What's the best way to save money?
363507
The BEST way to save money is to save for something. Then it might actually happen. For example - I need to save money - so each pay I'll put away so much, with nothing specific. Next you'll have an emergency, or you'll use the money for gas, new dress, going out to dinner, pay a utility bill, etc.\n\nBut if you - Put money away for a new pair of imported Italian leather shoes I've always wanted - something specific - then you will probably put the money away, and leave it there until you reach the needed dollar amount to buy the shoes.\n\nI've used shoes, but it can be retirement, emergency funds, insurance, new house deposit, dream vacation, wedding ring, etc., etc.\n\nThe more specific the better. When it is specific, it is easier to rearrange - if you need to - like, gee I no longer need those expensive Italian shoes, mum got me a pair - I'll put the money towards my new house deposit, and so on.\n\nThat really is the best way - once you know what the money is for - it is easy to work out where to put it.\n\nI'm available fo further clarification if need be.\n\nGood luck
721382
There are some excellent resources out there for saving money on a budget. \n\nLucy Lazarony with Bankrate.com has some excellent advice tailored specifically for college students:\n\n1. Track it\nTrack your spending for two to four weeks to find out where your money is going. Are four trips to Starbucks a week really necessary?\n\n"They don't realize how much they spend on little things," says Vickie Hampton, a financial planner and an associate professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbuck, Texas. "That's the most common revelation."\n\nMark Oleson, director of a financial counseling clinic at Iowa State University, adds, "Usually, just by tracking expenses, you'll start to curb expenses." \n\n2. Get a plan\nThe best way to manage your money over the course of a semester is to sit down and map out a budget. List sources of income such as scholarships, loans, money from summer jobs and cash from your parents as well as expenses, such as tuition, books and groceries. \n\n3. Good time money\nIf you know you need to buy a new CD or go to concert or a party every week, make room for that in your budget. \n\n"You need some entertainment," Hampton says. "A student is going to get really burned out if you don't do anything fun."\n\n4. Pace yourself\nIf you spend, spend, spend at the beginning of the semester, you could be tapped out later. Give yourself a spending limit for each week. Stick to it and you won't have to eat macaroni-and-cheese every day in December.\n\n5. Go easy with the credit cards\n"One quick way to spend beyond your means is to charge it," says Mallary Tytel, president of Healthy Workplaces. \n\nUse credit cards sparingly. Once you get into the habit of reaching for a Visa, it can be hard to stop. \n\n"I saw a student pick up a bag of chips and charge it," Tytel says.\n\nWho wants to pay interest on a bag of Doritos?\n\n6. Set your own credit line\n"Just because you have a credit card with a $2,000 credit line doesn't mean you have to spend $2,000," DiSpirito says. "If you know you can only pay back $500, then just spend that."\n\nAfraid you'll spend as long as there's room on the card? Call your credit card company and request your credit limit be lowered. Keep at it. Card companies will try boost up your credit lines so you spend more. Tell them "no" each time they try. \n\n7. Get real\nYou can do what you want, but you can't do everything you want. You're going to have to make some choices. Whatever you choose is going to cost some money. Be realistic. \n\n"You need to understand you can't have everything and you have to understand there are consequences," Tytel says. "At some point there needs to be a reality check in terms of what things cost. Most kids have no idea."\n\n8. Stuff happens\nIf you bust your budget on something you really, really want to do this week, make up for it next week.\n\nIf you find that you must go out to dinner and a movie one week, spend the money; be satifisfied with the decision, and commit to staying home, eating at home and not making any other purchases the following week.\n\n9. Look ahead\nWhether it's a road trip with friends or an auto insurance bill, if you know a big expense is coming, start putting some money aside to pay for it.\n\n"It's a lot easier to set aside $50 every month than to come up with $300 when the bill is due," Oleson says. \n\n10. Get in touch with your roomie\nContact your roommate before the semester starts and divvy up expenses. Chat about who will bring a refrigerator and who will bring a microwave. \n\nThis way you avoid duplicating purchases and excess spending, but will still have all the conveniences to make college life easier.\n\n11. Spread it out\n"Most of the big expenses are at the beginning of the school year," Tytel says. "Buy books as you need t
1088604
you can open an online savings account with an interest rate of 4.75 with citibank, or 4.65 with hsbc or emigrantdirect, it's a little lower than one year cds but you can get your money right away without penalty\n\nhave enough money in this account (about 3 months worth of expenses in case you lost your job) and the rest in cds
321338
Saving money is hard to do, but it can be done. Make you a budget with all your monthly expenses on it and than add a small amount for something extra that might come up that week or month which ever budget you are going to go by. After you have made it stick to it. It really is something you have to make up your mind to. Say you make a 500.00 weekly and your bills that week come to 398.00, what you would want to do after all the total is paid out is put at least 50.00 of that into saving or some other savings and don't touch it. Good luck...K
193873
Start by making a budget and stick to it you can not save money by accident you must do it on purpose. I think the best way to start is in a book written by Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace. He has written several books but that is the first and very good "More than enough" is his second book and very good also if you like the first. His books are available in any book store and many library's. Good luck to you.
