While it is only January, spring is soon approaching.  Along with spring comes consignment sales and yard sales.  There are great savings to be found at these two locations.  If you are new to the used “shopping” scene, here are a few tips to help you get started.

Always look for the best deal.  If you find an item that you like, but the price is a little two high, do not be afraid to ask for a lower price.  This is especially true of yard sales.

Make sure you check each item carefully.  Look for missing buttons, knobs, broken seams, and exposed wires.  If you buy it and find an imperfection that you can not live with, when you get home you will be stuck with the item.

Check you local papers and message boards for announcements of any large sales that may be approaching.  You want to make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to arrive early, and not be flustered.

While there are several great deals to be found at these types of sales, there are also some items that you do not want to purchase.  Some of these include; car seats for children, cribs for babies, personal products, food items, and anything else that can not be completely sanitized.

photo source:  snowflake5

Negotiation, to some may sound like someone is “just being cheap”, but that is not true.  If you take a moment to think about how much things are marked up in today’s economy, you will not feel bad negotiating a price.

A prime example of negotiation would be buying a car.  Everyone knows what it is like to drive onto a car lot and have salesmen run out to your car.  When you take a few moments to look around and find an automobile that you like what is usually the first question that you ask the salesman?  “What is the best price on this car”.  Do you know why we ask them that?  Because they have the power to change the price, as long as they are not loosing money.

Another little known fact is that you can negotiate for services as well.  Insurance rates, especially if you are working with an independent agent.  Credit card interest rates are also negotiable.  If you are having a problem with your phone or cable service, or feel that you can not afford all of it, negotiate the price of that as well.  When a company feels that they may lose your business, you will be surprised to see how they try to keep it.

So, no matter what it is that you need, do not be afraid to negotiate on the price.  I will pay off in the end.

photo source:  MeHere

Now that the new year has started and the Christmas season is over, everyone probably has a ton of things that they need to get rid of.  Well, why not make a little extra money to add to your savings account while cleaning house.

The first thing to do is, look at all of the things that you received for Christmas.  Did you get new products that can replace your old ones?  Did you get new clothes that you have no room for?  What about your children?  Take a good look through their toy closet, do you see any duplicates?  Don’t stop there, go into the kitchen and survey your belongings.  If you have more than you can possibly use, start sorting.

Once you go through and sort out what you want to part with, decide how you will do it.   There is always the option of having a garage sale.  These sales are not hard, but the more organized you are the more money you are likely to make.  If that idea doesn’t interest you consider Ebay or Craigslist.  If you do not have an account, simply go to the site and set one up for free.

A couple of things to remember when selling your used items:

• Don’t expect others to pay for your memories.
• Be reasonable when setting your price, if you really want to move it price it low enough that it will sell.

However you decide to sell, a little extra money always feels nice in the savings account.

photo source: JMGriffin

When you are trying to cut items from your budget, the grocery store may not seem like a place that you can save a lot of money, but it is.  Below are a few tips on how you can save more at the store, and help build your nest egg.

Always shop with a list.  This helps to prevent impulse buys, and helps you remember what you need and not what you want.

Shop the entire shelf.  Many times grocery stores merchandise their shelves so that the more expensive brands are at eye level, and the less expensive brands and sale items are on the bottom shelves.  They do this because many people only shop at their eye level, so look high and low for those bargains.

Shop with coupons.  Although many may think you couldn’t possibly save that much, you can.  Especially when you combine coupons with sales.

Register for your stores loyalty cards.  You can often get better discounts and even special coupons when you register for a store card.

Comparison shop.  Read the weekly flyers from each grocery store, and see where the better sales are.  You may even want to start a price book.  A price book is a small notebook where you record the price of the item and the store.  This makes it easier to comparison shop, and to take the sale cycle.

Once you leave the store with all of your “saved” money, take the amount that you saved and place it into a special account.  That way you can keep track of how much you have saved.

photo source: dantini

With today’s economy, it may seem tempting to stop contributing to your 401k, especially if you need extra cash in each paycheck.  Don’t do it!!  Although it may be nice to have a few extra dollars in each check, you should continue to think about the future.  When you retire, beyond Social Security, you will only have what you manage to save up until that point.  When you think about the situation this way it may seem even scarier.  The Social Security system in our country is not operating very efficiently, and may not even be around when those from the younger generation are old enough to retire.

Although many people feel that they will be able to count on their Social Security income, it may not be there when they need it.  Your retirement account is like your security blanket.  If you can sacrifice a little today, you will be able to avoid working until you are 80 years old.  If you have no retirement account, and there is no Social Security, you will not have anything to fall back on when you do reach retirement age.

