Budget & Money Saving Ideas

The actions you take today to improve your monetary situation contribute to your financial security in the future. To that end, any idea that could increase your savings and tighten up your personal budget is at least worth considering. Explore a few budget and money-saving ideas that could help you achieve more of your future financial goals.

Use a Mobile Budgeting Tool

Oftentimes, when you're on the run, you can make the mistake of diverting from your budget. For instance, you might overestimate what you have available to spend at the grocery or clothing store for the month. To avoid overspending or mismanaging your funds, it helps to have the details of your budget handy even when you're not at home. To that end, consider signing up for or downloading a mobile budgeting tool if you have a compatible cell phone. With a mobile budgeting tool, you can access your budget details from your cell phone and make spending or budget adjustments where needed.

Envelope System

Implement the envelope system to help control your spending. The envelope system seeks to manage the amount of money you spend monthly by forcing you to use cash only. At the beginning of every month, place a set amount that you wish to spend on certain items, such as dining out, clothing and entertainment, for that month into individual envelopes. If you run out of money in a specific area, you must wait until the next month to replenish it. The envelope system helps discipline you to spend within your means.

Shop Online

One way to save money is to comparison shop online. In many cases, you will find the items you need online for cheaper than what you would pay in a physical store, even with shipping included. Author Robert Pagliarini suggests contacting a web store representative to ask for a discount once you have a full shopping cart. Websites like Nextag, Pricegrabber and Shopzilla allow you to type in what items you need and receive a listing of prices around the web. You can also find less expensive items for sale on online auction websites.

Cut Unnecessary Costs

Another money-saving idea is to reduce all of your unnecessary bills. Begin with bills whose payments that vary each month, or variable bills. If you check your budget, you will likely find that the majority of your variable bills are ones that you could probably reduce in some way. For instance, to lower your electric and water bills, replace all of your lightbulbs with energy-efficient varieties and take shorter showers. You can also cancel your non-essential accounts, like cable service, and purchase less expensive entertainment options as another way to reduce unnecessary costs. If possible, reduce the calls you make on your cell phone so that you can downgrade to a less expensive plan.