I need tips on saving money. Help!!!!!?

Question

My monthly slary is done within 7 days of being paid. I have huge credit card balances. How do I end this "rat race"?

Answer 1

Bankrate.com
Saving when you're barely surviving
Monday August 28, 6:00 am ET
Don Taylor
Dear Dr. Don,
I am a husband and father of two young toddlers. My net pay is just enough to scrape by every two weeks. With health insurance premiums well over $400 per month, my net pay is only enough to cover the bills. Every time I set aside money, I end up having to use it all for some unforeseen expenditure, and then some with credit cards (whose balances continue to escalate). Where does one in my situation begin to save?
-- Underfunded Mike

Dear Mike,
Your question is one of the more difficult issues in personal finance. How do you work toward the future when you're having trouble getting through the week?
The key is to keep spending less than income. Easier said than done, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. Spiraling credit card balances aren't the answer. Credit cards just postpone the problem and have you spending money on finance charges that should be going toward meeting your family's needs.
Differentiate between what's necessary and what's nice in your monthly spending. Cutting out cell phones (or alternatively land lines), cable TV, dinners out, etc. brings down your monthly nut. Bankrate has a budget work sheet that you can download to put together a monthly spending plan. Talk to your employer's personnel department to see if there are ways of reducing the health-care costs while keeping family coverage. Taking advantage of flexible spending accounts to pay for medical costs with pretax dollars is one possible way of accomplishing this goal.
The other side of the equation is to increase income. Take a second job, or a third. Don't think of it as forever, just until you can get the credit card balances down and build a bit of a cash cushion. If your wife doesn't work, perhaps she should. Bankrate's "Should my spouse work, too?" calculator will help with that math.
The answers aren't easy, but you've got to ramp up income, throttle back on spending or both to get to the point where you move past paycheck-to-paycheck living and get to the point where your income is also building toward your family's future.
If you've worked through all this and still can't see a way, it's time to ask for help. Your state government might be able to help with health-care insurance for the children, for example. A Bankrate feature, "Finding help in hard times," has some other ideas, too.
To ask a question of Dr. Don, go to the "Ask the Experts" page, and select one of these topics: "financing a home," "saving & investing" or "money."

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Unified Theory of Everything Financial
Revealed in Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels
By Scott Adams
1.Make a will
2.Pay off your credit cards
3.Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4.Fund your 401k to the maximum
5.Fund your IRA to the maximum
6.Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7.Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8.Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9.If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

Check the bottom line: A portfolio with an asset allocation of 70% in Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) is doing just fine, performing remarkably close to the S&P 500 index. Moreover, that simple two-fund portfolio is perfect for the vast majority of America's 95 million investors who are passive much as Adam's Dilbert character.
The truth is, most investors have little or no interest in Wall Street's casino action; all the time-consuming research, the sophisticated stock-picking tricks, the costly trading necessary to play in a market drowning in 10,000 stocks, 18,000 funds and more than 100,000 bonds. Most investors have jobs and kids as their top priority. Moreover, Dilbert's simple two-fund portfolio compares favorably with our other lazy portfolios.

Answer 2

Hi. In the same situation, l know how stressful it is, you are certainly not alone. My partner and l realised although we were earning average wages, by the time we had paid rent,electricity,phone,water, Coun cil tax, tv licence, insurance (house and car), train and petrol (we had to travel by car and train to work, too far to walk or cycle) etcetc there was hardly any money left to pay off big enough chunks each month to make a difference to our credit cards and loans. So, we decided to get live-in jobs. Not ideal for everyone, but we were renting (working hard and paying someone elses mortgage!) and have no kids, also in jobs that were not anything to do with our future career goals. Some hotels/live-in work you don't pay any rent and get all food for free - so you are already saving all that money you paid on your house/flat - which is probably the biggest expense each month and the traveling costs. It would have taken us years and years to pay off the debt still renting and it's just not possible to be able to go without treats like cinema/dinner/holidays for that long becuase you'd end up depressed, you do need to be careful but realistic too. So, for us, it's been a great move. When you can pay off big chunks of credit each month and still have a little to enjoy life then living at work is worth it. In fact, we don't live at the hotel but in a very nice staff house for £30 a week each including meals 7 days a week, the saving on food alone must be at least £200 per month! you really notice the difference. If you can't do live in work, then you need to sit down and work out why the money is going in 7 days, if you are spending more than you are earning work out why and make the changes. They say it's not about how much you are in debt but it's about how in control you are - pay off a little everyweek by direct debit, even just a few pounds and at least the balance is going down and not up if you don't use the credit cards. And as everyone has advised, a second job, just another 8 hours a week could be the payment towards the debt. Good luck.

Answer 3

contact the credit cars, they have people who will help. explain you are struggling, they should be able to freeze interest and charges, and arrange a fixed affordable amount to pay for a set time, usually a year. during this time, clear what you can, always pay the minimum arranged amount. This will give you some breathing space, and you will bring the amounts down at least a little bit.

Food - shop around for offers, buy wholesale if you have a place like that where u live, buy non branded stuff, dont buy convenience foods, make you own in big batches and freeze it.

Try and find a better paid job, move somewhere cheaper.

Stop drinking/smoking or whatever it is you spend your money on apart from debts.

thats all I can think, hope it helps.

