Any good tips on how to save/manage money?

Question

i.e groceries, savings, managing your check book etc..etc.etc..

Can you possibly convert that into American money other than pounds? You sound like you have expierience in this matter. You must be a financial advisor!?

Answer 1

The first thing to do to save / manage is to make a budget to see where you're throwing money away.
As I said in another answer..... making one is easy if your computer has a spreadsheet program, such as "Microsoft Excel" or "Lotus 1-2-3" (it's the kind of job it was designed for.
If not, try this for size:
http://www.thinkall.com/product_openoffi...

To make a budget, the first thing you have to do is work out how much you earn in a month (4weeks), things such as:
- Wages
- Government benefits
- Other regular sources
then work out the final total...... easy if you enter put into the cell below the calculations "=" (without the quotation marks) followed by the cell numbers you want to work out, e.g. b2+b3+b4 (click on them, then add the + symbol after each one, then press ENTER when ur done).

The next task is to figure out monthly outgoing.... for things paid annually (12months) or Quarterly (3months), divide the figure to get the monthly total. Add things like:
- Electricity Bill
- Gas Bill
- Water Bill
- Phone Bill
- Weekly shopping (food, etc...... I usually guesstimate around £25-£50 a week)
- Internet Access
- Subscription to Satelite/Cable TV service
- TV License (if in the UK)
- Magazine / Newspaper Subscriptions
- Website subscriptions (e.g. HOTorNOT.com, etc)
- Loan payments
- Mortgage repayments
- Credit card repayments
- Rental fees
- Fuel for motor vehicle
- Regularly paid fares for public transport (e.g. bus/train to work)
- Car Insurance
- Home Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Other regular expenses (e.g. pension schemes, etc)
As before, below the last cell, put your total the same way as before. e.g.
=b9+b10+b11+b12+b13+b14+b15 (and so on until you've got them all added.... hit the ENTER button when you've got 'em all in)

Finally, in a seperate column on the spreadsheet (like maybe a couple of rows down), work out how much left over or fall short by. To do this, similar to working out the subtotals:
in the cell type
=*cell#incomings*-*cell#outgoi...
e.g. if the figure for how much money you have coming is in cell B6 and the figure for how much money you have being paid out on stuff is in column B37 for instance, the calculation you put in the cell would be:
=B6-B37

If you do it the the way I showed you, the totals will automatically update if you change any of the other figures.

Once you've got it all written down, the next thing to do is use one of the online services that compares prices to rival services (e.g. for Electric/Gas/Water/Phone Bill/Mobile phone costs/ Internet access/ Insurance/ Bank Charges / Credit Card rates / Interest rates on Bank Accounts, etc).

Answer 2

the quickest and easiest way to cut your expenditures is to cut down on the two biggest expenses, houses and cars. live in a house or apartment you can actually afford (1/4 or less of your monthly income), and GET RID OF CAR PAYMENTS... Drive cheap used cars that are paid for.

you worry alot less about penny pinching at the grocery store when you dont have a 400$ a month car payment..

(older cars are cheaper to insure, also, btw)

Answer 3

Try this Site; www.**************.com Go to the following

pages. "Cutting Expenses" and "Money Saving Ideas"

For Ideas to earn more money go to the "Additional Income"

page.

Answer 4

difficult matter. query on yahoo or google. that will can help!

Answer 5

this method worked well for me
http://www.quazen.com/Home/Personal-Finance/Managing-your-Debts,-a-common-sense-approach.525