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

Electronic textbooks just make sense when you compare the cheaper cost for students, not to mention the royalty benefits for authors and publishers. With a growing demand for digital textbooks on college campuses, college instructors assigning texts and authors of the texts (which in some cases might be the one and the same) might dig their heels in at first and demand that students purchase the newest edition of their book from the campus bookstore. However, students are smarter than that, and when it comes to choosing between eating and a textbook—they will generally go for the former and seek out textbooks at cheaper cost—either online or via textbook rental sites. Digital textbooks offer benefits for students, and believe it or not, for authors and publishers as well in the following ways.

Why online textbooks make sense for students

1. Digital textbooks can be purchased at approximately half the cost of printed, new textbooks: For example, digital copies of textbooks are $75 compared to $120 for a new print version and the e-book version of A Writer’s Reference in seventh edition is going for $31 while the new print version is $75 on Amazon.com.

2. Digital textbooks are easier on the back: It’s true, just ask any poor student schlepping around an 800-page textbook to class every day.

3. E-copies of books can be programmed to be time leased: This means that the digital copy will exist on a student’s computer for a certain time duration, and when time is up the textbook is deleted from the student’s hard drive. This frees up space devoted to large texts on the student’s computer.

Why online textbooks make sense for instructors

1. E-textbooks substantially reduce the cost of classroom materials—things like printing, binding, warehousing, returns, distribution, and other publisher costs are eliminated from classroom overhead. So instructors can assign the book they want without worrying about cost to their students.

2. Providing books on an electronic platforms permits college instructors and university professors to modify texts for their own classes and allows them to highlight important material they want their specific students to study.

3. Instructors are able to eliminate material that isn’t required in digital copies of texts—and they only have to do it once to make it seamless across the student body.

4. Using an electronic platform, the college instructor can add complementary material—like video clips, lab notes, or self-test material—to aid education.

Why online textbooks make sense for textbook authors

1. Electronic books can include the same distribution rights as music. So, for instance, once a copy of a text is downloaded to an individual computer that text can’t be uploaded, transferred or copied to any other computer—thus protecting the royalties of the author.

2. E-books virtually eliminate the unfair pricing from sellers of printed used-books.

3. E-texts are sold until a new edition is written. This means that less old copies remain in circulation (as with older editions of printed texts) and new editions are published only textbooks are updated with legitimate changes.

4. Digital textbooks literally cut out the middle men (e.g., distribution and publishers’ costs) leaving increased royalties for the author.

Tina Jacobs is a registered nurse and freelance writer who has written for numerous print and online publications on topics ranging from education to money saving tips for college students such as textbook rentals. Tina is a proud Georgetown University and plans to expand her portfolio while she waits to take her nursing licensure via the NCLEX exam. Most days, Tina can be found studying or writing in her beautiful bay window with her cat, Oscar, for company.

Christmas is the season of giving. However finding the money for purchasing presents for family and friends can be quite difficult. Most households have a strict budget when it comes to the holiday season, so finding ways to make the most of your money is vital.

Planning and research

Shopping malls can be chaotic places, making it difficult to remember what gifts to buy and how much to spend on them. Having a plan and budgeting is essential to stop from getting sidetracked and spending too much money. The easiest way to do this is by writing a simple list before you set off. Include gift recipients, gift ideas and a budget for each gift.

Online purchases

Retailers will often sell items at discounted prices online. A simple search between competing retailers will show you where the best deals are to be had. Buying online does not come without its drawbacks however. Shipping around the holiday season can be slow, so it is important to take this into account when purchasing gifts. The price of shipping also can be quite costly. Buying multiple gifts from the same site will often lead to a saving on shipping prices.

Coupons and sales

Before you start shopping, either online or at a shopping centre, set aside some time to search for coupons and discounts. Pay attention to advertisements of sales, skim through discount booklets from the mail, and have a look online at websites. Certain websites include an easy way to search for discounts at a desired store and retailers will often promote sales on a website’s frontpage or at a store location.

Buying in the off-season

Prices can be significantly higher around the holiday season. If you have an opportunity to buy presents well in advance you can often save money. Alternatively, most stores have large sales starting on Boxing Day. Buying gifts after Christmas Day is a great way to save, and is a sly way to save on presents for people you are meeting after the 25th.

High interest saving accounts

One of the most widely underestimated ways to save is to have a high interest savings account, which is designed to make the most of your money. Finding an easy way to save money year-round is just as important as finding coupons around the holiday season.

For our Australian readers, UBank offers the highest interest rate on a savings account with its USaver High Interest Savings Account. UK readers, check out Bank Of Irelands Instant Access Account. Signing up to a high interest account this New Year will lead to a larger budget come next Christmas resulting in a less stressful holiday season.

For many, a car is a necessary expense, but that doesn’t mean you can’t save any money on its usage. Our cars are a tool which allow us to generate more revenue, since it takes us to and from work. You can save money on the purchase of your car by buying a used car. You can also save on car insurance. But you can also save money throughout the entire life of the car. Follow the tips below to keep your vehicle expenses as low as possible.