684161
Spend less and save more.
238744
You need to put yourself on a budget! Budgets are the only way to save money. Look at your income, look at your expeditures. There's not much of a difference, is there? It's really easy to start a budget. Write down the things you need to buy, as opposed to things you want to buy. Arrange these things into categories, i.e., groceries, gas, insurance, cell phone bills, utilities, rent, etc... Pick a reasonable amount of money that you will spend each month on each categorie. For example: groceries $150, gas $60, cell phone bill $50. Don't leave anything out, and don't spend more than what you said you will spend. If you go over in a category, you must take from another. If you decide that you will spend $45 dollars on your cell phone bill, but the bill is $50, you'll have to lower your budget for another category by $5, just for that month.\n\nLook at what you have left. Let's say you made $5,000 one month and budgeted your necessary items at $4,500. You have $500 dollars left that you can blow on anything, but you haven't saved any money yet. You need to decide how much you're going to save. I would suggest all of it. But you can budget in things like going to the movies and buying CDs. Save what you have left. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN! get a ledger book and write everything down. after a while you're savings will be phenominal!
177410
Pay yourself first! No matter the source of your income, put 10% after taxes into some sort of savings program, preferably a ROTH IRA. Then be strong and don't touch it. You'll be surprised how quickly it can mount up. Even if you can't make the 10%, save something!\n\nLook for bargains but don't sacrifice quality. \nUse coupons.\nConserve utilities.\nDo you really need that cable TV and cell phone? They are expensive.\nLook for plans that are in tune with your lifestyle. If you have to have that cell phone, are you paying for roaming, long distance or minutes you don't use?\nLook into pro-rated utility charges.\nRead a book instead of the movies.\nListen to the radio instead of that new CD.\n\nJust some thoughts...Good luck.\n\nThanks sk8trzmom
363439
If you're a home owner, the best way to get your hands on money is to cash out some equity in your home.  It's your money (from one perspective) and the rates will be about the lowest available on a loan.\n\nI caution you though, borrowing more to pay off your debts isn't the solution; replacing the financial habits that got you into debt with more healthy financial habits IS the solution.\n\nIn general, people in debt live on 'if-come'; they spend more than they make.  To fix the problem, you have to begin living on less than what you make, creating a surplus of discretionary income each month that you can use to pay back the money that belonged to someone else (banks in most cases) that you already spent.  In the meantime, they continue to collect interest on the money that you spent that wasn't yours.  It's a nice business considering how many people today don't see it for what it is.  Watch TV for half an hour, there will be plenty of companies just itching to make you a consolidation loan.\n\nIf home equity isn't available to you, shop for a consolidation loan with the lowest APR available and make yourself a promise to cut back on your expenses and pay the money back.  Get tough with yourself and decide what you NEED to live, and get rid of the things that made life more fun; they cost money that you can use to get out of debt.\n\nIn short, whatever your income is, it is.  Learn to live on it or find a way to make more of it.  Continuing to spend money that isn't yours is just going to keep you in debt, if not dig the hole deeper.
648890
Sacrifice...\n\nGet an inexpensive reliable car (like a used Honda Civic?) that will result in inexpensive payments, hopefully not break down on you, and even help you establish some credit. Establish a budget for everything else and stick with it (include "going out" money). And make sure you put money into a savings account FIRST. (many employers will automatically deposit your check into two seperate accounts) or you can set up an automatic monthly deduction from your checking account into your savings.
