The Frugal Free Gal

Not having enough to put away is probably the most common excuse for not saving money, explains Carol Young, Kansas State University Research and Extension family financial management specialist, to sheknows.com in an article about money saving tips. But the ability to save money isn’t about how much you bring in; it’s about changing the ways you spend the money you make. By slightly adjusting their daily routine, people of any income can save money at the end of each month. Here are some easy ways to get started:

In the Morning

The more water saved, the more money saved. Begin your morning with a quick shower and turn the faucet off when you brush your teeth. Make a smaller pot of coffee because you end up throwing half of it away anyway.

Get Fit

If you start your day with a workout at the gym, consider switching to an alternate location like a local park. A gym membership isn’t necessary to get or stay fit. Hike, swim, jog or bike in recreational areas in your neighborhood. If you live in an area that gets extremely cold and snowy during the winter, consider a YMCA membership.

Eat In

Even if you grab a sandwich and coffee at McDonalds on weekday mornings, it can cost $10 or more per week. That’s $40 per month and $480 per year! A breakfast at home is less costly and often more healthy. Also, ditch the $5 a day Starbucks habit and brew your own coffee at home. If you’re someone who just has to have your Starbucks, sign up for their rewards program, shop specials for cheaper prices and take note of discounts — like bringing your own mug.

Before You Leave

Before you leave your home for the day, switch off all lights, fans and the a/c or heater. If you work for eight or more hours a day and no one else will be home, why pay for wasted energy? If someone is going to be home, consider using fans instead of air conditioning.

Efficient Commute

A personal finance blog offers some valuable tips to travel more fuel-efficiently. It’s best to carpool, walk, bike or use public transportation as often as possible. Also, simple changes like driving defensively, removing unnecessary weight from your vehicle and taking the shortest route possible are easy ways to cut back on the amount of gas you use. If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, a hybrid car like the Honda Insight or a compact car like a smart car are great options.

Lunch and Dinner

Sheknows.com suggests saving eating out for special occasions. Pack lunches to take to work; going out to eat every day for lunch or dinner adds up quick! Plan meals for the week on Saturday or Sunday and shop with a list. This prevents impulse buys and excessive luxuries you don’t need. Farmers markets often have very low-cost produce. Check ads before you go to the grocery store to see what’s on sale and find a way to incorporate sales into your meal plan.

Lee is a financial advisor who writes for several online and print business publications.

We all dream of a lavish, fairy tale wedding. The only problem is, that picture perfect wedding includes a price tag that can turn that dream into a nightmare. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to cut corners on your wedding day without sacrificing the glitz and glitter of the occasion.

From the invitations to the flowers to the cake, opportunities to save are everywhere. What will you do with all the money you save? I’m sure you’ll find something to do with it on your honeymoon!

How to Save Money on Your Wedding

Slim Down Your Invitations

Wedding invitations can be pretty extravagant, with more pieces and parts than an Ikea bunk bed. To cut costs, eliminate the extra outer envelope (the one that keeps the inner envelope looking clean and pretty). Also skip the reception card and consider adding reception directions to the bottom of the invitation or by adding your own photocopied insert.

Skip the Roses

Flowers are one of the biggest expenses of any wedding and reception. And it’s all for something that will be shriveled and dead in a week. To trim this cost, choose something other than roses, like hydrangeas, tulips or carnations. Another tip for saving on flowers: Recruit some friends to gather up the flowers from your wedding location and set them up at the reception hall before everyone arrives.

Order a Buffet (and No Open Bar)

At a reception, food and drink costs can add up quickly. Two of the easiest ways to trim the fat from this part of your budget are to opt for a buffet versus a sit down meal (buffet’s are usually cheaper) and to do without the open bar. The bar trick will save tons of dough and yields the added benefit of creating fewer tipsy (and embarrassing) friends and relatives.

Cut Corners on the Cake

Wedding cakes are expensive, but they don’t really have to be. One simple cake (instead of a wedding cake, groom cake and dessert bar) will usually satisfy the crowd. Also consider downsizing your wedding cake – or asking for a few fake tiers – and buying a similarly-flavored sheet cake to be carved up in the kitchen for guests.

To manage personal finance is an art and for this, every one of us looks for the effective and efficient ways. One of the most common ways, which many people prefer to adopt, is hiring any reliable professional for taking handy management tips on personal finance. Here they should understand that although hiring such a professional entity will ease their task but will increase their monthly budget, as they have to pay fee to their hired consultants for getting tips on personal finance management. Now the question is what they should do to manage their personal finance without wasting extra money. The answer is simple. They should follow the old saving principles, which our grandparents used to adopt for budgeting and saving. Some of the effective tips, which our grandparents used to follow to manage their personal fiancé, are as follows:

Live Within Means

You must have noticed that our grandparents were more focused towards their monthly cash inflow while making their budgets. They tried to focus their needs instead of following society trends, which is why they made it possible to live within their defined budget by doing some savings as well. Whereas if we consider why we fail to save money then we will come to know that we majorly focus on meeting fashion trends and do extra spending instead of living simple life within budget.

Prefer Commodities for Life Time

It is also an observation that old people preferred to make one time investment for getting long-term benefit. The best example can be of silver and copper utensils. These utensils can be polished and reused whereas we prefer to buy plastic made utensils, which cannot be used once they are damaged or burnt in microwave.

Another example is of vehicles. Have you ever noticed on what frequent basis our grandparents were used to change their vehicles? Rarely, because they believed that they should use the commodity they worth for, which is why they never sold out their cars until they worn out completely. We must also adopt these little things to manage our personal finance successfully.

Cooking at Home

Another best trick with which our grandparents used to save a lot of money was their preference to enjoy meal at home. It was not like that they did not like to go out. It was all about managing limited income for a month. Thus, most of the saving conscious old people liked to go out once in a week and prefer to enjoy organized cooking budget at home.

Free things

Have you observed that sometimes we buy expensive products just to save our time especially in the case of online buying? Our grandparents did not do this. They planned their shopping day and tried to buy products of their need from the affordable places. Besides this, they also preferred to avail discount and buy one get one free facilities to make their budget more economical.

In nutshell, our grandparents knew the tactics to manage personal finance and save money whereas we despite of knowing all this fail to apply, which is very unfortunate.

Author’s Bio:

Jon Emge is a Senior Advisor and Content Manager. He is a published author and has assisted and advised clients on personal finance. In his spare time he enjoys listening to music, going to the odd festival and practicing his poetry skills!