Savings Sunday 6/19/11

Every Sunday, I will feature one easy, painless, money saving tip. 

Today's Tip: Save money on phone calls.  If you use a cell phone, avoid going over on your monthly minutes (and avoid overage costs) by signing up for free nights and/or weekends and make the bulk of your calls during those times.  Also, use free online services like Skype which provides free audio and video chats to your friends using a computer, smartphone, or tablet device.  You can also use Skype to make calls to a phone line and even make international calls for a small fee.  

Hope you find a way to incorporate today's tip into your routine this week!

Savings Sunday 6/12/11

Every Sunday, I will feature one easy, painless, money saving tip. 

Today's Tip: How do you spend your weekends? Is your idea of a good time trolling the mall and going out to restaurants? Try to replace activities that may tempt you to spend with hobbies that are free or cost very little.  Need ideas? I've got you covered. 

Hope you find a way to incorporate today's tip into your routine this week!

2nd Update: Short Term Goals

A few months ago, I came up with a few goals to keep my finances and life on track.  Here's a quick update on my progress:


Financial

Create a $1000 emergency fund by September 2011.  
2/11: 75% of the way there! Woo Hoo!
6/11: Savings account balance: $3175.48   Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm going to wait until September to officially set a new savings goal, but with automatic savings I should be at around $3500 even by then :)
*I almost forgot about my bank that I mentioned in the "Making Savings Fun" post,  we've raised about $54 in change lol  

Savings Sunday 6/5/11

Every Sunday, I will feature one easy, painless, money saving tip. 

Today's Tip: Don't pay extra just for convenience.  A container of sliced apples usually cost more than a bag of whole apples (and usually come in smaller packages).  Individually packaged meats (example here) cost more than a large pack that you can separate yourself. Sure these products may help with portion control, but why pay extra for something you can quickly and easily do yourself with very little effort? Next time you're out shopping and come across an item that is marketed as a "time-saver" or "convenience", be sure to compare prices with the standard version of the product and decide if the added convenience is worth the price difference.   

Hope you find a way to incorporate today's tip into your routine this week!