College students don’t have a lot of disposable income, so it’s important for them to find ways to stretch their budgets. Saving money while in college is easier than you think if you’re willing to get a little bit creative and cut out unnecessary expenses. With just a few easy tips and tricks, any college student can stretch a small budget to cover all their needs, while still having fun and enjoying themselves.

Set A Food Budget

College students are notorious for their hearty appetites. While most colleges have a dining hall for underclassmen, upperclassmen are usually housed in apartment style dorms with full kitchens. Taking advantage of these accommodations can lead to a healthier diet, but if the student isn’t careful, it can also lead to a lighter wallet. To combat this, setting a food budget is essential.

Search online for discount grocery stores near your campus to get the best bargains on food. If you’re not picky about brands and are willing to eat ground beef instead of steak, you can find some excellent deals. Try limiting yourself to splurging on your meal once a week instead of several times. That will not only save money, it will also give you a greater appreciation of special meals.

Reduce Take Out Meals

Many college students find themselves ordering take out meals several times a week. This is not only unhealthy, it’s also very expensive. It’s important to limit your eating out to avoid unnecessary weight gain and expense. Cutting back on take out can save hundreds of dollars a month. Instead of doing take out, you can look for copycat recipes of your favorite dishes on the internet and dedicate a single night of the week to trying experimenting with different recipes.

Used Textbooks

If you’re not willing to cut back on food or alcohol, there are plenty of other ways you can save money. Buying used textbooks online instead of at your school’s bookstore can be a hassle, but if you’re willing to make the effort you can save hundreds of dollars with just a couple hours work. If you’re not sure which books you need, browse your school’s bookstore and write down ISBN numbers and editions to make sure you’re ordering the right textbook. You won’t save any money if you order the wrong book and can’t return it.

By just analyzing your monthly spending and watching where you spend the most money, you can easily find ways to trim your budget and save money. Saving money while in college is an important life lesson you’ll take with you long after graduation. Making changes today will help you to become a more responsible and thrifty member of society tomorrow.

In these days of rising unemployment the importance of having an emergency fund has never been greater. You never know when you’re going to have unexpected expenses. But when it does happen, you want to be able to stay above the water by dipping into your emergency fund.

Think of your emergency fund as an insurance account. Just like you have car insurance to cover damage you caused to other vehicles or health insurance to cover medical emergencies, have an emergency fund to help you through rough financial times.

It is recommended that you keep anywhere from 6 to 9 months living expenses in your emergency fund. This amount of money should be placed in a bank account, preferably. You don’t want to place this money into an investment account, as you don’t want to lose this money. You also don’t want it in a CD (certificate of deposit) as this can tie up your money for quite a while. Instead, have it in an online savings account where it is quickly accessible.

Building your emergency fund takes time, especially if you’re trying to pay off your debts, but it is imperative to have one. If you do not have an emergency fund then your only resort when you’re in dire need of money are short term high interest loans such as the following:

• Payday loans (very high interest rates, in some states it’s illegal, as it’s seen as predatory lending)
• Car title loans (while the interest rates are lower than payday loans, you stand to lose your car if you don’t pay it back)
• Credit cards (these carry a high interest rate and missing payments can destroy your credit score)

Not all debts were created equal. Some look good for you, some look bad for you. Some are healthy, some are not.

Secured debts

A secured debt is one in which the lender has collateral. Examples of secured debts include car loans and home loans. If you don’t pay up, the lender keeps all your previous payments and your property. If you want to let a friend borrow money and want it to be a secured type of loan, you could say: let me keep your motorcycle and if you don’t pay me back I’ll pawn it.

Unsecured debts

An unsecured debt is a debt where there is no collateral. These types of loans are riskier. An example of this kind of debt is credit card debt. This kind of debt usually carries a higher interest rate than secured debts, since there is no collateral.

Good debts

You would think that all debts are bad debts. But there are some that are pretty good. A car loan is an acceptable debt to have. If you’re young it can help raise your credit score if you make timely payments. Before buying a house, it helps if you have a history of making your car payments on time. It helps even more if you’ve already paid off a big loan before. A car loan is also a decent type of loan to have because it provides a car for you to drive to and from work, thus generating revenue.

