Saving Money and Cutting the Fat
Saving money consistently and being disciplined about it isn’t easy.You probably have credit cards that you’d like to pay down first but you should pay down the cards and save at the same time.
The first step is to pay yourself first, set aside about 5 to 10 percent of your income. If you have direct deposit with your employer you can setup a savings account and place the 5 to 10 percent into a savings account via direct deposit. Interest rates are low so the best CD rates today are very low, don’t expect much higher CD rates until the end of 2014.
Once you have about $1,000 move the money into a long term certificate of deposit account so you won’t be tempted to spend the money. 5 year CD rates are around 2.50% right now so you’re savings will also earn interest. The same holds true for current savings account rates which are also near 2.50%.
Next sit down and create monthly expense list of everything you spend money on to find out where your money is going and where you might be cut the fat.
Of course cutting big expense items will be good but all the little items you spend money on add up in a big way, so if you can cut those expense items you’ll be surprised at how much you can save.
You can’t cut your needs but cut your wants, at least most of them. speaking of small items to you eat lunch out everyday at work or by that $3 latte at Starbucks? That can ad up to $150 to $200 a month, that can be a good starting place to cut out the fat.
Saving money every single day will also add up, don’t use your change, throw it into a jar and every month count it up and place it in a savings account. Don’t use those coin machines at the grocery store, they take about 5% of your money.
Another place you can find money is by using coupons. The money you save using coupons put into a jar along with the change and put it into a savings account each month.