The champagne is dry and crusty, and all the hundred-dollar bills used to light cigars have crumbled into ash. It’s time to tighten our belts and get real about spending less and saving more. Here’s 10 ways to save some serious cash…
10. Got any bank fees? Ask the bank to waive one as a courtesy
Most banks will give you at least one courtesy fee waive per year, but they won’t do it unless you ask ‘em first.
9. Lower Your APR by threatening to switch to another credit card company
Try saying this: “I think I’ve been a good customer. I’d like to stay with you, but I really want you to lower the rate on my card. Can you help me?”
8. Use a 0% balance transfer to get a reprieve from credit card interest for a few months
Many credit card companies offer 0% balance transfer deals where you can move your balance from another company’s card to theirs, and enjoy 0% APR for a few months. Be careful to read all the rules though, because if you break some of them, you can shoot back up to your old rate or higher. Also the 0% is for a limited time, so mark your calendar and be prepared to shift your funds again.
7. Lower your cable bill by threatening to cancel
Many of our readers have had success with this one. Mention competing offers you’ve researched and ask for them to give you a reason to stick around.
6. Get your spending under control so you’re paying off your credit card in full every month, and avoid paying extra interest
If you carrying a balance and paying finance charges on it, it amounts to an extra tax on everything you purchased. Why should you pay someone for your own money?
5. Pack your own lunch, make your own coffee, cook at home
Eating out is expensive, and those lattes add up. Rediscover the joy of cooking and you’ll feel enriched in more ways than just your pocketbook.
4. Adjust your tax withholdings so you’re not giving the IRS an interest-free loan
If you get a big ol rebate from the IRS, you may be claiming too few withholdings. I’m sure you know many better things to do with that money throughout the year than the IRS does. Here’s how to do it.
3. Take advantage of new low interest rates by refinancing your home to a lower rate
Pay a little less each month and that can add up to several thousands of dollars in savings over the life of the loan.
2. Switch to paying for most things in cash only…
Money hurts more. Pay for things in physical cash and you may find yourself making better purchase decisions.
…And then put all your pocket change in a piggy bank
The piggy bank can now become your Wii fund, or your vacation fund, or your new wardrobe fund. When it gets full, take it to Commerce Bank’s Penny Arcade and cash it in for free.
1. Make a budget
Simply monitoring your money forces you to be wiser with how you use it. I consider the personal budget the financial dashboard to making sure I’m master of my money instead of the other way around. Here’s a few tools to get you started:
Consumerist’s 9-Step Beginner’s Budget
An excel sheet I made that does the job rather well, if I may say so myself.
The Zero Based Budget
The idea behind it is that every single dollar you earn will get allocated to a specific category. There is no money sloshing around, you have total mastery over all of your money.
How To Budget With An Irregular Income
Most budgets assume a steady paycheck, but if your income comes in spurts, here’s a great way to still keep your bills paid and your money under control.
8 Free Personal Finance Management Programs (And 4 Pay Ones)
A roundup of Consumerist reader’s favorite budget tools.
(Photo: Getty)
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@RandomHookup: Yes, that was the other option we considered (which we already do with a sporadic income stream), but our 401(k) needs more funding anyway.
I think you should use credit cards if you can control yourself AND if you get rewards. Getting 3% or 5% cash back is better than getting 0% cash back using “cold hard cash.”
out of that whole list….. the only thing that I CAN do is to not eat out as much (#5). Everything else I am already doing.
@mzs: Amen, we’ve been doing that for about 2 years now. Very liberating. Eventually you start to realize you aren’t really missing anything.
So, all of this either applies to me, or we’re already doing it. I’m very grateful to be in such a positive situation. But now what? I’m not feeling financially secure…like Joseph and teapartys_over said.
I started taking the bus instead of the car this month, and other than giving up my Coca-Cola habit and switching to one of those mowers with just blades that you push, I’m not seeing how to cut more, especially with baby #2 due to arrive any day now.
Appreciate the article, hope there’s a part 2, the “OK, Done. Now what?” article.
@meadandale: Then it all applies to you. You’re just already saving real money.
We have an electric mower and it’s fantastic. Once you get used to the cord it’s just like vacuuming. And the draw on the electric bill is nowhere near the amount it costs to get gas for one.
I am doing all of it. but still can seem to stay afloat. I do like using my debit card because I get cash back in my account every year it is not much but it is better then no money at all from hard cash. Also with the rise of food and gas it will be hard to save what little I was trying to save now.
We keep all of our change in a huge jug and then take it to one of those Coinstar machines. They’ll skim a little off the top in fees or whatever, but it all works out for us.
