of sight, out of mind!
I'll second that. I took one of those online courses; I thought medical transcription would be a good choice because I already had medical training (I was an RN for several years) and could type really fast. It turned out that wasn't nearly enough; when I finished I discovered the only jobs available were for people with actual work experience - no experience=no job. A Catch-22 maybe, but there was no getting around it. And that was several years ago, when the outsourcing was just starting. Now - there's no way I'd encourage anyone to do that. Any courses out there, regardless of how good they are, are just a big waste of time and money.
We think of one thing at a time that we want to save for that isn't retirement and save up for it. But we make sure that money comes out of each paycheck for our daughter's savings account, our general savings account, and our retirement in addition.
I take advantage of the gas points @ Weis. Also, if you get a prescription filled at the pharmacy, you get 10 gas points. I got 15 gas points when I got my flu shot at the pharmacy. Also, they sell gift cards - my friend needed a new washer/dryer set, so she bought a Lowe's gift card at Weis, got the gas points, and then drove across the street to Lowe's and used the gift card to purchase the new appliances.
I also make sure I take two empty gas jugs with me so I can get all 20 gallons allowed when I cash in my points!
I like Bop Deals - www.bopdeals.com. It's great for finding discounted stuff on Amazon.
Yes, this is a great tip!
I unintentionally froze spending in the past few months by doing one simple thing: I started buying my veggies from a co-op once per week. It's SO MUCH healthier! I developed a meal planning one pager in word, so after I get my veggies, the meals for the week are planned. Then when I go to the grocery store I don't have to get as much (although I will admit I'm still spending quite a bit on wine).
I prioritize my savings goals by putting away a little each week and keeping a good budget! I try to budget for the unexpected....and have alot of categories! Any extra in those categories that is not used that month rolls over to the next. AFter time, they add up for when needed!
Does a spending freeze mean no spending? Because I still have my share of the rent and the food and my health premiums and my medicine and gas to get me from one place to the other. On te other hand, if it just means no spending except for necessities, I've been doing that for a while.
Preparing my own meals and free fun are a couple big ones for me. Making my own meals and bringing them to work saves me money from eating out, gas money from driving somewhere, and also prevents extra wear & tear on my vehicle. Also if you are a parent of young children, taking them to the park on a nice day is a great way for them to have fun without spending anything. Not nice outside? Try building a "fort" with chairs, couches, and blankets. They love this.
My wife has bad credit and we have been thinking of get a secured card... Is that the way to go or should I get her a card on my amex account... Would that help her the same or more???? Could that damage mine????
i focus on one goal at a time!
I have several savings accounts. One is general savings account which I don't touch. This one is sort of an emergency fund or intended to big purchases, like a car or a house.
I also have another savings account, named Dental. I put money to this account, so when it's time to visit a dentist I can pay from this account. Instead of paying to dental insurance every month, I am putting the money away for later usage. The bank worker with whom I talked said that this is a very clever move.
I am a college student right now, so my priorities may be a bit different. My boyfriend and I focus on an emergency fund. He was unemployed for six months last year. Using our emergency fund helped us to get through that period. Therefore, it is important for us to have that safety net. Next, we are saving for a car. And lastly, a house. The car and a house are future goals to help us settle into married life when the time comes. It is difficult having a set income every month. At times, it seems as though we will never achieve our goals. However, we keep striving to have financial security/
Thanks for sharing! I suppose any type of pet (not just dogs) could be responsible for moving items around the house.
Thanks for the tip! I am not very visual or mechanical (and none of my research uncovered a dryer connection) so taking apart the dryer hadn't occurred to me. We just had to replace a 15 year-old dryer so there is no telling how many socks were contained there.
Great ideas-for a month or even a week, a great way to save some extra money!
Cutting back is not easy. I do not like bringing lunches to work, I prefer eating out. I understand that this is something that has to be done in order to reach my goals.
We don't have any of these stores or programs where we live, but our local grocery store chain, Publix often publishes coupons in its ad for $10 off a $50 gas gift card with a $50 grocery purchase. If you're already buying that much in groceries, and can find a gift card for the stations near you, it can help a bit.