"How to Save $419.50 in Less Than One Hour" (Fool.com)

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"How to Save $419.50 in Less Than One Hour" (Fool.com)

Submitted by: Tip Hero 01/13/2009 10:02 PM

As part of their Fiscal '09 Challenge, the investing website, The Motley Fool (Fool.com), shared 5 quick ways to save yourself (or your family) $419.50 in under an hour. Here are the headlines for each tip, but click through to the article to read more about each:

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Day 1: Get a grip on your cash flow in 5 minutes flat

Day 2: Leave the plastic at home and save $153

Day 3: Stop overpaying Uncle Sam and add $200 a month to your take-home pay

Day 4: Slash your cable bill by $10 to $50 a month

Day 5: Dial down your debt and save $198

How to Save $419.50 in Less Than One Hour
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Comments:

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Day 3 hit home with me. I work for a small company and my monthly tax payment is calculated pretty much to a T, so I rarely ever saw a tax return of more than a couple of hundred dollars. Most of my friends get returns in the thousands. I used to feel gyped with my paltry return. But then I learned that it wasn't the government giving me a 'break,' but rather that I had been overpaying my taxes all year long, basically loaning the government money. I now take comfort in the fact that I earn interest on my money all year, while my friends loan it to Uncle Sam.

Posted by anonymous on January 13, 2009 11:03 PM

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I keep the minimum amount in my checking account, so find that paying with credit card actually helps me monitor my spending better. when I pay with cash, I tend to lose track. no report comes at the end of the month telling me where all of my money went. and would have to keep more money in my checking account instead of transferring monthly amounts into my account to cover bills. and if I paid with cash all the time I would lose out on all of my credit card benefits, points, miles, cashback. I woudl advice people exercise a little discipline skip numerous trips to the ATM and learn to use your credit cards wisely!

Posted by anonymous on January 14, 2009 3:48 PM

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My husband and I did this, which cut our spending and increased our savings by a large amount. Every pay period (bi-weekly) we would take out $X for each of us for the period, to pay for lunch, snacks, and any extras, like alcohol. Then we also took another amount, and split it into 3 parts. One part goes into an envelope (this probably would have been better done with a savings account)for my husband's savings. One part goes into mine. The third part goes into a "house" savings. Any big purchases (like my digital camera, sewing machine, or my husband's ps3) come out of our respective envelope. Then, at the end of the pay period, if either of us had any lunch money left, it could go into our individual envelope.

What we found was that, for lunch, my husband spent a lot less, and I spent more (not having to worry about spending money). We also saved a lot more money, and ended up opening a savings account for our "house" money.

Posted by Michele on January 16, 2009 9:42 PM

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There is so much formaldehyde which is one of the most toxic chemicals on earth in everything new, that I prefer to buy used to save my health! Find lots of great buys, including electronic, so most of it has been gone by the time I get it!

Love to get 100% cotton gorgeous sweaters for $1.50 to $4.00! Sweatshirts which are great & beautiful for $2.00! Superb jeans & pants for $4 & less; xbox for $15; dehydrator for $8, waffle irons for $2! You have to stop frequently which is fine as they are on my way to town where I shop: & they are like treasures waiting to be discovered!

You can still shop & get great buys without blowing any budget & save your health at the same time!

Posted by MzScarlett on January 17, 2009 2:25 AM

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Let me give a small bit of advice for those that are still using credit cards to make purchases, and for those that are still buying lunches at work.

Statistics show that when one uses a credit card one tends to spend more, simply because you don't feel the immediate pitch when pulling out cash to pay for things. I read here that one writer states that using credit cards actually helps them keep track of their spending because they receive a monthly statement showing them exactly what they spent their money on for that month. I think that person is missing the point. You should not have to wait till the end of the month to know where you spent your money but rather have a planned budget so that each of your purchases is earmarked prior to the end of the month. You will find that if you kept track of your spending for a couple of months you will find that most of those purchases are unneccessary, thus cutting out those purchases would save anymore money.

I've also read that there was a couple that use the envelope system which works really well to control spending, but they are still paying for their lunch at work everyday. Why not just brown bag your lunch everyday and save even more money. Even if you spend just $5 dollars a day, which would not buy much lunch, that's $20 a week, and about $960 dollars a year eating out. If you spend more than that a day, do the math.

Posted by Mike C. on January 18, 2009 12:00 PM

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Mike, everyone has to do what works for THEM, even if it doesn't make sense to you or anyone else. They aren't missing any point. If what they are doing is saving them money, that's what counts. Maybe for them, it is still easier/saving money to buy lunch, even if you don't get it. We aren't all REQUIRED to do everything in exactly the same prescribed way or save in exactly the same way to be frugal. Being frugal nowdays is way different than it was for past generations where every single aspect of their lives was to live as cheaply as possible. Now people save in one area (that doesn't mean as much to them) to BE ABLE to spend in a way that makes their own life more enjoyable. I personally rarely go out to eat anymore, even though that used to be our enjoyment. In the end that just doesn't matter that much to me, but I "waste" money on buying books because I love brand new books. I love the feel, smell and the fact that noone before me has abused it. But to someone else that would be a huge waste of money because you can buy used books quite cheaply or go to the library for free. I love being frugal, but that doesn't mean I HAVE to be ultra tight in every aspect - I get to pick and choose at this point. Maybe if my husband loses his job, which is a very real possibility, I will HAVE to quit buying new books :(

Posted by anonymous on January 19, 2009 11:40 PM

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Get a good credit card that gives rebates. I have one that gives 2% back on every purchase. A second one gives 3% back on gas purchases but just 1% on all other purchases. So I use a credit card on most purchases over $10. Of course you only save if you pay off your bill in full each month. If I spend $500 each month then with 2% rebate, I save $10.

Posted by anon on January 24, 2009 12:24 PM

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