Money Tips for Those Who Are Struggling

[Maurice Bedard]

This was submitted by a gentleman at another forum and I thought these were great tips, so I posted them here.

know this goes without saying, but I wanted to post a few money saving tips to help people get through the hollidays

1) Financial Aid - If you have financial aid loans, you can request a 6 month "hardship" break from your payment. You just simply need to call your financial aid company (Nelnet or Sallie Mae), and fill out the form. This saved the wife and I $500 per month (she applied also)

2) Reduce your cable package. Cut it back to the basic package, especially if you are paying $100 per month

3) If you have a cable modem, order VONAGE instead of the local bell company. I have used vonage for 4 years, it works awesome. Verizon charged me $80 per month, Vonage is $30 per month

4) Raise the deducatables to the max on your insurances, such as car and home. This will drop your premiums and save another couple dollars per month

5) Shopping for Christmas- instead of hitting the mall, check out Ross, TJ Max, Marshalls, and some of the other discount stores. Not only do you find incredible deals, but the stuff is random and not as cookie cutter as the mall. Mikasa vases for $8? wow!

6) Car Maintence- now is the time to double check all the basics thigns related to car care. Tire Pressure certainly helps your gas mileage. Also, check out website like www.gasbuddy.com for the best gas deals in your area. Watch the speed on the highway!

7) If it's just you and the spouse, buy a small space heater for the bedroom, instead of heating your entire house. It costs a lot less to just warm your bedroom at night, than to warm you entire house (this may only work in the south where it's above 40 degrees at night)

Need a cheap work lunch? Dollar menu for the win! Stop spending $7 on lunch, get a cheeseburger and a cup of water. $1 for lunch! Save $100 per month!

9) EBAY! Got some old clothes, electronics, and other things taking up space? Take a pic and put it on ebay! You'd be amazing what people pay for stuff on ebay.

10) Sunday Paper! Check out the sunday paper for coupons, clip them and use them! You can cut $20+ off your grocery bill just by using coupons.


I'll think of more, but hopefully this helps

[spike]

Also, if your vehicle is financed, some lenders will allow you to pay just the interest for up to 2 months and tack the two payments on the end of the loan.
Both of our vehicles are with Suntrust who allows this to be done, once a year. This saved enough money to make up one mortgage payment.

[Maurice Bedard]

great advice Spike!

[6wolverines]

I posted this elsewhere on the forum some time ago but I think it's worth mentioning again here.....

ANGEL FOOD MINISTRIES

It is food distribution at hundreds of local churches nationwide. There are no financial guidelines so you don't have to "prove your need". You want inexpensive food so you can lower your grocery costs and feed the kids....that's what it's all about. You order the food at the begining of the month and it's delivered to the church in your area a few weeks later. Below is the menu for January.....ALL FOR $30.00.

5...4 oz. bacon-wrapped beef fliets
1...4 lb. chicken leg quarters
4...8 oz. lean hamburger steaks
1...1.5 lbs. beef short ribs
1...20 oz. Supreme pizza
1...10 oz. deli sliced turkey breast
1...3 lbs. apples
1...35 oz. crinkle cut french fries
1...16 oz. frozen green beans
1...16 oz. onion rings
1...14 oz. fancy ketchup
1...26 oz. pasta sauce
1...16 oz. pasta
1...16 oz. pinto beans
1...7.5 oz. mac & cheese
1...dessert item

This is called a Basic Unit and it's 30 bucks. You can order as many of the basic units as you wish. They also offer various bonus items for purchase. Ordering for January is over but February is just around the corner. I'm not sure of the exact name of the website but surely you can google Angel Food Ministries to check it out and locate a distribution church in your area.

I'm sure I speak for most of us when I say......"After you've cut your expenses as much as possible, the only thing left to reduce is spending on groceries". Certainly, you need to pay the utilities to keep the kids warm at night. You have to pay for medicines (and the one medicine my autistic son takes just went up to a $75.00 co-pay) and we're forced to pay and ARM AND A LEG for gas to get from here to there.....so you spend as little as possible on food. Go Figure!