Another good kind of loan to have is a home loan. This loan is the biggest loan you’ll ever get. It’s the one loan everyone wants. It’s the loan that you work your whole life to qualify for. If you want to borrow money in the future for other reasons, lenders do not look negatively upon this debt. Another reason why this is an acceptable debt is because the interest rates are usually low, especially when compared to credit card interest rates.

Bad debts

A bad debt is any debt that carries a high interest rate. The most common bad debt to have is credit card debt. Another example of bad debt are payday loans online. You generally don’t want to take out too many of these types of loans because of the high interest rates.

One good way to get yourself out of debt is to make sure you have an emergency savings account in place. Otherwise, whenever an unexpected scenario arises, you turn to credit instead of using your own saved money.

Don’t think that an emergency can’t happen to you. Most people at some point in their lives will face a large bill that arrives without warning. This may come in the form of a huge medical expense related to an accident or an unexpected car or house repair. It may even be the result of a layoff at work, which of course brings with it the need to meet bills without any incoming salary for a time.

No matter how or why an emergency strikes, those who have not prepared their finances in advance – those without an emergency fund – will most likely resort to credit cards to meet the unexpected obligation. Indeed, some individuals actually regard a credit card as a viable substitute for an emergency fund.

Relying on credit to deal with emergencies is quite risky, since large expenses may exceed your available limit. This can lead to situations in which you are simply unable to meet an obligation or need. Not being able to pay your mortgage on time while you are looking for work, can lead to the loss of your home and all the money you have previously invested in it. Even worse, those who lack medical insurance and need expensive preventative treatments may have to go without. The ultimate result of such a decision can be dire indeed.

Even when a person can use credit cards to handle an emergency, serious problems may result. Those who were already living from one paycheck to the next may become caught in a spiral of debt once an additional large charge is added to their total credit balance. Such individuals may begin using one credit card to pay off another until all credit is exhausted, or they may miss payments and incur late payment fees. In either case, adding interest or fees on top of an already untenable financial situation will only make things worse.

The good news is that these scenarios are actually quite simple to avoid. When individuals can pay a large, unexpected bill from a savings account, there will be no need to involve credit in any form. So get started and create an emergency savings account today so you’ll be more prepared for life’s unexpected moments.

You’ve heard that when someone checks your credit report your credit score goes down. This may cause you to not want to check your own credit too often. But don’t despair, not all credit checks are the same. This post will explain which credit look-ups make your score decrease and which ones do not.

There are two types of credit inquiries, a soft one and a hard one. The soft credit inquiry will not affect your score negatively while a hard inquiry (many of them) will affect your score.

Soft credit check

A soft credit check occurs when someone checks your credit report without you requesting it. For example, when you get all of those credit card offers in the mail, they all checked your credit, but they’re all just soft credit checks so it won’t hurt your score. Other examples of soft credit checks are when you check your own credit report, when your boss does it or when your landlord gets your credit report.

Hard credit check

A hard credit check, on the other hand, occurs when you are applying for credit. A hard credit check occurs when you apply for a car loan or a mortgage or any other kind of loan. If you have too many hard inquiries in a short time this could drop your credit score real fast. The reasoning is that if you’re asking for money from various sources in a short amount of time you must be desperate for money. The more desperate you are for money the riskier you are to loan money to.

We all love to shop, or at least most of us do. But a bad shopping habit can wreak havoc on our wallets and our credit scores. But rather than giving up shopping completely, a better way of doing things is to shop smartly. That way you don’t have to deal with the withdrawal effects of quitting cold turkey.

To shop smartly, use coupons. I know that’s nothing new, but it’s still one of the best ways of saving money while shopping. Here are some places you can find coupons.

In Your Mailbox

Every day the mail carrier brings a bunch of junk mail to your house. But sometimes that mail isn’t junk. Sometimes you get free coupons in the mail. If there’s something in there you like, even if it’s just a 15% off coupon to a store you rarely visit, clip it and keep it. They usually don’t expire for months and you never know when you’re going to need something.

