Saving Money

101 Ways To Save Money in Everyday Life

May 15, 2012
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101 Ways To Save Money in Everyday Life

This is a follow-up post from the earlier listing of 80 ways to lose money. This time, I am going to increase the number of tips to 101 because these are about saving money (and not losing). Here are 101 ways to save money which are easy to implement as well. Switch off the fan, air conditioner when you leave a room. Apply various driving techniques to save on gas cost. Use fans which rotate when winds blow as you need no electricity for them. Walk as much as you can and use public transport which cost less and save gas. Close the water faucet while brushing. See – Save water, Save money. Close the shower when applying soap or shampoo. Drink lots of cold water to keep your body temperature cool and reduce the need for air conditioning. Use fans instead of air conditioners when it is not too hot. Wash your car or other things on your lawn so don’t need to water them again. Water the lawn or the plants before sunrise or after sunset, to keep air cool and prevent wastage of water. Instead of washing clothes according to color, separately wash the clothes that lose color and wash

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How Smart Phones Can Help Manage Finances

May 7, 2012
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How Smart Phones Can Help Manage Finances

Last month, my wife and I had dinner with our friends who came down from San Francisco. We talked about a lot of things, including new technologies. My friend mentioned how important Blackberry was for him because he’s able to accomplish so many tasks with such a handy device. I also commented about my iPhone. Then it hit me. What could happen to the world without these smart phones? I don’t want to exaggerate things, but I think it’s time we admit to ourselves we owe so many things to these diminutive devices. For me, one of their biggest uses is helping you manage finances well, wherever you are at. You can keep track of your expenses We have Mint app installed on both our iPhone, she likes it very much. After all, she can keep track of her expenses. The app allows her to send alerts whenever she needs to pay some bills, as well as schedule them beforehand (such as monthly, daily, or weekly). I also liked it because we can both keep track of our credit cards and my investments on the go. Some of my friends are also using other apps such as Yodlee and Easy Bills. They

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Saving Money or Earning Money Where to Put your Priority?

April 30, 2012
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Saving Money or Earning Money Where to Put your Priority?

Many times this question arises in our mind that which is good, saving more money or, earning more money? First of all, this is not a competition between the two. In-fact to reach financial independence, you need to practice both efficiently. The problem comes when you are choosing one over the other (or, giving priority on one over the other) due to limited time at hand. Let’s see what are the main time-taking tasks involve in a typical saving money venture. Creating budget Tracking every penny Analyzing spending pattern to figure out cost saving opportunity Family education and encouragement Having a lot of manual labor to cut cost Its true there are certain money-saving activities that can be performed without spending much time, for example, buying a generic store brand instead of name brands does not take any extra time, but saves some money. Still, th overall money-saving exercise is in-deed time taking. Now let’s see what are the various tasks involved in earning more money which take time to accomplish. Gather skills, take training, educate yourself Involve in side income venture Take a second job Working perhaps longer hours at work for a raise/over-time. Clearly it’s often a  raise against

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Live Like in Early 19th Century to Become Debt Free

April 4, 2012
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Live Like in Early 19th Century to Become Debt Free

In my about page, I mentioned I can’t write about how you come out of debt, as I never have been in debt. I am rather, much comfortable in sharing ideas of avoiding debt trap and remaining debt free. Well, for this article I am going against that stated direction because, when I saw my neighbor fishing at a nearby lake few days back, an idea stuck my mind - What if people in debt start making their own food? The way our great grandparents did in early 19th century, and, adopt their life-style? Will it accelerate debt recovery? This morning I was reading various debt related blog posts.  All views were about concept of cost cutting and increasing income with variation in pitches. What about a situation where you don’t have control over these two things? I asked myself. Being a two member family, renting out, it’s very easy for us to cut cost and control spending. Being a hi-tech worker and having 12 years of experience in designing software programs also give me enough opportunity to remain employed even in a dull economy. Your situation could be completely different, I thought. You may not be able to increase your income, you may have a large

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10 Tips to Reduce International Travel Expenses

March 2, 2012
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10 Tips to Reduce International Travel Expenses

Once in a while, we travel to other parts of the world. It’s a great pleasure for us since, besides being able to get away from work and other responsibilities, we’re able to learn so many things about other people’s cultures, traditions, and lifestyle. But then again, traveling without money is completely futile and dangerous, right? It definitely pays to be wise. If you’re planning to travel abroad, you may want to remind yourself of the following tips: 1. Be absolutely prepared Sometimes it’s fun to be spontaneous, but do it if you already have a LOT of money in your bank account. Otherwise, you have to properly plan the trip. Here are some of the things you have to prepare for: • Accommodation • Cost of travel (including within the country, such as buses, trains, etc.) • Food • Destinations • Length of the trip • People going with you It is always advisable to create a travel plan, and make sure that you begin at least 6 months to a year. The earlier you book you flight, more discount you’ll receive. There are other ways to get cheap flight tickets. Do not lose your passport, visa, identity card

