A Little Saving Goes A Long Way

It is never too late to start saving, regardless of your age.  Set your mind that now is the time to start building your future.

Here are some great ways to save money.

Buffet Meals: When treating your family to dinner, consider restaurants that have buffets. A parent usually can share with a small child.  In addition, many buffets are "all you can eat" and of course, there is something for everyone.

Cable Networking: If you have a computer upstairs and another downstairs and you use high-speed data, have one of the computers be the primary computer and the other be the backup.  This way, you are only charged once for Internet access and a small fee of $10 to $15 a month for the second computer.  This is a great bargain and one of the hundreds of ways to save money

Proper Maintenance: Purchase an annual home warranty policy.  These policies can run from $350 to $500 a year and offer extremely valuable options.  The way most of these policies work is that if you have something break, such as your garage door, dishwasher, air conditioner, etc., for a minimal fee, usually $50 to $100, a serviceperson will come to your home to fix the item.  Best of all, if you have five things broken and the same serviceperson is qualified to fix all of them, you are still charged the $50 to $100 fee once, not five times.  For your automobile, you might look into purchasing an extended warranty.  If you ever need either one of these policies, they will save you tremendous value.

Company Stock / 401K: Contributing to employee stock options or a 401K plan is a wonderful opportunity to save.  Most companies will match your contribution, sometimes dollar for dollar, up to a maximum, generally 6%.  From each paycheck, you can have a small amount of money deducted (1%) and up.  Over time, that money grows and since the business is providing a match, you get free money.

Family Haircuts: Look for hair styling shops that offer family deals or learn how to cut hair yourself.  Many families take care of their own haircuts and put the money they would have spent aside as a vacation fund.  This system works out perfectly. Can you think of more cool ways to save money?

Wants versus Needs: Ensure the thing you want to spend your money on is a "need" and not a "want."  Sometimes this can seem like a fine gray line but if you stick to the need list, you will spend less.

Refinance: When interest rates are low, consider refinancing your home and/or securing a debt consolidation loan.  You might have to come up with a new closing cost but once paid, you will have lower payments, better terms, and save thousands of dollars over the years.

Go Generic: When buying food, try some of the generic items.  People do not realize that many generic brands are actually manufactured by name brand companies, just branded with a different name.  In fact, companies such as those that make snack foods will have conveyor belts that run side-by-side - one for the name brand and one for the generic brand.  This is quite common and the only difference is the label and price. 

Stock Up: As you shop, if you notice that a brand you and your family use on a consistent basis is on sale for a great bargain, stock up.  As an example, if you use a particular type of shampoo costing $4.50 per bottle and you find it on sale for $2.50, go ahead and buy two bottles.  You should only do this on items you know will be used.

Shopping for Clothes: There are many secrets relating to saving money on clothing.  As a perfect example, rather than buy a matched suit for $450, buy the pieces separate.  This will save you about $100 to $150.  Additionally, buy several pieces that can be mixed and matched, giving you six outfits out of four pieces.