The best money advice I can offer you is watch how you spend your money. Yes, use your brain tools - your conscious awareness.
Make saving money a game. Yes, you can! And, the more you do it the better you will get at it.
I am a big fan of declaring one day a week as a no spend day. If you have a low tolerance to saving make it a day your more likely to stay home. Do something around the house that will keep you busy.
Keep all of your coupons in your purse. I have been so mad when I have gone shopping and really needed something and realized on check-out that the coupon was at home.
Some people get so good at couponing that they can even shop at home. But, be careful not to over-spend your budget or start hoarding - cause - that is not cool!
Remember - always buy what you need - not - always what you want.
Keep track of how you spend your money. If you use your air-miles visa as a debit card and your disciplined enough to pay it off the moment you get home - great - otherwise don't use it. Never again pay a cent in interest!
Always try and keep a little money for a rainy day. Maybe put a few dollars every month in a tax free savings account. So, if you do run into trouble you can always dig into that.
Some people go to such classy places to eat and you end up paying a huge amount of money out of pocket to do that. If you do need to eat out look for a place that has good food but is 1/2 the price of what you have been paying.
Teach yourself how to sell things you don't need anymore. I am bad at this because I have never done it. But, I will research how to sell things on-line. In Canada we have free classified newspapers and I think for things like used electronics that is the way to go.
Treat yourself once in awhile to something nice - or - you will throw your budget out the window!
You need to be learning how to be frugal but not cheap - but hey - you can do it!
I stopped buying coffee's so that is a huge savings for me.
Watch all the free stuff on TV. There are also a lot of free legal downloads now and you just put them on your data stick. And, walla, no more paper-view movies. That is a huge savings. Or just go to your local library and take out some movies. Again - free is the operative word here.
The trick is to have a little saved at the end of the month and not to have borrowed from credit lines, visa's, or have used your over-draft protection.
If you do need to dip into your credit line for just a little amount then you know you have to tighten the belt strings the next month. Eventually, you will get the hang of it. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Always use the bank machine where you do your banking. I have a banking package that allows me to go to one or two other types of inter-act machines. But, I just refuse to do that. A good walk to my bank is healthy and saves me an interest charge.
Never - ever - use payday loan places! No way. Do you realize that they will charge you interest rates that should be outlawed. Do you really want to pay 29% interest! No way!
If you do need to go on a much needed vacation check out all the deals that you can find. Compare prices. See if you can travel using your airmiles - maybe - you will get your trip for free. That happened to me once. I used my visa airmiles and then my income tax return and I came back from Las Vegas with money in my pocket. But, again you need to be really disciplined about it.
Remember - brain tools - conscious awareness - get rid of those expensive bad habits now!
Those are my tips for today.
Cheers
Just Me - Your Diva Money Saver
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