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8 Winter Car Care Secrets to Save You Money

February 16, 2012
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8 Winter Car Care Secrets to Save You Money

The following is a guest post from Micah Moon, who talks about winter car care in this article. There’s no doubt the same principles that apply to car care in the summer do not apply in the colder winter months. While your car zipped through summer with only the sound of the air conditioning buzzing in your ear, now that the winter chill is upon us, you may notice a few differences in the way your car handles and sounds. Follow these eight winter car care secrets to save you money and extend the life of your car. 1. Tune it up. A tune-up at the beginning of the season is possibly the best thing you can do for your car before winter begins. In colder temperatures, the metal on your car expands and contracts causing belts to squeak, gears to stick and a lag in transmission shifting. A seasonal tune-up will help prevent squeaking, scraping and sticking, and prevent additional damage that often costs a lot of money to repair. 2. Oil it up. Make sure to get an oil change at the beginning of the winter season. This is important because there is a special grade of engine oil to use during the winter that offers a

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Cost Cutting Ideas We Can Learn From India

February 13, 2012
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The following is a guest post from an American, Kristy, who now lives in India, just the opposite of us. Enjoy reading. When I lived in the United States I listened closely to all the things we were taught of saving money and energy and the environment. Those of you who live there know very well how many commercials run and how many innuendo’s there are in everyday television shows. Even when I followed all the tips such as replacing my light bulbs with incandescent lights, turning off the water while I was brushing my teeth and other such money saving tips my light bills were still too high. I tried all of the usual tips but nothing seemed to lower that one massive bill enough. In the pursuit of a life change and to alleviate some of the problems I was having in my personal life I decided to move to India and marry my long time fiancé. I knew ahead of time how the lifestyle was going to be but I didn’t fully understand just how green I would be living once I got here. It’s taught me quite a bit and those tips are well worth sharing

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Ways to Lower Your Cell Phone Cost

February 7, 2012
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Ways to Lower Your Cell Phone Cost

Let’s see how much we spend on cell phones. I have a $39.99 plan along with a $15 per month data plan for my iPhone. SMB has  a un-smart phone which is $39.99 per month. With discounts, taxes, service charges, we pay $110 per month. Some months the charges get higher. Let’s look at the common causes of higher than normal charge. 1. Data charges when SMB checks her email etc from outside of Wi-Fi area, cost is $1 for up to 1 MB of data. This is frustrating, as when you click on your email icon, even if accidentally, you are slapped with a $1 fee. 2. Cost for test messages. We do not have text plans (which costs $5 per month) rather, we pay for per-use. For At&T it’s 20 cents per text, you receive or you send. That means when you send a text message and get a reply, phone company earn 80 cents, 40 cents from each of the parties. 3. Going over free talk time. It happened only once, few years back when I was frantically taking interviews for a new job.  I went over the free minutes (400 minutes in our case) and paid hefty penalty. I

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8 Tricks to Get Cheap Flight Tickets

January 23, 2012
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8 Tricks to Get Cheap Flight Tickets

I love great deals, especially if they are for flight tickets. Just imagine being able to travel to your destinations at the lowest possible cost. But, a bargain flight ticket is difficult to score. They seem to be very elusive, and usually, even if we think we already have a bargain, we realize that we do not because a much cheaper offer comes later on. Over the years, however, I learned to be more observant, practical, and strategic with my flight ticket approaches. They became some of my techniques in looking for cheap flights. If you want to get them at a bargain—you surely want to—take note of these tips: 1. Do not go for business or first class Even if I am doing business I do not fly on business or first class. Your business partners would not know that you are flying on economy anyway. If you do not like to look so haggard for your meeting, just give yourself at least a day or 6 hours after the plane has landed to sleep for a bit and freshen up. After all, these two types of seats are the most expensive. Even if they drop in prices, they

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How to Keep Heating Bills Low This Winter

January 6, 2012
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How to Keep Heating Bills Low This Winter

This holiday we had a visitor, an old friend from my childhood.  He and his family currently live in Michigan. While Florida presented them a welcome change of weather, they in turn gave me this frugal story of theirs to keep home heating bills under control.  I was pondering this idea for last few days and ultimately asked for his suggestion. Having a reputation in our dorm for his legendary frugality, this friend of mine is the ultimate authority in cost cutting. Here are some of the techniques he suggests employing at your residence. When using electricity When your thermostat is the one and only option to warm your home. Controlling the thermostat Set it a few degrees lower than you normally do in winter. This will require less energy consumption to heat your home.  If you cannot turn off the heat while you are away, consider setting the thermostat even lower. This will help in lowering the heating bills as well as maintaining a suitable temperature in the house. Ensure proper room insulation Ensure energy is not leaking through the windows. Check and make sure the windows and doors are completely sealed and there’s no space under the doors. The windows should

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