Around the home: don’t shop after work for the same night’s dinner but instead plan a weekly menu before shopping and watch your grocery bill shrink; fix meals ahead of time and freeze them for the week; double recipe portions and freeze the extra for another rainy day; buy store brand items instead of higher priced brands – most times you can’t tell the difference in quality; avoid shopping for food when you’re hungry – you’ll buy more; shop without the kids because they can quickly boost your bill; grab the local supermarket’s weekly insert or log on to their website to see the specials; avoid purchasing non-grocery items at the grocery store because you’ll spend more (items such as painkillers and contact lens solution); beware of discount stores – just because you’re in a bargain store doesn’t mean you’re getting the best price; always send in for the rebates on purchases because the savings will add up yearly. 

Personal Finance: save a bundle on taxes by paying your child care and health care costs with pretax dollars; participate in your employer’s flexible spending account program; cut child care expenses by telecommuting, job share or work alternative hours to reduce the time away from home; see if your school district offers a half-day pre-k program for 4 year olds and enroll your child.  It’s free and reduces child care costs to half-day rates.

Personal Care: stay away from extremely fashionable styles that limit how many times you can wear them; buy clothes with dual functions (mix and match for casual or dressy); dry cleaning costs add up quickly so put the delicates in the back of the closet and move the wash and wears up front; when your clothes are wrinkled, hang them on a shower rod, spritz with a mist of hot water and they’ll be wrinkle free by morning; put cash back in your pocket by taking clothes you no longer wear that are still in good condition to a consignment shop.  While you’re there, shop for used clothes in good condition and save from buying new; put cash back in your pocket by selling your clothes online through amazon.com, ebay.com and craigslist.org to name a few; check out the local beauty school for bargains on everything from haircuts and manicures to spa facials and highlights.

Personal Finance: start saving something today by setting aside some money each week in an envelope, cookie jar, coffee can or whatever you like; treat saving as a bill by automatically transferring money into a separate account every week or two weeks; empty your pockets at the end of the day and put the change in a coin jar; if you’ve paid off a big debt keep making the payments but to yourself instead; involve the whole family in saving by treating them to an inexpensive outing once you’ve reached your savings goal; participate in a 401K or 403B plan which saves for your future while reducing today’s taxable income; save your raise by directing half into savings.  HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!  BE SAFE!!

Banking: look into banks that offer interest in checking accounts so you can earn interest on your balance each month; stay up to date on your checking balance to avoid overdraft fees; if you bounce a check for the first time, ask the bank to waive the fee; make it a habit to use only your bank to avoid surcharge fees from other banks when pulling money from an ATM; to avoid ATM fees, get cash at a grocery store or other stores that offer cash back if you can’t make it to a bank.

Credit Cards: think before you charge by using your cards only if you know you can pay the balance in full each month; if you’re too deep in credit card debt get rid of all your cards except one; don’t take cash out of your credit card because the interest rates are much higher; read your credit card statements monthly to make sure there’s no unknown charges and other hidden fees such as credit and theft insurance; avoid credit card fees by sending in your payments early; pay more than the minimum due each month because it will save you in interest later; don’t be late on any loan or credit account payment because they pull your credit report often looking for that kind of behavior to give them assurance on raising your interest rate; negotiate better terms especially if you’ve paid your card on-time for at least a year; transfer your balances from high interest cards to low interest ones.

Car Shopping: car shop on a rainy day, at the end of the month or toward the end of the year because car dealers will be begging for business mostly during those times; know your credit score ahead of time and secure your financing so you can ask your dealer to give you the best price since you’re financially secure; use the internet to get the best auto deal and to find out the best value for your trade-in; look for rebates and regional incentives; let car dealers know you’re dealing with multiple dealers so each one will give you the lowest price; negotiate the price of the new car, price of trade-in and financing separately so your dealer does not roll it all into one; be prepared to walk away from a deal.

Car Insurance: comparison shop for insurance at least once a year; you can save money on insurance by improving your credit, getting married; moving to a better neighborhood and taking a defensive driving course; keep your driving record clean; bundle your insurance coverage to get a break if you own more than one car; don’t buy more insurance than you need; consider raising deductibles and bank money for emergencies and also increase your liability coverage; consider dropping collision insurance if you drive an older car.

Examples of good debt include buying a home, paying for college and financing a car.  In Buying a Home, it might seem logical to use every dime to cut your interest costs, however it’s not always the best move.  You need to save money for cash reserves.  Mortgages tend to have lower interest rates than other debt and you can deduct the interest on the 1^st million on your tax return.  In Paying for College, it makes more sense to take loans as opposed to borrowing against your retirement funds and your home.  Kids have plenty of resources to draw funds such as Perkins or Stafford loans.  Those loans are guaranteed low rates, no interest due until after graduation and interest paid is tax deductible in some cases.  In Financing a Car, you first need to figure out if you want to keep it until it dies.  It also depends on your cash available.  If you pay for the car in full, it would make sense to keep the car until it no longer works.  Most people can’t afford to pay 100%, so the goal is to put down as much as you can without depleting your cash reserve.  A loan makes sense if you plan on driving it long after your payments have stopped.  You might be tempted to use a home equity loan because of a lower interest rate, and tax deductible interest.  However, be careful.  You need to make sure you can afford the payments because if you default you could lose your home.  Leasing a car might be the route for you if you plan to change vehicles every 3 or 4 years, you want to avoid a down payment of 10% to 20%, you don’t drive more than 15,000 miles a year and you keep your vehicle in good condition.  Shop for the best deal since dealers usually look for the highest interest rates possible.