66736
You need a budget.  Prior to every month, plan a budget based on all income for the month.  Assign every dollar you'll be getting to an expense or savings.  Then stick to the budget.  If something unexpected comes up (car repair, medical bill) then revisit and adjust the budget prior to spending the money.  Never spend money not planned for with the budget.\n\nGet an emergency fund to handle small emergencies, pay off any debt you owe, and follow the budget.  You'll be saving in no time.
81660
well first off u need to figure out what are ur priority expenses. when u get paid u need to set aside the money u need to pay whatever bills need to be paid.. then whatever is left is your money.. take 60% of what u have left and that is for u and the other 40% u need to bank it and never touch it... and u do that every pay week.. if u stay steady to it u will have no problem in saving money. secondly, u need to knwo when to say no. if your a type of person who loves to spend money then u ned to tell yourslef No . spend only what u need and buy only what is needed.... if u need anything else i am here for you
1179792
1.Focus on paying off the loan/creditcard that bears the highest combined interest rate and balance owed.  If possible, pay more than the required minimum each month(as Gabriel suggested) even if it's only $10 or $20 extra.\n2.Pay minimums on all other accounts(so you can afford to live while attacking the anchor-debt above that is pulling you down).\n3.Re-fi anything you can to lower payments, giving you more monthly cash to knock down the debt mentioned above. (i.e. car loan, etc.)\n4.Split rent with a friend for a short period of time (6 months to a year) until you get some breathing room in your financial life.\n5.Do a no-cost trade with your gas guzzler down to something that gets 30+mpg(nothing is going to change in the oil market in the near future).\n6.Forego your morning Starbuck's and only drink from the corporate coffee pot.\n7.Spend half your savings on #6 each day on the lotto.(you never know; your problems could be over in an instant).
972505
READ read read!  Every financial book you can.  Then take away from them what will work for you best.\n\nTake to heart the fact that it is not how much money you make but how much you keep and have that money make you more money.\n\nLive well below your means, save save save and invest it all, only after doing you homework.\n\nBuy, DO NOT RENT.  Have roommates or tenants pay your mortgage so you can be saving and investing.\n\nQuit smoking, gambling, & drinking, add that to your savings.  Find othere areas where you can cut back.\n\nFind someone who is where YOU want to be (MENTOR) and pay attention to what they are doing.  With this being said, be careful for many whom you may think are well off are simply in a giant hole of debt.  Your average rich person is NOT someone you can pick out on the street!\n\nLimit time spent with those who do not have the same goals as you.  Limit time spent with friends that spend foolishly or party well beyond anyones means.\n\nBefriend people who are smarter than you for you have nothing to gain from idiots.\n\nPay cash for vehicles and other things.  If you don't have the cash then YOU DON"T BUY.  A lesson that will only make your life better.\n\nThink of assets as "something that puts money IN your pocket"  and think of liabilities as "something that takes from you pocket".     Aquire assets NOT liabilities !! !!  If you MUST buy things, why not buy things that make you money? !!\n\nStart believing that YOU deserve to be financially independent rather than you deserve that new car.  The car will only cost more and more money.  Get over the urges to inpress people with "stuff" you have.  Let them see you how ever they want and do not concern yourself with their thoughts.  Live by :  What people think of me is none of my business!!\n\nI could go on but then I just as well write a book....  ha ha ha\n\nBest Wishes on a bright financial future!!
202390
Whatever you can afford.  The best way to get started is to figure out how much extra money that you have at the end of the month.  Make sure that it is money that you plan on investing for the long term.  You don't have to invest a big lump sum.  \n\nThe best strategy for a beginner is to systematically, dollar cost average into a low cost mutual fund.  Find yourself a good no load, index or growth fund and set up an account to automatically take a fixed amount from your bank account every month.  When the market is low, you are buying more shares and when the market is high, you are buying less shares.  You will find that you won't miss the money and in a short period of time you will discover the power of dollar cost averaging combined with the compounding of money.  Good luck!!
46541
Creating a budget would be ideal, but it can get boaring and eventually you will stop keeping track of your spending, if budgeting is not interesting to you. \n\nOne easier way would be to estimate the total amount of money you allocate to entertainment(anything that considered to be a want not a need) then take 10% of that amount and save it.\n\nExample if you spend $250 a month on entertainment save $25 a month. Be sure to put the money is some form of interest bearing savings account.
1075661
You need to make certain sacrifices. Give up school or give up the car. Or you can try to get a student loan and pay it off after you graduate.\n\nTo find ways to save money, I suggest budgeting yourself and cutting back on spending.