Piggy Bank Power

Creating a Budget

piggybankpower — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:17:16 +0000

Whenever discussing living frugally, the main thing that keeps reoccurring is the advice to create and keep a budget. Unfortunately, many people don’t know what that means or how to do it. The NYC government offers two simple steps in creating a budget: calculate your income, then calculate your expenses.

1. Calculate your income. First off, don’t just trust your bank’s online statements. Computers and workers make mistakes too, and you need to keep careful track of everything related to your money. Ask for a deposit record from your bank, or use an online tracking system offered by mint.com (click here to learn more about mint.com’s tracking system). Every time you are paid, record the amount that entered your bank account. Every time you move that money around or spend it, record it.

2. Calculate your expenses. When you’ve recorded the money you’ve spent for a couple months, it will be easier to see where your money is going. From there, you can see what is being spent on luxuries and what is being spent on necessities so you know where you can stop spending and start saving.

The principle is simple: live on less than you earn. After you’ve recorded your earnings and spendings for a couple months, subtract your average expenses from your average income. If the number is negative, figure out places where you can cut spending.

When you find out where your money is being spent, you can then work out a specific, realistic budget for each spending area (bills, groceries, etc). Each month, make sure to spend no more than you’ve budgeted.

Earn Money for Your Creations

piggybankpower — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:06:39 +0000

Do you like to create handmade things? If so, I would suggest looking into etsy.com. Etsy is a place where you can buy or sell handmade creations. You can also sell vintage items, being items 20 years or older. To sell, you’ll need to have an etsy account, which is easily created–all you need is a valid email account. From there, you can list items you want to sell and name your price. Etsy charges a $0.20 fee to list an item for 4 months. If it sells, they also charge 3.5% of the total sale price, not including shipping and handling price. You can pay either with a credit card or PayPal. I would suggest PayPal, as you don’t have to give out any banking information. You and the buyer then interact directly: they pay you and you ship the item to them.

I would suggest first listing only one item and seeing if it sells, and how quickly. Obviously, if you’re not able to sell anything, this is not a good idea. But give it a chance–the first try may take a while because no buyers know your “brand” yet. I would also suggest skimming around etsy and seeing what similar things are selling for before you set your price. That way you get what you deserve for your work, and don’t accidentally cheat anyone.

To summarize, these are the fees etsy charges:

$0.20 to list an item for 4 months
3.5% of the selling price (not including shipping) if your item sells

Consider what things you like to make. Then look them up on etsy to see the asking prices. After that, start selling!

Building Power for Emergencies

piggybankpower — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:12:03 +0000

One of the best excuses to become frugal is to stop spending so you can start building an emergency fund. If for no other reason, this is good to have to help pay off or stay out of debt in college. Christian Money Mountain lists a few ideas of ways to start spending less and saving more.

“Cut Out the Extras.” I couldn’t agree more here. Instead of buying that snack from the vending machine, pack a granola bar from home. Stop the morning or evening ritual of coke or coffee. Pack lunches instead of buying them.

“Buy Genaric.” Yes Mom’s pasta only tastes good with that one brand of sauce, but deal with the change for a few years. If you keep insisting on buying that “one and only” brand, pretty soon you won’t be able to afford the pasta noodles. Be sure to check the label, too. Companies have changed their brands at times to look more genaric. Don’t get tricked.

“Home Entertainment.” Movie nights can be just as fun at home. Pop your own bag of popcorn, rent a movie from Redbox, and enjoy the evening at home. If you have to get out of your house, or need some cheap date ideas, try going here to get you started.

“Save Your Change.” This is my favorite. I love picking up every penny I find and adding it to my piggy bank. It’s amazing how quickly it adds up in a short amount of time. Plus, every heads up penny brings good luck…which means finding more.

For some great information about emergency funds (what they are, how to build them, how much to save), go to this site.

Cheap Textbooks

piggybankpower — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 05:34:13 +0000

Few students actually purchase their textbooks at the university’s bookstore. Most have their favorite websites to purchase them–you don’t need me to tell you what sites to use. However, a new deal exists on amazon.com (I found it thanks to Money Saving Mom), and it’s just for students. If you join Amazon Students, you can get one year free of Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime membership usually costs $79 per year, and entitles you to free two-day shipping on all eligible purchases. To sign up for this, all you have to do is have an amazon.com account, be actively enrolled in at least one course in a USA college, be able to provide proof of enrollement, and have a valid email account that ends in .edu. Go here to join. Don’t forget, you can get amazon gift cards without any cost to you using swagbucks, so this could end up being a superb deal.

