The word fun may not be how most people describe living on a budget, but it can be.  Rather than viewing your budget as limiting and constricting, think of it as a challenge.  If you do not have room in the budget for many fun activities, get creative.

There are several things that you can do for free that are fun.  Search through the closet and pull out all of those old board games.  Game nights are a huge hit with children because they get to spend time with the people they love most, their families.  Set a certain night each week to be game  night, and before long everyone will look forward to it.

If  you do not have enough money to go out and eat at fancy restaurants, set aside one night each week to try a different style of cuisine at home.  Have a themed dinner where you cook different types of food.  You could even turn it into a learning experience for your children by learning fun facts about each theme.

Take advantage of  your local library.  You can check out books, magazines, and even movies.  Many libraries also offer several events for children, for example our local library has story time, and music time.

You can have fun while living on a budget, it just takes a little creativity.  You may even find that your family grows closer together by spending more time with each other.

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If you are like many families, money may be getting a little tight.  In order to continue to pay for all of the necessities, it may be time to trim back some of the optional expenses.  What exactly are your optional expenses?  Optional expenses are things that you can live without.  In today’s society it may seem like high speed Internet, cable, and cellular phones are a necessity, but can you live without them?

The answer is yes, although it is nice to have 300 or 500 channels at your fingertips when you sit down to watch TV, you can survive with less.  Rather than watch tons of TV why not cut the cable down to a minimum and start having a family game night, or stop by your local library and check out movies for free.

High speed Internet is also nice, but if you have to choose between this or paying your insurance payment, it becomes a little less necessary.  The same goes for cellular phones.  They are nice to have, and for some people they may be a necessity, but can you get by with a smaller plan?  You could even consider a pre-pay phone to use only for emergencies.

It is possible to trim back certain expenses from your monthly budget, you just have to prioritize.  What is more important, and what can you live without?

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We all know if we have debt or not, but do you know what is on your credit report?  You would think that the debt that you have and the debt that is listed on your credit report would be the same, but sometimes there may be a few surprises there.

It is important to know what is on your credit report, and to check it yearly for mistakes.  Identity theft is a major issue, but sometimes credit companies make mistakes as well.  There may be someone with the same name, and their bad debt can easily be placed on your report.

When you do check your credit report, and find that there are inaccuracies, be sure to follow the procedure to have it corrected.  You may also want to contact the creditor who is listed on your report and make them aware of the mistake as well.

As the saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry.  By insuring that your credit report is properly maintained you will likely run into fewer problems in the future when you do want to obtain credit for a large purchase such as a house or car.

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Once you have made the decision to get out of debt, where should you start. That all depends on how much debt you have, and what type of debt it is. The first step in deciding where to start is finding how many different creditors you have, and the amount that you owe on each account. An easy way to do this is grab a pen and notepad and make a list. Look for all of your most recent statements and include everything on the list. If you are not sure how much debt you have, you can always check your credit report. You can check it once every year for free.

Once your list is made, order the debts by the amount that you owe. If you have several small balances you may want to consider paying those off as quickly as possible, so you can then place that amount towards a larger debt. If you decide to pay off the smaller amounts first, it is important to continue to pay at least the minimum payment on the larger amounts.

Using this method allows you to pay the smaller debts down first so that you can then add the amount that you were paying on the small amounts to the amount that you are paying on the larger balance.

There are several different methods to pay down debt, do not be afraid to find the one that works best for you.

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If you are not familiar with the envelope system, it is when you label different envelopes with the different categories from your budget (ex. food, gas, misc.). If you are trying to cut down on the amount of times that you use the ATM, this may be worth a try.

To get started with the envelope system, grab some envelopes, a marker, and your family budget. Although some people use this for every category on their budget, you can use what you are comfortable with. Once you have labeled your envelopes, look at your budget to see how much money you have allotted weekly for each category. Once you have your figure, you may want to write that on the envelope as well. At the beginning of the week, place the proper amount in each envelope, and once it is gone then you are out of money for that category.

