The Save Money Blog

Buy What You Can Afford Not What You Want

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:37:51 +0000

I was listening to a radio show today, a guy was telling a story how he picked up a nice economical car that his family could afford and how his wife was dissapointed that they didn't buy a top of the line gas guzzling luxury car. The guy obviously made the right choice. I had a friend in school that always had cars that he could barely afford. They were nice but then he had no money to do things on weekends with because he was car poor. I don't know why we do it but we knock ourselves further into debt by buying things we want and can't afford.

I have some more work to do in the basement. What am I going finish it with. Drywall, paint, chipboard or metal tiles? While I would like to do it top of the line I have to make some tough decisions. One, I am not going to be here for the rest of my life so why sink thousands of dollars into something I will not fully enjoy. Two, I am going to finish things off with whatever I can afford at the time. I am not going to knock my pocket book silly because I want my basement to look like the grotto. I have to be reasonable.

The next time you have the urge to spend, think about things. Can you afford what you want or can you get away with what you can afford.

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How We Saved Money By Planning Ahead

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:13:21 +0000

We recently had a birthday for one of the kids in the house and the present of choice was some pearl jewelry. So my other half went out to one of the more popular places in town to buy jewelry and came back with what she found and the picelist. At first I said sounds good to me, they have been around forever and have a good name. Then I thought about the saving money blog and said, why not go to a few other stores and do some comparison shopping. We had lots of time because we planned ahead. We didn't leave things to the last minute.

The result? We ended up finding a far better piece at a very cheaper rate. We came out winners on both ends by planning this birthday present well out a month before it happened. If you leave things to the last minute you are going to get burnt. You are going to buy on the spur of the moment and odds are you are going to overpay. Put a calendar together or use your computers appointment software built into outlooks email program. Plan ahead and save some money.

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Budgeting for an Emergency Fund

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:06:11 +0000

Have you ever been caught in a pinch and found yourself without and emergency fund? If you have been caught without an emergency you have little choice but to take out a loan or build up debt on your credit card at an outrageous interest rate. Not exactly the best plan. It's not hard to imagine having a medical emergency or a large home or car repair bill.

By putting away a few extra bucks each week you can save yourself having to borrow or run your credit card up if you do have one of these emergencies. Yes, one can and should budget and allocate the extra money for emergency fund, as this is very significant when one refers to his "financial future". Here, the goal is to create savings from budgeting your income; the emergency savings should ideally be equal to at least three months your living expenditures.

What's important is that you should steadily put a certain amount of money aside, and only use it for real emergencies.

Not like an investment, the success of one’s long-term savings funds does not really count on the amount of return or interests but on placing a fixed amount of money away constantly and steadily so to have immediate access to it at all times.

In spite of one’s financial status, the initial step in the process of constructing an emergency fund is by knowing where your money is presently being consumed or spent.

When one recognizes and determines where one’s earnings are spent, then it will be easy for one to choose and make a decision where to trim down expenses. In other words, budget.

Budgeting is putting or setting aside money for anticipated and unanticipated future use. It is here that one sets up a goal so as to save. So set an emergency fund as your goal.

Checking, savings, money market accounts and "certificates of deposits", are great places to keep one’s cash that might be needed on quick notice.

The amount saved from budgeting can either go to your savings goal, emergency fund or both. One could utilize the money saved from budgeting financial expenses by saving half of it to your savings account and half of it for emergencies. This way, you achieve your goals in savings and at the same time put in funds for emergency use. It’s your choice.

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Sometimes Buy a Kit is Cheaper Than Doing It Yourself

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:21:21 +0000

I was recently looking at replacing a shed in my backyard sometime over this summer. There are two ways of going about it in my books. You can either buy a kit and put it together or get some plans, purchase the lumber and build it from scratch or you can pay somebody to do it. I went to a local hardware store and was looking at the outdoor centre. They had sheds, garages, swing sets and other outdoor playground kits for sale. For the price of the kits, I am thinking I would have been better off with the kit. Since the kits have everything you need there is no way to screw up building them and they are pretty much maintenance free. You aren't going to run into any overage costs or you won't be wasting material if you mess up your cuts. I have already put one together it was pretty easy and the finished product looks pretty good. Buying a kit was cheaper than paying somebody to build my shed and probably cheaper than if I tried to build it myself.

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How to Save On Pet Supplies

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:27:49 +0000

I am always amazed at how complacent people are when it comes to spending money on things like pet food or pet supplies. If you are a pet owner you will know how expensive it can be to feed your pet a decent food and to buy pet supplies for them. You should look at buying dog or cat supplies like you do buying your own groceries. Try to find deals and shop around to get your best prices. In todays day and age there are many options available so that you don't have to break the wallet looking after your pets.

