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3 More Unique Ways I Will Save $1000+ This Year
Yesterday we talked a little bit about some unique ways that I plan to save big money this year (hey…to me, $1000 is big money). Well, I wasn’t fully transparent with you, because I also have a couple of more things that I plan to do this year to save money. I am all about doing it in unique ways though, so I am sticking with that theme for this post. So…without further ado, here are more unique ways I will save $1000 this year.
Selling plasma. Have you ever sold plasma before? I haven’t, but I just scheduled an appointment to do so and I hear that I can make several hundred dollars in the first month of doing it. I have been warned that I don’t want to do it too often, so this will likely be my first and only time doing it, but hey…a couple of extra hundred bucks will be really helpful in my life right now.
Turning down my heat. I live in the northwest and while we don’t have the cold weather that a lot of the people around the globe do, we have had a cold winter this year and I do NOT like to be cold. That’s why turning my heat down, even just a couple of degrees seems crazy to me, but I am going to do it. I figure the lower my thermostat is, the less my furnace has to work. I’m thinking mid-to-upper 60s will help the bill, while making sure we don’t freeze.
Have meatless meal days. We have decided to cut meat out of our diet for several days each week. Instead we will stick to beans, eggs, or other budget-friendly protein source. Breakfast for dinner is always a good option!
Tell me all of your unique money saving ways!!!! I need inspiration!
Building Tiny Residual Income Streams as a Saving Mechanism
When people talk about saving money, they often segment the discussion into only focusing on the act of not spending their funds and practicing frugality. However, there’s a fine line between saving your current funds and earning more money, as both have a positive effect on your bank account. The problem is, the money you earn at a standard job is never considered a means of saving money because in most cases it’s already factored into the budget, so we’re always aiming to stay under certain limits based on our projected income. To go beyond the confines of the predefined budget you’re restricted to now, it’s best to build a residual income portfolio. Doing this can really assist and accelerate your current savings plan, and it can even be done without throwing too big of a wrench into your current schedule.
Creating Wealth Boosting Revenue Streams
The idea is to create online businesses (i.e. – blogs, brands, retail stores, marketing, selling digital products and services) that are monetised in a variety of ways, primarily including ad revenue, subscribers, customers. Profit can come in many ways with online income and eventually it can add up to a nice chunk each month. Once you’ve found a method that works, even just a little bit, you can rejoice because all that’s left to do from there is scale up and optimise. The best part is, you don’t need to have any experience or knowledge about eCommerce or any of that stuff to get started, as it’s extremely easy to find a quick guide to making money online nowadays.
The Luxury of Not Needing the New Money
The whole idea of using this method as a savings booster relies on the assumption that you already have a main form of income to live off. Obviously, if you’re spending all your online money as it comes in, you won’t be saving much at all, and in all honestly it will most likely take a while before you would be in a position to completely quit your job anyway. Thus, the best way to ensure you’re using these new revenue streams to increase your wealth is to schedule automatic transfers to your savings account and pretend as though the money doesn’t exist. Theoretically, if you’ve been surviving thus far without it, you should have no problem keeping the “don’t touch it” mindset going forward.
Re-investing a Portion of the Proceeds
Saving all of the profits initially is the best game plan, but when your online business really starts to pick up steam and exceed your savings plan, then it’s time to start re-investing. You may even want to take the initiative to invest a decent amount up front to give yourself a better head start. While this would be going against the act of saving in the beginning, in the long run it can help to give you an optimal starting point as an entrepreneur.
Anything is Better than Nothing
In closing, you’re probably wondering how much money this method can add to your bank account. Although results will definitely vary, even in a worst-case scenario you’ll be generating and saving more than you were before you started, as it’s nearly impossible to earn nothing online if you’re actually devoting 30 minutes to an hour of effort into it each day.
Top Ways To Get More Money Into Your Savings Account
Even when you understand the need to put money away in a savings account, it is sometimes very difficult to find enough money to do so. Unforeseen circumstances and weak will power are the leading causes of inability to save significant amounts of money. Other times, it is inability to see the opportunity to save money when it presents itself. This piece therefore takes a look at how you can spot these opportunities and save more money for the future.