In Your Inbox

If you sign up for the online newsletter of your favorite store, you’re going to get emailed coupons every now and then. They will also let you know when there’s a big sale coming up. Usually they won’t write you more than once a week so it’s not like they bombard you with endless spam.

Online Coupons

Before you buy anything online, and I mean anything, make sure and do a search for a coupon code first. Sometimes they’re referred to as discount codes or promo codes or vouchers. A good place to start is retailmenot.com. You can typically find a deal as good as 50% off to as little as just a couple of bucks off, but every little bit helps.

In The Newspaper

The Sunday newspaper is pretty costly, but it’s also full of coupons. If the paper is going to cost you 3 bucks and you end up saving 10 dollars worth of coupons, it was well worth it. You don’t need to buy the paper every week, just once a month will do so you don’t get overloaded with a bunch of coupons all at the same time.

Now that you’re saving money, put that money away in a savings account and watch it grow. Here’s a savings calculator that will show you how much you can save.

In recent years the term “mortgage broker” or even just “broker” has gotten a bad name. It is often believed that it will cost you dearly if you should ever take on a broker’s services. This unfortunately puts many good brokers in bad light as well, so in this article we will explain a little more about these brokers and how you can choose one that can actually save you money.

What is a mortgage broker?

A mortgage broker is company that usually consists of mortgage advisers, advisers that know the insides and outs of mortgage types, rates and whether or not an individual can apply for or afford to keep up payments for a mortgage. Most mortgage brokers also have access to whole of market products, allowing them to find the best deal for your circumstances, and can sometimes even arrange exclusive deals with lenders or builders.

How does a broker make money?

There are a few ways mortgage brokers make money and the most common one consists of taking both a fee and receiving a commission from the lender for arranging a mortgage. Doing this, however, can be excessively expensive for the client and often gives brokers a bad name. To give an idea of costs, the upfront payment can be between £100 – £300 ($150 – $450) and upon securing a mortgage the broker also gets a commission from the lender that can average at about 0.5% of the mortgage value.

Whatever way you decide to get a mortgage, the broker will get a commission. Luckily this commission will not affect your mortgage amount and you can get the same deal by going to the lender directly.

Since the commission doesn’t affect your mortgage, there are a few good mortgage brokers that offer an amazing service by only working on a commission basis without other fees, essentially offering free mortgage advice to you.

Can mortgage brokers save me money?

Mortgage brokers can save you money, because they can access and search through more mortgage products based on your circumstances and have access to exclusive deals. Just make sure to use mortgage brokers that offer advice that is free to you and have access to the whole of the market.

For many a cell phone is a necessary expense. Whether you use it for work purposes or to keep in touch with friends and family, a cell phone can get real expensive real fast. But there are ways you can cut your cell phone bill down without cutting back on your talk time. Here’s how you can do this.

Extras

Cell phone companies offer insurance on your phone. But how often do you actually need it? If it’s $5 a month that’s $60 per year you’re probably throwing down the drain. They also offer roadside assistance. If you have car insurance you probably already have this.

Plan

Are you on the right plan. You can call up your cell phone carrier and ask them if you’re on the right plan. They’ll see your usage and move you to a cheaper plan.

Switch companies

If many of your friends and relatives are on one carrier consider joining the same company. The reason is that there is likely unlimited “mobile to mobile” minutes (or unlimited minutes to your “fave 5″. This means you can actually downgrade your monthly plan to the one with the least amount of minutes.

Family plan

You can save huge money on a family plan. Instead of each member having their own cell phone line at 50 bucks a month, the first person can pay 50 bucks and every other line can pay just 10 bucks a month.

Prepaid

If you hardly use your cell phone there’s no point in paying a 40 dollar a month fee. Prepaid plans are much cheaper and cost about 20 bucks a month.

You don’t need to hire one of these credit repair agencies to fix your credit. It’s absurd to think that those enduring financial hardship are actually going to dish out money they don’t have so someone can fix your credit. There’s nothing they can do that you can’t do. The only thing they have is time and knowledge. But if you have enough time to go through the process of hiring a company then you have the time to fix your credit on your own. As for the knowledge, you’re about to get a dose of it.

