How to Save Money

Within the last few months, friends and readers alike have come to me with a frightening scenario. They tell me different scenarios, but the ultimate result is that they are struggling to pay their bills and have little to no money left at the end of the month.

One of my friends asked me how I was able to enjoy life without having to pay a small fortune. This simple conversation lead me to believe that everyone could benefit from this information if written as my hub.

If you follow the following steps, you could see a dramatic reduction in your bills and have much more money in your pocket. The first five of my amazing 20 tips and tricks will be listed below for your benefit.

1) A gigantic mistake that people often make is leaving their electronics plugged into the wall during periods of time when the item is operational, turned off, or not in use.

Take a piece of paper per room in your house, and marking the locations of all of your power outlets and the number of electronic devices plugged into the wall on one side of the paper. On the other side of the paper, write instructions down for bedtime and vacation procedure regarding unplugging televisions, computers, lamps, etc. Remember that computers, phones, and most electronics have batteries that last for a long time for a reason. Also realize that you get no use out of electronics while you sleep despite the fact that the power company charges you for items plugged into the wall during that time. Try to only leave extremely bulky or built in appliances plugged into the wall.

One sheet of paper with these pieces of information written on them could help you save a fortune.

2) The next big mistake is wasting money through heating and cooling bills. Insulation is extremely important in getting great use out of any heating or cooling system, but most people lose money with respect to what temperature to set for their homes.

Keep the thermostat set at 68ºF year round. Two factors lead me to this specific number and conclusion.

• One fact is that, if you gather any 15 people in a room and set the thermostat to a range of temperatures from 65-75, less than one third of people can agree on a specific temperature being comfortable. This means that no matter what temperature in that range only about 1/3 maximum will be completely comfortable, and that you will not be able to please everyone no matter what you do. Make sure to have sweat shirts and blankets for anyone, who believes that 68ºF is too cold.
• If every household in the United States set their thermostats to 68ºF for 5 years, then the country could achieve independence from foreign oil. This incredible statistic means that every single citizen has the opportunity to save money, increase national security, and help their fellow countryman simply by turning down the thermostat slightly.

3) Consolidate the services you pay for on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. The best way to do this is to gather your bills in one location and break the total money spent into discretionary and required spending. Then of the discretionary spending, try to find overlapping services and completely unnecessary expenses to eliminate first. A few examples of this in my own personal life are listed below.

• One of my bills from my cable company had a bundle of internet, cable, and home phone for $25/service. However, I already have a cell phone and can watch television for $8/month or less on the internet. Thus, I started only paying for internet from my cable provider and pocketed $50/month.
• Another bill from my cell phone provider was for "unlimited" service. Aside from the fact that the service was not truly unlimited, the apps for iPhone allow for unlimited free text messaging and some allow for free phone calls and voice mail with an internet connection. Thus, I signed up for the cheapest plan and make phone calls from my home internet or from a location with free WiFi. This also saves me a small fortune per month on my phone bill.
• Yet another example involves my car. From the age of 15 I saved up all of my money to get a car, but I got my only car at the age of 23. Rather than rush into buying a car and have limited options while paying more than the car's worth in interest rates, I saved up all of my money and then bought a Toyota Prius. The fuel efficiency saves me $900/month compared to other cars and is wonderful for that and so much more.

4) Entertainment, dining out, and clothing make up a huge percentage of any discretionary spending total, but it is important to cut costs at every opportunity.

Music and movies make up the bulk of my entertainment budget (aside from tv and internet discussed earlier). My solutions to saving money on music is to create playlists for free on Vevo and listen to Pandora all for free rather than buying songs. My solution for saving money on movies was waiting a few months for new releases and sign up for Netflix for $8/month. That way I could see unlimited movies for the cost of what one movie ticket in a real theater. Additionally, I have the comfort of watching at home in my pajamas without annoying people yelling and using their cell phones while I am watching the film.

Dining out is very costly considering that a little time and buying in bulk at a warehouse chain store can provide you with 15 meals on the same amount of money as one meal (in most cases). Consider buying in bulk, buying generic brand products, and cooking all of your meals at home if possible to save a lot of money.

As for clothing and other expenses, I only buy them when absolutely needed and go to discount stores like TJ Maxx for new clothes and sometimes buy good used things depending on the item.

5) If you are a student like me, textbooks are one of those necessary evils for learning and excelling in your classes. But sometimes book expenses can cost more than a good used car or a spring break vacation.

My solution to the textbook problem is simple. I buy the same textbook required for the course but buy the previous edition to the newest textbook. Often times you can get the old textbooks for under $10/book, and the books have virtually no differences aside from new cover art and a few pages slightly edited.

If you enjoyed these tips and tricks and would like to read the rest of my 20 tips and tricks, please comment below and follow me. I would appreciate all of your support and if you recommended me to your friends also.

Thanks for your time and interest. God bless you, and God bless America.

PLEASE read my other articles some of which are partially listed below.

How to Save Money Part 2:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/How-to-Save-Money-Part-2

How to Save Money Part 3:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/How-to-Save-Money-Part-3

Top 5 Most Annoying Things About Society:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/Top-5-Most-Annoying-Things-About-Society

Major Flaws in the US Political System:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/Major-Flaws-in-the-US-Political-System

Turn Your Head and Cough: How the Obama Healthcare Legislation is Flawed and My Better Solutions:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/Turn-Your-Head-and-Cough-How-Obama-Healthcare-is-Flawed-and-a-Better-Solution

The Forgotten Law:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/The-Forgotten-Law

Economics Lesson for President Obama and Congress:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/Economics-Lesson-for-President-Obama-and-Congress

The Rise and Demise of MTV:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/The-Rise-and-Demise-of-MTV

Foot in the Door:

http://adaus2011.hubpages.com/_2ei0qx971gzy2/hub/Foot-in-the-Door