Save salary raise
Salary raises are not an opportunity to increase spending. If you were able to get by on your past salary, you should be able to continue on it while saving the new addition. Similarly, you should consider working a few hours above your normal schedule and strictly put away the overtime pay at the end of the week or month.
Save bonuses and commissions
When you plan your day to day spending, you don’t include bonuses into the equation. Why then should you spend the bonuses when they come? Bonuses are a good opportunity to ramp up the digits in your savings account. If you get a large commission on the other hand, always use it for something that will be of benefit in the future. Think of a retirement investment or a comfortable home.
Cut expenses
When the topic of cutting expenses arises, it is often common for people to look at money spent on activities like smoking or drinking as where to start saving from. Whilst this is a good idea, you can save even more money by cutting expenditure on your hobbies. If you love playing bingo games for instance and spend money trying out new sites, you should consider playing on no deposit bingo sites where there is no need to deposit your money before getting a feel of the gaming experience. Similarly, you should review the amount you spend on protein shakes, personal trainers, video games etc. Cutting back on hobby spending for a year could add a tidy sum to your savings account.
Cross check taxes
Do you get tax refunds? You should put the money straight into your savings. If you don’t get any refunds, you should consider talking with a tax advisor to see if there are tax refund options you haven’t explored. Your tax advisor should also be able to do a comprehensive assessment to be sure you are paying an amount that can be deemed fair value in taxes. Assessments can save you a decent amount of money in property taxes especially. Even when you feel you are paying the exact amount you should pay in taxes, professional accountants properly qualified to look over taxes can help you plug loopholes. The important thing to keep in mind is to always put away all the money saved in taxes to your savings account. You would have lost the money to the government anyway so why not put it to good use?
Analyse credit card payments
Are you making any credit card debt payments? You should look around to see if you can get lower rates elsewhere on the same product or something similar. Take a balance transfer credit card for instance could see you reduce 7% interest rate to 3.5% or less. Here’s how to get lower interest rates on your credit cards.
P&G Savings,Tips & Samples
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4 Places To Get Cheap Groceries
Getting cheap groceries is something that we like to cover pretty often here on the site and there’s a reason for that. You probably go to the grocery store at least 2 or 3 time a month, right? So, why wouldn’t we continue to give you endless resources as to how you can cut down on your grocery bill. It only makes sense! Anyways, if you scroll down, you’ll find a few places that you can do part of your grocery shopping that will save you money.
These are also places that you would never expect could help stock your kitchen for cheap!
Big Lots
We know that Big Lots typically has some very good deals on items like decorations, electronics, and furniture but most people don’t know that they can save money on groceries over at Big Lots. Sure, you aren’t going to walk in their and fulfill your list to the max but you can get good deals on seasonings, chips, spices, canned foods, and drinks.
Dollar Tree
You either have one of these stores in your area (everything is a dollar) or something similar. If you typically buy stuff like candy or canned foods, you can save a lot of money by buying it from here. We’ve seen canned food go as low as 50 or 60 cents a can in our local Dollar Tree. That’s basically like getting a can for free in comparison to Walmart prices.
Save A Lot
Okay, so a lot of people are sketchy about buying meat from Save A Lot. We can definitely see why but canned food is canned food. Bread is bread. And so on! Consider swinging by here once in a blue moon and stocking up on some odds and ends at a very good price.
Sam’s Club
We use Sam’s Club specifically as the last store because they are all over the country but in some areas, you may have a Costco, BJ’s, or some other wholesale store. Either way, you can walk in, buy in bulk, and save a ton of money. The only bad thing about this though is the fact that you pretty much have to be willing to give up your variety and eat a lot of the same thing. Why? Well, stuff like 12 packs of Hot Pockets only come in one flavor per box. So, in other words, can you handle eating 12 Pepperoni Hot Pockets? Maybe you can.
But anyways, one thing is for certain. If you do your primary grocery shopping and then let one of these places fill your odds and ends, you’re going to save money. It could be $5 or it could be $100. That part is entirely up to you as it really depends on how much you’re going to buy. Either way, we like all these stores for different reasons and think that you would benefit greatly if you consider using these resources. Now, what are you waiting for? Get out there, pinch those pennies, and put some extra money back into your pockets!