We also put our “fun money” on a prepaid VISA card. We were going to eliminate both debit cards as we use the bank’s billpay feature extensively, then use the prepaid VISA for everything else, but that proved to be too much of a hassle.
@SuperSally: I have a cordless electric mower! Bought it off Craigslist for 1/4 price. It has, according to my boyfriend, currently conked out, but I want to have a look at it because I suspect it’s fixable. Electric mower FTW.
@snowmentality: Actually, being in grad school can give you the opportunity to make some decent (if sporadic) money. Here are some options:
* Studies with your school’s psych dept
* MRI studies with psych dept (can pay $50-100 per session if you can handle being in an MRI and qualify)
* Medical studies — especially sleep studies
* Focus groups with local marketing companies
* Reselling furniture and books and such on eBay/Craigslist that students leave behind when they move
* Do mystery shopping, especially for meals
The secret is to check the bulletin boards on campus and Craigslist regularly. I live near Harvard and MIT, so they have tons of stuff going on as do all the med schools and research centers in the area. Craigslist may also have lots of “quickie” jobs — passing out fliers, valet parking at a party, staffing a table to get students to sign up for credit cards, catering jobs (check with the student employment office, too).
Oh, and take advantage of all the free meals on campus…swing in to have pizza and listen to a speaker while skimming your notes. I see a ton of good movies for free while eating Harvard’s pizza.
@catcherintheeye: Channel 9 still has a bunch of games, no less really then I remember in years past:
[wgnsuperstation.trb.com]
AM 720 has the games as far as I know. It’s also a lot o fun to go to the pub to watch the games with your buddies. Heck the weather is great, if there is a game local game you really want to see why not just head out to Wrigley field.
The last time I had comcast they wanted $80/month for the extended basic+ or what ever they called it plan that had CSN. You could do an occasional game and pu trip and save more money at that rate.
Plus isn’t comcast the company everyone here is routinely complaining about here. I’m not the only one that got fed-up with them and cancelled, right? I mean that is the only thing that can make them improve.
@mzs:
indeed. cancel your cable all together. i haven’t had a TV or cable for 7 YEARS…. but still keep up with the handful of shows that i enjoy.
1. go out for tv. tv’s are everywhere….. bars, restaurants… even better, spend time with your friends and their TV.
2. is there a tv show produced nowadays that ISN’T on the net or later found on DVD?
after a while, you’ll find that you begin to watch “tv” for a purpose, not just as a random ‘time sucking’ convenience….
time saver… and money saver.
Re #5: Done, done, and done! Bento is a big hobby of mine, so I always bring my lunch to work; my coffee is better than Starbux or anything I could buy; and luckily I really enjoy cooking.
10. Credit Union FTW! My worst that has stuck was one overdraft fee.
9, 8. N/A. No CC.
7. N/A living w/ parents, still; but good idea.
6. N/A.
5. Biggie. It’s cheaper for me to buy coffee, but if I’m going to make cofee, it’s starting green
. It does save me $20-40 a week when I bring stuff from home. I haven’t been very good about making it a regular habit, though, and there’s an awesome Mexican place not far from work 
.
4. I’ve considered that. I’ll probably do it once I have some money in the bank. My tax refunds nearly doubled my checking account
.
3. See 7.
2. I’m actually much more impulsive with cash. I’ve found it makes a far greater difference to eat a bit before I go shopping. Rly.
1. Not easy one, but, yeah, it works.
10. Got any bank fees? Ask the bank to waive one as a courtesy
Nope. YOU pay ME to profit off of my money.
9. Lower Your APR by threatening to switch to another credit card company
8. Use a 0% balance transfer to get a reprieve from credit card interest for a few months
N/A on both – balance paid in full each month.
7. Lower your cable bill by threatening to cancel
Fios has me on last year’s rates since I’ve been with them for a while. Getting the discount having both tv and ISP as well. Who the hell would I switch to? Comcast? Hell, they’d probably tell me to go ahead. Then they’d shaft me with the current rates when I switched back.
6. Get your spending under control so you’re paying off your credit card in full every month, and avoid paying extra interest
Again, paid in full each month.
5. Pack your own lunch, make your own coffee, cook at home
Always done it. Saw a calculator that showed college students who used student loans to pay for a $4 a day Starbucks habit added a few grand to their debt by graduation.
4. Adjust your tax withholdings so you’re not giving the IRS an interest-free loan
Done on a yearly basis.
3. Take advantage of new low interest rates by refinancing your home to a lower rate
When they drop to 5% I will.
2. Switch to paying for most things in cash only…
Uhh, that would cost me hundreds of dollars a year more. Plus ATM fees. Discover Cashback, balance paid in full – financial f***ing discipline FTW. (Yes, I do get hundreds a year in cashback).