Drive less

The less you drive the longer your vehicle will last you. When possible, use public transportation, carpool, ride a bicycle or walk.

Driving habits

If you have a habit of accelerating and then breaking, rather than maintaining a steady pace, you’ll spend more money. Your brakes will need to be replaced faster, your tires will need to be replaced faster and you’ll spend more on gas.

Tire pressure

Keeping all four tires properly inflated reduces the chances of ending up with a flat tire. You will also save money on gas if your tires are at the correct air pressure.

Pay attention

Your car will tell you when something is wrong with it. Don’t ignore the warning signs. If there’s a new odor, a new noise or a new light on the dash, take care of it. It will be cheaper to fix it now than it will be to fix a much larger problem later.

Dealer

If there’s an issue with your car take it to a regular mechanic rather than going to the dealer. The mechanic can use the same parts as your dealer will. You’ll just be paying less physical labor costs.

Congratulations on choosing to experience one of life’s special joys – having a baby. If you’re reading this before conception, your proactive stance will take some of the scare out of the unexpected; planning ahead for such a life-changing arrival will also help control costs. With a minimum of 9 months to get ready, you’ll need to consider making changes in your living space, work schedule and finances, while learning more about what it takes to care for a baby.

Prenatal doctor visits will cost a minimum of $500. A typical hospital delivery will set you back between $14,000 and $20,000, depending on the type of birth; while a home birth midwife delivery costs around $3,000. Raising that child to age 17 in the U.S., according to the ‘experts’, will cost a whopping $249,180. To put that into perspective, at the other end of the scale are couples living in impoverished countries where the cost of raising a child to adulthood costs a mere $16,500.

The difference between the American dream and much of the rest of the world is almost too hard to believe. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Americans can lessen the gap by being proactive about how they spend their money. With a little conscientious effort you can provide quality care and save money. Here are some ways:

Make a Workable Budget

Begin with a plan; preparing a reasonable budget before you set foot in a store will help keep costs down. Create a list of the things you will need; ask friends who have recently had a baby to help you. In writing down your hopes and expectations, you will begin to prioritize what’s important and what you can probably do without. The impact on your current budget will be easier to see, as well, if you put it down on paper.

Make Insurance Mandatory

When you consider the cost of prenatal, hospitalization and delivery, it’s easy to see why insurance needs to be high on your list of essential expenses. This is one that needs to be put in place before you conceive, because some insurance companies won’t cover an existing pregnancy. It is important to make sure your doctor and hospital accepts your insurance and that you understand how coinsurance and deductibles work. While many plans cover the entire cost of pregnancy and the birth, others have exclusions or may only cover a fraction of the costs. Understand the specifics when choosing an insurance carrier.

Consider Second-Hand Furnishings

More and more charities are opening resale outlets that sell gently used furniture. This is a great way to stock your nursery with the necessary crib, changing table, rocker, etc. If you’re on a really tight budget, you may have family or friends who will loan you larger items.

Cut the Cost of Supplies

Discount retail outlets, like Sam’s Club or Costco, are able to sell essentials to new parents, like diapers and formula, at lower rates than standard retail stores. Take advantage of coupons and sales. Although many coupons require multiple purchases to get the best discounts and may stretch the monthly budget, you will see substantial savings. When you take into consideration all that a baby will need (for example: an average 10 diapers a day/300 a month for approximately $100 per month), finding the best price can mean considerable savings.

Additional Expenses

With the vast amount of things needed to care for a child, you may incur additional costs that need to be
considered.

• Lower income during unpaid maternity leave or if one parent stays home
• Insurance for the baby
• Childcare services

Like all the important things in life, changes are bound to happen. No one has a crystal ball that can predict to the exact detail the needs of raising a child. The budget that you prepare will need to be kept up-to-date and revised as needs change. If you spend more than you projected in one area, another item will need to be adjusted down. If you spend less on an item, the extra can either be put into savings or used elsewhere.

Noreen Ruth writes for ASAP credit card blog and several popular finance websites. She is interested in educating consumers about using credit responsibly and about legislative action that will affect their ability to borrow the money they need. She has contributed hundreds of articles to various online sites that provide content to educate consumers on credit, top credit cards, debt services, loans and other finance topics.

With dollars in short supply in many households across the US, spending hard-earned money on financial products seems less than appealing. However, they are a necessary evil for most people but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to economize and cut a better deal for products such as insurance, mortgages or even cell phone contracts.

The most fundamental oversight most people make is failing to shop around for better rates. The reason many firms offer better deals for new customers is that they know once someone has signed up for their services, the vast majority will not bother to look elsewhere once it is time to renew, or the introductory deal expires. By switching insurers, lenders or service contracts, such as those on domestic appliances or cell phones, it is often possible to get a much better deal as companies will be keen to lure you away from their competitors.