Balancing Your Balance
When it comes to saving money and balancing your balance (your checking account), there are a few things that we wanted to point out. Before we begin though, we have two quick questions. The first question is this. Did you know that in the United States, the average checking account balance is just shy of $6,000? Okay, great! Now, the second question is this. Are you average? Are you above average? Would you be thrilled just to be average?
Well, if you’re one of those people that would be thrilled just to be average and have around $6,000 in your checking account, we have some tips for you that will get you on your way to balancing your balance and financial freedom. Continue reading to get started.
Make A Plan
Having a solid game plan is one of those important things that you can do in your effort to save your checking account. Think about the areas that you can afford to spend less money and do it. Write down what your long term goal is, how much you plan to save a month, and so on. A good starting point would be to try to save around 20% of every paycheck.
Share Your Plan
There’s nothing like having the support of your friends and family so why not share your business? Yes, you read that right. We want you to share your business! Of course, we aren’t asking you to share your routing number with your cousin or telling your sister in law how broke you are. Just simply let everyone know that you’re trying to save money and tell them why. Chances are, they’ll follow suit and do the same. How cool would that be?
Implement Your Plan
Okay, we get it. This one sounds a little “obvious” but you’d be surprised how many people make a plan and never follow through with it. It’s easy to sit down and come up with a plan and a few numbers but doing it is a whole other monster. However, once you start making some progress, you’re bound to stick with it for the long haul. Don’t believe us?
Try it!
Now, these are just general starting points for when it comes to balancing your balance. It will take some determination and hard work to get into the groove of things but once you are there, you’ll be just fine! Don’t try to cut corners and take shortcuts because those NEVER work. Instead, focus on lowering your spending on things that you don’t need and keeping it the same where you need to. Even if you only manage to save $200 a month, in 10 years time you would have over $20,000 which is an extremely nice balance to have.
Okay, what are you waiting for? Start getting your plan together, crunch a few numbers, and see where you are in a few months. We can almost guarantee that you’ll be in a much more desirable position in 3 months than you are now. One more thing before you go though. Good luck to you and we hope that you can start to balance your balance!
Good Price For A Computer
2014 is just now getting started and the income taxes are in. What if you need a new computer? How much is too much? Are the $300 bargain laptops that you see advertised really worth the money? Should you hold off and get something a little higher in price? It really all varies but check this out. We’re going to give you a few tips that will help you determine whether or not the price tag that is on the computer you’re interested in is worth it or not. In other words, we’re going to give you a few things to look for. If the computer in question doesn’t meet our requirements, we wouldn’t buy it. Plain and simple!
Processor Speed
The first thing that we recommend looking at when comparing prices between computers is the processor speed. To save you from all the mumbo jumbo, you need at least a dual core (two). A quad core would be even better even if the speed is only 2.0 ghz. Anything beyond that and you’ll never really need it (not for a long time at least). So, look for something that is either a dual core or quad core. Avoid anything that calls itself an “accelerated processor.” That’s a nice way of saying “I’m slow but try my very best.”
RAM
This is almost as important as the processor speed as it will directly play into how well you multi-task on your computer and handle “random” operations. If you’re an aspiring photographer, you work from the computer, or you blog, you’ll definitely want AT LEAST 4GB of RAM. 6 to 8 is much better but it isn’t a deal killer if you cannot get that much. Most computers have room for upgrades anyways so you can always just do it later if need be.
Operating System
This wouldn’t have been a factor a few years ago but now that Windows 8 is out (and a lot of people don’t like it), you may need to decide whether or not you want to stick to Windows 7, go with Windows 8, or get a computer with Windows 8 and then downgrade. The reason that we mention this last one is because most anything that you find in your traditional retail store is going to be Windows 8. So, if you want Windows 7, we recommend ordering online. If you’re cool with Windows 8, you can shop in person.
Hard Drive
While a lot of people don’t mention this anymore, we still will. You could just buy a 1TB external hard drive (or a few flash drives) and never need space again. However, getting built in storage has it’s perks as well. You don’t have to run a cable to your computer or swap drives in and out. With 1TB-2TB built in, you’ll never really need extra memory unless you’re running a massive site or business from your computer. For the average person, 500GB will be more than sufficient in terms of hard drive size. So, with that being said, if the computer meets all the specifications listed above and it’s affordable, it’s good to go!
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