
Dine out smarter
You can save a lot of money and trim your budget just being sensible when you dine out. You can also ditch the habit of eating out on weekends and instead eat on Mondays or Tuesdays. According to many restaurant experts these days are the slowest and hence cheapest days of the week for many restaurants. Then there are coupons and vouchers that could save you a lot of cash on dining out. Visit www.groupon.com, www.livingsocial.com or [/caption] sign up and grab amazing deals at cheapest rates. You’ll get money saving vouchers delivered at your door step and most of them will be of top quality restaurants.
Trip down daily indulgences
It is possible trim your budget by saving on your daily purchases. You can save a lot of money by making coffee at home instead of purchasing it from Starbucks or Gloria Jean’s. You can save up to $2600 just altering your simple coffee habits.
Another money saving approach is to switch from bottled water to tap water. You can save $1,800 just by taking home made lunch instead of eating out as it appears to be on the high end. If you pay an average of six dollars for lunch when eating out, you would have to skip 300 lunches or one almost every day of the week to get that $1,800 savings.
Pay cash
It’s recommended that you always pay in cash instead of using credit card. According to Infographic the average interest on credit card is approximately 15.3%. The sensible way to use your credit card is to pay off your balances every month in order to avoid running balances. In this way your interest cost will be zero and if it’s too hard to follow then try to keep the cost to minimum. There is a psychological aspect when it comes to paying cash. It is difficult to take cash out of the wallet but relatively easy to just wipe out a piece of plastic card. This might be the only reason why people often get into credit card debt.
Rework your monthly payments
You can also trim your budget by reducing your monthly bills. Cable bills take the biggest chunk out of all. You might be able to save $40-$50 a month if you cut off your cable expenses. Shift to Netflix or Amazon prime for less than $10 a month and stream your premium T.V programs and movies. Many families have cut off their cables and instead use a combination of Hula and local digital channels they get for free.
Another way you can cut your monthly payments is by lowering your auto and homeowners insurance premiums. You need to make sure that you have the right coverage at the affordable amount. You should contact your insurance agents and make sure that you have all the possible discounts. Many insurance companies offer you a discount, known as “bundling” if you insure both your home and auto with them and they also offer discounts if your child is a good student. Don’t forget to visit sites like esurance.com and search the market for the best package.
Though Infographic suggests that you should trim down your water bills by washing the clothes with cold water but this point is disputable. It does not matter if you are washing your clothes with cold or hot water but the point is that you are still consuming the same amount of water and not saving any. You might be able to lower down your gas bill r consumption. What you can do is to get a programmable thermostat and can save hundreds of dollar every year.
Think before you buy
We agree with Infographic that just by shopping smarter we can save tons of money. Think before you buy anything and look for alternates. If it’s not necessary then leave the idea. You can save that money for something important later.
You can buy used children’s clothes as children quickly outgrow them. You can get quality clothes from a consignment store that has been worn for less than a year thus saving up to 75% of the original cost.
You can buy discounted gift cards of your favorite stores. You can visit sites like giftcards.com, cardpool.com and giftcardrescue.com and get amazing deals.
Infographic suggests that you can save money just by making a list of items. It is easy to fall into impulse buying if you don’t have the list in hand. The best way to approach grocery list making is to sit and plan ahead for the menu of next five to six days. Note down the important items and list them down accordingly. Try buying items in bulk and watch out for any deals and discounts.