1. Make a budget
Yep. Actually did that on starting college. That’s also why I started bringing my snacks and sodas to work instead of hitting the vending machine everyday.
Sitting down and calculating every stinking dime you spend on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is the best way to find $$ motivation to cut costs. A coke & candy bar from the grocery store runs you $0.50 vs the $1.25-$1.50 in the machine per day. If you can save $0.75 a day doing this, it adds up: assuming you work 5 days a week, allowing 4 weeks a year for holidays and vacation (assuming you don’t hit the vending machine any other time), that’s 5 days * 48 weeks * $0.75 = $180/year.
I have bills paid by credit card (which I pay in full) that save me the cost of a check and postage each, plus cashback. My water/trash bill is autodebited from my checking account for a $1.50 discount, plus saving a check and first class stamp each month. I have at least 10 items that normally would be paid by check and mailed in that are now paid either automatically or online for a savings of $4.10/month in postage alone. Until the postage goes up in May. I’ve forgotten what my per check costs were. Something like 8 or 9 cents each.
It’s all behavior changes. Like dieting, though I found it easier than giving up favorite foods(which I haven’t). If you can successfully make little changes like that, then the savings add up like putting the pocket change in a jar. Some are easier changes, like putting monthly bills on the credit card. I now only worry about paying 3 credit cards on time. Which have had the due dates adjusted so that I handle them together at the end of the month. The statements show up a week before the month ends, and I have until the middle of the next month before they’re due. Not that I wait long to pay, but I have 10 days grace if my online payment gets fragged somehow.
It’s pretty easy to think in terms of how much cash you have in the bank, but if you can think of what you have left in terms of a budget, you’ll come out further ahead. Especially with using credit cards.
Unless you’re living on minimum wage, chances are the main area where expenses can be cut are in housing and “necessities” that aren’t really necessities. Most people live in places which are bigger than absolutely necessary which carry concurrently higher heating and cooling bills. As for how big is “necessary”, consider that my husband and I live in 250 sq. ft. apartment (in Tokyo). Would we like more space? Sure. Do we absolutely need it? No. We pay $1100 a month in rent for this small space and live in one of the most expensive cities in the world on a combined income of $55,000 a year, but save about $1,300 a month. It’d be really easy to toss some of that money into a bigger, nicer place, but we’d rather save it.
Many people convince themselves that things are necessary which are not. They buy new clothes far too frequently and have more than they need to get through a week without doing laundry. They have cell phones which they don’t really need but feel insecure without.
Also, cooking for yourself is always cheaper than eating out, but not if you aren’t attempting to downsize your meal expenses in addition to cooking on your own. If you want to live cheaply, use eggs as the protein you consume for a meal twice a week instead of any sort of meat. Eat beans once a week as the central part of a meal. Avoid pre-prepared meals and add-ons to meals at all costs including things like cold breakfast cereals. Things like oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, etc. a few times a week will also reduce overall meal expenses. Also, you need to buy in bulk, but only things which you will actually use up. People should view food they throw away is money tossed in the trash.
10. Keep a high minimum balance.
9,8 & 6. What credit card?
7. What cable?
5. Eat in.
4. Yep.
3. What mortgage?
2. Buy less
1. I do my monthly budget on Excel but any spreadsheet will work and Open Office is free.
@MonkeyMonk: Same here brother. Couldn’t justify putting games on a card. You’ll love the xbox. It’s taken over my life.
#2 Kudos for Commerce Bank. They give you something banks forgot a while ago: service -and not nickel-and-dime you for it.
Another way to save money is to use all the public services you can use. Mass transit saves you gas, library visits saves you on books and even movie rentals. Find a public park you can go instead of the gym you’re paying for. Let’s face it, you’re not using it so why waste that money?
I tried the cable thing on Saturday morning. I pointed out to Comcast that DirectTV was offering me a plan about $30 cheaper, with more options, than what they were offering. In response, they knocked $25 off my monthly bill and added Encore for no extra charge.
I think it helped that I was prepared with the specifics of a competing offer and polite to the CSR during the call.
Thanks for the suggestion Consumerist.
I totally agree with economists (do not remember who they were) who said that this is not the latte factor is the cost of living, lower wages and no safety net at home two people who are already working. Do not complain, life is good – I just want to say that no amount of good life for us to keep us safe for more than two months.
List of Ways to Save Money
You had to say coffee! I just about punched myself in the gut. I swear I spend more money on my coffee than I do on anything else. http://www.financemetrics.com/ I seriously need to break this coffee obsession. I could be saving hundreds and hundreds of dollars if I could just get rid of this caffeine fixation. Or better yet, start making coffee at home. Good post, nonetheless.