Tips to save dollars during recession

sara

All of us have realized the importance of savings in a hard way. The only good that recession has done to us is that it has helped us understand the necessity of savings. With severe unemployment and loss of homes, it is better to adopt a frugal lifestyle for the time being. People are considering it irresponsible to spend more in these days of financial crisis.

We have to agree that savings is a good habit. If you haven't started savings yet, check out the given tips which may help you start saving:

Consumer Debts: It is a debt used to fund consumption rather than investment and is outstanding. This debt includes automobile loans, student loans and credit card balances. These loans mainly come up at a high interest rate. So, getting rid of these debts would be a better option during recession. Try and pay off your existing consumer debts.

Secondary source of income: An extra income source will help you in paying off your existing debts or help you increase your savings. Thus, though small, a secondary income source would ultimately help you in a great way. Unemployment has become very common these days. This secondary source of income would help you avoid the financial crisis in case you lose your job.

Maintain a budget: Plan your budget with the starting of a new month. Make a list of all your expenses and distribute the required money for it. Start a small emergency fund and allocate a certain amount of money into it every month which may help you during any financial crisis.

Guest

That's a great topic that you've started Sara. These are few tips from my end:

Cars and gases: We can save quite a lot of money on cars and gases. Walk as much as possible and do not use your car for traveling short distances. You can even use the public transport. Also, take the most efficient route while you're traveling in your car. Use the discount cards available at the grocery store to buy gas. It will help you save quite some dollars.
Cooking and Eating: We spend a lot of money on cooking and eating out, isn't it? Cutting down on fast food will help us in saving our hard earned money. Rather than eating out every alternate day, you can eat out once a week. You can carry your lunch when you go for work. This will help you utilize the leftovers of the last night and will also save your money as you won't have to buy your lunch.
Utilities: Using the utilities efficiently can also help us in saving our hard earned dollars. Electric goods should be efficiently used. Switch off the lights during the daytime and turn off all the electrical items when you're are planning to go out. You can line dry your clothes when it's summer. Most of us have the bad habit of leaving the water running when we're brushing our teeth or rinsing dishes. Change your habit and save water.

smithsussane · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks Sara and Rebecca for the tips. I would like to add some more to those tips:

Make a list: Before you go out for shopping, make a list of the items you would like to buy. When you reach the mall, stick to the list rather than get tempted to purchase whatever you see around.

Buy generic items: All of us like to purchase branded goods like Christian Dior, GAP, Cheerios, etc. isn't it? But if we start buying the generic items, we could save around $20-$30 on each of the items.

Cancel memberships: If you are not using the gym or the library, then cancel the membership. This will help you save the membership fees. You can rather go for jogging or biking to keep yourself fit.

Samantha · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:23 am Post subject:

Well, experts say that the recession is over. But the aftereffects continue to influence us in one way or the other. So, one should have better control over his money to survive the aftereffects of recession. Here are a few tips on how you can do it.

Cut down home energy bills: Go for a home energy audit using the Home Energy Saver tool available at the website of US Department of Energy. Few changes like setting your thermostat as low as is feasible in winter and as high as possible in summer, bleeding trapped air from hot-water radiators and cleaning furnaces at regular intervals can reduce your energy costs.

Reduce cell phone bills: You can contact your cell phone provider and inquire about any special plans which can help you trim your monthly bill. If you have landline telephones apart from cell phones, you may use any one to minimize your expenses.

Manage credit cards wisely: If you have multiple credit cards and can't manage your monthly payments well, then try consolidating your cards into a single monthly payment. You can even negotiate a low interest rate with your credit card issuer. However, if you still have problems making monthly payments, you may enroll in a debt settlement program and clear your bills by paying much less than you actually owe.

Since Christmas and New Year celebrations are on the way, keeping you busy shopping, just make sure you don't go overboard and charge on your credit cards more than you can afford to pay back.

I hope you find the tips helpful Smile

riseabove · Joined: 09 Nov 2009 Posts: 70 12.67 Dollars($)

Personally I've found that two things in particular have helped me in managing my finances more effectively.

1. Budgeting, as mentioned above a budget is a surprisingly simple but effective tool. At the very least it forces you to think carefully and honestly about what you're doing with your money. It also tells you if your missing something or not, because if you're going over budget you've either forgottenn to accpunt for something, been unrealistic or aren't sticking to it!

2. Creating a Bills account. Work out on average what your yearly spend on utilities, insurances and other necessesary costs are. Be honest and realistic and try to include everything that you can think of, then work it out on a monthly, fortnightly or weekly basis depending on your pay cycle.

Set up an automatic transfer from the account your pay goes into over to the Bills account so you dont forget to do it each pay.

this has really helped me as i no longer fear the power or phone bill coming in at a bad time - there's money already set aside for it so when it comes in I'm ready to pay it.

As a side benefit this will help your credit rating as well - everyone loves somebody that pays, in full and on time.

simple tools really, but very effective.

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