Saving Money Ideas

You can save money on any number of things from insurances, groceries, entertainment, and clothing to vacations and any other area where you spend money. If you think about it, saving money is really like making money, if you are used to spending it somewhere.  Really, virtually any way that you spend money now has the potential to be a place where you could save money. It all comes down to how much of your lifestyle you can trim back on or budget more appropriately for. There is no such thing as the ‘right amount of money to spend on’ answer to most questions. The way to have it make sense is simply to use your income as a guide. There are ideas and formulas that exist that can help you with this aspect, but none that should be set in stone for you.

For example, take Dave Ramsey’s income target for owning a home. Since most of his philosophy is all based around being completely debt free, he would like you to be debt free before considering owning a home. Then, his income and home mortgage rules suggest that you get a mortgage payment where your payment is not to exceed 25% of your net income on a 15-year term. In other words, if your loan amount exceeds 25% of your take home pay - I think this was with a 20% down payment – you are not in a position to own a home.

This is just an example of many of the rules and guides you can find online.  The same is true for insurance savings.  If you are looking to save money on your auto insurance you can certainly find it cheaper somewhere.  The question is, how will you save the money?  You can buy cheaper insurance and just hope and pray that you are never in an accident and actually need it, or you can shop around for the best rates with your current or better coverage.  Sometimes, it is about value for your money that matters.  For example, you may be able to change policies that actually gives you more coverage or higher limits or includes roadside assistance or glass coverage options and does not raise your premium.  This is possible because I’ve done it.  

The traditional story you’ll hear about how to save money on auto insurance sounds something like “raise your deductible and even lower your benefits”.  Well, I don’t have a license to sell insurance nor am I interested in that field, but this is something that sounds like it might get you more stressed.  Higher deductibles make sense if you have plenty to cover the cost.  But, if you always had to worry that you were going to be in an accident and not have enough coverage to take care of your car or worse yet, you or your family.  Doesn’t sound like a good trade off to me.  Saving money should be less stressful, certainly not more.  

How about homeowner’s insurance?  Same logic applies.  The key is to really assess the value of your property.  If you are paying more because you have coverage that exceeds the value of your property, then by all means drop your coverage limits.  However, this is not the case for most people.  With a big drop in home prices, coverage limits may be disproportionate in the shorter term, so you might want to look into that.  Just like with your auto insurance rates, you don’t want to be worrying that you’ll have no home and no safety net in the case of accidents and misfortunes that would otherwise leave you and your family on the street.  Once again, it comes down to a peace of mind thing.  

Think about it, what happens if you are seriously ill or hurt?  What happens to your pay, your security and your family’s peace of mind.  Let’s not even talk about your nest egg. If you have a serious accident, injury or illness and don’t have health insurance, you can forget about that nest egg.  You will realize how large health care costs are in this country and why it is in such a mess if you run into this type of misfortune.  What you can do is manage your health insurance costs by looking into higher deductibles and other plans that may be more for catastrophic injuries rather than routine doctor’s visits.  Depending upon your overall health, you may not visit the doctor much.  This is a great way to reduce your costs, staying healthy.  Of course, we don’t always know when we will be injured or become ill with some major disease.  These are the types of costs that will quickly put families into bankruptcy without insurance coverage.  Yet again, getting the right coverage is based upon your use, your family’s requirements and your overall peace of mind security.

Right? After all, why would you want to spend more than you have to just to get the essentials. Now, if we are talking about luxury food items or gourmet foods, then that is a different story. Again, there are countless sites about saving money using coupons and such. These are great sites, I’ve heard of families that save hundreds each month on the cost of food just by using ‘secret’ coupon strategies. In tough economic times, these stories and sites usually get a lot more coverage, so at some point you have probably heard of them. These work very well for saving money on groceries.

What about other food costs? For example, eating out. Well, this is another one of Dave Ramsey’s favorite rants about eating ‘rice and beans’ until you have cleaned up your debt mess. He’s got a great saying that “you shouldn’t be seeing the inside of a restaurant unless you work there” when it comes to eating out when you are trying to save money. This is great advice for several reasons. One reason is that food in a restaurant costs money – can you believe it, it actually costs you to eat there. So, if you are trying to reduce your costs, paying for someone to make and serve you food is going to always cost more than buying fresh. I can hear the naysayers already talking about how fast food can actually be less expensive than buying and making it yourself. This may be true in a very short-term sense, but you will be getting food that is much more unhealthy and will cost you more money in health care costs long-term. I know, when money is tight, it is easier to think shorter-term. This is totally reasonable and understandable, just don’t rely on this strategy to save you a significant amount, because it will not work.

