The economic recession has come with its set of hardships and lessons that will stay with us for a while now. Those who lost their jobs realized the importance of savings. So whether it is your proactive nature or tough financial situation that is forcing you to spend wisely, the following tips will prove to be helpful.

Coupons

Gone are the days when coupon cutting was considered cheap. So cut coupons from newspapers and hunt for them online too. The rise of major coupon selling websites such as GroupOn, Living Social and Retail Me Not have made people even more aware of the phenomenon and given them easy access to lower priced options. The trick to use coupons in a beneficial way is to plan ahead. Yes, today coupons are available for almost every product and service category so note down your needs in advance and search for coupons. Use them when required and you’ll end up saving up to 90%!

Dine ‘Out’

When eating out, what is that you restaurants, cafes and other eateries for? Food and? Ambiance is the answer. Yes, it is that need for a change in your daily mundane lifestyle that drives you to go to restaurants. Save money by preparing something different to eat and go out for a picnic with family or friends to a location such as a park. If there is a convenient location near your office, go there twice or thrice a week with your lunch pack and feel the difference.

Carry Less Cash and no Plastic Money at all

Some people have a very freehand. The more cash they have in their wallets, the more they end up spending on a trip. If you are one of them, admit it and stop carrying cash around that you think will get spent up unnecessarily. And don’t forget to forget your plastic money at home!

Monitor Transportation

Transportation is one of the things that have a lot of room for saving. There are a lot of factors that can help you save on transportation. If you do want to save up on conveyance consider the mode you adopt to travel. If you have two vehicles at home, prefer the one that consumes less fuel even if it is your spouse’s. If you travel to a certain location on a daily basis, consider opting public transportation instead. If you drive to nearby locations such as your college every day, consider walking to them instead. Not only will you save up on fuel, you might even be able to replace the walk by tread-milling at the gym, which means saying bye to another cost.

Travel Smart

When visiting new places such as a city or even a country, keep your back pack stuffed with all the things that you think you could possibly need. Certain locations such as airports and other tourist populated areas charge higher than usual prices. So it is better to keep in stock items that you know you’ll need such as camera cells and mineral water.

Allan has been writing about personal finance for a couple of years. His favourite topics include savings strategies, term deposits and savings accounts. When he is not blogging, Allan loves spending time with his family.

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Life is full of mysterious setbacks and hiccups. Especially when it comes to finances, nothing is for certain and nothing should be taken for granted. A healthy financial plan should take unexpected costs into consideration, because so many times in life we find ourselves paying money for things we didn’t expect. These are called contingencies and a fraction of your Visa debit card balance should be set aside to pay for them. The following is a short list of unexpected but common occurences that you could find yourself subsidizing and what to do should they happen:

Car accident. One of the great risk/reward, promise/peril dichotomies of modern living is driving an automobile. Its usefulness to business, commerce, and personal convenience is widely established, yet within a period of just a few seconds, you can find yourself in the hole for thousands of dollars because of a single errant turn of the steering wheel. Car accidents are one of the leading causes of death and also one of the leading costs of insurance. If you get into a car accident, immediately contact your car insurance company. If you can afford it, increase your deductibles in order to reduce your premium. Also, drop unnecessary coverage features.

Personal injury. A broken leg, deep cut, or surgery can cost you thousands of dollars in medical bills. Ideally, you’ll have health care insurance to balance out these costs. If not, you could find yourself in debt for years, possibly decades. Even with health care, the deductibles for some plans are up to $500 or more and that’s not counting the added costs of physical therapy, additional surgeries, and the time you may need to take off from work in order to recuperate. Our bodies are fragile and a major injury could happen any day. You don’t need to be paranoid, just financially prepared. It may be worth hiring a personl injury attorney. Often times you can be awarded significant amounts of medical subsidies from the courts. At the very least, contact your health care insurer and find out what procedures will and won’t be covered.

The vagaries of Wall Street. For anyone who invested significant amounts of money in stocks in the past decade, the fluctuations of the market are no surprise. Many people lost thousands of dollars, even their entire retirement plans when the economy crashed. Hopefully, this served as a lesson learned in the fragility of man-made systems. But for people who are persistent and keep investing in risky stocks, it’s good to be sure you’re not using money you can’t afford to lose. Investing in the stock market is no get-rich-quick scheme. Be patient and smart and look for promising penny stocks and stocks that pay healthy dividends.