Char

[Maurice Bedard]

I tried to find that Char. Cool thanks for the contribution! Keep them coming everyone. The more ideas the better. What else can we do to save money?

[ArmandaT]

If your home is declining in value and/or if the value of the property is incorrect on the tax bill, contact your local Assessor or the Assessment Appeals Board to request for property reassessment. This step saved me more than $500.00 per year on property taxes. I hope it'll help someone.

[Dmaeyoung]

Also, most often when we go to the fauset to wash our hands, plate, pans/etc. we turn on the left hand fauset which turns on the HOT WATER HEARTER. We need to turn off the water when in the shower after we get wet while we shampoo, lather up, shave, etc. Saves Alot on the Heater, and Elec.

[Dennis66]

This may sound crazy but it works....When I drive I do what's called "hypermiling". Basically change your driving habits and don't pound on the gas pedal. Look far ahead and try to avoid as much hard braking as possible. If you accelerate try to COAST the vehicle to the point where you only have to barely apply the brakes to stop.

Obviously you have to pay more attention and it's tougher to do this in heavy traffic as you'll "hyper" (coast) along at almost the exact speed limit and only accelerating when needed. This does frustrate the lead foot drivers but this does work.

I was doing this when gas was over $4 a gallon and saved a lot! I squeezed another 4mpg per gallon driving this way. I drive over 400 miles a week so the savings really add up!

Dennis

[Mom2threepanicked]

I have started to unplug all my appliances when they are not in use, even if they are not on they are still running power through the cords. This has cut my electric bill down significantly.

Also I only ever buy what is on sale and match up sales with the coupons in the Sunday paper. It takes a little work but it is well worth it!

We never ever go out to eat, I found a website where you can pay 75 cents per recipe to recreate your favorite restaurant meals at home. Not only does it save a lot of money but you know exactly what is going in your food!

[kat10]

I've cut my phone bill....to only $39.00 per year!!!! All over the country, 24/7. Yes, better than Vonage! Checkout MAGICJACK.com. Same concept as Vonage but $39.00 year instead of each month and you can use any old landline hardware you still have! Headset is ok also.
Since this is my second year, I was able to re-sign for $59.00 for the next 5 years!!!!! Now I'm down to $12 buck a freaking year....it works great on business lines also. Enjoy the phone again!

[kat10]

oh sorry, I'm bad.......you can get it at RadioShack also. Pay cash! Internet requires CC.

[eevee]

Hubby and I have stopped drying our clothes in our energy efficient electric dryer--started to hang them up to dry in the basement--saved $107.00 this past month on our energy bill alone!

Also find out if your grocery stores double coupon, have been doing that for a few months, have stocked up on tolietries, etc.

Cut down on $ entertainment, instead check out dvd's at our library, books, etc. Look for free bands playing, also walk more to the store to save on gas money.

I also refund alot more now, and send out for free samples on line.

[Tabby822]

We buy what we can at the local bulk store (Sam's Club, BJ's, Costco). Meats, pastas, sauces, and even 5 lb. bags of frozen veggies can last almost a full month for a family of five, not to mention I know Sam's does accept SNAP/EBT cards so, for those of us that qualify this saves on the overall grocery bill.

We also went to a generic brand of diapers and wipes for our youngest son. We pay only 39.00 per month for both buying the Target brand diapers.

Another option that may be cheaper overall aside from selling on eBay is to take your unused items to a resale store. I took all my old maternity clothes and unused/needed baby items to my local resale store where I got cash in hand within 24 hours of dropping off the items, you will typically get about 30% of what the store owner feels they can sell it for or offer you anywhere between 50-60% in store credit which is great if you have growing kids.

A friend of mine actually shuts off his water heater in the morning and doesn't turn it back on till about 30 min before he showers, it saves him almost 100.00 per month on the electric bill. I don't think I can do that one since there are so many of us in the house showering but, I did lower the heater setting and wrapped our heater in an insulator.