We shop at a store that offers a free bag of dog food for every ten we buy. We end up getting a free bag a year and that's a big saving plus we get to feed our dog a decent brand of dog food. Stop in at a few stores and see if any of your local pet shop stores offer any loyalty deals like ours do. I imagine that most would love to have you as a regular customer.

Look online. The pet industry online is crazy. There are tons of reputible big sites selling pet supplies at a good price. Many even offer free shipping for big orders. You can always split orders with co-workers or friends to save on the shipping charges or to get your shipping for free.

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We Added a Timer to Our Pool Pump

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:07:12 +0000

I blogged before that our Utility company is moving towards billing based on the time of day that we use our electricity. One of the biggest electricity eaters they cited in the reading material was the good old pool pump. Up until two days ago we ran our filter 24/7 and even on equal billing this is still quite expensive. We run our pool for maybe four months of the year depending on the weather.

I did some research on how many hours a pool pump needs to run to be effective. Basically it needs to turn over the water once to keep it clean. There was no definite answer on how many hours because it depends on the size of the pool, use and how much sun it gets. The majority of the sites I looked at agreed somewhere between 10 hours and 12 hours a day. That is alot of extra hydro and money being wasted.

The blurry picture on the right is what I picked up from the hardware store for $15. Your pool pump plugs into it and you set the hours you want it to run on the dial. Simple as that. It took less than five minutes to install and I am already saving money on the hydro bill.

If you install one just keep an eye on your pool for the first few days and see if it is keeping it clean. If not adjust the hours it is running until you find a time that you are happy with. Right now I am running it for about 11 hours and the clarity of the water is fine.

Why run your pump for 24 hours a day if you don't have to.

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Save Money By Scanning the Shelves

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:35:22 +0000

Yesterday I went to an electronics store to buy a cheap replacement mouse for my latop. They had plenty of versions and different types. Why anybody would pay over $100 for a mouse is beyond me, I was looking at something much less expensive. I wanted a cord because of bad luck with previous wireless USB models.

Anyways I grabbed the first one I saw, a Microsoft scroll wheel mouse for under $25. Perfect, just what I needed. As I was walking back down the aisle I decided to have a look around. Right there away from the rest of the "mice" was a Dynex for $4 cheaper. Exact same mouse. Why it wasn't with the rest of them is beyond me. I saved $4 by taking my time and having a look around the shelves. Grabbing the first thing you see is always a bad idea. Take your time and have a look around. Four bucks isn't much but it is a saving.

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Are Brand Names the Best?

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:17:29 +0000

Brand name shopping can be a dead end for your pocket book. Take it from me I have had enough problems with having to have brand name goods. What is the best golf club? What is the best diet pills? What is the best pair of sunglasses? You can knock yourself out trying to find out what the best and biggest brand names are.

Here's a tip. Many large brand name companies own lots of other companies and except for the name they manufacture the same items under lesser known names for cheaper prices. Example, one of the biggest golf club names in the business is owned by the same company that owns several other sports companies. A golf store employee showed me the clubs from the lesser known company and they were practically the same but at least 1/2 the price.

You don't always have to have the brand name to get quality. Do some digging online, read some reviews and ask some store clerks. You can find really decent stuff at a fraction of the cost probably made by the same people making your brand names.

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What Kind of Shopper Are You?

admin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:06:42 +0000

I was out picking up some garden supplies and was wondering one thing when I was looking at some items. What kind of shopper am I? Do you buy an expensive pair of gloves because they will last a long time or do you buy something like disposable gloves because they are cheaper? Do you buy a plastic potting planters that will last a season or do you sink your money into something more expensive hoping to get a couple of season out of them?

It's really kind of double ended question. If you don't have the money to spend then there is no sense in going into debt trying to save money too far into the future when you get away with keeping your dollars and making due in the short term. You really aren't saving because the cheaper items you buy aren't going to last as long but in the short term you can use the difference and pay off part of your debt or a credit card. It's a tough decision to make. Personally, if you don't have it then don't spend it.

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Can You Believe The Price of Electronics?

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:12:26 +0000

Is it just me or is the price of electronics and electronic gadgets becoming increasingly affordable? Every weekend when we are out shopping (more window shopping than spending) I can't believe how low things have become. We were out last week and glanced at some digital camcorders and I thought they would have been prices for a lot more than what they were in the store we were in. You can pick up an HDD camcorder for well under $500. I remember way back when a friend payed nearly three times that for something not near as compact and obviously not near as advanced video wise.

What's the point? The point is that enjoying a little gadget treat for those that have put away or find themselves with a little left over isn't a major purchase as it once was. Sure $500 is a big squeeze for most of us but not as crazy as having to shell out well over $1,000 like we did in the past. The economic crunch has it benefits.

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