We all know the normal costs of living. What can pass under the radar are the unexpected costs of living—freak accidents, injuries, market crashes and other anomalies that while unusual are somehow par for the course. Be smart and set aside a fund to help pay for these costs so they don’t liquidate your bank account.

It’s is important to save money by managing money so that we can enjoy financial freedom in the future. Perhaps, you are just realizing how imperative it is to manage money wisely. If you’re a beginner, then are few simple tips that are easy to implement and will lead on the fast track to saving money.

Money Management List

Put together a list of your goals and of the reasons why you want to manage your money better. In order to gain motivation, you need to know why you’re doing this. Know that this is positive step forward and being able to manage money is a very valuable skill.

Take Inventory

Next, gather all your bills and receipts and spread them out. Take note of where your money is going. If you notice that too much of money is being wasted on trivial purchases, then change the way that you spend. Incorporate a budget. Make sure that your checkbook register is up to date. If you prefer not to use checks, then there are some great financial journals out there. Financial journals are also perfect for helping you budget and organize your bills. Calendars are a fantastic alternative to registers because you can see where your money is going day by day. Plus, you can keep it posted up as a reminder to stay on track.

Get Your Credit Report

Your credit report is essentially how you manage your money on paper. Get a copy of this to further understand what steps you need to take. You can request a free report every year from annualcreditreport.com.

Get Rid of Debt

After that, take a look at all your debt. If you have credit cards, stop using them unless you are able to pay off the entire balance each month. Locate the debt that has the highest balance, interest charges, annual fees and pay extra on it while paying the minimum on all your other accounts. The longer you carry a balance, the more interest you’ll be charged. As a result you will save money by paying off the account quicker. Once this debt is paid off, contribute the spare to the next biggest debt. Repeat the process until all your debt is paid off. This process can reduce and completely eliminate your debt within a few years.

Save The Rest!

A portion of what you have left over after paying all the bills needs to go into a savings account. If you don’t already have one, make sure you find one that pays you the highest interest and doesn’t charge you any monthly fees. It’s necessary to build a solid nest egg so you and your family will be taken care of in the future. Don’t blow any extra money you receive. Tax return money and that end of the year bonus needs to be put in a savings account. Money management takes self-control.

Since you’ve made the decision to manage your money wisely, pass down that information to your kids. Teach them from an early age so that they don’t fall into some of the same traps. Learning how money works will make our children more successful once they enter the real world.

Getting rich is simple if you watch what you spend. Many people waste money on non essential items when they could have been saving money and becoming financially secure!

Being frugal does not imply that you are cheap, selfish or mean. You are only being frugal because you are trying to save for something specific or clear a certain bill. To stay focused, you have to write all your goals down and know what you want to achieve. Through a lot of commitment, you will be in a good position to meet all your goals.

1. How To Be Frugal
First of all, you should calculate the amount of all the cash that you have on hand, and how often you will receive more cash. Once you finish, you need to compile a list of all the things that you need. Then, go through it again to confirm that all of these things are actually necessities. Once you have made the confirmation, it is advisable that you start calculating the cost of the different commodities that you have listed. This way, you will know the amount of cash that you have to spend every month.

2. Start Shopping!

Look for stores that have free samples and discounts. The free samples will come in handy, and you will not have to spend a single cent on these items. By searching and asking around, you will be able to find different places where you can be given different kinds of samples. The best place that you can go to is online. Once you have subscribed to various listservs and emails (if you don’t want your email full of junk, open an account just for this), all the items will be sent to you through your mail. To keep getting the deals, you’ll have to renew the subscription.

3. Go Green!
Use energy-saving equipment. These include solar panels and energy-saving bulbs. When using a panel, you won’t have to make any electricity payments. This is because you will be getting your energy from the sun! Just.make sure that it has been installed in a place where it can be fully exposed to the sun.

4. Medicinal Cures

When buying medication, you will notice that the brand-name items are more expensive than the generic brands. If you are really trying as much as you can to use less cash every day, you should really purchase the generic medicine. They are effective, and so long as you follow the instructions carefully, you will be able to heal all the same.