Here are a few things you can do to raise your credit score.

Credit report

The first step is the most obvious one. Get your credit report at annualcreditreport.com. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that you are entitled to a credit report for free from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion every 12 months. Keep in mind that this is only your credit report, not your credit score.

Errors

After you get your free credit report look it over. Do you notice any mistakes on your credit report? If so you can get those fixed quite easily. Find a sample dispute letter online and submit it to the credit agencies and the company who still has you owing money. After the information has been corrected your score will go up.

Debts

Pay down your most recent debts first. This is going to give your credit score a big boost. Recent debts are the ones that hurt your score the most. Debts that are 7 years old or older will vanish from your report.

Waiting

If a credit repair agency claims they can fix your credit immediately and boost your score X amount of points in X amount of days they are lying to you. They can’t do anything you can do on your own. There’s no way to speed the process up of getting your score to go up. So give it time, pay your bills on time and your score will go up on its own. As errors are repaired, debts get paid and older debts drop off your score will rise over time.

Asking for a raise is a difficult, stress-inducing task for any employee of any company. However, when you find yourself in a salary dispute over what you think you’re worth vs. what your employer wants to pay you—things can get ugly. It can get so ugly that you may have to get a personal injury lawyer involved if things come to blows.

However, discussing a raise with your current employer or a potential new company is an opportunity for you to seriously examine what you are worth. Take this opportunity to have a candid conversation with your current boss or your hiring manager (if this is a new employment opportunity) to compare your performance with your compensation. To improve your chances of getting the compensation that you think you deserve, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Good employees are hard to retain: Many companies struggle to keep their talent. However, they might still pay them less than they deserve. If you know you could get more elsewhere, speak candidly to your employer about standard pay for you position at similar companies. This way you establish your value to the company, as well as justifying the cost should you leave and the company needs to hire and pay to train someone new.

2. Compare yourself with your competition: If you belong to a professional association, ask others in similar job roles how much you should expect to make. You can also gather information on comparable salaries in your area of expertise from government websites like the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Just be sure to compare yourself to the average salaries in your state or even city or urban area.

3. Weigh your accomplishments: Have you received special awards or honors for you work? Have you landed a big client or streamlined the way your company does business, saving them money? Be sure to make a list of your accomplishments, either on a resume or in a portfolio and take it with you when you are ready to negotiate for leverage.

4. Show them you’ve done your research: When you go in to your meeting with your boss or hiring manager (if it’s a new job) go in armed with the supporting information you’ll need—including statistics on average salary for your role, government statistics, years experience you bring, and stats on the value you’ve added to the company already.

5. Get ready to negotiate: In a perfect world, you’re boss would thank you for your years of service and all you’ve done for the company and then give you everything you wanted and more! However, life hardly works out that way when it comes to salary demands. Your boss may say no, or he may offer you less than what you want, but be prepared to support your request for a raise.

6. Have a plan: If your boss says no or says the company can’t afford to give you a raise, stay calm. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. Instead, come prepared with concrete facts and a plan that shows you are a team player—and without you the company would be less successful. If your boss still denies you a raise, then keep your calm and offer a plan with specific goals. When you reach those, agree to take up salary negotiations once more. If you think you’re being shafted. Hit the pavement and start looking for a job where they are willing to pay you what you’re worth.

7. If you get a raise: Be sure to get the agreement in writing signed by you and your manager and HR. This document will ensure you are paid what you agreed on going forward and avoid further disputes.

8. Regardless of the outcome, thank your boss: This might be difficult if you don’t get the raise you want, but remember, a positive attitude will be remembered in the future. And if it is a matter of the company not being able to afford a raise now, you might be put first in line because of your winning attitude when they can afford it.

Colleen Harding is a freelance writer and guest blogger who specializes on writing about law. Her passion for the legal realm started with a job as a Legal Aid for a personal injury lawyer and continued when she accepted a role as a Human Resources Coordinator for a mid-sized U.S. manufacturing company. Colleen is always looking of more freelance writing work and can be contacted at colleenaharding@gmail.com