If you are afraid that you may need the money that you are contributing to your retirement fund for an emergency.  Why not consider a Roth IRA rather than a traditional 401K.  With a Roth IRA, you will be able to withdraw your contributions should an emergency arise, although your contributions are not tax deductible.

photo source: Eqilshay

Everyone who is familiar with budgeting knows that there are always certain important categories to list.  For instance; income, mortgage, utilities, auto loan payments, credit card payment, and insurance payments.  Along with those well known categories there are also some very important, yet commonly forgotten, items that should also be added into the budget.

One of the first things to make sure you include in your budget are birthday gifts.  This may sound silly, but think about how many birthdays you celebrate in one year.  Your own family, and of course there are friends as well.  All of those gifts can add up to a large sum coming out of your budget each year.  Not to mention the parties that you host.  Things like cake and decorations can also add up if you host more than one party.  The best way to figure this into your budget is to make a list of all of the birthdays that you celebrate and give them a dollar amount.  Add all of the birthday amounts up and place it in the birthday category in your budget.

Christmas is also a huge expense for most people, but you would be surprised to see exactly how many people do not budget for it.  We all know that Christmas gifts can add up, even if you only buy for selected individuals.  Set a dollar amount that you will be able to stick to, and create a Christmas category on your budget.

There are several other small expenses that add up over the year like gas, and groceries.  Make sure that you include all of them to prevent you from going over budget.

photo source:  bizior

With such a depressing economy it may seem as if there is no good news, but there is.  Especially if you are in need of a few large ticket items.  The economy over the past two years has been difficult, to say the least, for many retailers, but that means good news for the consumer.  With sales lagging, stores need to move their inventory so they are slashing prices.

Some of the best discounts can be found on automobiles.  Many companies are discontinuing certain models, and need to move the remaining ones that they have in inventory.  That means super low prices for you.  Even if you have your eye on a model that is not being discontinued, there is hope.  Several auto makers are extending the 0% financing and rebate offers to attract more business.

Large appliances are also a great way to save money.  Things like TVs, washers and dryers, and other large appliances are hitting the clearance shelves.  The Christmas season did not bring in the amount of sales that stores were hoping for, so they are stuffed with items that need to be sold.

Travel is another area that many people do not think of when it comes to saving money.  However, several Hotels, theme parks, and even air lines are dropping rates to lure in travelers.  You may even be able to add extras for free like a spa package or golf game.

So, if you have been saving wisely and have some extra money saved up for large purchases, now may be the time to spend it.  There are several great deals out there!

photo source:  djayo

Believe it or not, your credit score and your insurance premium are related.  Many insurance companies use their client’s credit score to calculate their premium rate.  Although it does not seem fair, and is very sneaky for the insurance companies to do this with out informing their policy holder, it happens.

What can you do about it?  Make sure you know what is on your credit report.  Check it yearly to be sure that it is free of mistakes.

If your credit is already “poor”, work on improving your credit score.  By clearing off old debt, and making sure that you make payments on time for your current debt, you can help to improve your score.

If you find that your insurance company is charging you an extremely high premium, shop around for a new policy.  In this situation, the consumer has the power.  If your insurance company refuses to lower your premium, find another company that will.  Most companies are in need of consumers, and you will likely be able to find a better deal.

So, not only is your credit the deciding factor on things like auto and home loans, it can also cost you more in the most unexpected places.

photo source: mzacha

One of the biggest challenges when creating a budget is sometimes the income column.  This is especially true when the income amount varies from week to week.  Most of the time this happens when someone is not a salaried employee and works a different number of hours each week, so how do you figure this into your budget?

One of the safest ways to deal with this issue to to use a base amount in the income column.  For instance if your schedule rotates every two weeks and you work 36 hours one week and 48 hours the next week.  Use the amount from the 36 hour check every week in your budget.  Figure up all of your expenses and your income with only the 36 hour income.  Hopefully there will still be money left in the income column once all of the expenses are taken out.  If there is not, you should look for ways to cut back on your expenses.  The extra money that you make on the longer work weeks will still be there, but if you know for sure that you can balance your budget with the smaller check you can save the extra amount.

It is better to anticipate the smaller amount and go over, than to figure in the higher amount and be left with a negative.

We have discussed organization before, and how it can help you save money.  Did you know that it can also help make filing your taxes a little easier too?  Tax time is not a favorite of very many, but there are things that you can do to make it easier.

It is always important to keep all of documents together, but especially if you are a business owner.  Receipts for expenses that you plan to deduct on your taxes should also be kept in one spot to prevent last minute chaos.  A great way to organize yourself is to get an expandable file, sometimes referred to as an accordion file.  Label each tab with a different month.  Place all of your documents from that month into the proper slot.  It is much easier to keep up with everything if you stick with the system.  Make it a point at the end of each month to file all of your paperwork.  Some things that you may want to keep in the file include receipts from business trips, monthly invoices, purchases that need to be ducted, and anything else business or tax related.  To make it easier to keep up with your file, be sure to store it in the same location after each use.

Using this system makes it much easier at the end of the year to grab your folder and file your taxes on time.

photo source:  Gastonmaq