5. Bonus Tip
To really be frugal, invest the cash you have saved on a lucrative project, some promising stocks or at least a good savings account. This way, you will be making more cash at the end of the day. After you’ve worked hard enough, you can finally reap the rewards!

Taylor Levine writes about frugality, travels extensively and frequents Homeownersinsurance.org.

Saving money is important, but it takes more than just tucking away a portion of your paycheck to really be successful at it. Cutting corners to reduce your monthly bills, as well as other measures, such as spending less at the grocery store, are equally important. Here are some tips and hints to help you keep costs down when you head out to do your food shopping.

Use Coupons
You don’t have to be an extreme couponing master to take advantage of the money saving opportunities found in coupons, which can really make a significant difference in the total amount you spend at the grocery store. Your first, and often best, resource for coupons is still the Sunday edition of your local newspaper, but don’t forget to look into rewards programs and bonus shopping cards that might be offered by your favorite stores, and also check online for printable coupons. Great places to look are on manufacturer’s websites, and websites devoted to any favorite brands you might have, as well as your market’s website if they happen to have one. Another strategy for obtaining coupons is signing up for newsletters at these various websites, as they often feature money saving offers. If you’re concerned about the extra amount of email generated by this technique, you can create a separate folder just for this purpose and direct the mail straight into it, or, you can also create an entirely separate account specifically for them.

Purchase produce that’s in-season
If you’re craving a tomato in your salad in the middle of January, be prepared to pay substantially more for it than you would in the summer months. When you buy produce that’s been shipped in from wherever in the world it happens to be the proper growing season, not only are you paying more than you should, but you’re also taking part in a practice that’s damaging to the environment.

Plan your meals
We all know that it’s important to use a list when we go grocery shopping, and also to not shop when we’re hungry. Another effective way to avoid over spending is to create a weekly meal plan. Try sitting down at some point over the weekend, and working out a weeks worth of menus. You can then create a shopping list of necessary ingredients from the menu plan, fill in the blanks with other household items you might need, and you’re done!

Take full advantage of your freezer
Learn to “feed the freezer” at the same time you feed your family. Simply prepare more than you’ll need for each meal and freeze the extra portions for easy and quick meal options in the coming weeks. If you try this technique and find that you enjoy having the extra meals at hand, and if you have enough space, try Googling “once a month cooking” for a whole range of tips and tricks on how to prepare food in advance and stock your freezer to save money and time all month long.

Get gardening
It may seem like a foreign concept right now in the cold months of the year, but, spring really is right around the corner and there’s no time like the present to start planning a vegetable garden. Take advantage of the wealth of knowledge available online and in your local library if you’re a novice gardener, and make it your goal to enjoy fresh, delicious produce all summer long for a tiny fraction of what you would pay at the grocery store, or even at the farmer’s market, not to mention the satisfaction of knowing you grew it in your own soil with your own hands.

Keep these tips in mind to help you become more experienced at saving money on your grocery bill.

This guest post was written by Jennifer Allen for AdvanceMe Inc. America’s leading provider of cash advances for medium-small businesses.

Tis the season my friends… At this time of year it’s customary to eat as much turkey as is physically possible, lavish each other with expensive gifts, drink large quantities of whatever happens to be left in your drinks cabinet (normally something horrible like Cointreau) and then 6 days later repent everything and promise that this year will be the year you sort your life out and get back to the gym.

With Christmas soon to be here and gone it’s time to set out your agenda for 2012 and start formulating those all important New Year’s resolutions. Most people tend to stick with the same old mantras of ‘I will go to the gym at least once a week’, or ‘I’ll eat salad at least once a week’. As 2012 is looking like it’s going to be another difficult year financially, it’s time to sprinkle a little frugality and pragmatism into those New Year resolutions – after all, a healthy bank balance leads to a healthy peace of mind…

I will not impulse buy on a whim and a prayer.

Everyone is guilty of doing this on occasion, for most of us it happens just around payday. You may decide to go out on your lunch-break, or into town on a Saturday, and then all of a sudden you find yourself attracted to a shiny object and BHAM! You’re at the till handing over your credit card and buying something you don’t really need. Avoid impulse buying in 2012. If you need an item then that’s justifiable, but if you can live without it then don’t buy it – you’ll save lots in the long run by keeping your impulses in check.

