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Let's be perfectly frank; whatever job you get, you're probably not
going to be making as much as you were, say, five to ten years ago.
Don't expect to be getting the exact same salary you got at your last
job.
Typically, entry level salaries will tend to rise over time. Over the
last few years, that rise has slowed to a halt and, for many companies,
actually reversed, with new employees making significantly less than
they would have had they joined just one year prior.
In a recession, there's simply less money to go around. It's up to
everybody now, not just the working class, to learn how to live within
their own means, and to cut costs where appropriate.
Now, you don't need to wear a pickle barrel with suspenders or trade
your car in for a pogo stick, but you should certainly take some time
out to reassess your budget, how much you're spending, and how much you
can afford to spend. Chances are you can cut your daily living expenses
in half with an hour of number crunching.
FOOD
EATING OUT
For starters, if you go out to eat twice a week, try twice a month.
Cooking at home can be more rewarding, and is certainly cheaper, than
going out to eat every other night.
If you've never learned to cook, there's a fairly simple way to get the
hang of it. Pick one or two of your favorite foods, look up the recipes
online, and try different variations on them. Making a little change
here and there for a week can keep one meal from getting boring. When
you feel you've mastered your one or two recipes, move on to others.
Just take the time to learn how to cook, and before long, you'll prefer
home cooked meals to dining out.
GROCERY SHOPPING
As a rule, the generic brand usually matches the name brand in terms of
taste. You can cut your grocery bill down by quite a bit if you just
buy the generic brands.
Now, a store brand cola will almost never taste as good as a Coca Cola,
so there's nothing wrong with spending a dollar or two extra when you
know for a fact that you prefer the store brand, but for the staples,
bread, milk, vegetables, canned goods, it is essentially impossible to
tell the difference in a blind taste test, and the generic brands tend
to cost anywhere from ten to twenty to even fifty percent less than the
name brands.
TRANSPORTATION
You need a car, but if you're having trouble finding income sufficient
to cover your needs, then maybe you don't need your dream car right
now, and you most definitely do not need a three ton sports utility gas
guzzler in your driveway.
We'll be blunt about this; if you drive a luxury car or a gas-guzzler,
trade it in.
If you're having troubles with your finances in the first place, then
you don't need a flashy car. What you need is a reliable, modest
vehicle that won't break down and won't cost you a ton of money in
terms of general maintenance and repairs.
By trading in a recent model sports car or SUV for a more basic set of
wheels, you can even walk out of the dealership with a nice hefty check
in your pocket.
Besides which, consider for a minute how much you could save on gas.
With prices being as they are, SUV drivers are typically spending ten,
twenty dollars a day just to get to work and back. With a more
conservative vehicle, you can get through the daily commute for less
than half that.
While on the subject of transportation, you can certainly save on gas
money if you take a moment to think of how much driving you do in a
day. Most of us are guilty of it: Driving to the corner store two
blocks away. There's really no excuse for it, but it's easier than
walking.
It may not seem like a big deal, but one trip there and back every day
can add up. Walk or ride a bicycle when you can. You'll save money on
both gas and car maintenance.
HOME
This is probably the toughest decision you'll have to make. If you're
renting an apartment, you can skip this part, but for home owners,
you're going to have to sit down with your budget and seriously
consider your living expenses.
You need to determine the answer to this question: Is owning a home
helping or hurting your long term goals?
We all want to be home owners, but, well, you've heard the term "money
pit". If your mortgage payments have become unpayable, if you're
somehow becoming deeper in debt each month, then it may simply be wiser
to sell the home and move into an apartment.
Again, it's not an easy decision, but if your finances make home
ownership more trouble than it's worth right now, then it may simply be
better to cut your losses.
There will be other chances to fulfill the dream of becoming a
homeowner, but if it's not the time, then it's not the time.
On the other hand, it may be wiser to hang on to your house. So long as
the mortgage payments aren't driving you deeper into debt, the upside
to owning a house is that it is, by default, an investment of sorts. If
you can manage the mortgage payments, your home will likely be worth
more in ten years than it is today.
LUXURIES
First of all, don't worry about having to give up your daily latte. The
truth is that those small luxuries are something that help us to get
through the day. Do take time to reward yourself when you have a moment
and a few bucks to spare. It keeps you sane, it gives you a moment to
relax, and it keeps you from spending more money on big luxuries as a
way to "reward yourself" for cutting back on the fancy coffees.
So what we're saying is to keep the small luxuries, ditch the big ones.
Nobody needs to go to the salon every single week, you don't need to
buy a new TV every time they make one even flatter than the last, and
for heaven's sake, you don't need spinning rims on your station wagon.
Just avoid the big, frivolous expenditures, and you may wind up saving
yourself thousands a year.
HABITS
All that needs to be said here is this: If you smoke, now's the time to
quit. With cigarettes being anywhere from five to ten bucks a pack,
depending on where you live, a pack a day smoker might spend anywhere
from two to four thousand a year on cigarettes alone. That is way too
much to be spending on a breakable habit. If you only take one piece of
advice to heart, let it be this one: Quit smoking. For the first three
days after your last cigarette, you'll feel like taking a baseball bat
to some windows, but after those three days it gets much easier.
Smoking is expensive and it gives you cancer. Not much else needs to be
said.
Also see Ways
to save money
Attract
Money Now - FREE 165 page new book
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