I signed up for this about a week ago, and the Amazon Student page also has some nice, applicable categories for college students. Amazon Student gives you direct links to things like food, clothing, and electronics. They also have direct links to buying software with student discounts, as well as occasional “back-to-school” sales. Try it out. It’s free.

Knowledge is Power

piggybankpower — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:26:44 +0000

You know how your parents always told you not to be a “know-it-all”? Well, I’ve discovered it’s very helpful for frugal living to know it all. In a recent post on Domestic Cents, the author states the following: “Many, many of the ways I have learned to spend less money stem from me knowing how to do something, relieving me of the need to purchase it.” Oh, the truth in that statement. Growing up, I lived with genius parents. My dad knows how to do carpentry, fix cars, and cut hair; my mom knows how to can, sew, and manage money/accounting talents (among many other things).

While these are difficult skills to learn online, here are some tips for finding ways to learn them:

1. Ask. Ask school buddies, teachers, neighbors, church friends: anybody. Don’t be embarrassed to say you don’t know how to do something–most people are glad they have a skill and are more than willing to share it or teach it.

2. Take a class. Many schools or shops in towns give classes devoted to teaching certain skills. If you go to a cannery, they’ll teach you how to can food. If you go to a yarn shop, see if they offer a knitting class. Craft stores like Michaels offer art/crafty classes. Often these places will also have discounts for students, or they’ll offer them for free. I learned how to knit for free just because I wandered into a yarn shop, was interested, and said I was a student.

3. Job Shadow. Next time you have to hire a plumber or someone, see if they’ll let you tag along and watch, maybe even teach you. Hired professionals are people too, and they’re generally happy to impress you with their knowledge. While watching a man repair our windshield, my husband asked how it worked, and they worker was more than happy to oblige. We don’t have the tools to fix our cracked windshield, but with other things you can often make do with what you have.

Gaining new skills are invaluable in saving money. Don’t be afraid to learn new things–it will empower you and add weight to your piggy bank.

Pick Your Own Fruit

piggybankpower — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 05:18:46 +0000

Many college students lack necessary categories of food, opting for the choclate bar instead of the pound of grapes because “it’s cheaper.” Honestly, the fruits and vegetables will end up being much cheaper than the daily candy bar, but I’ve just found another reason to skip the candy and go for the fruit: you can pick your own.

According to Five Cent Nickel, picking your own fruit is a good idea for three reasons. “It saves you money.” “It’s better for you.” “It tastes better.” There are tons of resources available to help you with the process. Pick Your Own is an amazing site that allows you to click on states to find farms near you that allow you to pick your own fruits and vegetables. They also have instructions on how to can fruit, as well as make jam and such. This site also includes tips for picking, and great recipes to use for what you’ve picked. Try it out.

Another thing you can do is try out Bountiful Baskets. You pay $15 at their website and choose a pick-up location. The following Saturday, you bring a laundry basket and they fill it with fruits and vegetables that are currently in season, about 6 different types of each. If you can’t eat that much on your own, strike a deal with your roommates to each chip in $5 and then divide the basket amongst yourselves. According to their site, the amount of fruit given for the amount of money spent saves you $35.

Frugal Shopping Without Coupons

piggybankpower — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:01:34 +0000

For me, I always have a difficult time shopping with coupons. I never have any luck finding coupons that are remotely related to what I need, or they’re only coupons for bulk things which will go bad before I could possibly use them. So I’ve always just scanned coupons, hoping something miraculously matches my needs, and then gone to the store in search of the cheapest option. But after reading this post by Money Saving Mom, I’ve discovered some helpful advice for other ways to remain frugal while shopping–without using coupons.

“Plan a menu and stick to it.” This is advice I’ve heard from numerous sources, and it makes logical sense. Plan what you need for your meals, then only buy what you need. If that double fudge ice cream looks magnificent, it probably is. But self control is most important, so allow yourself to have some and ignore the ice cream.

“Shop once per week or less.” The less you shop the better menus you’ll plan, and the less you’ll spend. Also, bring a calculator with you when you shop and follow the budget you’ve allotted yourself.

