Financial Tips and Advice

Stop feeling as if your forking out cash at the grocery store instead go out feeling as if you saved! I use to cry in the check out line dreading the instant they rang in the total. You hear the beep beep and want to just declare “never mind I don’t need food that bad” the problem is you do! My whole approach to shopping has evolved I now look forward to the moment when they hand me the register receipt in order to look at exactly how much I was able to save. Most stores like Safeway and Albertsons contain a percentage on the bottom which says you saved 79% today! That’s the number I look forward to seeing!

Stock Pile – The whole thing starts off with the stock pile! The way it works is you always want to use a manufactured coupon along with a store coupon. As an example if canned corn is on sale for $.99 regularly priced at $1.25 you saved $.26 today. Now add a manufactured coupon on top of that for $.75 off canned corn… you just saved $1.06 making your canned corn only $.19 cents today. Exactly why you only buy two cans for dinner this evening buy 25-30 cans. Next week when you need that can for supper you simply go into your stock pile and find them at a rock bottom price. Manufactured coupons rotate on a 3 month cycle quickly you will start noticing any time the right time to buy is.

Now imagine doing that for every single product in your pantry laundry detergent, tissue paper, tooth brushes. Think about products with long expiration dates if not one at all. So tell me one reason why you wouldn’t want to stock up when prices were at the lowest price.

Next tip – buy what’s on sale this week! Once a week all grocery stores have new ads come out for the grocery store. Take notice which fruit and veggies are on sale if oranges are on sale this week buy oranges for the family. Next week pears will probably be on sale. Check your meat dept for what is on sale and base your 7days meal on what is on sale. If chicken is a superb price that day don’t even think about buying just one buy plenty of them and deep freeze the remainder.

If this is couponing 101 for you then please keep in mind the first 3 months you won’t see much of a savings.First you will need to have a stock pile going to see the truly big cost savings. For those who improve you’re shopping habits to only buy what’s on sale it is possible to increase the amount of food you bring home for half the purchase price. After you have an excellent stock pile started you’ll begin to see the personal savings, I began seeing it towards the end of month two. I use to buy every thing on my list it just didn’t make any difference whether it was on sale or not. Now I really shy away at the idea of paying full price for something.

Where to get coupons? Without a doubt there is the newspaper. You will find places online like coupons.com or smartsource.com. If you love to find out by seeing videos you can watch couponing videos. Begin checking out your grocery store from time to time there are coupons right next to the products you’re purchasing. Pay attention quickly you will start to see coupons everywhere you look. Rapidly you will start to save big!

There is no need to mention that in our time it is pretty tough to estimate the exact sum of money you will need on college educations. And the reason is very simple – college education costs are constantly increasing.

When you start considering potential variants, you need to realize that not everyone can go to Harvard or some other elite private university. It should be also mentioned that state colleges costs are significantly lower and as concerning community colleges, there is a need to add that they practically cost nothing at all. That is the reason why you need to look through all existing options before you make your last choice.

Here are some helpful recommendations for you to follow that will assist you to save money for college education.

To start with, it is recommended to open a 529 college savings account. To go into more details there is a need to indicate that these are free accounts that allow you to invest money. Your kids will be able to use this money for college expenses tax-free when the time comes. It should be added that such accounts are incredibly easy to open. The only thing you will have to do is filling out a form.

You should also take into consideration that these plans are administered by the state and an investment adviser that the state has preferred.

The second step for you to make is determining the sum of money you can afford to set aside into the 529 college savings account on a monthly basis. It should be pointed out that it is better to make contributions to direct deposit, from your paycheck or through your checking account. Making these contributions must become a habit for you. In point of fact, it doesn’t really matter how much money you can save each month, the key thing for you to realize is that you need to continue making monthly contributions month after month, year after year.

One more great advice to follow is adding an extra $100 to the 529 college savings account every year on your child’s birthday. Besides, you may ask family to contribute money to the account on his/her birthday instead of buying birthday presents (but you can do this only if your child is very young and doesn’t care about gifts).

If you are looking for more tips on college saving tips visit us!

How to manage my finances? If you want to find out the answer to this question, click the link!

More money management information here!

During college, a student tends to take money for granted because of  all the excitement generated by the activities, studying  and hanging out with friends.

You would not want to put yourself in debt or overspend your allowance that is why you need to keep a close watch of your spending habits.

Here is an easy to follow guide on how a college student can save up those hard-earned bucks:

1.    Make a list of your expenses.

By now, you should know how much money you expect to have for each week or month that you have classes. The money that you will live on could be from your parents, your part-time work or a student loan.

List down your spending essentials like food, school supplies and books. This should give you an idea of how much you would get to spend each week.

Do not forget to save some petty cash for unexpected expenses.