However, the second secret is that you don’t have to switch to get a better deal! Confused? Most firms have the discretion to offer discounts if they need to but when it comes to renewal or a simple customer enquiry, the best reductions are usually held back. But by finding out what is on offer elsewhere in the market gives you a much better bargaining tool and may mean your own provider suddenly produces a hatful of discounts or benefits.

Doubling up on cover is another common mistake that people make and the cost of insuring items separately when they are already covered can soon rack up. Items bought with a credit card often are already insured, with home insurance also offering cover yet very often specific insurance is bought for items such as cell phones. Not all insurers extend cover to items such as cell phones or laptops, so if yours doesn’t, revert to the first tip above and find yourself a new provider.

For some reason, store cards do not have the guilt factor that a credit card does yet as a general rule, they are far worse. A typical APR for a store card is around 29.9%, far more than a typical credit card. Therefore, if you want to go shopping and really can’t wait to save up the money, opting for a credit card will save you a huge amount of money, especially if you can qualify for one of the 0% APR deals on the market at the moment.

Finally, when it comes to borrowing money, think outside the box. Banks and traditional lenders are all charging a small fortune to provide funds, making any purchase on credit even more expensive. An innovative new alternative which is quickly growing in popularity is peer to peer lending. Once you are part of a network and assigned a credit rating, individuals willing to lend you money will compete for your business and you can pick the best terms that suit your needs. Not only does this work out far cheaper than borrowing from a bank, it offers flexibility and the possibility of creating a tailor-made loan.

However, before accepting any offer made on a peer to peer network, it is a good idea to use a loans calculator to compare the amount being charged to make sure you are really getting the best deal out there. Although it made seem tedious at times, the key to getting the most out of your financial products is being prepared to take a bit of time to always check you are getting the most competitive rates in the market.

It’s a disappointing day when you go apply for a loan and get denied. You could have had your sights set on a new car but instead you walk home with nothing but you and your bad credit. Instead of getting mad at the dealership, you should realize that you are to blame for your bad credit. Here are some common reasons for being denied credit and ways to fix them.

No credit history

Lenders want to know if you’re going to be able to pay back your loan. The only way they can gauge that is by seeing your history. If you have shown a history of borrowing and then paying back your debts, your are good to go. But what if you’ve never borrowed money before or even had a credit card? You have yet to show how you handle having debts. While you are not as risky as someone with bad credit, having no credit history is almost as bad. You also want to make sure you have a mix of revolving credit and installment credit on your report. Revolving credit would be credit cards (borrow money, pay it back, get more money) while installment credit would be car loans (borrow $5,000, pay back $5,000, account closed).

Outstanding debts

You can be denied credit if there are any delinquencies on your credit report. This is especially true if the delinquencies are recent (under 2 years). Something else to note though is that if you have old debts that are over 5 years old, it may be a good idea to not pay those off. The reason is that they are not impacting your credit score that much and in 7 years will completely vanish from your credit history.

Errors on your report

Sometimes you pay off an old debt yet your credit report is not updated. Months before you’re going to apply for credit, go and get your free credit report. The score is not free, but the report is free. You are allowed to view your report once per year for free. Check to see if there are any mistakes on the report. If you notice any make sure to write a credit report dispute letter to the company listed and to the credit bureaus.

Credit utilization rate

If you owe too much money to too many people this is an obvious red flag. You should try and keep your credit utilization rate pretty low. Something like 25% is a good amount. This means that if you have $10,000 in credit available, you’re only using $2,500 of it. This shows the lender that while you can max out your cards you choose not to.

If you’re in debt you’ve lived a certain kind of life up to now. Always putting things on credit cards. Always buying things on an impulse. Always getting whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted it. If you want to live debt-free this lifestyle needs to change. That can be difficult to do at first but once you realize that joy in life does not come from money it will become easier for you.

Pay back your debts

Living a debt free life requires a lot of work, but it can be done. The first step is to pay back your debts. You can only do this if you set a strict budget that includes debt repayment. Depending on how much debt you have this can take a while. Don’t make a strict budget because you’ll simply quit and will not want to adhere to any future budgets. Instead, create a realistic budget and stick to it. Keep track of your debt progress using an app on your phone, a website like mint.com or you can just jot it down on your calendar.

Save money

After you’ve paid back your debts you may feel relieved. While this is a normal feeling, don’t feel like you now can return back to your previous lifestyle. This is the moment where you can alter your budget again. However the money that was set aside to pay back debts should now be allocated to your savings account. Not having a savings account was one of the reasons that led to you being in debt in the first place. Let’s not make that mistake again.

New lifestyle

While this new lifestyle has its challenges, the rewards are endless. Never again will you have to be bothered with collection calls. Never again will you have to worry about getting your car or house taken away. Living a debt free life brings more than just peace of mind, it brings peace to your wallet.

By embracing these changes you’ll be able to have a debt free life and do away with payday loans, trying to sell diamonds and your belongings and making trips to the pawn shop just to scrounge up a few bucks.