This is an easy one for most guys.  We could get by with the same great shirt and jeans or shorts and flip flops for months at a time.  The occasional washing and drying wouldn’t hurt, let’s not get crazy though.  We don’t need 12 different pairs of shoes.  I can hear the women now, ONLY 12!?  We’re having fun here, but if you are having tough times financially, this doesn’t always mean that you can forgo any necessary clothing.  This may be for you or your kids as they simply outgrow their old stuff.

If you have a tough time with your pride and brand-name-itis, then this might be the hardest one for you.  See, when you are saving money in life, your new clothes budget just went to practically zero.  You need clothes for work, yes, but you probably already have those.  You just WANT more.  This is a key distinction.  When you get serious about saving money in all areas of your life, you will need to start acting your age.  Just because you want it doesn’t mean you can have it.  After all, you are in a mess right now.  You can save some money buying clothes by going to second hand stores or the “dress for less” type stores and get the same brand name stuff for less – it just won’t come in a fancy brown bag. 

I know, it can sound easy for a man to talk about saving money on clothing, but there is one area where it is hard for both men and women to save – travel and entertainment.  Yikes, we really don’t want to give up our leisure activities.  The thing of it is is that there are plenty of ways and places locally where you can spend your time and not your money.  I’d like to think that it is possible to create a destination in your backyard that is as good as any resort.  Of course, you will not have cute young people serving you drinks, but hey, you’ve got to sacrifice somewhere! 

You’ve heard of these ‘stay-cations’ where you stay locally with your family instead of going away on vacation somewhere.  They are popular these days, because travel expenses have steadily climbed again.  Some airlines still have those super low fares from yesteryear, but they are becoming harder and harder to come by.  Not only this, but even the price of fuel has risen.  It comes and goes in terms of cost, but one thing is for sure, if you have to drive long distances, then you will be spending money.  You’ll be spending to get there and likely on food and lodging once you get there. 

A great new vacation plan is to house swap.  You can do this in your local city or state or branch out into other states.  What this consists of is either contacting someone in an area where you’d like to vacation or use an agency to work through.  You will find a place where you’d like to stay and they will be wanting to stay where you are.  Then, you simply ‘trade’ houses for the specified time.  This will save you a bunch on hotel costs.  It can also help reduce your food related costs because you can still buy your own groceries and then cook them in your ‘new home’. 

This is a tricky area.  We all need ways in which to de-stress and unwind.  This is not only important in terms of bonding with friends and family, but it is also a health-related topic.  We cannot work all year round without breaks and still be fulfilled and happy with work.  You can love what you do and still need a break to spend time away from it to maintain balance in your life.  I’ve heard it said something like “your work is only what you do, consider it like a hobby.  Your life is your family and loved ones.”  This is a great way to look at work – it is not who you are, only what you do for a living.  It is what allows you to provide for the little extras in life as well as the necessities.  When you are in save mode, you simply cannot spend any extra on things like sporting events, concerts and trips.  This is just an irresponsible way to spend your money and will not provide you with long-term happiness anyway.  

This is really what I feel saving money is all about.  Once you learn about how to save it, you can use it in more heart-warming and generous ways.  Yes, having toys and stuff can be fun to have.  If the examples throughout time of people who have had money and lost it all and then had it all again can attest to, money will not make you happy.  You must be happy first and then you will find more uses for your money.  If you look up money in the dictionary it says “not enough”.  In other words, you can never have enough money to make you happy.  It will provide you with the stuff in life that can make you more comfortable, this much is true.  No one can deny that someone living in poverty has it a bit harder in life than someone with abundance.  However, there are probably other factors at play in these people’s lives that you know nothing about as well.  In the end, I guess it is all about learning how to save money as a journey to your ultimate happiness.  All this saving is a test to see how well you are prepared for when the abundance wave hits.