A Personal finance blog for saving money and earning more and thus having a better life
Like most people, I read a lot of books about money but never actually do anything afterward. That’s about to change. One of my new objectives is to read books about money and put them into action.
I currently rate Rich Dad Poor Dad as my number one personal finance book (there is a reason it is the top-selling personal finance book). Given that I rate it so highly, it feels right that this is the first book that I try and put into action.
This topic has not been covered as widely as it should have been. Let’s gain some insight into the high-skill visa workers’ life and see how well they live on less than $10,000 a year while saving a fortune. Most of us would be amazed to learn about living such a life here in the United States!
Every year, thousands of high-skilled and executive class temporary visa holders (H and L classes) travel to this country. Some of them stay back, apply for residency and eventually citizenship but, the majority go back to the home country with the money saved during their stay here in the US.
The more money you have, the more you tend to spend. Yet, many of the wealthy individuals I have observed are surprisingly frugal. Being frugal is probably one of the reasons they have accumulated significant wealth over time.
It’s even surprising that these wealthy people practice such frugal habits that ordinary people don’t. They drive used cars, they have homes which are just right for their family sizes. You often see them bargain shopping and not living an extravagant life. Rather the rich accumulate money and wealth for a cause. It’s the delayed gratification that made them accumulate wealth in the first place.
You might think this is a habit of those who have low incomes, but over 50% of coupons are used by households that have an annual income greater than $125,000. This is because the wealthiest people in the world take the time to ensure their money goes further, and ‘coupon-ing’ is an excellent way to do this. If you’re buying amenities that you know you’ll always need, coupons are the best way to bulk buy items too (if you have the storage space).
Having a child is a wonderful thing. At the same time, parenting is expensive! Whether it’s your first kid or your fourth, you always want to give the world to them. However, the costs can rise up, and too often parents find themselves stretched too thin. It doesn’t have to be this way though. Although we are not parents we know exactly how costly it is to raise a child. So I thought of writing a ways to save money while raising your kid in an ideal way. Hope you’ll like it.
First and foremost, before we list the money-saving ways. No money-saving scheme actually work in longer term unless it’s associated with some form of budgeting. Budgeting may consist of target on each item to having only one target, that is saving a fixed amount per month. Whatever it is that you are comfortable with, simply get it going as soon as possible. Else, you’ll save money on food but end up spending more on child care, just as an example. A budget can keep all your spending in control.
Clothing, accessories, and wearable gears take a very significant portion of our budget. Average American spends 10% to 20% of income on buying clothing and accessories. While saving money is an option, we shouldn’t compromise on the quality and looks of our clothes either. After all, it’s about looking good and smart, isn’t it?
Couple of weeks back I got a mail from one of my readers. She mentioned herself as a regular reader. she wanted to see menu planning and frugal food related posts here. I asked her to give a few of her favorite low-cost recipes. Here’s what she came up with in 3 different emails. I can see the menu serves all tastes and food habit.
I always take the left over food for my lunch. In our cafeteria I see most of my co-workers buying food. Although subsidized, their per lunch cost must be more than what I pay for my boxed lunch. This compilation is made up of ingredients that are readily available, good for almost every taste and most importantly, they cost little less money than your regular lunch. About the time these preparations take, they don’t take more than an hour!
Personal finance bloggers write a lot of stuff on saving money. We share personal practices, secrets and stories to make our readers frugal and wise spender. What if you put every possible money saving way in to work and still you are short of money by the end of the month? We generally come up with innovative options to help you in that situation as well. Here’s one such idea.
I assume all of us have freezers, right? How well do you utilize yours? I mean, do you actually plan what you’re putting in your freezer? Or is it merely a catch all for various items that you’re buying from the grocery store. For example, are you putting bags of peas, ice cream, and waffles in your freezer, or are you really planning what you could put in there that would really save you some money?
I have written most of my posts on saving money. Largest being a compilation of 101 ways to save money. But that was a list of too many things. Here I’d tell you about some of the strategies that we follow. Off course the biggest of all is to extend no-spend days for weeks. But, that’s not always possible. We have one big advantage of growing in a developing country, many things that seem natural to a native American are luxury to us and we don’t usually spend money on them. Having lunch outside is one of those.
SMB, my wife, and I are fairly frugal. I am a bit more and she is less. We take the developing world approach to spending where we try and classify our needs and wishes. That’s why a Correl dinnerware set took 7 years to finally arrive at our home. It was our saving-first nature that allowed us to use one car, that too a pre-owned 2002 Hyundai Elantra.
Previously I posted 80 Ways to Lose Money, that article talked about 80 different ways you can waste your hard earned money. This article talks about 5 of them in depth, that you can cut from your life. Caution, this is not to tell you to absolutely cut these out. I know for some of you having text messaging plans or unlimited data plan on your cell phone is important. In that case you may find some alternative that you can get rid of
Money wasters in life are great threats to your savings. They could even risk your riches and set you on a downward decline. You need to identify them and cut them completely from your life. Here are the five money wasters you can cut from you’re your life.
I always talk about penny-pinching in this blog. The name also suggest the same thing. Here’s a guest post extended to us for posting, which talks about penny-pinching as followed by some well known celebrities. The aim is the inspire you to follow the path of frugality, even when you have enough cash to spend. Enjoy the post.
Living a frugal life is nowadays a trendy attitude that is not only observed among regular people, but also promoted by many celebrities. Celebrities who choose to live frugal are shifting to a simpler lifestyle that allows them to live better, spend less money and increase their inner wellness.
