Evan Vitale

Evan Vitale – Saving Money in 2016

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By Evan Vitale

Saving up more cash is the trend for 2016, but so many people often procrastinate in their efforts when it comes to cutting everyday costs. Listed below are ten tips to do today to keep more cash in your bank account and lessen debt risk.

  1. Make “Dining In” your norm and “Dining Out” as just a special treat. Our fast-paced workplaces have helped us justify a daily fast food lifestyle that is eating away at our savings goals.
  1. Brew your own grinds. Fancy coffee-to-go can run $4 or more a cup and unpredictable lines for a barista can cut into an efficient work day. Acquire an inexpensive grinder and a coffee maker that is easy to use or a cheerful color to brew a thermos-to-go of that magical brown elixir for only pennies a cup.
  1. Get rid of high-priced gym memberships. In the event you want the incentive that is part of the fitness center social scene, join a community-based running, biking, hiking club or a small yoga group. You’ll be able to casually socialize afterwards without a monthly credit card gouge.
  1. Rethink your entertainment options. Rather than going out for the movies, hit the library and check out movies for a week for free. You won’t have to listen to ringing cell phones in a theatre and you can enjoy your own homemade cookies and snacks. Limit your evening out “clubbing” to quarterly or once a month, and have close friends over on Friday nights instead for a cookout.  
  1. Rethink your driving style. Make an effort to drive only if you really need to in order to cut back on gas. Don’t let your car idle more than 1 minute. Look into a park and ride commuter lot for the trip to work and seriously evaluate the need for those last minute trips to the store and fast food.
  1. Always keep your automobile maintained. Appropriately inflated tires as well as a tuned-up engine can enhance your gas mileage favorably.
  1. Design your own dream “staycation.” If you take time to invest in exploring more localized travel options, you can save the travel money for some finer dining options closer to home or splurge on your favorite hobby supplies guilt free.  Not to mention, saving you hundreds of dollars on hotels and gas.
  1. Cut those utility expenses. Swap out furnace filters often. Add weather stripping around doors and windows. Repair leaky faucets and running toilets. Wear sweaters and reduce your thermostat in the winter and try to use your ceiling fan rather than the A/C in summer.
  1. Get fresh quotes for your insurance coverage expenses. Insurance rates, particularly auto insurance coverage prices, can differ a great deal from between competing firms.   By acquiring at least three various comparison quotes, you may lower your premiums by hundreds. An easy strategy to do this is on the internet at an insurance coverage comparison site as your first analysis and then talking to a locally based firm rather than a national brand name.  Driving less and taking benefit of discounts can reduced your prices at the same time. Also, consider raising the deductibles on both auto and property or tenants insurance to lower premiums. Just make sure that if you need to make a claim for a loss that you have enough cash on hand to pay the deductible.
  1. Be careful with “cash back” added on to debit card transactions.  The cash is usually quickly spent without a recollection of where it was spent.  It is also hard to remember to write the transaction down which can make it too easy for a checking account to become overdrawn.

Evan Vitale – Starting A Budget in 2016

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By Evan Vitale

We all make resolutions for the new year: exercise more, lose weight, stop smoking, etc. However, a great personal goal you can set up and follow (starting today) is creating a simple budget and sticking to it.

Budgets are often ignored in most households. In fact, that’s how we sometimes get into trouble when it comes to savings, credit problems and not having enough money to make ends meet each month.

How can you solve this problem?

First, be aware of how much you spend each day, week and month. This means keeping track of what you spend every day, even on minor purchases such as coffee, lunch, magazine purchases, etc.

Second, create budget categories, such as:

  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Utilities
  • Lawn care
  • Entertainment
  • Household
  • Gifts
  • Auto
  • Vacation
  • Medical and Dental
  • Insurance
  • Taxes
  • Education
  • Mortgage/Rent
  • Savings

Using your checkbook, computer program, spreadsheets, receipts, etc., calculate what you spent in each category over the last year. For example your electric/heating bills, monthly mortgage/rent payment, etc. In some cases, you will find that expenses are the same each month, like rent for example.

Some categories might be a little more difficult. Take your monthly electric/heating bill, for instance. Some months, it might be higher because you needed to rely more on your furnace or air conditioner. That’s OK. Use the highest utility invoice as a base amount for your budget. If your largest utility bill was $100, then calculate your monthly budget at $100 for each month. Obviously, many months are going to be well below that amount, so you can adjust your budget accordingly as you progress each month. Note: saving $30 on your April utility bill doesn’t mean that you’re going to unnecessarily spend $30 on a steak dinner. Instead, you can shift the “extra” funds to another budget category or, better yet, put it into savings.

If you create a budget – and stick to it – you’ll always have the funds on hand to make necessary payments on time, build your nest egg savings account and have some cash in case of emergency.

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Check out another blog by Evan Vitale at http://evanvitale.net.