2.    Avoid using your credit or debit cards.

It would be easier if you do not have a credit or a debit card with you all the time. Just keep them handy for a big expense that you really do not have cash for.

For small items that you need to purchase, it is better to still use the cash that you have with you to keep yourself from overspending.

3.    Eat well.

Eating out a lot might save you time but it will definitely not save you money. In the long run, it will be more costly for you to eat each meal at fast food restaurants.

Instead, you can spend your food money on groceries and you can just eat in your dorm or apartment; and even pack your lunch when you have classes. With the right meal-planning, you would not just save  money but you would also get to  eat healthier.

4. Treat yourself once in a while.

By following this guide and keeping your luxury items to a minimum, you can save yourself a lot of money while studying for college. Who knows, you might even save enough to buy yourself a big item that otherwise, you would not even have the money for?

Rebates have become increasingly popular in the last few years on a lot of items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 are not uncommon.

you must have even seen items advertised as “free after rebate”. Do these rebates come under the heading of “too good to be true”? Some of them do and there are “catches” to watch out for but if you are careful, rebates can help you get some really good deals.

The way a rebate works is that you pay the listed price for an item then mail in a form and the bar code to the manufacturer and they send you a refund thus reducing the price of what you paid for the item except with a time delay of several weeks.

Rule #1. Rebates from reputable companies are usually just fine.

You can be pretty sure you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you should probably not count on getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If you really want the product and are OK with paying the price listed then buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.

Rule #2. Check rebate expiration dates.

Many times products will stay on the shelf of a retailer after the date for sending in the rebate offer has expired so check that date carefully.

Rule #3. Be sure you have all the forms required to file for the rebate before you leave the store.

Rebates will almost always require a form to be filled out, a receipt for the purchase and a bar code.

Rule #4. Back up your rebate claim.

Make copies of everything you send in to get your rebate including the bar code. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time and if the rebate is for $50 it’s worth the trouble to back up your claim.

Have you ever noticed that the things you buy every week at the grocery and hardware stores go up a few cents between shopping trips? Not by much…just by a little each week but they continue to creep up and up.

All it takes for the price to jump up by a lot is a little hiccup in the world wide market, note the price of gasoline as it relates to world affairs.

There is a way that we can keep these price increases from impacting our personal finances so much and that is by buying in quantity and finding the best possible prices for the things we use and will continue to use everyday… things that will keep just as well on the shelves in our homes as it does on the shelves at the grocery store or hardware store.

For instance, dog food and cat food costs about 10% less when bought by the case than it does when bought at the single can price and if you wait for close out prices you save a lot more than that.

Set aside some space in your home and make a list of things that you use regularly which will not spoil. Any grain or grain products will need to be stored in airtight containers that rats can’t get into so keep that in mind.

Then set out to find the best prices you can get on quantity purchases of such things as bathroom items and dry and canned food.

You will be surprised at how much you can save by buying a twenty pound bag of rice as opposed to a one pound bag but don’t forget that it must be kept in a rat proof container.

You can buy some clothing items such as men’s socks and underwear because those styles don’t change, avoid buying children’s and women’s clothing, those styles change and sizes change too drastically.

Try to acquire and keep a two year supply of these items and you can save hundreds of dollars.

Incoming search terms:

• Tips on how to save and spend wisely

You say you know where your money goes and you don’t need it all written down to keep up with it? I issue you this challenge. Keep track of every penny you spend for one month and I do mean every penny.

You will be shocked at what the itty-bitty expenses add up to. Take the total you spent on just one unnecessary item for the month, multiply it by 12 for months in a year and multiply the result by 5 to represent 5 years.

That is how much you could have saved AND drawn interest on in just five years. That, my friend, is the very reason all of us need a budget.

If we can get control of the small expenses that really don’t matter to the overall scheme of our lives, we can enjoy financial success.

The little things really do count. Cutting what you spend on lunch from five dollars a day to three dollars a day on every work day in a five day work week saves $10 a week… $40 a month… $480 a year… $2400 in five years….plus interest.

See what I mean… it really IS the little things and you still eat lunch everyday AND that was only one place to save money in your daily living without doing without one thing you really need. There are a lot of places to cut expenses if you look for them.

Set some specific long term and short term goals. There are no wrong answers here. If it’s important to you, then it’s important period.

If you want to be able to make a down payment on a house, start a college fund for your kids, buy a sports car, take a vacation to Aruba… anything… then that is your goal and your reason to get a handle on your financial situation now.

Answer these questions truthfully:

1.)    Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?

2.)    Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?

3.)    Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?

4.)    Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?

5.)    Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?

If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.

This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement. You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items that really don’t matter in the long run.

Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.

Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for.

When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.

If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will mend your financial fences and your relationships.