I could explain why you should save your money as we all know we should, however I will instead give you a guide to money management and show you some nifty tricks to help cut your bills in half.
Everything in life is about accumulating OR saving that extra dollar. Sometimes it’s hard to hold onto your paycheck once taxes, groceries, school, and bills are accounted for. I was in this predicament one too many times, so I decided to find a way to save on just about everything!
Have you home phone/cell phone bill paid for free- Yes, you have heard it right. Never before has someone had the ability to have some company pay for their phone bill. Home phones (depending on the plan) run about $30-60 per month which is typically in line with the monthly cost of a cell phone, depending on add-ons. There is a way to get rid of that cost or cut it in half. The amazing service is called Brring. Brring plays a 5 second ad that is in a category you choose every time someone calls your phone. You receive 20 calls a day, you bill is paid for. Sometimes, they pay up to $0.15 per call to your number. Yes, I know this may become annoying to those calling you but it does save you money for bothering them 5 seconds per day. And, wouldn’t it be nice to have an advertisement play for the telemarketers?
Cut your utility bill in HALF- Yes, I have tried this myself and it does work. Over the past year or so, my utility bill for my 3 bedroom townhouse has been through the roof. We all understand the paying the utility bill every month is a necessary pain that has to be done, but it doesn’t have to be so painful. For the past 4 months, my electric bill had an average of $115 a month with 3 people and 3 bedrooms. Split in 3 ways it is not that bad; however $115 a month is still wasted electricity and a hassle to pull out of the checking account. Besides not showering for 2 days and conserving water and lighting candles instead of the lamps, I decided to buy some of the GE Energy Star saver bulbs and man do they work. I walked around my house and the average wattage of bulbs was 60 watts. The energy star bulbs are 13 watts, a difference of 47 watts. So if light bulbs account or 30% of a house’s electric bill, let’s reduce that to roughly 5-8% for lighting. The amazing thing about these bulbs is that our electric bill dropped to $79.00 with every bulb inside the house being the 13 watt energy saving bulbs. They are guaranteed to last for 5 years and are a lot brighter than the 40-60 watts bulbs I had to replace.
Another great way to save money on your utility bill is to call your local electric co-op or provider. Ask them to come to your residence and give you an appraisal. During the free appraisal, the utility employee will tell you how much each appliance costs per day/month/year and give you some great ideas on how to save on your electric usage. You’d be surprised at how many ways you’re wasting electricity.
Get your money out of your land based bank and make it grow online. One of the largest trends in maximizing the return on our money is to put your cash into an online savings money market account. Millions of people are doing it and it just makes sense. Currently, Bank of America and Wachovia have interest rates under a half percent, while online banks such as Etrade and INGdirect are over 3%! Take a look at the current rates below and think of how much money you could make!
Note: Some of these savings account rates are pulled from Bankrate.com, while others are found by yours truly.
As of Feb. 21, 2008:
- E-Trade 4.10% APY
- Emigrant Direct 3.60% APY
- ING Direct 3.40% APY
- HSBC 3.55% APY
- Nationwide 4.35% APY
- Capital One 3.25% APY
- EverBank 4.15% APY
- iGoBanking.com 3.90% APY
Some of these accounts have a minimum deposit limit of $5,000-10,000, but for the majority a simple $1 is required to open an account.
I hope this guide has been helpful to all of the readers of MoneyNing. I would like to thank David for letting me be a Guest Blogger and allowing me to share my information with so many readers.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting idea, this Brring thing.
I havent think of that. Thanks for the tip.
Cash will be king in the down market. People should have the concept of asset preservation vs. asset growth during the oncoming recession.