This is a great way to track how much you really spend, as well. If you know that you only have a certain amount that you are aloud to spend, and you will not be making anymore withdrawals for the week, you are a little more likely to only spend what is necessary.

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What exactly is a Health care FSA?  It is an account that lets you set aside pretax money to pay for qualifying health care expenses.  Qualifying expenses include doctors visits, dental care, vision care, and even some over the counter medications.

So, now that you know what it is, can it help you save money?  The answer is yes.  Participating in a Health care FSA can save you money because the money that you have taken out of each paycheck comes out before federal, social security, and state taxes are taken out.  That means that you save the amount that you would normally pay in taxes.  Another great advantage is that the money is taken out throughout the year, and not in one large sum.

I am sure that you have heard the saying, “out of sight, out of mind” well that fits perfectly.  This can really come in handy when money becomes tight, but you still have that co-pay at the doctors office.  Use the FSA to pay the co-pay, and you can keep your cash in your pocket.  They are also very useful at the beginning of the year when you have to meet your deductible.

If you are debating on how much to contribute to your health care FSA, you may want to calculate the total of your deductibles for the year.  If you can set aside enough to pay your yearly deductibles, that will definitely help out with your family budget.

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Sometimes it is the most random things in life that we can do to save money.  Here are just a few.

1. Turn down your hot water heater’s thermostat. It is said to save at least $30 a month.  Who needs scalding hot water anyway right?
2. Learn some new skills. There are lots of things you can do from cooking from scratch, to gardening, to do it yourself projects to save you money.
3. Keep track of your expenses. Being aware of what you spend money on can quickly cause you to want to spend less.  Keeping a “spending diary” is a good way to do this.
4. Keep spare change. Make it a daily habit of putting your spare change into a jar, once you have accumulated a good amount of change, roll the money or take it to a bank to be counted then put the money into a savings account.  The pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters will definitely add up over time.

Getting out of debt is never easy.  It is a long road that many people have gone down, many successfully coming out on the other side where they saw “debt freedom”.  If you’re like many Americans you long to be on the other side.  The first step in getting there is deciding that you are willing to do what it takes to make it to the other side. 

Then, you need a plan, including a budget as well as a debt reduction plan, a way to get yourself out of the trenches and back in the game of life playing full deck without all the weight of that debt hanging around your neck.  It truly is a huge burden for many of us, but it doesn’t have to be that way forever.  Take the first step, decide to do something about it.

You may want to read more on getting out of debt, great information and resources can be found here.

The quickest way to pay off debt is quite simple, as simple as 1, 2, 3 in fact.  Here’s how you do it.

1.  Stop using your credit cards. How will you ever get ahead if you’re still charging, interest continues to rack up and your payments are only going to what you’re adding to every month.

2.  Pay them every month. At least pay your monthly minimum and if possible pay more.  You must be committed and consistent to paying off your balance.

3.  Create a plan. You can start by listing your debts smallest to largest.  This will help get you a clear idea of where you stand and what you need to pay off.

For more debt help check out this plan to be Debt Free in Three.

Many times I struggle with keeping my bills organized.  I wonder when something is due, struggle to locate the bill to find that it is late, which causes me to incur a late charge.  It is a vicious cycle that I am quite sure I am not the only one who deals with, or at least I hope not.  I’d like to think that others dealt with such issues too.

So, I know from this experience that if I were more organized with my finances that I could definitely save some money, not to mention some headaches and stress too.  I set out to get myself organized and created a folder with pockets to put my bills before they were paid as well as a pocket to put my bills after they had been paid.  I also keep in this folder a ledger to write down everything, my written budget as well as a book of postage stamps to use with those few bills I still have to mail via the postal service.  Most of my other bills are now paid online. 

I have certainly seen a difference in my bill paying since I created this system.  Why not give it a try to see if it can make a difference in your bill paying.