Saving Money Maybe Easier Than You Think

Saving money is easier than you may think. If you are one of the many million Americans who just cannot seem to save a dime, see if these tips help you.

Keep The Change: Using the same principle as Bank of America's program, this is where you round everything up to the next dollar and save the rest. The savings are miniscule at the time, (how can you miss 12 cents here and there) but they add up over time.

Another variation of this is to save all your change with your one-dollar bills. We all hate carrying them anyway. From time to time, purposefully break a big bill for small ones and change. Throw it in. It adds up very quickly, and you almost never miss it. If you get in a pinch, you can borrow from yourself, but put it back as soon as possible afterward.

Change Jar: This works like the Keep the Change concept. Instead of keeping it with your dollar bills, throw it all in your pocket and at the end of the day throw it in a jar. When fills, take it to Coin star or roll it yourself. Take it to the bank, see how much you saved yourself over that period, and celebrate. It works even better if you get a jar that you can put change into, but cannot take it out easily because it stops temptation from getting the best of you. Do not count it a lot, because if you know how much is there, you will lean on it for something.

Cut Expenses: Easier said than done, right? Not really. Stop paying for haircuts. Save the money, you would have paid for the professional job and have your wife/mom/brother do it for you. Instead of paying for a manicure, do it yourself. There are kinds of expenses like that that can be cut for a few months or all together to save more money faster. Now, if you already do these things to save money, where is that money going? Figure out if there are any other unnecessary expenses you can eliminate and turn into savings.

Budget High, Shoot Low: Budget an amount for everything you have going out. Anything leftover, save. For instance, budgeting $100 a week but only spending $80 a week gives you $80 a month in savings. In addition, if you have to spend the full amount for whatever reason, you are not cutting into another budget item or your savings to do so.

Just one of these tips can help you save more than you are now, so why not give it a shot? I use the the change and dollar bills year round to save for Christmas gifts for the year and save an average of $120/month without even thinking about it.