10 Tips for Smarter Saving and Spending

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Heather Johnson. Please be sure to check-out her by-line at the bottom of the post.

Planning for your long-term financial needs, creating a detailed budget, and developing a healthy investment portfolio can undoubtedly improve your fiscal status, but these things take time, professional help, and money you don’t have.

Here are ten easy tips that can help you start saving money today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of your life (or at least until the day you’re so rich that you never have to worry about money again):

Three Ways to Feel Better and Save Some Cash:

1. Get Yourself Healthy: We spend hundreds and thousands of dollars a year on things that make us sick and lead to all sorts of other costs. So kick that smoking habit, go out drinking two nights a week instead of four, or ride your bike to work. You’ll suddenly have all sorts of newly expendable income that had previously been spent on pricey cigarettes, booze, and gas, and you might even lose a few pounds. You’ll not only be healthier and richer in the short term, but your long-term healthcare and insurance costs will plummet as well.

2. Get Yourself a Lunch Pail: It only takes a few minutes to fix yourself a simple sandwich, throw together a hearty salad, or toss some leftovers into your bag on the way to work, but this simple act can save you considerable dough over the course of a year. Bring your lunch to work just a couple of days per week and you can easily save over a thousand dollars per year. And as opposed to most varieties of take-out, it’s easy to pack something light that will give you a boost for the rest of the day rather than making you fall asleep at your desk.

3. Get Yourself a Nalgene: Actually, any old water bottle will do. Drink lots and lots of water and you won’t spend twenty bucks a day on other drinks that are no good for you. Tap water is virtually free, really doesn’t taste all that bad, and is usually better for you than expensive bottled water because of those life-nourishing minerals that are kindly added by your friendly local water treatment plant. Drink up and save up at the same time.

Enough with the feel-good methods of saving money—here are some tips on how to save while shopping for the things that you need, and more importantly, the things that you want.

Seven Ways to Shop Smart:

4. Buy Homegrown: Local craftsmen, farmers, and retailers offer unique items at prices that don’t include shipping and handling charges, which have increased exponentially of late due to the sky-rocketing cost of fuel. Plus, it makes you feel all warm inside to buy something from your neighbor (and more importantly, if a local merchant gets to know your face, you might score a special deal or a freebie once in a while). Check out school craft fairs, church bazaars, co-ops, and both farmers’ and flea markets to help out your local economy and save money.

5. Buy Used: Used clothes can be passed off as vintage, so why the stigma on other previously owned items? Most used items are perfectly functional and many have developed an endearing and priceless layer of character. Who doesn’t appreciate a college freshman’s inane marginal notes in their second-hand copy of Dickens or enjoy the ruggedness that a well-traveled, well-scuffed shoulder bag instantly confers upon its owner? Plus, you can convince yourself that you are saving Mother Earth by recycling these everyday objects even as you save yourself some cash.

6. Buy Frucally: Feel like the James Bond of your local Target as you cruise the aisles with the power of Frucall.com on your cell phone. The service provided on this website allows you to enter the barcode of an item to comparison shop instantly and locate that impulse buy at a cheaper price at another location.

7. Don’t Buy Extended Warranties: If you’re buying that new laptop or plasma television, use your major credit card and it will likely lengthen the warranty just as far as the plan that will cost you hundreds of extra dollars at checkout. Retailers’ extended warranties are for suckers—make sure that you don’t get sucked in.

8. Buy Early: If you see the perfect Christmas present for your sister at half price in March, don’t hesitate to pick it up and cross her off your list nine months earlier than usual. Likewise, if you know you have a wedding to attend half way across the country in August, start looking for deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars in January. If you find a reasonable rate for either of the latter, don’t hesitate to book it; almost all hotels and car rental agencies allow you to cancel a reservation with almost no advanced notice.

9. Buy When Nobody Else Is: All retailers have some limit to their inventory and stock products seasonally, so help them out (and save a bundle) by clearing their shelves. Buy your stocking caps and skis in February, your tank tops and swimsuits in August, your Christmas lights in January, and that all-important gorilla costume in November. Your selection might be slightly limited and it may be tough surviving those long months before you have the chance to use your new purchase, but the bargain prices will make it well worth your while.

10. Buy Late: If you don’t have the option to buy early and just can’t bring yourself to buy that new snowsuit in July, then make like a high school senior and procrastinate as long as possible. Many retailers will start drastically dropping prices on overstocked items in the weeks leading up to a holiday and service industries tend to panic if they haven’t filled their quotas as deadlines approach. Last-minute travel deals can cut the cost of that dream vacation in half and provide a well-deserved smug sense of satisfaction in knowing that you shelled out a fraction of the price that the chump in the seat next to you paid.

Heather Johnson is a freelance business, finance and credit writer, as well as a regular contributor for BusinessCreditCards.com site for comparing small business credit cards. She welcomes questions, comments, and freelancing job inquiries at her email address heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com

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