“Plan your menu based on store sales.” This one may be a little more difficult, but it just takes some planning and research. Notice what will be on sale when, and plan your menu based on that.

“Cook from scratch.” Luxuries cost more, and that includes those small, throw-in-the-microwave-and-it’s-done meals. Money Saving Mom makes, I think, a smart recommendation: “One of my best tips to help one be more efficient when it comes to cooking from scratch is just to look for ways you can make extra.” If you’re looking for the luxury of being able to make quick treats or meals, then make extra when cooking from scratch, and store it in the freezer for when those rush times arise.

Coupons are always a great option, but if you live in an area where not many are available, or if you don’t use them for whatever reasons, try the given advice, and you can remain frugal while shopping.

Three Easy Ways to Free Books

piggybankpower — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:19:32 +0000

Books are wonderful tools for learning and simple pleasure, but they can often be expensive. However, I’ve just found some great ways to get books for free, thanks to a recent post on Money Saving Mom.

For bloggers: If you read often and are willing to review books and post this review on your blog, you can often request a “review copy” of a book from a publisher. It’s simple–just google a book to find it’s publisher, then go to the publisher’s website. Often they’ll have contact information readily available for review copies. Be honest though–only get these copies if you’re wanting to read them and willing to write a review.

For swappers: There are a couple websites you can use. PaperBackSwap is one I personally have never used, but read about in this post from Money Saving Mom. According to the post, you add books to your library that you own and are willing to swap. You build up credits by sending out books, and then you use those credits to get books. All you pay is postage. You can also use SwapTree, a website I discussed in a previous post. In that one, you add books to your library to swap, then you can swap books as you and another have books that the other wants. They tell you immediately what you can currently get for the book you’ve listed, and you can easily add books to your wishlist and see what you need to swap for it.

For surfers: And of course, there’s always Swagbucks for those who surf the internet. With Swagbucks, you just either search the internet via their home page, or by using their toolbar. The average Swagbuck amount I get is probably about 15, and you’re randomly awarded them (I’m not sure if it’s after a certain amount of searches or just whenever they feel like it, but they add up pretty quickly). I haven’t been a member for more than a few months, and I have nearly 2200 Swagbucks. Once you save up enough Swagbucks, I would recommend going to the Swag Store and “buying” an Amazon gift card. A $5 Amazon gift card is 450 Swagbucks. You could also get a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card for 1250 Swagbucks. They’re online gift cards, so you must use them through the stores’ websites.

Whatever way you prefer, there are plenty of opportunities out there for free books. So start snagging, swapping, and reviewing.

Frugal Friends

piggybankpower — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 04:16:13 +0000

We’ve all heard the advice from our mothers: choose your friends wisely. Turns out this is true even in financial terms. A post on Chri stian Money Mountain states the following: “Having friends that like to spend money, can cause you to want to spend money. Peer pressure is very much a factor even after high school.” So one way we can retain our frugal path is to choose wisely our friends, and to find ones that “consider cutting coupons a good time.” We often want to be like our friends, and doing things with them increases the bond we feel. If we have wannabe-rich friends, we’ll begin to act in the same manner, pretending we can afford things we really can’t, while gradually falling deeper and deeper in debt. On the other hand, if we choose friends who enjoy cutting coupons as bonding time, who insist on low-cost vacations, who love the simple, inexpensive pleasures of life, and who don’t depend on money for happiness, we will find ourselves like them–climbing out of debt, and finding ways to and enjoying saving money.

Card or Cash?

piggybankpower — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:43:46 +0000

When shopping, one smart and easy way to save money is to use cash instead of a credit/debit card. According to a post on Money Saving Mom:

“When you shop with a credit card…you can have your budget in your head and you can do the best to stick with it when you check out, but it’s so much easier to go just a little bit over here and there when you’re swiping. You can justify that $2 you went over your budget to buy something which was a “great deal” when paying with your card.”

Even though that may not seem like a large amount of money, it adds up to over a hundred in the course of a year. So apply this method of shopping by creating a menu, and estimating how much groceries will cost each week. Then go to the bank and withdraw only that amount. Stay firm and only buy what’s on your grocery list, and then you will stay within your budget to the dollar, saving little amounts that add up.