Answer 4

The only way is to have a serious look at your lifestyle. Take an honest look at your monthly spend. How much of that is luxuries and how much is essetial. Be ruthless, don't count things you like such as nice clothes as being essential
Make a rule that you will never spend more than you earn in any given month You can't live beyond your means on a long term basis so your average monthly spend has to be considerably less than your earnings. You also need to include money for savings and money for debt repaymen into your budget.
However you still need to have a life so include a bufget for luxuries into your monthy accounts. Remember the harder you work on reducing costs, the more you will be able to include into your luxury budget (holidays, socialising, clothes etc). But never forget the golden rule.....Never spend more than you earn in any given month...You need to be on the road to recovery so you have to reduce your debt on a regular basis.

Answer 5

Quick ways to save immediately: Buy your groceries from the farm market. What you can't get there, buy at Aldi. What you can't get at Aldi, buy at Super Walmart. Always start by shopping at the cheapest place. If there are still items on your list, move on to the next cheapest place. Aldi and Dollar General often beat Walmart for household goods. (Dollar General Diapers work great!) Buy clothing/toys from garage sales and consignment shops. Buy generic products. Give the generic a try before assuming that you must have the brand name. eg. Generic kleenex from Aldi is fine for everyday; you can switch back to a softer brand if you have a cold. Another secret, Aldi's Tandil detergent is made by Tide and works just as well. Ways to eek more out of your income every month: Spend at least a week writing down and categorizing *every* little purchase you make. Some patterns will immediately stand out to you as areas that you could cut back. Write a budget - starting with all of your bills and then divvy what is left between groceries/ household/ and gasoline. Know how much you are 'allowed' to spend on groceries per week and do your best to stay within that allowance. If you over spend one week, then cut back the next week so that you are still within your budget for the month.

Answer 6

What I do when trying to save up money is have an envolope with an aim on it - like "New Camera" or "Holiday Money" and I count it whenever I am tempted to buy anything, and I record my progress by writing it on the envelope how much money there is. It is quite thrilling when I manage not to spend much in a month and have saved up a fair bit and the rewards come later. Maybe you could try something similar by writing how much you have earnt and when you spend something write down what you have spent it on and how much. Then try to spend hardly anything in week and increase it to a month, etc. Don't take money out with you or you'll be too tempted to buy things. Once you get to the end of the month, put the unspent money in the bank, and reward yourself with a small present (small!)
Good Luck!

Answer 7

First, cut up all your credit cards. Keep a detailed list of every penny you spend for a month. Be honest about it. There is always a way to cut back. Be firm with yourself. This means no eating out, no movies, no magazines, no new clothes. You can use the library for free movies and books and magazines. You can cook at home and freeze to have meals ready when you are too tired to cook. Keep in mind what is important. You need food and shelter and thats IT. The rest is luxury. You will be a much happier, fulfilled person when you are out of debt. Trust me...been there, done that.

Answer 8

I hope this suggestion will help you. You can create blogs at Blogger.com or free website using Googlepages and make some money from free affiliate programs and Google Adsense program instead of giving yourself time to spend money.

Have you heard of Google Adsense program? You can make some legitimate money if you have a blog at Blogger.com of a free website like Google pages which will allow you to publish Google Adsense. http://tashi.web.design.googlepages.com/website-sponsor

It's very personal and it depends on how you define a good career or business. First, set a goal for what? do you want in life. Plan what you will do to reach your goal.

I always tell people this, 'You can make money if you can create website or blogs'. by providing free and good information.

I'm 41 now, work from home in shorts and T-shirts and sometimes topless. I set my target as low as to make 1 dollar/page/day. I strive to create a new page for my websites everyday but I have all the freedom I need and making money 24/7 on the internet with Google Adsense and some affiliate programs. The only thing that tie me down is 'how much income I want or need'. Because the more websites and traffic I have will determine how much income I can much.

Anyone who can create websites or blogs to provide lots of good information can make money from Google Adsense. Blogger.com and Google pages lets you create blogs for free and allows you to make money too.

You can make money by joining me or Google as a publisher and publishing Google Adsense on your websites. If someone clicks on those ads, you will earn money.
I'll be working on this website http://tashi.web.design.googlepages.com soon after I'm done with my client's website.

This woman is old and jobless and I can see that she's trying her best. I'll help her a little when I'm done with my current project next week. Please check this Hot Alert if you don't want to burn your wallet: Latest Telecommunication scam http://lost-newbie.blogspot.com/2006/10/beware-of-such-callers.html

Answer 9

call an agency to help you get back on track now, but in the future when youre on your own again, set aside a specific amount of money from your paycheck that goes right into savings every time, without exceptions. also, think of a credit card as a subsitute for when you dont have cash ON YOU, make sure you dont spend more money that you dont have. the interest rates will add up if you dont pay it up and thats how you get in over your head. good luck! =]

Answer 10

I recommend buying a bicycle. if you think about it so many people drive every little place even if its a few blocks away!!! This would save you money on gas and help you get some extra excercise. It also cuts down your chances of auto accidents cuz your not always on the road. If you avoid just one accident it pays for the bike plus some. Thats what i do anyway

Answer 11

Draw up a budget, distinguishing more pressing expenses (e.g rent/mortgage)

At the end of a week/month, compare what you've actually spent to what you budgeted and make any necessary adjustments to your spending.This won't fix an immediate debt problem but will help keep you on track in future.

Good Luck!