I will keep a spreadsheet of all my outgoing and incoming. I will budget like a responsible adult.

OK so let’s be honest, spreadsheets aren’t cool or sexy, but if used correctly, they can be immensely helpful, especially for those living on a budget. Having lived in a shared house for many years I understand the pain of having to keep track of all the bills, as well as the individual debts that build up over time. Believe me, keeping a household account is a lot easier than fretting about how much that bill was, or who owes who what. It also allows you to work out the average monthly/annual cost of certain bills, helping you to budget for the future with a little more ease. Keeping a spreadsheet or a household account is all about sticking to a routine and being ordered. Keep your financial info up to date and stick with it.

I will set aside something every month for a rainy day

Let’s face up to reality here, the western global economy and its’ particular brand of consumer capitalism is unlikely to make a healthy recovery back to the affluent levels of 1996 anytime soon. Even the most optimistic outlook on the global economy suggests that most western economies will either stay stagnant or experience only slight growth throughout 2012. With that in mind it makes sense, if you haven’t already, to start planning for a rainy day. Setting up a standing order or using an online system to filter away a few dollars here and there is simple. Even if you only manage to save a few bucks each month it can still make all the difference for when that rainy day eventually arrives.

Keeping an eye on your finances is relatively easy – sticking to your budget is much harder. It takes a lot of willpower to keep things on track, but savings a little bit here and there, as well as being more fiscally responsible will pay dividends in the long run.

This article was written by John T on behalf of Confused.com, the car insurance comparison site.

The economy is forcing people to pay more attention to spending. Deciding if an item is a need or a want is hard, but necessary. Nobody likes to have to choose between paying a bill or buying a collectible, it’s just a sign of the times, so to speak. Follow these plans to keep the most money you can in your pocket!

1. Plan Your Day
Taking a few minutes to plan a shopping trip can save money on gas. Decide what stores you really need to visit. If you have another appointment in the same town, try to schedule them the same day. Plan out your route to limit the amount of traveling between points.

2. Check Ads
Coupons are a major craze today. Clippers accumulate dozens of the small slips of paper each week. While it seems 50 cents off a loaf of bread seems hardly worth the effort, some stores double the value.
Gathering several coupons for multiple items can add up to great savings. There are coupons for nearly everything you buy, from food to clothing to oil changes for your car. Always keeping an eye out for sales and coupons can help you cut your retail and grocery budget by a large chunk.

3. Cook What You Have
Cooking at home is a great way to save money. Eating out is quick and convenient after a long day of
work or school, but what most people don’t realize is, that by the time they spend $20 at the drive-thru window, they could buy all the ingredients for a delicious quick homemade meal at a fraction of the price. Making dinner at home not only saves money, it gives you time with your family and is healthier!

4. Make Small Repairs ASAP
Make sure there are no water leaks around the house. Just two leaky faucets that drip once a minute
waste approximately sixty-nine gallons of water each year. Check the faucet knobs – make sure they are still turning all the way off. Sometimes the rubber washers wear out inside the knob, allowing for loose fits and letting water drip, costing you money.

5. Turn off the Lights!
Check for lights, radios and televisions left on around the house. Any plugged-in item adds an amount to your power bill each month. As with other things, the small amounts aren’t visible alone, but when kept under control, you will see the difference.

6. Impulse Buys are Evil!
While waiting for the line to move, you pick up a tabloid from the rack, see an article you want to finish and next thing, it’s in the cart. These items are placed to catch your attention at the very end of your shopping trip. Retailers know that you will have to stand in line at some point. There, the temptations begin. News about celebrities you read once and throw away. That’s costly trash. Other items are placed there to capture your attention in hopes that you will pick them up as well. To keep money in your wallet, resist the urge!

7. Simple is Key
Saving money isn’t always easy, but it can be done with careful planning, good decision making and priorities. Coupons, eating at home and avoiding impulse buys can help you keep that money in your pocket for a rainy day.

