Jul
31
2008
Your probably over there thinking, okay she has lost her mind. The Internet is expensive, so how in the world can this help me on my budget. Well There are many ways it can help you. As long as you already have the Internet. I don’t suggest adding another bill if you don’t need to. But for most people, they have the Internet, so lets use it to our advantage.How much are you all paying for gas lately? I know it takes an awful lot of cash to fill up my tank. Its a good thing I am frugal, or we would be walking everywhere we go. With the amount of gas, it really does not pay to drive around and look for a better deal anymore. Before, it wasn’t such a big deal, now it is. If your looking for something, and you would have normally drove around town, trying to see who has the best price, get online and look. Most stores have online websites where you can see what they have in stock, whats on sale and if your lucky, you may even find a coupon you can print for it online. So before you drive around, try surfing the net and comparing prices. Once you have found what your looking for, head over to your favorite search place, and look for a coupon. You might be surprised how many sites have coupons.
Entertainment can also be found online. If you like to watch movies and its something that you do often, you have two choices here. You can either find places online to stream them for free or download them for free. If you want to get real handy, buy some cheap blank DVDs and burn them. A lot cheaper then buying DVDs or renting movies all the time. Another option for this is places like netflix. You can pick all the movies you want online, and they will mail them to your home. You pay one flat fee for the entire month, and they mail them right to your home. The envelope they come in , turns into your postage paid return envelope. So you save your money on paying for each movie, gas money for picking them up and returning them , along with any late fees you may get. With these mail in ones, you never pay a late fee. They also have Game sites, just like this. So if you have a gamer in your life, you might want to check that out as well.
Watch tomorrow for Part 2 in this series!
Jul
30
2008
So you have started your budget as I suggest, but now your a little bit confused. So what do you do next? Well its a good thing you came here, because I am going to tell you what to do next! Now each month, you must go over your budget and check it. But what does this mean? This means that you need to make sure you haven’t gained any bills, any of your payments have not went up or down. If you have had something change, then that needs to be figured out in your budget now.Lets talk some about your debt. If you have a lot of credit card debt, then your minimum due on them credit cards is probably eating you alive. And by paying just the minimum due, your probably not seeing your total amount owed, going down very much. So should you be putting your extra money into your savings account, or should you be trying to get rid of that debt? Well I am a firm believer of both. Since interest rates are so high, you should always pay off your credit cards as soon as you can. But you should also be putting money into a savings account for that rainy day. If you plan on charging your credit card up again then there really is no point. How about lets cut them credit cards up! Keep just one. This way in an emergency, you will have it. But the one you keep, put it up somewhere. This way you will be less tempted to use it for that new pair of shoes you just have to have, that’s now collecting dust over there in the corner. Yup, I know, you just looked at them shoes right now, didn’t you?
Now that you have done that, Lets start paying off that debt. Pick on credit card at a time and start working on it. Make your minimum on the rest. At the end of the month if you have $100.00 left over. Take $50 and put it into your savings, and take the other $50 and place it on that credit card. This will get your total amount owed down a lot faster. Lets say the minimum payment on that card was $40, so that means when its paid off, you will now have $140 left at the end of the month. So with the next credit card, you can start putting $70 in the bank and $70 into your savings. You will get out of debt a lot faster, and still have some cash put up for the rainy day.
Jul
29
2008
The first thing you should do when starting to become frugal is make a budget. Now in order for a budget to work, you have to have the willpower to actually stick to it. Oh stop moaning, Its not pretty.Grab a note book and start writing down all your expenses. This means bills, grocery’s, gas for your gas guzzler and anything else that you know you will use each month. Next you want to write down how much money comes into the house. Make sure you count everything that gets brought in the house. If you don’t put it in your budget, chances are you are not going to spend it the frugal way. Now subtract your expenses from your total income. Whats left? Hopefully something. If not, go back through your budget until you have something left.
Now look through your budget and think “What can I get rid off, or what can I substitute, so I can make my left over cash more? ” I’m sure you don’t need all them subscriptions to magazines. Find things like that, so you can make your cash pile bigger. That’s the key here. Don’t forget though, you have to have some fun. I mean, what’s the point if you have no fun at all. But having fun, doesn’t always need to cost a ton of money. Change things up a bit. Make that budget work for you.
All your left over money should be put into a savings account. You can look into different options, but with today’s market, you know its going to be safe in a savings account at the bank. I wouldn’t buy any stock or anything of that nature, not just yet anyway.
Every other month, go through your budget. Make adjustments if you need to. Compromise some things, so you can do other things. You like going out to eat with your friends at work during lunch time. Okay, but instead of doing that five days, try is as a reward. If you follow your budget all week long, then Friday’s you can go out with the girls for lunch. Don’t forget to add them Friday Lunches into your budget as well.
Jul
29
2008
Welcome everyone! My name is Brandi! I am just starting off this new great blog, but I am not new to writing!
With the way the world is today and so many people losing their homes, jobs and pretty much everything else, I knew this was the way to go.
Being frugal is something that I love to do. I am truly passionate about it. Some may call me cheap, but that’s okay! I try and teach as many people about being frugal as I possibly can. The best thing about being frugal, is there is always something new you can learn. There is always a new topic and a new discovery just waiting around the corner for you. I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing it!
