Save Money Make Money: Episode 7

Concept 7: Use Income and Expenses Folio to Improve Savings

Write down your monthly income. Also write down your monthly expenses against each classification of expenses. Carefully go through all the expenses at least on a fortnightly basis and decide where, how much and how can you reduce the expenses in the forthcoming period(s). You will definitely get the right answers to save. Write down the new reduced limit of expenses against that expense classifications. You may get pleasant surprises.

An example of format is given below:

Income (Monthly)

• Combined income of family after taxes

Expenses (Monthly)

Fixed expenses

• House rent/home loan
• Children's fees
• Automobile (car) loan
• Any other loan
• Insurance premiums

Household expenses

• Grocery
• Transportation (gas, repairs etc)
• House help (servant, gardner, cook etc)
• Phones- landlines
• Phones- mobile
• Electricity
• Water
• Gas
• TV cable
• Internet
• Medical

Lifestyle expenses

• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Eating out
• Gymnasium/club membership
• Personal care
• Books
• Newspapers/magazines
• Travel
• Holiday

Other miscellaneous expenses

• Household gadgets
• White goods
• Festivals
• Gifts
• Socializing
• Others

Against each one of these classifications, write the actual expenses and then, the reduced projected expenses. You will get an idea of your savings per month by this method.

Also refer: http://home-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/

Save Money Make Money: Episode 6

Concept 6: Cut Down on Use of Land Line and Mobile Telephones

If you are not careful in using your land line phone(s) or mobile(s) prudently, the telephones bills can be pretty steep. Keep a watch on them. Observe carefully your expenditure in telephoning.

Instead, it will be better idea to chat and speak with your friends, family members, relatives, acquaintances and others by using the computer (in any case you are connected to Internet most of times and you are already paying for it whether you are using it or not). So, chat/speak via Internet using your computer.

On phones, in addition to the fixed charges, you are paying dearly for each call you make and receive (and the roaming charges are too high). By using Internet through computers your communication/chat/talk are all free, all you are doing is to pay only the fixed charges for Internet connection. You can speak/chat for hours with zero incremental expenditure.

Find out your savings using this method; you will save lots.

Also refer: http://home-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/

Save Money Make Money: Episode 5

Concept 5: Cut Out on Eating Outside

It is a general knowledge (though we also know that general knowledge is always not so general) that almost all the restaurants jack up the prices of all the food they serve with very hefty profit margins. That's where your hard earned money drains out so very easily without any efforts. Cumulatively the damage on your pocket can mount to a very chunky size. Keep a close track of the money spent on eating in the restaurants, at least for a couple of months and the figures may shock you.

In addition, the food served in these eating joints may not be all that hygienic and may not be nutritious. Also, you spend your time in commuting (time in itself is money) and therefore, you spend your money unnecessarily also on gas and vehicle maintenance as well.

The major tip to save money here, therefore, is: cut down an eating outside. Instead, cook at home from the basic raw ingredients or from semi cooked stuff. Also use raw salads, fruits, milk, yogurt, cereals, brown bread with cheese, butter, peanut butter, jam etc where you do not have to cook at all. Cooking and assembling your meals can be a good diversion from your other activities, good entertainment and past time. If you feel lonely doing it every day, make variations by inviting some one you like to do joint cooking with you and then seek reciprocation for this procedure.

Try it, you will save lots of money.

Also refer: http://home-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/

Save Money Make Money: Episode 4

Concept 4: Look at All Your Bills Carefully

You have to pay lots of bills these days. You get bills frequently for the items like:

• Mobile telephone
• Land line telephones
• Electricity/power
• Water
• Cooking gas
• Equal monthly instalments (EMI) for loans taken for vehicle, house etc
• Property tax

etc.

Go through these bills for their amounts carefully. If you see an upward trend in the billed amounts, that definitely raises the alarm. Even if they are not going up, you have to think in terms of how you are going to cut down the billed amounts in the next bills.

You will have do a bit of cause and effect study. By this, you will be able to find out the causes of unnecessary consumption. Go in to their details and work out the solutions to consume less of those things.

Start with an aim of reducing bill amount by 10% and achieve it in the decided time line. Then, become a bit more ambitious and try to achieve another 10% cut and so on.

You will see amazing results in your savings. Best luck.

Also refer: http://home-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/

Save Money, Make Money: Episode 3

Concept 3: Make Do With Less

As a starter, decide to do with 10% less of everything than you are at present used to. Do this particularly with those items that seem to be non-value adding items. For example, decide that you will save 10% of edible oil consumption. Consuming excessive oil is not really good from health point of view (that's why it is non-value adding). Having decided, now start thinking about ways and means of reducing the oil consumption by 10% and implement them. Then increase it to 20% and then to 30% and so on.

Do the same with other items of this nature.

You will amazed to see the savings you start making. Start now.

Also refer: http://home-tips-tricks.blogspot.com/