Lara Roberts likes to write about personal finance & frequent Dentalinsurance.net

Everyday, people are buying unnecessary things, wasting their income and wondering why they can’t pay their bills. Sure, there are a lot of things you need, these are five things you don’t need but you’re probably wasting money on anyway.

Low-Fat, Foods

America is obsessed with these pseudo-health products that, if you look at the ingredients, are more likely to cause you cancer at the expense of 10-50 calories. Not only that, but this beautiful little buzzword can rack up prices far beyond the normal product’s price. Instead of spending an extra $0.50 or $1 on low-fat, just jog around for a minute and burn the 10-50 calories you would have saved.

Taking Your Car to The Dealer

Everyone expects the car dealer to know more about your car than any other repair shop. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but one thing is for certain. The dealership knows you think this, and they are going to raise their prices because of this reputation. If your car is under warranty, or the dealership really is the only one who can fix the car (which is so rare!), then take it to the dealership. But if you just need a regular repair, take it to the no-name repair shop. He’ll be happy for the work, and you’ll be happy with the lower price.

Bottled Water and Cups of Coffee

Both of these are so similar that they had to be put together. When you buy bottled water, 90% of the price is from the plastic; that means your $1 bottled water should really cost $0.10. Next time you want water, get a reusable bottle, canteen or something else to hold the water and get it from the tap.

Coffee is the same thing. A cup of coffee that costs about $1 to $3, or more if you go to a popular chain or order some concoction that takes a full minute to say, would cost about $0.20 to $0.30 at home. Get a thermos, fill it up, and laugh at everyone else spending away their entire check on these expensive little cups.

Precut Fruits and Vegetables

When you go to the food store, you are inevitably going to see the precut fruits and vegetables. Sure, they look better, and some of the processing work is done for you, but how much work would it have been to bite into a strawberry or cut open a melon? According to the store, it’s so much that they can charge 33% to 50% more than the laymen’s full fruits and vegetables. Just bring home the non-cut version next time, do the work, and save yourself some cash.

ATM Fees

When you would rather visit a closer ATM that isn’t connected to your bank, you have to spend $3.43 on average. Maybe that doesn’t seem like much, but multiply that by 52, and you are spending over $175 a year. Just go to the bank and keep some cash in your pocket.

Conclusion

Avoid these costs and you will have more money and be less likely to need short term credit or cashflow issues. Most of the items on this list seem a little more convenient, but when you compare your savings versus how much time it takes to cut your own veggies or make your own coffee, you will be sure to find that these convenience items just aren’t worth it. Just look at your life, and see what other things you are spending too much money on.

Today’s economic conditions have created challenges as well as opportunities with the different methods of property investing. There are basically two methods of property investing; direct and indirect. Direct property investment is when a buyer purchases the title or interests in the property. The buyer or interest holder is responsible for all costs related to the property. The benefit of direct purchasing is that all profits, tax and business deductions attached to the property belong to the direct buyer or interest holder. Indirect property investing is similar to purchasing shares where, a portion of the investment is owned in the form of an investor’s interest.

Typically, financial returns for the investment are paid back over a specified period of time. The indirect method of property investing allows the investor to eliminate the large out of pocket capital, compared to direct investing. In most cases it also allows the investor a quick method to liquidate the investment without a great deal of difficulty.

Whether an investor is looking for a property investment or income generating potential, the value of the property in most cases will affect the investment agreement. There are several methods of valuing properties, and as an investor, you need to understand how these methods work and more important how they affect your property investment. The most common method is the market value determination, using sales data or statistics for similar property in the area. This method actually defines what a buyer is willing to pay for the property.

For an income producing property the value method uses the incoming cash or rent against the cost of the property to determine its value. Income generating properties are typically calculated for commercial use, and can be applied to residential income properties as well. The property’s income stream is an added business value to the overall property value at the time of sale or leveraging capital financing.

Property investing is similar to purchasing stock, the goal is to buy low and sell high. Finding a property with little or no renovation requirements may be ideal for an investor looking to turn the property quickly. Depending on the property, renovations that enhance the property’s value may increase the amount of profits at the time of sale. Long term property investors build equity slowly overtime increasing the potential payouts at the time of sale. Selecting the right property investment comes down to your preference and comfort and your short or long term goals for profit.

Property Investments:

Project property investing is a method of property investing when a management group actually maintains a single or group of real estate properties. This type of property investment allows the investor the financial benefit in the form of rental income without direct landlord or ownership burdens. Benefits for the investor are the management company handles all transactions, ensuring the rental units are filled to capacity.

Commercial:

Commercial property investing is one of the most preferred types of property investments due to the types of businesses, which operate continually throughout the year earning profits. They include medical centers, travel destination hotels, shopping malls, and office buildings located in areas specifically zoned for commercial business only. Financial returns on this type of property investing are normally high even during low economic conditions, making it an ideal property investment.

Residential:

Residential property investing is for some investors a lucrative form of rental income. Private owners leverage their primary residential equity investing in a second property to generate a supplemental cash flow, while continuing to build equity in both properties. Incentives for the second residential property investing are the tax deductions for maintaining the rental property.

Land:

Land property investing can be for either residential or commercial properties. The type of building depends on the location and zoning of the area. There are several options with land property investing; from earning equity on the improved land, selling the land for profit or investing in a real estate venture for financial gains in the forms of business income or a return of investment such as dividends.

For those who are looking to invest in property, there are plenty of options that allow you to choose what works for you. Whether you want to be a direct or indirect investor and whether you want to invest in residential or commercial properties. Before deciding to put your money into your property investment, weigh your options and develop a plan that works for you.

Author Gina Patterson is a financial advisor and writer for Granite Card, a place to get instant approval credit cards for those who may have damaged credit history.

As we move through life, we sometimes find ourselves thinking about what we would have done differently if given the chance to do it all over again. One area that I find I think about most is in relation to finances.

Although little can be done today about the what-if’s of yesterday, if I had the opportunity to teach my college self anything, it would have to do with how to better handle finances. It really is true that the decisions we make early in life, can have a major effect on how we live in the future.

Stay Out of Debt

The best piece of advice I would give to my college self would be to stay out of debt. It seems that college students are prime targets for credit card companies. The lure of easy money and the ability to purchase things without actually having to have the cash available to do so is a hard temptation to resist. If you must have a credit card, click here first to compare interest rates and terms.

Credit card debt, however, can lock you into years and years of increasing payments if it isn’t put under control immediately or better yet, not entered into at all. Many students today are leaving college with debt from both student loans and credit cards putting them already behind the 8-ball before they even earn their first real paycheck. Therefore, it’s important to steer clear of debt. Otherwise, you could find yourself spending the next decade or longer just trying to pay it off.

Start Saving Early

Although saving money is the furthest thing from most college students minds, it is essential to get into the good habit of setting at least some money aside on a regular basis. By initiating this habit early in life, it is likely that you will continue to practice good savings habits throughout your entire life. And this is essential if you want to live a comfortable lifestyle in retirement or even before.

Nobody ever said that you had to wait until you turn 65 to retire. And, by starting to save money early you could very well have the opportunity to retire at an age much younger than 65. A nice nest egg will give you the choice of how and where you want to live and the first step to getting there is to begin saving at an early age even while still in college.

Purchase a Home

As a college student, buying real estate was nowhere close to being on my radar screen. In fact, even the idea of renting a small apartment was iffy. Back in those days, though, it was certainly great to have my own place – even though, unfortunately, it really wasn’t my place.

The apartment I rented belonged to my landlord and that landlord collected rent from me, as well as all of his other tenants month after month after month. Because of that, I helped my landlord build equity in his property and to move closer to owning the property free and clear.

Over the years, I’ve realized that if only I had purchased my home earlier in life, I too would have equity built in that property and would likely be very close to owning the property free and clear.

One reason that many young people shy away from purchasing a home versus renting is that they feel they don’t have enough money saved for a down payment. But, with today’s first time home buyer deals, coupled with low interest rates, owning a home could be much easier than you think. If you are able to lock into a low fixed rate mortgage, you may even end up paying far less in mortgage payments than you would to rent an apartment that is owned by someone else!

For those who are in college today, the financial picture in the economy is far different than it was in the past. But there are still great opportunities out there to save and invest – while keeping yourself as far away as possible from debt.

When not writing finance articles for blogs and online publications George Gallagher helps graduates find student loan consolidation with not-for-profit credit unions.